New York is dressed for the World Cup final.

After a decline in interest over the past few weeks, New Yorkers returned to the atmosphere of the World Cup on Sunday to watch the final match scheduled in neighboring New Jersey, amidst giant screens and parades of Argentina and Spain fans.

After a blanket of pollution from smoke from wildfires in Canada hung over the city for several days, New York regained a generally satisfactory level of air quality following violent thunderstorms that dispersed the smoke cloud.

As is customary every morning of a match day, Mayor Zahraan Mamdani, a football enthusiast, provided a briefing on the weather and transportation, interspersed with football comments, and was joined by Gary Lineker, the English football star from the 1980s, who expressed his admiration for Diego Maradona and his concerns about Lionel Messi.

The face of Argentine star Leo Messi is seen all over the streets of the city, as thousands of "Albiceleste" fans flooded Times Square.

Florentcha Lutzini, a 30-year-old Argentine dentist who came from Italy to attend the match, told AFP as she exited Grand Central Station that she felt "nervous," adding, "I love my country. It's the final match, and it might be Messi's last... maybe today is our day, but honestly, I don't know."

Just a few meters away, a Spanish couple wearing "La Roja" jerseys passed by; Lutzini deliberately turned her head the other way, saying, "We ran into some of them, but I’m not looking at them... I stay focused."

Not far away in Central Park, technicians were putting the finishing touches on a giant screen for the match that would host 50,000 people in the famous park in Manhattan.

Alessandra Picchler, a 30-year-old American of Spanish descent, said while waiting for a bus to the stadium, "I feel extremely anxious," even though she predicted Spain would win "3-1."

Many Americans' interest in the matches has waned in recent days, especially after the national team was eliminated by Belgium.

42-year-old hobbyist Ray said, "The event has declined a bit. I think there’s a kind of fatigue after the group stage, and then after the U.S. exit. Also, Spain and Argentina represent relatively modest immigrant communities in New York"; he had shifted his interest to England after the U.S. team was eliminated.

The exorbitant prices for final match tickets, the highest ever for a sporting event in the United States, have also deterred many fans. According to "TickPick," the average ticket price reached $11,327.