The Argentina national team faces France looking for the last step to glory in the Qatar World Cupa collective dream that crosses the borders of the country for the universal desire to crown Lionel Messi.
Nearly 90,000 people will participate Losail Stadium and more than 3,500 million viewers around the planet will follow from 12 (Argentina time), the definition of the first World Cup in the Middle East.
The match will be refereed by the Pole Szymon Marciniakwho will be accompanied by his countrymen Pawel Sokolnicki (first assistant), Tomász Listkiewicz (second) e Tomasz Kwiatkowski (VAR).
The main stage at Qatar 2022, with a seating capacity of 88,966, will have an environment clearly conducive to Messi’s team. The 35,000 Argentines the participants will be complemented by thousands more fans from different parts of the world who yearn for the consecration of 10. The French will have the support of around 6,000 fans.
Messi, 35, will play his last match for the FIFA World Cup on the same day that he will break the attendance record (26) after having participated in the last five editions (Germany 2006, South Africa 2010, Brazil 2014, Russia 2018 and Qatar 2022 ).
The “Albiceleste” captain will face his second World Cup final in search of revenge for the defeat suffered in extra time against Germany (0-1), more than eight years ago at the Maracana in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
This edition of the top FIFA tournament offered an extraordinary performance by the star, who leads the league of top scorers together with Kylian Mbappé (5) and also the league of assists with Antoine Griezmann (3) and two other players who are no longer in competence.
The 2022 World Cup final is being presented as a symbolic dispute between Messi and Mbappé (23), teammates at Paris Saint-Germain (PSG), a club owned by the Qatari capital and chaired by local businessman Nasser Al-Khelaifi .
But also as a fight between two selected teams that aim to embroider the third star on their federation’s championship. Argentina were champions in 1978 and 1986, while France were crowned in 1998 and 2018.
Lionel Scaloni’s team went from low to high competition: they started with a surprise defeat against Saudi Arabia, reached the final tournament after beating Mexico and Poland and then eliminated Australia, Holland -on penalties- and second-placed croatia in their best performance .
France won their group with victories over Australia and Denmark -the latter lost against Tunisia- and from the round of 16 they left Poland, England and Morocco away.
The French national team, which has been able to hide previous important losses such as Paul Pogba, N’Golo Kanté and Karim Benzema, among others, is chasing the third consecutive double scudetto in the history of the World Cup, something that only Italy could achieve in the years of fascism (1934-1938) and Brazil (1958-1962) during the initial phase of “O Rei” Pelé.
The Argentina national team arrives in the final with all the squad available, after recovering the suspended Gonzalo Montiel and Marcos Acuña and also Ángel Di María, who had been suffering from a muscle problem since the round of 16.
The current 34-year-old Juventus player could return to the title in the match that will mark the end of his stage with the Argentine shirt, which he has worn 128 times since his debut in 2008 under the guidance of Alfio Basile.
Di María, together with Messi, is the only player in the current squad who played the World Cup in Brazil, even if he was unable to be in the final at the Maracana due to an injury. At that same stage, in 2021, he scored the goal in the Copa América final against the local side which ended a 28-year drought.
Scaloni has already defined the scheme and starting lineup for the last match in Qatar but didn’t want to confirm it. One possibility is the introduction of Di María to play with a 4-3-3 and the other is the entry of Lisandro Martínez in a 5-man defensive line to counter the offensive power of the current world champion.
France worked today with all their players after five losses on Friday due to physical ailments and a virus that hit their squad in a few days. The players excluded yesterday were Raphael Varane, Ibrahima Konaté and Kingsley Coman, with symptoms of the “camel virus”, and Theo Hernández and Aurélien Tchouaméni, defeated.
None of them will have problems being fielded by coach Didier Deschamps, who will also bring back defender Dayot Upamecano and midfielder Adrien Rabiot, who were absent in the semi-finals with the virus.
Argentina has a 2-1 lead in World Cup history with the French but lost in their only previous knockout (3-4 for the round of 16 in Russia 2018). Its two victories were in the group stage of 1930 (1-0) and 1978 (2-1).
= Probable formations =
Argentina: Emiliano Martinez; Nahuel Molina or Gonzalo Montiel, Cristian Romero, Nicolás Otamendi, Lisandro Martínez or Ángel Di María and Marcos Acuña; Rodrigo De Paul, Enzo Fernández and Alexis Mac Allister; Lionel Messi and Julian Alvarez. DT: Lionel Scaloni.
France: Hugo Lloris; Jules Koundé, Raphael Varane, Dayot Upamecano or Ibrahima Konate and Theo Hernández; Aurelien Tchouaméni and Adrien Rabiot; Ousmane Dembélé, Antoine Griezmann and Kylian Mbappé; Olivier Giroud. DT: Didier Deschamps.
Referee: Szymon Marciniak (Poland), accompanied by his compatriots Pawel Sokolnicki (first assistant), Tomasz Listkiewicz (second) and Tomasz Kwiatkowski (VAR).
stadium: Lusail.
Start time: 12:00 pm.
Television: Public TV, TyC Sports and DSports.
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Source: Clarin
Jason Root is the go-to source for sports coverage at News Rebeat. With a passion for athletics and an in-depth knowledge of the latest sports trends, Jason provides comprehensive and engaging analysis of the world of sports.