The 2022 World Cup has reached its climax, with Argentina and France going head-to-head in a highly anticipated final on Sunday at 3.00 pm.
It all comes down to this for these two prominent football nations as they battle it out for world supremacy at the Lusail Iconic Stadium, with much more than just bragging rights up for grabs.
Paris Saint-Germain superstar Lionel Messi seeks a place alongside the country’s legend Diego Armando Maradona as the hero to lead Argentina to the throne for the first time since 1986.
Despite a stuttering start to their Qatar journey, La Albiceleste have put a woeful 2-1 loss to Saudi Arabia on matchday one firmly behind them and could become the second team in World Cup history to win the title after losing the opening game.
Messi opened the scoring before Julian Alvarez chipped in with a brace as Lionel Scaloni’s high-flyers thrashed beaten finalists from 2018 Croatia 3-0 in the semi-finals to reach the title decider for the sixth time.
Argentina’s most recent foray into the World Cup showpiece yielded a heartbreaking 1-0 extra-time defeat at the hands of France’s fellow European rivals Germany in 2014.
Les Bleus face an opportunity to become only the third nation to defend the World Cup crown, with Brazil last achieving that feat in 1962.
Didier Deschmamps’ men humbled Croatia 4-2 in the 2018 final, but unlike four years ago in Russia, they are not as heavily fancied to overcome a mighty Argentina here.
The nation’s hopes of making history this winter will rest upon Messi’s club teammate Kylian Mbappe, who leads the goalscoring charts in Qatar with five goals under his belt.
Mbappe wasn’t on the scoresheet in the two previous knockout rounds, with France squeezing past England and tournament’s heroes Morocco 2-1 and 2-0, respectively.
Highly-rated AC Milan left-back Theo Hernandez broke the deadlock against Walid Regragui’s warriors last time out before Randal Kolo Muani put the game to bed with virtually his first touch with the ball.
Match Preview
Argentina
Since Scaloni took charge of Argentina in 2018, La Albiceleste have changed beyond recognition, developing from downtrodden world heavyweights into one of the best-performing teams on the planet.
After ending the country’s two-and-a-half-decade wait for an international honour with last summer’s Copa America triumph, Scaloni proved his managerial credentials with a 3-0 demolition of reigning European champions Italy in this year’s Finalissima.
As the youngest manager to take charge of a World Cup final since Rudi Voller in 2002 (42), the 44-year-old Scaloni will hope to dodge Voller’s fate and avoid leading Argentina to what would be a joint-record fourth loss in this fixture.
France
France bypassed Morocco in the semi-finals after scoring the earliest World Cup semi-final goal since 1958 while also registering their first clean sheet in Qatar.
Despite facing compounding selection woes due to injuries and illness to several first-team regulars, Deschamps is on the verge of becoming the first manager since Vittorio Pozzo in 1938 to win back-to-back World Cups.
There’s plenty of reason for optimism in Deschamps’ corner, as Les Bleus haven’t lost any of their last ten World Cup encounters against South American nations (W6, D4) since ominously going down to non-other than Argentina in the 1978 first group stage.
Argentina vs France Head-to-Head
A long-standing World Cup rivalry between Argentina and France dates back to 1930 when the two nations first met in the tournament’s inaugural edition. La Albiceleste claimed a narrow 1-0 win in the group stages before a 2-1 group phase victory in their triumphant 1978 campaign.
However, Les Bleus won the only previous H2H showdown in the World Cup knockout stage as Mbappe’s match-winning performance fired them to an eye-catching 4-3 triumph in the 2018 round of 16.
Overall, Argentina and France have faced each other 12 times across all competitions, with both teams accruing three wins apiece and six other matches ending as a draw.
Team News
After serving a one-game ban against Croatia on Tuesday, Sevilla left-back Marcos Acuna will likely replace Nicolas Tagliafico in the starting XI.
The same goes for Gonzalo Montiel, who’s unlikely to form part of Scaloni’s line-up. However, there’s still a question mark of Alejandro Papu Gomez’s head over an ankle problem.
While Argentina still sweat over Angel Di Maria’s muscular issues, there’s growing confidence the Juventus winger will start Sunday’s fixture after missing out on the semi-finals.
France’s first-team regulars Adrien Rabiot and Dayot Upamecano sat out the semi-final through what Deschamps described as ‘flu-like symptoms,’ yet both are back in contention for the final.
Unlike the two of them, Kingsley Coman, the third player known to be affected, may have to watch the game from the sidelines.
Argentina vs France Potential Line-ups
Argentina (4-3-3): Emiliano Martinez; Nahuel Molina, Cristian Romero, Nicolas Otamendi, Marcos Acuna; Rodrigo De Paul, Enzo Fernandez, Alexis Mac Allister; Angel Di Maria, Lionel Messi, Julian Alvarez.
France (4-3-3): Lloris; Jules Kounde, Raphael Varane, Dayot Upamecano, Theo Hernandez; Antoine Griezmann, Aurelien Tchouameni, Adrien Rabiot; Ousmane Dembele, Olivier Giroud, Kylian Mbappe.
Argentina vs France Prediction
When the stakes are as high as they will be on Sunday, all statistics, H2H diagrams or previous track records tend to go out of the window.
It often comes down to who wants it more, especially when the adversaries are as tactically and technically savvy as they are in this case.
There’s no doubt that Messi wants the crown more than any other player that will grasp the Lusail Iconic Stadium pitch.
La Pulga’s sheer will to win the only major title that’s been evading him throughout his trophy-laden career could make the difference on Sunday.
We back Argentina to dethrone France and help establish Messi as the greatest football player of all time.
Argentina 2-1 France
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