It’s a battle of two PSG teammates as Lionel Messi’s Argentina will lock horns with Kylian Mbappe’s France for the 33rd edition of the senior men’s national teams Fédération Internationale de Football Association which is commonly known as the FIFA Senior Men’s World Cup since the inaugural tournament in 1930, except in 1942 and 1946 when it was not held because of the Second World War.
This year’s edition was hosted in the middle east in the oil rich region of Qatar and also the very first in a winter season for the first time since 1930.
PREVIEW
France and Argentina hope to end their fairytale run in Qatar with the trophy as both eye to claim their third FIFA World Cup crown. France who are the reigning champions are focused on rewriting history by becoming the first country in 60 years to win the FIFA World Cup trophy back to back since Pele’s Brazil won it in 1958 and 1962 respectively.
The Les blue with their Star man in Kylian Mbappe who is one of the tournament’s top scorers alongside Lionel Messi with five goals from six games defeated Morocco 2-0 in the semi-finals to book their final spot.
The 23-year-old PSG forward who was one of the six players in the French squad at the 2018 edition in Russia when they defeated this year’s bronze medalist Croatia 4-2 in the final will have a bigger task to face as they meet the tournament’s favorite in Lionel Messi’s Argentina.
Lionel Messi after an extraordinary club career will hope to bow out of International football with a world cup trophy after winning every other title a football player could boast of with the 35-year-old winning a whooping 41 titles in his 17 years of professional football.
Messi led Argentina comfortably defeated Croatia 3-0 in the semifinals to reach the final.
The Argentines will be making their sixth appearance in a World Cup final after five caps in 1930, 1978, 1986, 1990 and 2014 while France will play their fourth final with the previous being in 1998, 2006 and 2018.
En route to the final France topped group D winning their first two games against Australia and Denmark before losing their final game against Tunisia.
Kylian Mbappe’s brace in the round of 16 against Poland ensured their passage to the quarter-finals where they defeated England 2-1 before edging out Morocco in the semis.
Argentina did not start their World cup campaign the way they would have loved to as Asian side Saudi Arabia came from a goal down to win the first game of group C 2-1.
Lionel Messi and Enzo Fernandez’s goals were enough in the second game as Argentina resurrected their world cup campaign with a 2-0 win over Mexico on matchday 2.
They then went on to defeat Poland 2-0 to advance from group C as group winners before beating Australia 2-1 in the round of 16, Netherlands on penalties in the quarter finals and Croatia in the semi-finals.
HEAD TO HEAD
Argentina and France will be meeting for the 13th time in football history when they meet in Qatar. Argentina hold the edge over France, having won six out of 12 times in their meetings, with France winning three; the other three matches have ended in a draw.
France, however, had won in their last meeting that incidentally came in the World Cup knock-out stages at the previous edition (2018) where France beat Argentina 4-3 to reach the quarter-finals.
Matches played – 12, Argentina won – 6 France won – 3 Draw – 3
TIME AND VENUE
The 2022 FIFA World Cup Final ceremony is set to start from 14:00 GMT on Sunday the 17th of December 2022, while the match kicks off at 15:00 GMT at the Lusail Stadium in Doha. A Stadium with over 80, 000 capacity.
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May the best team win