Spain and Argentina will meet each other in the FIBA Basketball World Cup Final at the Cadillac Arena in Beijing on Sunday. Both teams have attended the final before – Argentina lost to Yugoslavia in 2002, Spain defeated Greece in 2006. What are their chances against each other this time?

Compared with Spain, Argentina are the bigger surprise in this year's World Cup. Few initially had expected them to go this far. Like the country's football team, Argentina advocated offense on the basketball court. Many of the team were able and willing to make bold passes that either led to an impressive scoring or a regrettable turnover.

Though most Argentinian players are not at a disadvantage in size thanks to their average height of 1.96 meters, they were not obsessed with shooting. Thanks to Luis Scola, Argentina had several offensive options in the low bloc. Besides, the 39-year-old veteran himself could punish the opponents from the 3-point line.

In defense, the team tried everything to stay aggressive. Their perimeter engine, 1.78-meter-tall Facundo Campazzo, has way greater energy than his body suggests in defense. His ball pressure, fast footwork and vigilance made him a nightmare in one-on-one defense. Moreover, Argentina always made the right decision of double teaming the opponents' ball handler, which either led to steals or offense sabotaging.

Thanks to these advantages, Argentina were able to knock Serbia out via preemptive striking and speeding up the game, and France thanks to rich offensive choices and aggressive defense, to reach the World Cup Final.

By contrast, though Spain share the same Latin blood in their veins with Argentina and used to be known for their splendid offense, this time the team brought a totally different game to China.

In their games against Puerto Rico, Iran and Italy, Spain only scored 73, 73 and 67 points respectively, which was understandable considering that their most important offensive weapon Pau Gasol did not come. Ricky Rubio, whose biggest problem in the NBA was his inability to score, became Spain's main offensive weapon.

Of course it will be wrong to underestimate Spain's firepower based on the aforementioned three games. In the following three games, the team claimed 81, 90 and 95 points respectively against stronger opponents: Serbia, Poland and Australia. Therefore, the conclusion is – Spain preferred to build their game on solid defense from the beginning, putting up a competition of who could lose fewer points. However, if they cannot neutralize the opponents' offense, Spain are also willing to turn the game into a scoring contest.

With two great passers, Rubio and Gasol, in their team, Spain have probably the best orchestrators of all teams in the World Cup. Rudy Fernandez and Sergio Llull are both well-known shooters in Europe. Meanwhile, the Hernangomez brothers, Juan and Willy, are also able to stretch out the space.

Solid defense, smart movement of the ball plus strong confidence in letting the opponents strike first made Spain's seven victories so far in the World Cup possible.

The final on Sunday will be a competition of pace. Argentina undoubtedly prefer a fast game and if they can seize the chance to establish a big lead before the opponents are willing to invest more in offense, Argentina will be in a very comfortable position.

As for Spain, the first two quarters will be the biggest test to their defense. If Rubio and Gasol can limit the performance of Campazzo and Scola, making sure that the game is not a foregone conclusion in the first quarter, Spain's chance of winning will keep growing.