image source, Getty Images
Messi celebrates after scoring the first goal
Argentina and France will face off today in the final of the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar. Now both teams have scored three goals each.
A foul by Montiel gave France another penalty chance. Mbappe scored the third goal for France.
Argentina missed two rare chances in the final minute of the first overtime. Upamechano prevented it. His tackling served the French team well.
Argentina dominated the first half
In the first half, the Argentine team did not rely solely on their defense and the attack of Messi and Alvarez, and did not let the French team think. Di Maria, DePaul, McAllister, Romero all showed action. As a result, France were stifled by their tackling and attacking play.
Argentina had previously held a similar two-goal lead against Uruguay in 1930. But in the end, Uruguay won 4-2.
Mbappe converted the penalty shot to score France’s first goal. Ottamendi’s mistake gave France a comeback. It was Mbappe’s sixth World Cup goal.
A single personal mistake put Argentina in danger again. Kylian Mbappe then scored again for France. Argentina and France are now tied 2-2.
Mbappe has taken the lead in the race for the Golden Boot with his seventh goal.
At the moment, every attack from France is causing problems for Argentina.
Mwani, Kamavinga, Duram, the French team fielded players, changed the angle of the game.
Argentina have already lost the final after going to extra time. Will it happen? Or, at this World Cup, going to extra time with the Netherlands and winning on penalties. Will it happen? The reason they have been pushed to this point is because of the unique brilliance of one player, Kylian Mbappé.
It is difficult for a team to play with the same aggressiveness as in the first half. But Argentina did it this time.
A small mistake by Argentina allowed Mbappe to take the ball into their territory. But, he was stopped at the last moment. Goalkeeper Martinez also blocked the chance of a corner kick.
Argentina’s Di Maria’s performance is a surprise. He had not played for some time and the question arose as to why he was dropped now. But it looked like Scaloni had kept his game under wraps for the finale.
After scoring a goal and conceding a penalty for another goal, Di Maria was withdrawn in the 64th minute. He was replaced by tackler Acuna. He has done everything a player can do in 64 minutes for the team.
The substitution of a tackler for striker Di Maria shows that their aim may be to keep France from scoring any more goals.
The defending champions, France, have been so efficient throughout the series. However, the opposition did not let them play in this game. In the second half they will have to score. Mbappe, Griezmann and Dembele should be in their usual form. But, Argentina’s tackle will not give up so easily, Fernandes, McAllister, Romero etc. have shown in the first half.
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After scoring a goal and conceding a penalty for another goal, Di Maria was withdrawn in the 64th minute.
It would not be an exaggeration to say that this was the best first half Argentina have played in all of this World Cup. If Messi’s fans make a list of his achievements, the only trophy missing from that list is the World Cup.
To get him that, the Argentinian team has put in a lot of effort in this first half.
Argentina’s first goal
Messi scored a penalty in the 23rd minute to give Argentina a 1-0 lead over France.
Lionel Messi, Julián Álvarez and Di Maria scored within five minutes of the final to give Argentina fans a boost. Although the attempt failed, it showed how their game was going to be. In addition, Alvarez’s task was not only to attack, but also to keep the ball in Argentina’s territory, as if he had been given the task of keeping the ball in France’s side.
Messi has scored five goals and created chances in this World Cup. Both Messi and Alvarez had started some serious attacking play. In one such goal attempt, the opposition goalkeeper and captain Hugo Lloris was tripped by Christian Romero. After first aid he started dancing again. Alvarez’s goal attempts were blocked by Theo Hernandez. Molina also followed like a shadow wherever Mbappe might go. A weakness in France’s attack was that they could create too many chances down the left. Argentina seemed to have figured it out.
Argentina had more than 38 percent of the ball in the first 15 minutes of the game. France rarely dominated the ball. But France cannot be weighed down so lightly. Their strategy is to outplay the opposition.
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Argentina’s Lionel Messi and France’s Kylian Mbappe
In the first 20 minutes from the start of the game, Mbappe was not very active either in the tackle or in the attack. At that point in the 21st minute, Argentina were awarded a penalty through Di Maria. Di Maria has been playing on the left since he came on. All his efforts seemed to be directed towards this.
Messi scored without missing the penalty opportunity created by Di Maria. With this, he has scored 6 goals in this World Cup. He deflected the goalkeeper away and scored his Messi special shot very coolly.
At that moment, the first thing that came to mind was how Maradona would have felt if he had been inside the stadium. I can’t forget the look of disappointment on Maradona’s face when he missed a penalty shot in 2018. Now this goal he scored in the World Cup final, for Messi, he is watching from heaven.
Di Maria scored the 2nd goal
Argentina’s second goal came in the 36th minute. Messi’s beautiful left-footed one-touch pass was headed into France’s box by McAllister and passed to Di Maria. Di Maria converted the chance. Di María also scored a goal in the Copa America final to help the team win. This time too, he made the big one possible to land him in the final for Argentina.
A highly planned compact goal. Argentina’s game started in a rout, but it came down to Di Maria’s second goal in the final.
Argentina’s attack and midfield were very organized. But it looks as if the French team’s skillful display, which is usually highly coordinated, has gone nowhere. Di Maria’s performance helped the team a lot today.
Looking at the Argentinian players, the pressure of being in the finals doesn’t seem to be there. They are playing so cool.
Uppameccano continued to shadow Messi like a shadow and tried several times to prevent him from getting the ball at his feet, but he was unable to do so. Mbappe was largely blocked on the one hand. Argentina had blocked him. Di Maria was doing for Argentina what Mbappe had to do for France.
Messi, DePaul and Fernandez took the ball away from him quite casually when France got the ball in their possession and Kylian Mbappe carried it. Mbappe then committed a foul. And within five minutes of that happening, Alvarez created a goal-scoring opportunity after picking up Di Maria’s ball. Placing Messi, Alvarez and Di Madia in an attacking position up front seems like the perfect decision. While France may have had a boost and boost at half-time, Argentina’s tackles have looked set to break any momentum they might have had.
At the age of 19, Mbappe won the World Cup and gained global attention.
Both these teams have previously won the FIFA World Cup twice each. Argentina last won the World Cup in 1986. Lionel Messi, who leads Argentina, was born in 1987. This will be the last World Cup match for the 35-year-old. France have qualified for the finals of the last FIFA World Cup in Russia 2018 after defeating Croatia in the final.
France have qualified for the finals of the last FIFA World Cup in Russia 2018 after defeating Croatia in the final.
The path Argentina and France have taken to Qatar World Cup 2022
The closing ceremony of the FIFA World Cup was held before the finals.
It has been reported that this football World Cup in Qatar is the most expensive series in the world.
Argentina are making their sixth appearance at the World Cup finals. Winning in 1978 and 1986, they lost in 1930, 1990 and 2014. Only Germany (eight) holds the record for the most World Cup appearances.
France has reached the World Cup finals for the fourth time. France has previously played in the FIFA World Cup in 2006, 1998 and 2018. It has won in 1998 and 2018.
So far only two teams have won back-to-back FIFA World Cups. Brazil won the World Cup in 1958 and 1962. Before that, Italy had won twice in a row in 1934 and 1938. If France win this time, they will become the third team to achieve this feat.
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