Cup futbol is conservative going forward and full-on defensive tactics when opposition has the ball. In a league format you can afford to lose once in a while, or have draw. In a cup it's over. People overlook this aspect when they watch Argentina; they play a deliberate conservative tactic; very low-risk, only going horizontal when needed, they prefer the vertical lanes just to kill time. France hasnt looked very dangerous as well; they dont leave that much space when going forwards. Its just the wingers, Giroud en Griezman who really push up. They leave plenty behind. Both teams are conservative when going forward and prefer to run the clock. It will be snoozefest for sure.
The Final: Argentina vs France
- Thread starter Samid
- Start date
Want Argentina to win. Feels like a 50/50 matchup. Pleople here understimate the Argentinian NT and overstimate the French NT.
France will win it. Boring bastards. Want to see Argentina win it for auld Lionel.
I dont see it as well: havent impressed me at all so far. You just have a crazy Griezman covering 99% of the pitch, working harder than a Modric and De Paul combined and Mbappe running like a madmen on the sideline. Giroud is clinical as always. Dembele is useless. And that midfield couldnt beat the mifdields of England, Tunisia and struggled with Denmark.
I'm sorry but when De Paul, MacAllister, Paredes and Fernandez run circles around Brozovic, Modric and Kovacic then surely they have no problems with Tchouameni, Fofama and Griezman. They win that midfield battle easily. Argentina just needs to contain Mbappe - and England showed its perfectly possible. Then you need to shut down Griezman and thats a lot harder with his workrate.
Yeah i meant like watching them get out of their boring game trying to win. One can hope
How exactly? Hindsight is a wonderful thing except it doesn't always happen. Germany, Spain all could have been on this side. Having lost the first match, Argentina could have been very well on other side (Lewa missed a penalty against Mexico ).
I think France wins again if Rabiot comes back into the team. Higher quality through the spine, and Giroud is a better player than Alvarez. Argentina's weakness is their fullbacks, whereas I'd say England had the perfect pair to deal with France.
Spare a thought for Benzema - he may end up missing out on two world cup wins whilst being the only French player to win the Ballon D'Or in that time.
Not to mention it's much smarter if you have gamebreaking attackers to look to shore up the back instead of trying to dominate and overwhelm the opponents. If you're Argentina or France, you only need your stars to get a couple openings to score and you can bide your team playing a more conservative style until then. People complain about it but it's the best way to win unless you have a 2010 Spain level midfield that can just hoard the ball (they were also conservative, just in a different way)
He would be winning this WC though funnily enough as he's still in the official squad
I could be speaking about Di Maria
I want France to win or the match to be abandoned.
Benzema to score the winner off the bench
I'm not surprised you don't realize what it takes to win a world cup, considering you're from Belgium.
France was ahead most of the time in both of the games you mention, and when they needed to score a second goal against england, they did. They didn't go once into OT. You might not like the way that France manages their games but there's nothing random or lucky about reaching 2 world cup finals in a row when no team did that since 1990.
Agree on the full backs, they seem to have four and Molina especially seems to hav ebeen hyped. They seem all action and decent goign forward, but they all look a little average defensively.
Be interesting to see how Enzo Fernandez does in his deeper role though handling Griezman who I think has been excellent, especially winning the ball back.
Not sure who I want to win it personally. The crazy thing is though the Fench players that have barely played and several who arent even in the squad is for me arguably a better side than the on ein the final, they really are blessed with a deep pool of talent
A man of culture. I salute
All I'm hoping is for a great match with no gifted penalties. May the best team win.
If Messi wins this the GOAT debate is dead.
Need a strong ref for this match who will allow play to flow at a reasonable rate. Can't be overly protective of Messi or Mbappe.
That's very true, Hakimi and Walker were probably the only two full backs in the WC with the pace/strength to deal with Mbappé. And they did the job pretty well (they also double or triple teamed Mbappé) even if stll managed to be involved one way or the other in most goals. I'm not certain Molina can do the same.
No chance. Gifted penalties and dubious refereeing is a given. We just need to know which team will get those favors. My guess is Argentina. But you never know.
Really hard to predict. Argentina hasn't played many tough opponents but had the better chances in every match up and beat Croatia convincingly - a team that suffocated Brazil and made the WC final four years ago. On top, Argentina just beat Brazil in the Copa final one year ago.
France strongest win was probably against England and they were the worse team but still won. Now they struggled quite a bit against Morocco. Hard to tell how good the teams are in comparison but I assume it is save to say that Argentina will be the toughest opponent they faced in this tournament. If they surrender the ball as much as against Morocco, Messi will cut them open sooner or later and if they pressure him, they'll offer more space inbehind. Plus Argentina will make less mistakes than Morocco - who basically invited both of France's goals.
