Yeah wouldn’t argue against that but Argentina are so light in attack(It’s just Messi and Alvarez atm).
The Final: Argentina vs France
- Thread starter Samid
- Start date
Of course not
Was he injured vs Holland ? He was introduced late on.
He was injured against Poland and then eased in against Holland. Scaloni obviously didn't take any risk against Croatia. I don't know if he's going to play against France.
Di Maria can also put in a defensive shift, if needed. You should worry more about Mbappé not tracking back.
Always prefer England vs Brazil final. Shame it didn’t happen.
Prefer to see Argentina win, but don't really care either way once the game itself is entertaining as it has no real impact on my life.
Would like to see Messi get his hands on the WC, probably the best footballer most of us will ever see, it would be great to see him lift it.
Would like to see Messi get his hands on the WC, probably the best footballer most of us will ever see, it would be great to see him lift it.
Paredes the biggest of them all
This will be cracking to watch as a neutral
I still want argentina to win because i lived a year in buenos aires and have plenty of argentinian friends. Also would be great to end the debate about messi being the goat and they have a new idol instead of that cokehead
I still want argentina to win because i lived a year in buenos aires and have plenty of argentinian friends. Also would be great to end the debate about messi being the goat and they have a new idol instead of that cokehead
Yeah my bad, I have a pretty bad flu and totally skipped the Brazil era, don't know why. Doesn't change the fact that France's record since 1998 is pretty impressive.
Also, it's not arrogance, it's even the opposit because I heavily criticized Deschamps before the WC, I thought his obsession with Griezmann was misplaced and that we wouldn't go far in the competition. Needless to say, he totally proved me wrong since Griezmann is probably the best player with Messi.
Out of France's 4 world cup final, Deschamps is involved in 3 of them (1 as the team captain, 2 as a coach) so I think it's pretty factual to say that this man knows how to win a cup, probably more than any other person on this planet.
Depends on how Argentina plays bud their right side isn't really fast, it was far more concerning with a player like Hakimi involved. Mbappé wouldn't defend on Messi anyway.
Sky sources understand that CR7 has wished his new best friend Kylian "GOAT JR." Mbappe the very best of luck ahead of Sunday's final. The top secret message was delivered this morning on the private messaging platform Signal.
Not sure where I claimed France “bossed” anything, but okay.
The proxy war begins.
I don't worry about that, he never tracks back. It's about how other can cover for him
Yeah, Morroco exploited that side and Argentina have much more potent attacking force.
It's an incredibly hard game to call.
Griezmann has played well in every game. You’d expect at least one less than stellar performance, but if he’s anything close to the level he’s been so far in his new role, that Argentina midfield can’t live with him. I imagine rodrigo de paul will be the extra cover to deal with mbappe, so that leaves McAllister probably to do a job on Griezmann and I can’t see how Alexis wins that battle.
feel like this game is destined to have a red card that may sway the tie, and it’s probably 80/20 in favour of that card going to an Argentine.
Fascinating match, and in all likelihood the one the Qataris would have wanted for their final. Think both teams more than deserve their spot too, for me the two best teams of the tournament overall.
feel like this game is destined to have a red card that may sway the tie, and it’s probably 80/20 in favour of that card going to an Argentine.
Fascinating match, and in all likelihood the one the Qataris would have wanted for their final. Think both teams more than deserve their spot too, for me the two best teams of the tournament overall.
I agree. Argentina are riding on emotion and a dream. But France just have more quality in most areas. It's not like Argentina can just focus on Mbappe as Griezmann, Giroud and Dembele can also win you games.
Don't think he'll start anyway.
I think they'll have to leave it at those two. Argentinas defensive solidarity isn't based off individuals of the highest caliber but a system that gives you enough layers of protection and effort of course. They're not a team that can field Giroud Mbappe and Dembele (and Griezmann) and get away with it. The likes of Otamendi would be torn apart imo.
So I'd stick with what worked in the last game. ADM is a decent sub to have.
On paper, I think France has the better chances in this final, but with a player like Messi you can't have too many certainty. This game could go so many different ways. Argentina could get a red card within 20mn, or Messi could create 3 goals out of thin air, or it could be a pretty brutal midfield battle without any decent plays, it's still pretty unpredictable.
