World Cup Final preview: Argentina v France

Introduction

The final of the 2022 Qatar World Cup will be played between France and Argentina on December 18^th in Lusail.

Both teams are attempting to win the tournament for the third time in their history.

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France are the defending champions and previously won it in 1998. Argentina’s first triumph was on home soil in 1978, and their second, eight years later in 1986, in Mexico.

Each came through their semi-finals in contrasting fashion. Argentina were impressive in beating a previously obdurate Croatian side, whilst France had to cope with a hostile crowd as they ended Morocco’s bid to make World Cup history.

The odds

The two teams are evenly matched, at least according to the bookmakers, although France will begin the match as marginal favourites. However, there is a good chance that the match may go to extra time and even penalties, although most neutral fans would prefer that it did not come to that.

Spot kicks can be like a lottery, and they are a pretty random way to decide who gets the biggest prize in world football.

Previous history

The two teams have met twelve times before and Argentina have the edge, having won six of those games, to three for France, whilst three matches ended in draws.

Three of those previous games have been in World Cups.

In 1930, the inaugural year of the tournament, when it was staged in Uruguay, with only 13 teams entering the competition, the two teams met in a group game in Montevideo, Argentina winning by a single goal.

48 years later, it was Argentina’s turn to host the tournament and the pair were again drawn into the same group, with their game taking place in Buenos Aires.

Argentina again emerged as the winners, thanks to a penalty from Daniel Passarella and Leopoldo Luque, scoring a beautiful outside-the-box goal. The home side would go on to lift the World Cup.

Their last meeting in any competition came four years ago in Russia in the last World Cup, and this time it was France who emerged victorious from their round of 16 tie which turned out to be a thriller.

Antoine Griezmann gave France an early advantage from the penalty spot but Argentina hit back to lead with goals either side of half-time.

However, three goals in eleven minutes – including two from Kylian Mbappé – tilted the match decisively in favour of France, although Sergio Agüero did ensure a frantic finish when he pulled one back.

France

Despite being the defending champions, the expectations for the team were limited amongst the French public on the eve of the tournament.

They had lost several key players to injury, including N’Golo Kanté, Paul Pogba, Pascal Kimpembe, Karim Benzema, and Christopher Nkunku, and their star player, Kylian Mbappé, was in a dispute with the country’s Football Federation over image rights and refusing to appear in advertisements for one of their main sponsors.

In addition, the head of the Federation is facing harassment charges.

Despite that, the team’s progress has demonstrated the strength in depth that the team has in every position, and they have also shown that they have a winning mentality, something that manager Didier Deschamps helped make the difference in their quarterfinal win over England.

This experience helped them deal with the intense atmosphere in the stadium during the semi-final match against Morocco. It also kept them from getting scared, even when they were under a lot of pressure.

Argentina

Argentina arrived at this World Cup off the back of an unbeaten 36-match run, which included beating Brazil in the final of the Copa América last year.

So, it was one of the biggest surprises in World Cup history when Saudi Arabia beat them in their first game.

They still recovered to top the group and have got stronger the longer the competition has gone on, although they did have to survive a bad-tempered match against the Dutch, which Argentina seemed to have won, only to concede two late goals which eventually resulted in penalties.

However, they were much too strong for a previously obdurate Croatian side in their semi-final, and have had the advantage of one more day to prepare for the final.

Lionel Messi

Their captain, Lionel Messi, has been at the heart of their campaign, and he appears determined to erase his reputation as one of the greatest players never to win a World Cup. In four previous attempts, he had never scored a goal in the knock-out phases before, but he has scored and assisted in each of their sudden-death games in this tournament and now leads with Kylian Mbappé in the race for the Golden Boot.

Messi has already said that the final will be his last World Cup match. It would be a fitting way for him to draw down the curtain on his international career.

And, given the recent controversies surrounding his great rival, he appears to have settled the never-ending debate over whether he or Cristiano Ronaldo is the better player, decisively in his favour.

A duel of PSG players

It is tempting to define the final as a duel between two PSG players, Mbappé or Messi, but that would be unfair to some of the supporting cast. Including Olivier Giroud and Julian Alvárez, both of whom will have their own ambitions for the Golden Boot.

And, at the other end of the pitch, both goalkeepers, Hugo Lloris and Emi Martínez have had fine tournaments. Both could still have a big role to play, especially if the match goes to penalties, where Martínez may just have the edge.

Prediction

In the end, though, it may come down to psyche, and there is where France may have a slight advantage. The Liverpool team of Jurgen Klopp that maintained their challenge for four trophies last season right until the end were described as “mentality monsters” and the same epithet could be given to Didier Deschamps’ side.

They know what it takes to win an international tournament, which may be enough to justify their favourite labels, but Argentina is a strong team led by the GOAT, who is ready for its rightful coronation.