Argentina vs France Preview

The 2022 FIFA World Cup ends on Sunday with Argentina and France squaring off at the Lusail Iconic Stadium.

Argentina qualified for this round of the tournament thanks to a 3-0 win over Croatia in their last game. That win was all about Messi who opened the scoring before playing a role in the two goals scored by Manchester City forward Julian Álvarez.

The little Argentina captain is looking to win his first World Cup–the only trophy left for him to add in his trophy chest– when he faces France at the Lusail Iconic Stadium on Sunday.

The Paris Saint-Germain striker was close to winning the trophy in 2014, but was outdone by Germany who beat them 1-0 in extra time.

He will now look to inspire his side to their first World title since 1986 and end several years of hurt and nearly wins.

With this certainly his last World Cup, Messi will hope to end it on a high note and avoid a repeat of their 4-3 defeat against France in the last edition.

Given that they have lost just one of their last 42 games (W31, D10) while scoring 2+ goals in each of their last five games, they will fancy their chances of winning against a France side that have kept just one clean sheet in this World Cup.

Les Bleus are looking to be just the third team after Italy and Brazil to win back-to-back World Cup titles when they face Argentina on Sunday.

The defending champions will consider themselves lucky to be at this stage of the tournament after recording a narrow 2-0 win over Morocco in their last outing.

Didier Deschamps’ men were the second best team throughout their encounter with Morocco and only survived thanks to some impressive defending and poor finishing by the North African side.

Having escaped with narrow wins over England and Morocco, beating Argentina might be too much of a task for France unless they can step up their game.

But given the form of Olivier Giroud and Kylian Mbappe who have nine goals between them, France will be optimistic that they can secure a win in this game.

So far, they have scored 2+ goals in all but one of their World Cup games and they will be confident of finding the net here.