Argentina vs France: Messi or Mbappe – who will taste victory?
Argentina and France will do battle in the 2022 World Cup final on Sunday as the latest installment of the FIFA World Cup comes to its conclusion. It has been a tournament for the ages, with plenty of thrills, spills, heartbreaks, and controversies to keep fans talking until the next edition kicks off in just under four years’ time.
But all good things have to come to an end, and hence, the 2022 FIFA World Cup will be soon consigned to the history books once Sunday’s final between Argentina and France comes to a close. It’s certainly expected to be an exciting affair, with two big teams full of star players set to battle for 90 minutes – or perhaps more – with the victor earning the right to be crowned champions of the world.
The Lionel Messi vs. Kylian Mbappe battle has predictably dominated the headlines, with the two PSG stars set to go toe to toe as each player hopes to play a crucial role in this crunch clash. Both Messi and Mbappe are in contention for the Golden Boot and possibly even the Golden Ball prizes, depending on what impact each has during Sunday’s game. For Messi, who is 35, this presents his last opportunity to get his hands on the one trophy that has eluded him over the course of his illustrious career, while for Mbappe, who is just 23, it is an opportunity to be one of a handful of players to win back to back World Cup titles.
Indeed, France are hoping to become the first team since Brazil (in 1958 and 1962) to successfully defend their World Cup title. Didier Deschamps’s men started off their World Cup title defense in resounding fashion, cruising to a 4-1 win over Australia before beating Denmark 2-1 on matchday two. With qualification already secured, Deschamps opted to ring the changes and field a largely second-string squad for their final group stage match against Tunisia.
Unfortunately, it backfired, as Tunisia earned a 1-0 win. While it wasn’t enough to help the North African side progress, it still rattled some sections of the French fanbase, who had hoped to see Les Bleus get into the round of 16 without losing a single game. That being said, France managed to avoid the fates of Italy, Spain, and Germany, who all came into the World Cup as reigning champs and were dumped out at the group stage.
Having become the first side since Brazil to successfully elude the “Winner’s Curse”, France then successfully avoided an early meeting with Argentina thanks to finishing top of their quartet. The reigning champions looked largely unbothered as they faced Poland, with Robert Lewandowski reduced to a mere cameo appearance as his re-taken penalty late in the match was nothing but a consolation. Next up was a showdown against EURO 2020 runners-up England, and although Mbappe had a very quiet evening by his lofty standards, Deschamps’s squad were still able to earn a 2-1 victory.
That win, which saw England receive two penalties – one of which Harry Kane missed – had English fans moaning about the refereeing decisions that they felt went against them, while many French supporters were breathing a collective sigh of relief. Had Kane converted his second penalty, the match very well could have been pushed to extra time and penalties – something France have been able to avoid so far at this year’s World Cup.
The semi-finals pitted France against this tournament’s Cinderella story – Morocco. The Atlas Lions had made history as the first African side to get to the semi-finals of a World Cup following a stunning run that saw them beat Belgium, Spain, and Portugal in a competition that many had not even given them a chance to get out of their group. Many neutrals hoped to see the Moroccan miracle continue even further, but France were simply too strong for the North African side and successfully battled to a 2-0 victory. However, Morocco do have a chance to enter into unprecedented territory as they will contest Croatia for the third placed medal on Saturday.
Meanwhile, Argentina had a nightmare start to this competition. The 2021 Copa America winners on a whopping 36 match unbeaten streak and had not lost in over three years prior to their tie against Saudi Arabia on matchday one. Given the Green Falcons’ struggles in this competition, many expected it to be one-way traffic, quite akin to the 8-0 humiliation they suffered at the hands of Germany in 2002, or their 5-0 loss on matchday one of the 2018 FIFA World Cup.
Well, football is a truly unpredictable thing, and despite going 1-0 down following a Messi penalty, Saudi Arabia turned the tie totally on its head to complete one of the biggest upsets in World Cup history. Still, despite losing 2-1 and causing alarm bells to go off among most Argentinian fans, La Albiceleste bounced back, beating both Mexico and Poland to ultimately top their quartet and receive a more “favorable” draw against Australia in the round of 16.
They did have another scare, as an own goal gave Australia a glimmer of hope at qualifying, but they successfully hung on to their 2-1 lead to set up a showdown with the Netherlands in the quarter-finals.
And it was indeed a showdown. A record setting number of yellow cards were handed out as the match was brimming with tension from the very start. Although Argentina appeared to be in cruise control with a 2-0 lead, a move of tactical brilliance by Louis van Gaal saw the tie turned on his head, with substitute Wout Weghorst coming off the bench to score a brace. It’s a miracle that the match ended with all 22 men on the pitch due to the hostilities that were clearly on display between the two sides, and Argentina were able to finally see off the Oranje following a tough penalty shootout.
Fatigue seemed to be no issue for them during their quarter-finals tie against Croatia, which was decided 3-0 thanks to another penalty from Messi and a brace from Julian Alvarez. It was a sweet taste of revenge for Argentina, who had lost by the same score-line to the Vatreni four years ago during the group stage. This time around, Croatia, who once again, had won their round of 16 and quarter-finals ties on penalties, were not able to muster the energy they needed to book their spot in what would have been their final, and now, they will look to finish their competition off on a decent note as they take on Morocco in the third-placed match on Saturday.
Four years ago, France beat Argentina 4-3 to dump the South American giants out of the round of 16, and that’s something that will be very fresh in many of these players’ minds. Interestingly, Messi has yet to beat a team featuring Mbappe, as, including the 4-3 defeat at the 2018 World Cup, the seven-time Ballon d’Or winner was part of a Barcelona side that lost 5-2 on aggregate in the round of 16. Mbappe silenced the Camp Nou thanks to a stunning hat-trick, and overall, the 23-year-old has scored six times against Messi’s teams (both club and national level).
The two, of course, are now colleagues at PSG, which makes for an interesting sub plotline in itself. In short, the upcoming final featuring Argentina and France has all the makings of a blockbuster film. Will it be Messi, now in the twilight years of his glittering career to win the one prize that has eluded him all these years?
Or will be Mbappe, who has many more years of top flight football still ahead of him, to help steer his team to back to back titles and possibly put himself in serious contention for next year’s Ballon d’Or prize?
