There were 32 teams at the beginning of the tournament, and we’re now down to the final two. It will be France and Argentina who will lock horns for world football’s top prize this weekend- essentially a battle between the defending champions (outfitted by Nike) and the Albiceleste in Adidas.
SF results
Argentina (Adidas) 3-0 Croatia (Nike)
France (Nike) 2-0 Morocco (Puma)
A repeat of the 2018 final (France-Croatia) would’ve seen it being an all-Nike affair. However Argentina ended that possibility with a fine win over Croatia in the first semi-final. Lionel Messi was the star of the show for Lionel Scaloni’s men, coolly converting a penalty under pressure to put the South Americans side in the first half, and also producing a lovely assist for Julian Alvarez midway through the second. Veteran Messi was up against Josko Gvardiol, the 20 year-old who has been one of the best defenders in this tournament, and has been linked with top European clubs, and came up trumps in a 1v1 situation.
Interestingly, Croatia also wore their away shirt for the first time this tournament, having worn their red and white checks for their previous games against Belgium, Morocco, Canada, Japan and Brazil. It is a pretty nice looking jersey, but unfortunately for Zlatko Dalic’s men, they didn’t create much going forward, and the end result was a convincing Argentine win.
France will be looking to become the first team since Brazil in 1962 to win back-to-back World Cup titles. Argentina will be looking to emulate Spain 2010- a team that lost their first game of the tournament but still went on to lift the title. It’s a tough one to call- Argentina have come a long way since that shock defeat to Saudi Arabia and France had to play their semi-final without Adrien Rabiot and Dayot Upamecano, but the likes of Novibet suggest that Les Bleus are marginal favourites for Sunday’s clash.
Despite missing many first choice players- the likes of Lucas Hernandez, Karim Benzema, Presnel Kimpembe, N’Golo Kante and Paul Pogba to name a few, the French have been very impressive all tournament. Kylian Mbappe has been excellent down the wing, with his pace often causing right backs all kind of problems. Antoine Griezmann has been a revelation too- he hasn’t shirked away from his defensive responsibilities at all!
A key example of Griezmann’s work rate came in the semi-final against Morocco. There was a period at the beginning of the second half where the Atlas Lions looked dangerous and constantly managed to get balls into the box, only for Griezmann to intercept and ensure the attack came to nothing. You don’t normally see an attacking midfielder (in the 10 role like Griezmann) work so hard on defence, but the 31-year-old seemed to be everywhere (see the heatmap below), making it look like France had 12 or 13 players on the pitch instead of the 11 they actually did!
And it’s not just in defence, Griezmann is integral to France’s attacking plans as well- both of Les Bleus’ goals in that tough quarterfinal against England, if you might remember, had him as the creator. He is also their go-to-man for free kicks and corners, and in this tournament, one could argue that he has been as valuable to the French team as Messi is to the Argentines.
This, in all probability, will be Messi’s WC swansong, and Argentina will look to send their icon off with a WC win. For France, a win here will immortalize Deschamps in the history books- what he’s achieved with them has been nothing short of incredible.