Argentina vs France WC22 Final preview: BIG match insights
Copa América champions Argentina face defending world champions France in Sunday’s final. Where will football’s BIGGEST match be won and lost?
How we got here
The picture all looked so different on 22nd November when Argentina had just been beaten by minnows Saudi Arabia on matchday 1, a result which snapped a 36-match unbeaten streak.
Many pundits believe it’s just what they needed to remove any complacency that might have naturally set in after such a long run without defeat. It forced Lionel Scaloni to recalibrate his team dynamic and make some subtle alterations, notably handing Enzo Fernández a key role in midfield. More on him coming up.
Since then, La Albiceleste have steadily improved through the tournament although they did need to survive a scare against the Netherlands in the quarter-finals. They eventually got over the line via a penalty shootout in a match where the referee dished out a total of 17 yellow cards. Argentina have never been scared to get their hands dirty.
They then rode out a period of Croatian first-half dominance before turning the semi-final on its head with 2 quick first-half goals. Luka Modrić’s shell shocked team never recovered.
pawaStat:
Julián Álvarez is only the second Argentina player aged 22 or under to score 3+ goals at a WC after Gonzalo Higuaín
As for the defending champions, even manager Didier Deschamps admitted that his side haven’t been perfect.
“We could have played better. But we’re in the final and both finalists will be playing a better team than they’ve played so far in the tournament. Maybe the team who makes fewer mistakes will win the game.”
France fell behind in their opener before demolishing Australia, they weren’t particularly good in a 2-1 win against Denmark and then came a defeat to Tunisia in which they made 9 changes to their starting XI. France hadn’t kept a clean sheet all tournament until they managed one in their semi-final against Morocco, a team that had kept 4. There are many sides and faces to this team.
pawaStat:
France had just 38% possession in their 2-0 semi-final win against Morocco
Semi-final recap
Croatia had the better of the opening exchanges and all of a sudden found themselves 2-0 down after 39 minutes and it already felt like game over. Argentina, confident in the knowledge that they had never lost a WC semi-final, wrestled away the initiative and never let it go.
Their 3-0 win was only the second time since WC90 that a semi-final had been won in 90 minutes by more than 1 goal. The other was the 7-1 hammering dished out by Germany to host nation Brazil in 2014. France’s 2-0 win over Morocco on Wednesday night was the third.
Morocco arguably pushed France harder than England did in the quarter-finals. The fact that the Atlas Lions went behind in a match for the first time in the tournament was a foreign feeling for them and they came out of their shells, looking more proactive in the final third. It was a risky tactic which eventually saw France pick them off on the break.
There’s a touch of irony in that but, as we know, Les Bleus possess electric pace in transitional situations, especially in the shape of Kylian Mbappé.
Breakout stars
21-year-old Enzo Fernández operated as the deepest-lying midfielder in a 4-3-3 but has the tactical flexibility to play as an “8”, as he did in Argentina’s midfield diamond against Croatia. He is already one of the first names on the team sheet.
As for France, 22-year-old Aurelién Tchouaméni is hardly a new name on the European football scene, he plays for Real Madrid after all, but this is the first time that the global audience has seen his skills in the holding midfield role. What’s most impressive about him is how coolly and efficiently he gets his work done. He’s started all 6 of France’s games in Qatar and you can see why.
Also a day for the veterans
35-year-old Hugo Lloris is France’s most capped player ever and now the goalkeeper with the most WC appearances in history (19), surpassing Germany’s Manuel Neuer. Raphaël Varane is still only 29 but he’s got 92 caps and 4 Champions League titles under his belt. Antoine Griezmann has 116 caps and was Man of the Match in the 2018 final, while 36-year-old Olivier Giroud has an enviable trophy cabinet.
Lionel Messi, Angel Di María, Nicolás Otamendi and Nicolás Tagliafico were all part of the side that lost 4-3, thrillingly, to France back in Russia at the round of 16 stage.
New selection dilemma for Deschamps
Dayot Upamecano and Adrien Rabiot were both struck down by flu and missed the semi-final against Morocco. Their replacements, Ibrahima Konaté and Youssouf Fofana, were both excellent.
Konaté is supremely quick across the turf for a man his size, and he needed all of that pace and anticipation to make a memorable intervention after a dangerous Yahia Attiyat Allah cross at a critical juncture of the match. If not for the Liverpool defender, Morocco would have been level.
Does Deschamps bring Upamecano and Rabiot back or stick with the side that got the job done in the semis? Both Konaté and Fofana started in the defeat to Tunisia and this was a redemptive performance from the returning pair. It’s a good selection headache to have.
Griezy like Sunday morning
Antoine Griezmann makes football look ridiculously easy and, of course, we all know that it isn’t. He glides across the pitch like a figure skater. Argentina will need to formulate a plan to stifle his graceful, subtle creativity because when he plays well, France play well. It’s that simple. What a shame that most of his appearances for Atlético Madrid in the first half of this season were limited to 30 minutes.
