By:Emmanuel Yaw Nkansah
In the early 19th century, Manuel Belgrano, Jose de San Martin, Martin Miguel de Guemes, Juan Jose Castelli, Jose Gervasio Artigas William Brown and Carlos Maria de Alvear led the Argentine War of Independence. For six years the fight for independence continued until in 1816 when an assembly declared Argentina independent. After 206 years, Argentina is in another clash.
The battlefield this time is the over 80,000-capacity Lusail Iconic Stadium. The goal, claiming the World Cup to prove their supremacy in world football. The ‘enemy’ standing in their way this time, France, the nation which indirectly helped Argentina attain its independence. At the forefront of the fight will be club mates turned rivals Lionel Messi and Kylian Mbappe.
In champions style, France, the defending champions takes on Argentina in the final of the Mundial on Sunday December 18, in what is set to be a thrilling footballing encounter with the two nations seeking their third World Cup titles.
Both sides made it through anticipated-to-be challenging semi-final fixtures comfortably: France beating Morocco, who had yet to concede a goal from an opposition player, by two goals to nil, while Argentina cruised to a very comfortable three-nil win against Croatia.
Having won everything that there is to win in professional football at the highest level, will Lionel Messi finally be able to clinch the ultimate national footballing prize, and cement his status as the GOAT? Or would Mbappe, who is one of world football’s brightest upcoming talents, become the second youngest player, after Brazilian legend Pele, to win back-to-back World Cup titles?
Will France succeed in doing the impossible and win back-to-back World Cup titles, becoming the first nation to achieve this feat since Brazil in 1960?
There is a lot at stake on Sunday for both sides, national pride, bragging rights, and personal records. France with two World Cup titles (1998, 2018) and Argentina who also have two titles to their name (1978, 1986) will not only be vying for their third World Cup title, but also their second titles as non-hosts. Interestingly, the first World Cup triumphs for both nations happened on home soil, Argentina in 1978, and France in 1998.
Argentina leads the head-to-head comparison with six wins, while the French have won three of their previous encounters with three resulting in draws, 6W-3D-3L in favor of Argentina. This will also be the fourth encounter between both sides in the World Cup with Argentina having won twice (1930, 1978), while France has one victory (2018).
The French victory in 2018 is the most recent meeting between both sides, a thrilling round of 16 match which ended 4-3 with Mbappe scoring twice, while Lionel Messi provided two assists in that match. Both men, now teammates at PSG, will at the center of attention in this World Cup final as they lead the race for the Golden boot with five goals each. Julian Alvarez (Argentina) and Olivier Giroud (France), both with four goals each, closely trail the PSG pair in the Golden Boot race.
Should Mbappe and Messi remain as the top two goal scorers in this tournament, it will be the first time in World Cup history that players from the same club finish as top two goal scorers in a tournament.
Antoine Griezmann and Lionel Messi are tied at the top of the assist chart as well with three assists each. Griezmann also surpassed Messi in the chances created charts in the French win over Morocco and now haw 21 to Messi’s 18.
Lionel Messi, who became Argentina’s highest World Cup goal scorer in history with 11 after scoring against Croatia on Tuesday, is set to become the player with the most appearances in the tournament’s history with 27, surpassing German legend Lothar Matthaus’s 26 appearances once he features in the final fixture.
History to be made, records to be possibly set and broken, and a thrilling game of football to be played, if their 2018 encounter is anything to go by, Sunday’s World Cup final is shaping up to be a brilliant footballing spectacle worth anticipating, and is definitely going to be worth watching on GTV and GTV Sports+.
