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Match preview: Argentina vie to stop France making it 2 in a row | Qatar World Cup 2022 News

  • Who: Argentina vs France, World Cup Final
  • Where: Lusail Iconic Stadium, Doha
  • When: Sunday, December 18 at 6pm (15:00 GMT)
  • FIFA rankings: Argentina (3), France (4)
  • Head-to-head record: 12 matches since 1930; Argentina won six, France won three and drew three

In the run-up to Sunday’s World Cup final, hot after steam has focused on the battle of the No 10s: Argentina’s Lionel Messi and France’s Kylian Mbappe.

Messi – Magician, PlayStation soccer player – possibly the best player the world has ever seen, is about to retire. Mbappe, the extraordinary talent, who has scored only 2 goals less than Messi at the World Cup, but is only 23 years old and is ready to dethrone the 35-year-old Argentine as the best player in the world.

But it is, naturally, more complicated than that.

Argentina’s squads in recent years may have been built entirely around Messi but as he has passed over the years, his role at La Albiceleste has evolved far beyond that of a restless scoring machine and Become a supreme builder, empower your teammates and wait for that perfect moment to unleash a bit of magic. . And it works.

Football is a team game, and Messi’s Argentina understands that.

Similarly, France is better than Mbappe. If they have a handful of global superstars like Karim Benzema, Paul Pogba and N’Golo Kante with playing injuries, there’s no guarantee the 2018 winners will get this far. Because of their absence, the attention of the world press as well as the defense throughout the tournament focused on Mbappe. And that has allowed the super versatile Antoine Griezmann and veteran player Olivier Giroud the time and space to shine.

“Tomorrow’s game is Argentina vs France, more Messi vs Mbappe,” Argentina coach Lionel Scaloni told reporters on Saturday when asked about the two superstars and their PSG teammates who have been scored 5 goals so far in the tournament in Qatar.

“I think both teams have the weapons they need and the match can be decided by other players, not necessarily by those two. Lion [Messi] are doing well and let’s hope the game goes our way, but it’s Argentina vs France, and there are many players who can decide the game.”

Kylian Mbappe
Kylian Mbappe is in impressive form since the beginning of the tournament [Sorin Furcoi/Al Jazeera]

Meanwhile, France received a boost on Saturday, with a number of players who have been sidelined for the past few days because of the virus returning to team training. Adrien Rabiot and Dayot Upamecano missed France’s 2-0 win over Morocco in the semi-final, while Raphael Varane, Ibrahima Konate and Kingsley Coman have been absent for the past two days of training. But all five players will be assigned to head coach Didier Deschamps – one of only three people to have won the World Cup as both player and coach.

“For me, the French team has always been the most beautiful thing that has happened to me in my professional career,” Deschamps told reporters on Saturday.

“I had a great experience as a player, and now I have the honor to experience that as a coach. Now, it’s been 10 years, and it’s really passion, a very, very high level. So I’m good, very good, very happy to be in this position.”

Days with history

Both Argentina and France have won the World Cup twice in their history – in 1978 and 1986 for the former, and 1998 and 2018 for the latter.

However, the crowd in Doha seems to believe that Argentina’s third day of victory has arrived, and the nearly 90,000-capacity Lusail Stadium will be dominated by white and blue.

The prospect of Messi finally winning the World Cup in his final tournament brought more flights for Argentine fans to Qatar, with at least 40,000 Argentines estimated to be at the stadium.

“We all believe this will be Messi’s day,” said Ricardo Schwarz, a teacher from Cordoba, hoarse from singing the song. Argentina fan song for more than an hour.

“I don’t have a ticket yet, but I haven’t given up hope yet,” he added. “They are commercially available, but they are expensive.”

Supporters told AFP news agency that $750 face value tickets had been offered for more than $4,000 on WhatsApp groups set up to exchange seats at the stadium.

Deschamps also said he expected a one-sided atmosphere: “They sang a lot and were very expressive. Good. It’s a World Cup final anyway, but our opponent is not in the stands.”

This is the 11th World Cup final to be played between a South American country and a European country.

In both the quarter-final against England and the semi-final against Morocco, France played hard to take the lead in the first half and then ready to tackle the pressure and play on the counter-attack – a tactic that also worked. effective badge 4 years ago in France. The country won the World Cup.

Could that also work against Argentina, with Messi in such dazzling form?

France captain Hugo Lloris, who is looking to become the first man to lead a two-time World Cup-winning team, said: “Things always happen in a game where you’re not prepared. “That’s when you need to show good teamwork, and you also need to have the feeling to pull the plug and dig deep in those difficult moments.

“Argentina is a strong team and has a lot of other players – a young generation growing up – and you can feel they are all dedicated to Leo Messi.”



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