FIFA World Cup Final 2022 Argentina vs France: Messi's last World Cup match, Mbappe keeps it tight
Argentina and France will face against each other at the finale of the FIFA World Cup 2022 at Lusail Stadium in Qatar on Sunday, December 18. While Argentina triumphed over last World Cup finalists Croatia in the semi-final to reach the finals, France ended Morocco's dream to enter their second consecutive final at this year's FIFA World Cup.
Who has the better to-head record: In the international matches, France and Argentina have squared up against each other in 12 matches. Argentina here has a lead, winning six out of 12 matches while France has won three.
- The other three matches ended in a draw.
- Plus, both the teams have won the World Cup twice. Argentina won the World Cup in 1978; and then in 1986 under Diego Maradona.
- France emerged champions on home soil in 1998 and then repeated the feat in 2018.
- However, France bettered Argentina in the quarter-finals of the 2018 Fifa World Cup, winning the match 4-3. It was a match where France's Kylian Mbappe scored two goals to guide France to victory. Argentina were knocked out of the match.
- France will also look to successfully defend the title, after Italy (1938) and Brazil (1962) to defend the title.
Journey of Argentina in the World Cup: Argentina got off to a shaky start as they were outsmarted by Saudi Arabia in their opening game. Though Messi scored one goal in the second half, the Saudi Arabia team won the match 2-1.
- However, Lionel Messi's Argentina bounced back from the loss and came roaring against Mexico in the next match, winning it 2-0, with Messi and Enzo Fernandez scoring one goal each.
- Argentina then cruised over Poland winning the contest 2-0 and storming into the Super 16.
- In the next match, Argentina won over Australia 2-1.
- However, Argentina's most thrilling campaign in the knockout stage was against the Netherlands when they went into the penalties as the score was tied at 2-2. Argentina won the penalties 4-3, pushing the Dutch team out of the World Cup.
- In the semi-finals, the team completely outperformed Croatia by 3-0, entering the finals.
Argentina in the whole tournament so far has netted 12 goals from six matches, with Lionel Messi leading the chart with 5 goals; followed by Julian Alvarez at 4.
France: France started their World Cup campaign on a high by winning a game against Australia 4-1, and then against Denmark 2-1 to qualify for Round 16.
- However, an upset came France's way as the team lost one match against Tunisia by 1-0. But by then, the Hugo Lloris's team bounced back in the knockouts with a win against Poland 3-1.
- In the quarter-final, France defeated England 2-1 and then outmanoeuvred Morocco 2-0 in the semi-finals to book their date for the finals with Argentina.
Overall, in six games, France has netted 13 goals and will be looking to score some more to lift their World Cup second time in a row.
Lionel Messi will be the trump card for Argentina and will hope to win this final after losing one to Germany in 2014 1-0.
On the other hand, Kylian Mbappe from France, who has netted 5 goals in the tournament, will eye to get the World Cup home again.
The match will start at 8.30 pm (IST) on December 18, Sunday. It can be viewed online on the JioCinema app.