Yeah I agree it's the dream scenario for Qatar, Messi vs Mbappé, the new rising star on Pele's tracks against the legend's last chance to get a WC, both playing for PSG, the couldn't have expected better (except Brazil in the semi finals).
Messi is unbelievable but both for his 35 year old version and for his Argentina team I think France is a bad fit given they are one of the more athletic and physically dynamic teams (whilst still being technical)
Messi surely is a huge factor, and he'll feel the pressure even if he seems to handle it far better since the COPA they won. Age is obviously a concern because he might be a bit tired especially since he looked like his thigh was a bit painful. They are lucky they got 1 extra day of rest because that will be very important for him.
It's not unlikely that the intensity/pressure of the game aggravate his injury and leaves him in a poor physical state, even if it didn't really show against Croatia (Gvardiol remembers).
Im thinking 70-30 favour of France. Argentina has a punchers chance, thats it.
Would be a huge call wouldn't it.
Technically it's allowed, but there's got to be as much chance his arrival upsets the morale in the players who got them there, as it actually aids them to have a player who hasn't played for weeks. At best he'd be sub anyway?
Tweet
— Twitter API (@user) date
Despite their poor NT performance, Qatar managed to have the 2 two superstars of PSG facing each other in final. The lockerroom will be something when they'll come back in Paris 
Considering what we know about Deschamps and how he builds his group of players for a competition, there's 0,001% chances it happens in my opinion.
Stats like this are a bit meaningless. Argentina went into the world cup 36 games unbeaten, only to break the streak against Saudi Arabia of all teams.
Argentina has an extra day to rest and train. A good advantage in an even match
Yeap, dont fix what's not broken, Giroud has done fine.
France have one 100% of its WC games when Mbappé was a starter, that's 11 out of 11.
It is, you're only as good as your next game.
2-1 to Argentina. Messi to score both for them (both penalties), and Mbappe to grab the only goal for France.
Don't think it's that much of a problem for him. He is smart and positionally aware enough to shift inside, between the lines or into midfield if he feels that Hernandez is keeping him out of the game on the right wing. Against Croatia, he was far more in midfield positions in the first half than in the second half, when Perisic was pushing forward on his side and Messi knew he had their defense vulnerable if he stuck to the right sideline. Then he put arguably the best defender at this WC on skates for the 3-0 who is 15 years younger than him.
Not to mention that Konate is prone to the odd mistake here and there if he's not fully concentrated. But I'm guessing Upamecano might take his place again for the final next to Varane?
Nah, they are not anymore since a long time and rightly so… France, on the other hand, is (with Germany) our most interconnected country in the present times, so we should be really supporting them.
I think the extra day rest will probably help Argentina a little more. I can see this ending in 90 minutes though
My man! I’m not as bullish as you re Argentina’s chances but here’s hoping!!!
Can’t we just all agree that it’s good for football if a non-European nation wins it? 
The overhead kick that hit the post was just the biggest chance, and emblematic of what sort of risk you're always running when you're only up by one - even if Morocco hadn't produced another scoring chance the whole game. But Morocco had a 1.06 xG, which is not exactly closing them down. Not that France were in trouble xG wise, with a French xG of 2.23, but the point here is they weren't operating at a level where they were basically suffocating or even controlling the game - Morocco not only could have had one, they should have had one. What you'd expect to see from a really commanding control performance would be an oppo xG that was half or a third of that, which happens often enough.
England's xG was 2.36. 1.60 of that was the two penalties, but then again conceding two penalties plus enough scoring chances to make a third goal pretty likely isn't much of a shutdown or control performance. Especially not when your own xG is just over 1. Play that game with the same chances ten times, and France would lose most of them.
I will support Argentina - don't want France to win it twice in a row.
Also, you know it will be used as a defence for Southgate that he lost to the eventual world cup winner.
Also, you know it will be used as a defence for Southgate that he lost to the eventual world cup winner.
Really? I just bet my house and a year wages to france based on the statistic of past games!