Argentina – France

Argentina and France could have a productive final

The World Cup final will take place on Sunday 18 December. Argentina will play against France. It is a repeat of the 1/8 final match at the tournament in Moscow. It was a very entertaining encounter. France were stronger than Argentina with a score of 4-3. Lionel Scaloni's side had a very good matchday before the final. In fact, there were no main favourites on their way to the trophy. Argentina didn't easily make it out of a weak group, losing to Saudi Arabia. Next, they were lucky to fall to sensational Australia. Instead of a match against Brazil in the semi-finals, the team was taken on by exhausted Croatian players. It turned out that the most prepared opponent nearly knocked out Argentina. The far from formidable Netherlands lost only in a penalty shoot-out. In fact, it was the only national team to field quality centre-forwards against Argentina. Scaloni's defence appeared rather weak from the outset. In attack, much was tied to the talent of Lionel Messi. The legendary footballer is having his best World Cup ever. Messi is joint top scorer with Mbappe, shares the tournament's top assist and is also the top scorer in goals and assists. Messi has had a decisive impact on the result in every play-off match. He has always won the Most Valuable Player of the Match award. At the moment, the Argentinian national team has a few questions about the injured. Di Maria should be fully recovered by the final. France went through a more difficult net. The team had no passing opponents. Poland put up resistance in the first leg of the play-offs. The game with England was, in terms of aggregate quality, the best of the tournament. France stopped one of the main title contenders. Before the clash with Morocco, Deschamps had new problems with the squad. Upamecano and centre-back Rabiot have both dropped out due to a mysterious cold. France did not shy away from playing second choice against Morocco. The speed of their players ensured that the Africans were caught out on the counterattack. Injuries and illnesses could be a global problem for France. Fofana is not an adequate replacement for Rabiot in a functional role. An unexpected bonus for Deschamps' team could be Karim Benzema. There have been increasing rumours in the press that the striker will come to the final; he has not been ruled out of the squad. That said, Karim will definitely not feature in the main squad. The bookmakers are expecting an extremely cautious final, but one goal could make a big difference. Both teams are very strong on the counterattack. In other words, there should be no total deep defence. It is logical to assume that the opponents are capable of scoring at least two goals.