Argentina to meet France

22nd FIFA World Cup football festival is underway in Qatar. France faced Morocco in the 2nd semi-final at Albed Stadium at midnight. However, in the 5th minute of the first half of the game, French player Theo Hernandez scored the first goal for his team and thrilled the fans. In the following  game, the Moroccan team’s attempts to score did not materialise. This gave France a 1-0 lead in the first half of the game.

The second half that started with much enthusiasm  between the two teams. In  the 79th minute of the game, French player Randal Kolo Muani scored the second goal for his team and brightened the team’s chance of victory. Eventhough, the Moroccan team fought hard but lost the opportunity to score. After a goalless extra-time period, France eliminated Morocco 2-0.,thereby paving way for the France to meet argentina in the final .

France, who are currently ranked 4th in the standings along with defending champions, topped the league stage with 2 wins and 1 loss. It is noteworthy that they beat Poland 3-1 in the 2nd round and England 2-1 in the quarter-finals to reach the semi-finals.

One of the most unpredictable teams in this World Cup was Morocco, who surprised by entering the semi-finals. It is noteworthy that they also achieved the historic distinction of being the first African team to reach the semi-finals.



The Grand finale firework
Last World Cup for Messi

 Messi's last international match will be the 2022 World Cup final. He has officially announced this himself.

No doubt he will play in club teams after that. However, the fact that he will no longer play for Argentina has caused some sadness among his fans from different countries. So the world football fans are getting ready to watch Messi's last match in the current series. Especially this World Cup for Messi.

Messi shares the top spot with Germany’s Lothar Mathews on the list of players with the most appearances at the World Cup (25).

Messi has scored 11 goals in the World Cup. This is a feat that no other player in Argentina has achieved.

Lionel Messi has scored 16 goals for Argentina in 2022. Since his debut in 2005, Messi has not scored so many goals for his national team in any other year.

Messi has become associated with a total of 19 goals in the World Cup series. This includes 11 goals, 8 assists.

Messi is joint-top with Kylian Mbappe in the race for the Golden Boot in the current World Cup with 5 goals. One of these two is more likely to win the Golden Boot award.

Messi becomes the first player to achieve the double feat of scoring and assisting in four different World Cups. 2006 – Serbia, 2002 – Mexico, 2022 – Netherlands, 2022 – Croatia

Messi has also joined the list of people who have scored in three rounds of the Round of 16, Quarter-Finals and Semi-Finals in the same World Cup.

Messi tops the list with 11 line-breaking passes inside the opposition box in the current World Cup series.

Messi has won the most Player of the Match award (10) in the World Cup.

Kylian Mbappé

Mbappe has scored 31 goals in 62 appearances for France and is currently seventh in the all-time French goalscoring charts level with Zinedine Zidane and just 21 behind Olivier Giroud, who landed the overall lead by scoring in the first half against the Poles.

Mbappe has only featured in two World Cups, but he already has nine World Cup goals for France. He scored four, including one in the final, as France won the trophy in 2018. He currently has five in 2022, level with Argentina star Lionel Messi as the tournament’s top scorer.

Mbappe and Brazilian icon Pele lead the table for most goals scored at a World Cup aged 23 or under, with seven goals each.

He is the only Frenchman to have completed 5+ dribbles in a World Cup match across the last two editions – he’s done it five times.

Argentina and France’s previous World Cup meetings:

2018, last 16: France 4-3 Argentina

1978, first group stage: Argentina 2-1 France

1930, group stage: Argentina 1-0 France

Argentina vs France: prediction

A victory for Argentina would cap Messi’s career with a golden spot , but France are simply too strong

France  to pick up the World Cup, and (as in 2014) and  Messi to pick up the Golden Ball.

Prediction: Argentina 1-3 France

Golden Boot tiebreakers

1. Lionel Messi, Argentina: 5 goals, 3 assists, 570 minutes played

2. Kylian Mbappe, France: 5 goals, 2 assists, 477 minutes played

3. Julian Alvarez, Argentina: 4 goals, 0 assists, 364 minutes played

4. Olivier Giroud, France: 4 goals, 0 assists, 383 minutes played

Since the award was formally introduced in 1982, there has been one shared Golden Boot. In 1994, Russia’s Oleg Salenko and Bulgaria’s Hristo Stoichkov both finished with six goals to split the honor.

Since 1982, two players have captured the Golden Boot and the World Cup title in the same tournament: Italy’s Paolo Rossi in 1982 and Brazil’s Ronaldo in 2002.

No player has ever won the Golden Boot twice in the history of the FIFA World Cup. Lionel Messi, Kylian Mbappe and Olivier Giroud are involved in a three-horse race for the prestigious Golden Boot award at the FIFA World Cup 2022.