France defeated Morocco 2-0 in today's semifinal on goals by Theo Hernandez and Kolo Muani. Despite this France did not look as strong as expected, and Morocco should be proud of a match where they managed to put pressure on the world champions, who at times looked shaky.
Argentina surely looked on with interest.
Both sides can win: They are both teams with great players and deserve to be in the final. I do not hide my subjectivity in supporting Argentina, but beyond this also hope that the World Cup will end outside Europe for the first time since 2002.
France and Argentina do not share a strong World Cup history. They have met three times:
- 1930: At the very first World Cup they met in the group stages with Argentina winning 1-0. Argentina eventually went on to lose the final to Uruguay.
- 1978: At home Argentina defeated France 2-1 in the Group stages. As we all know, Argentina went on to win the World Cup.
- 2018: In Russia both countries faced one another in a match that France won 4-3, and France went all the way to become World Champions.
Both teams have won the World Cup twice (Argentina 1978 and 1986, France 1998 and 2018). For Argentina though, this will be their sixth final, while France is playing their third.
The match will also be sold as a contest between two great players and teammates in Paris St. Germain: Lionel Messi and Kylian Mbappe have each scored five goals in the tournament and will be looking to become the most scoring player of the tournament.
Whichever way you turn it, it will be a match to go into history of the World Cups in the World Cup that should never have taken place.
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