Shine bright like a diamond
Argentina added an extra body in midfield against Croatia and it was a decision that paid rich dividends. No midfield unit can match up player-for-player with Croatia’s, but by adding Leandro Paredes at centre-back Lisandro Martínez’s expense, Scaloni could deploy a narrow diamond and squeeze the space.
Paredes operated at the base of that diamond with Enzo Fernández and Rodrigo De Paul just ahead of him and Alexis Mac Allister at the point. Antoine Griezmann will be looking to get in between those enemy lines to pull the strings. This is an area of the pitch where space will be at a premium but world-class talent is in gluttonous abundance.
Potential profit in wide areas
Kylian Mbappé will need to be conscious of his defensive responsibilities, as he simply cannot afford to leave Theo Hernandez exposed and alone on an Argentinian flank that contains a marauding Nahuel Molina and a dangerous, drifting Lionel Messi. Molina and his captain will need to get the balance right themselves, because when Mbappé is in full flow, he’s virtually unplayable.
Argentina so difficult to beat
Prior to the aforementioned defeat to Saudi Arabia, Argentina went 36 matches unbeaten in a run spanning July 2019 to November 2022. Copa América success in 2021 was the highlight of that streak and it ended a 28-year trophy drought. This is a group that’s starting to grow accustomed to success. They have a clear identity and playing style, and they’re comfortable and confident in expressing it. Their miserly defensive record also speaks for itself.
pawaStat:
Since 1986, no side have conceded fewer shots in their 6 games leading to the final than this Argentina team
Les Bleus efficient with the ball and dangerous without it
France had to ride out a serious Moroccan second-half storm. At times they were perfectly happy for Walid Regragui’s Atlas Lions to have the ball, because we all know about the devastating pace and power of Kylian Mbappé in transitions, and the patience that this team possess. When France did have the ball they were clinical, scoring 2 goals from 2 shots on target to book a place in the final. They have many different ways of winning matches and that’s always a good sign.
pawaStat:
Randal Kolo Muani scored 44 seconds after coming on as a substitute against Morocco
Vintage Messi is the sole survivor from 2014
Against Croatia, Messi became the first player since 1966 to both score and assist in 3 separate WC games in a single edition of the tournament. He also became Argentina’s all-time leading scorer in the WC with 11 goals, surpassing the legendary Gabriel “Batigol” Batistuta. The records keep on tumbling, but 35-year-old Leo Messi wants one more win in what will likely be his final game on this stage.
pawaStat:
Lionel Messi has played 50 matches for club and country in 2022, scoring 33 goals and providing 30 assists in that time
One from the archives
28 players have lost a World Cup final and had the chance to play in it again. Only 13 have rectified that defeat and gone on to win it. For the record, those 13 players are Luis Monti, Franz Beckenbauer, Wolfgang Overath, Pierre Littbarski, Cafu, Roberto Carlos, Ronaldo, Rivaldo, Denilson, Miroslav Klose, Lothar Matthaüs, Thomas Berthold and Andreas Brehme. Heartbreak can be an inspiring emotion, and Lionel Messi wants to be the 14th man in this list.
The passing of the torch
With Messi turning 36 next June and Mbappé turning 24 just 2 days after this final, it’s a symbolic moment. Mbappé will make the 359th senior appearance of his young career. For Messi, this will be the 1,003rd. He’s hit the back of the net 791 times in those matches, including 96 for his beloved Argentina. What an astonishing career it has been. Would it be any great surprise if Mbappé struck 96 or more for the French national team when all was said and done?
Messi and Griezmann arguably the tournament’s best players
Messi has turned out Man of the Match performances when his country really needed him, while Griezmann lubricated France‘s attacks from a free role in midfield. The similarities between these 2 are numerous. Both are gifted left footers who have spent more than a decade of their club careers in Spain’s LaLiga but neither are Spanish. It’s not an exaggeration to predict that the outcome of world football’s BIGGEST match could rest on their shoulders.
Throwback to the round of 16 in Russia
France beat Argentina 4-3 in a thoroughly enjoyable, sometimes chaotic football match at WC18. If the final in 2022 is half as entertaining as this, we have a serious treat in store.
Likely starting XIs
Argentina: Martínez; Molina, Romero, Otamendi, Acuna; Paredes; De Paul, Fernández; Mac Allister; Messi, Alvarez
France: Lloris; Kounde, Varane, Konate, Hernandez; Rabiot, Tchouameni; Dembele, Griezmann, Mbappé; Giroud
France’s seventh World Cup semi-final produced a fourth consecutive win at this stage after they lost their first 3. Les Bleus are definitely the finished article. In their way stands a determined, dogged Argentina team inspired by one of the sport’s greatest ever players.
pawaStat:
France have never lost a WC match they’ve been leading at half-time (W25 D1)