France vs. Argentina
December 18, 2022 10:00 am EDT
The Line: Argentina +170 / France +190 // Total: 2.5
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Argentina and France face off on Sunday in the World Cup Final at the Lusail Stadium in Lusail, Qatar.
Argentina finished in 1st place in Group C picking up six points. Argentina has beaten Australia, Netherlands, and Croatia to get to this point. In the last game against Croatia, Lionel Messi opened up the scoring in the 34th minute with a penalty kick. Julian Alvarez also added goals in the 39th and 66th minutes. Argentina only had 39 percent of the possession, but they had seven shots on target. Marcos Acuna and Gonzalo Montiel missed the last game because of suspension, but they are back for this game. Lisandro Martínez isn’t expected to start this game, but he will probably be used as a substitute again in this game. The star of this show is Messi, but more important for Argentina in this game is going to need to be the defense. In this game, the defense is going to need to make life tough, and not let them get numbers forward in goal-scoring situations.
On the other side of this matchup is France, who finished in first place in Group D, picking up six points. France has had to beat Poland, England, and Morocco to get to this game. In the last game against Morocco, they opened up the scoring in the 5th minute, and they never looked back on the way to the 2-0 victory. They only had 38 percent of the possession and three shots on target. Dayot Upamecano and Adrien Rabiot, while Kingsley Coman, are dealing with illness, and it’s unclear their status for this game. Mbappé is the star of the show for France, and they are probably going to need a strong game from him here.
There are so many storylines heading into this one, but it starts and ends with Mbappé and Messi. It almost feels like destiny with Messi, and I expect that he’s going to score at least one goal in this game. The sickness going around France is a big issue, and their defense is going to struggle heading into this game. Look for Argentina to score at least two goals, and they will secure the win, and be crowned the best team in the world.
