Argentina – France: predictions and betting tips on the World Cup match on December 18, 2022
On December 18, Argentina and France will compete at the Lusail Iconic Stadium (Lusail) in the final of the World Cup. The battle will start at 16:00 CET.
Argentina
Argentina national team has reached the final match, being led by Messi. All his life, Lionel has been compared to Maradona. Actually, he is inferior to the Legend, who goes into the Millennium, in only one thing: he has not been able to lead “la albiceleste” to the title of world champions yet. In fact, it has been the only time when the Argentines, led by Leo, were close to success, but they lost their final to Germany at the World Cup 2014 in Brazil. It goes without saying that Lionel wants to use the last chance, and as a result he is a real and wound-up-to-fight leader (remember at least the skirmishes with the Dutch). In the semi-final, he was the man of the match again: it was he who opened the score and assisted Alvarez. Although, the higher mentioned less famous attacking partner became the MVP with Croatia: he earned a penalty, which helped to score the fast first goal, and then scored two times more. Of course, that pass turned out to be pretty comical and Leo just carried the ball to his leg, “stealing” the attention of both the defenders and the goalkeeper. But, I think, it does not matter for Argentina how this duo will score several goals to Lloris (on luck or a miracle).
France
France national team proved its right to play in the 2nd World Cup final in a row. There were a pretty good number of claims to Deschamps and his wards between these two tournaments. But in Qatar, “the Blues” does confirm their status of the favourite all the time. The team gets the desirable result. In many ways, it happened with luck in the semi-final. First, Theo Hernandez, using a rebound after Mbappe's kick, was able to beat Bono and scored an early goal. Then, by accident, they made a 2-0 score – by the way, Kylian hit again, but this time it was a kind of deflection. However, in the case with Morocco, the match was being generally controlled by the favourite, and it was noticeable that France could add more if necessary. That was enough to win, and the team has saved the energy for the final, where a truly elite opponent already awaits.
The statistics of head-to-head matches
Argentina has been stronger four times in a row, including the matches at the World Cups. However, France knocked out Messi and company at the World Cup 2018 in Russia, making a 4-3 score in the round of 16.
Predictions
Bookmakers are waiting for an equal and rather unspectacular match, a true final. Still, on the one hand there are Messi and Alvarez, on the other hand – Mbappe and Giroud. Let's take a chance and bet on “Total over 2.0 goals” (odds: 1.8).