The final Friday of the tournament has arrived, and while the stadiums remain quiet for one last night, the tension across the continent is reaching an absolute boiling point. We are just forty-eight hours away from crowning the champions of the world, but first, we have to deal with the weekend’s opening act.

Tomorrow night brings us the fixture that absolutely no player in world football wants to participate in – the absolute booby prize that is “The Bronze Final,” or the Third-Place Play-Off as it was previously known. Dressing it up as a podium medal placing adds little lustre to the event. It’s France versus England in Miami. Dragging a demoralised group of players out onto a pitch to play for a third-place plastic medal after having their hearts ripped out in the semi-finals is the ultimate sporting cruelty. Didier Deschamps and Thomas Tuchel will essentially have to play the role of high school guidance counsellors, trying to convince their multi-millionaire squads that there is still something to play for under the Florida sun.

But Sunday? Sunday is the holy grail.

The stage is set at MetLife Stadium for a truly legendary final: Spain versus Argentina. It is a clash that feels almost mythological in scale. On one side, we have Lionel Messi, at 39 years of age, in his definitive, final international swansong – the absolute last dance on the grandest stage of them all. On the other, we have Spain’s 19-year-old phenomenon, Lamine Yamal, a kid who has spent the entire tournament playing as if he’s just kicking a ball around a plaza in Barcelona.

It is the master versus the apprentice. The ultimate clash of generations. Spain’s breathtaking, 37-match unbeaten tiki-taka evolution running straight into Argentina’s fierce, emotional, win-at-all-costs survival machine.

The waiting is almost over. The final battle is here.

Whatever happens on that pitch, The Heat Map won’t let you down.