ARGENTINA and France will face off in a fascinating final to bring the curtain down on the 2022 World Cup at the Lusail Stadium on Sunday afternoon.
Having started their quest for a first World Cup triumph since 1986 with a shock 2-1 defeat against Saudi Arabia, Lionel Scaloni's side recovered with back-to-back wins over Mexico and Poland to claim top spot in Group C.
After disposing of Australia in the last-16 and then dumping out the Dutch at the quarter-final satge in dramatic fashion, Lionel Messi played a starring role in La Albiceleste’s 3-0 semi-final cruise to victory over Croatia in midweek.
That means holy grail remains in sight for Messi but standing in his way of international immortality is a monumental test of mettle against current holders France, who are the first nation to reach back-to-back finals since Brazil in 2002.
In fact, Didier Deschamps' team also became the first defending champions to make it out of the group stage since Brazil in 2006, having qualified from Group D with a game to spare, and then they went on to put Poland to the sword in the round of 16.
Les Bleus then kept their hopes of back-to-back titles alive by eliminating England in a last-eight showdown before crushing African trailblazers Morocco's World Cup dream with a 2-0 semi-final victory on Wednesday.
Outright Betting
The bookies are finding it hard to separate the teams with Argentina narrow outsiders at 87/50 (Highbet) while the stalemate in regulation time is trading at 19/10 (Highbet).
France, who won a 4-3 thriller against Argentina in the round of 16 in Russia four years ago, head into Sunday's showpiece a marginal 83/50 (Highbet) favourites
Betting Angles
As the above-mentioned odds suggest, Sunday's World Cup final looks too difficult to call from a 1×2 perspective, so I'm going to head to the Bet Builder market and throw together Over 0 Match goals, Lionel Messi to have a shot on target and Over 1 Argentina Card at 4/5 (Bet 365).
While high-stakes finals do have a tendency to be rather cagey affairs, both of these sides pack a punch, and that is evidenced by the fact that each of the pair's combined 12 matches en-route to the final have featured at least one goal, with a sizeable eight of those bouts breaking the Over 2.5 Goal barrier.
As such, I'm more than happy to side with at least one strike inside 90 minutes on Sunday, and while it wouldn't come as a surprise if man of the moment Lionel Messi makes the net bulge, I'll instead back the Argie skipper to have at least one shot on target.
The Argentine maestro, who has defied his age and his opponents throughout the tournament, has averaged 2.3 shots on target per-game in Qatar, not to mention he will also have his eyes firmly set on scooping the highly sought after prize that is the World Cup Golden Boot.
Amid the soaring expectations being placed on Messi and Co to deliver World Cup glory on Sunday, I'll conclude the Bet Builder with at least two Argentina cards.
The Argies demonstrated against both Netherlands and Croatia that they are not adverse to engaging in the dark arts, and irrespective of game state, a fully fired up La Albiceleste look a fair bet to pick up a couple of cards from Polish whistler Szymon Marciniak.
Given the magnitude of the occasion, I'll also have a speculative punt on a big price play by backing Oliver Giroud to score a header at 12/1 (William Hill).
Two of the Frenchman's four tournament goals have been scored with his head and he could put his size and aerial ability to deadly use against an Argentina defence that have shown signs of weakness when dealing with long balls and crosses.
This World Cup match between Argentina and France will be played on Dec 18, 2022 and kick off at 15:00. Check below for our tipsters best Argentina vs France prediction. You may also visit our dedicated betting previews section for the most up to date previews.