France strongest win was probably against England and they were the worse team but still won. Now they struggled quite a bit against Morocco. Hard to tell how good the teams are in comparison but I assume it is save to say that Argentina will be the toughest opponent they faced in this tournament. If they surrender the ball as much as against Morocco, Messi will cut them open sooner or later and if they pressure him, they'll offer more space inbehind. Plus Argentina will make less mistakes than Morocco - who basically invited both of France's goals.
Being English I do envy the French sometimes.
They have a men’s team that beats ours and they don’t have to pay towards the upkeep of a feudal monarchy.
Of course they also have the better national anthem.
Damnit.
At least we had The Beatles.
They have a men’s team that beats ours and they don’t have to pay towards the upkeep of a feudal monarchy.
Of course they also have the better national anthem.
Damnit.
At least we had The Beatles.
Yes and though not as pacey and inconsistent with final ball, Dembele is also a huge danger and he was mainly kept quiet in the last two legs by two left backs playing very well if he wasnt given space, I think he causes danger too. Focus is Messi v Mbappe final for obvious reasons, I think it may be Dembele makes a crucial contribution as he hasnt really yet, flattered to decieve a little sine th egroup games ended
I think it's quite telling that potentially half the center backs involved in the final happen to make up our first choice pairing in the league. We really need to kick on after the league resumes, clearly the spine (when you account for Casemiro) is in a good place.
France 2-0 Argentina
jajajaja
vs
honhonhonhon
winner: honhonhonhon
vs
honhonhonhon
winner: honhonhonhon
Oh I didn’t realise that. Still though, probably a bit hollow seeing Giroud play in his second final
For no other reason than to wind up Ronaldo. Otherwise, I don’t care who wins.
Wasnt that the game where Mbappe destroyed Rojo? He better not do that our Martinez!The best game of 2018 World Cup gets repeated as the final of this one
0-0 and penalties guaranteed.
I don't think any team reserves a gear or two in a WC. If France looked half-assed then it is because they avoided exposing their defense. For a team that's so conservative, they allow quite a few scoring opportunities for their opponents. And their biggest threat - Mbappe - has been shut down almost entirely for two matches a row now. They don't really get him into dangerous positions enough.
Dembele is very disapointing so far in my opinion. He has a lot of room on his side since most teams focus on Mbappé and he's not using it well, he needs to present an alternative threat consistently.
Mbappe didn’t destroy Rojo at all. He destroyed Mascherano for sure in that play. Rojo made the most stupid penalty, Kylian was going outside the area, he didn’t need to grab him. Rojo has no football IQ, it’s the exact opposite to Lich, who is one of the smartest defenders in the game.Wasnt that the game where Mbappe destroyed Rojo? He better not do that our Martinez!
Ah yes, i looked it up now. He outruns two players (the number 3 and Mascherano) before Rojo stops him with a stupid foul. Hopefully the final will include a special moment like that too. Messi would sure be capable of doing something special
This will be a close game, world cup finals will always be(well except some exceptions involving France funnily enough 
).
I think Argentina could certainly nick a win here, both teams will probably try to sit back but I fancy Argentina a tad more ,they seem to have all the momentum and one more day to rest, how much is that worth? God knows but France has shown to be quite susceptible at times, will be an interesting watch.
).I think Argentina could certainly nick a win here, both teams will probably try to sit back but I fancy Argentina a tad more ,they seem to have all the momentum and one more day to rest, how much is that worth? God knows but France has shown to be quite susceptible at times, will be an interesting watch.
Compared to you who had played a crucial role in that WC win.
He has taken them to two finals now. And the performance in this one at 35 is good enough to end the debate now.
Argentina please, as long as Di Maria goes no where near the field. He still makes me cringe. I need to move on....
Although they only have 2 WCs - same as Uruguay and Argentina, I do get that feeling about them with international football. They have not much competition which helps. But yeah their combination of physicality and technical quality holds them in good stead
It's not about playing a role, it's about understanding why France reached the final in 4 out of the last 7 world cups. The whole "the best team lost, we showed far more blabla" and all these shenanigans were started by Belgium in 2018 and continued by Spain, Portugal or England this year. It's not "fluky", or luck, or just being "clinical", it's a deep understanding, by Deschamps especially, of how you win a cup game. It doesn't always work obviously since the last euro ended too early but 3 finals in the last 4 international competitions isn't something you can brush under the carpet.