In Sunday’s World Cup final in Doha, one of football’s greatest players, Lionel Messi, will try to win the trophy that has eluded him thus far. Argentina will take on France, the defending champions. In his way is France, led by Kylian Mbappe, who is on a mission to become the first side since Pele’s Brazil in 1958 and 1962 to win back-to-back World Cups.
Messi, 35, has been named the best player in the world seven times by the Ballon d’Or award, but his team’s 2014 World Cup final loss to Germany was a crushing blow to his ego.
The world’s attention will be riveted on the 89,000-capacity Lusail Stadium in Doha, the most spectacular of the amazing venues that the desert state of Qatar has created to host the tournament, for the 1500 GMT beginning, thanks to Messi’s quest.
France’s coach, Didier Deschamps, remarked before kickoff, “I am fully aware that Argentina will have a lot of fans behind them.”
Many people, including some French fans, are rooting for Lionel Messi to win the World Cup, but Argentina and our entire team are committed to achieving our goal.
Emiliano Martinez, the goalkeeper for Argentina, remarked, “People say the favourites are France. However, we have the greatest player in history on our team.
After leading France to their first World Cup final since 1986 by defeating Morocco in the semifinals, Deschamps has had a rough few days.
His team is fighting off a mysterious infection that has infected at least five of them.
Raphael Varane, Ibrahima Konate, and Kingsley Coman, the team’s central defenders and winger, were all sick and unable to attend Friday’s practice.
Ahead of that, Dayot Upamecano and Adrien Rabiot, both midfielders, were ruled out of the semifinal.
Fever, stomach pain, and headaches are just some of the symptoms that have been reported by players, staff, and sources close to the French team.
Deschamps stated, “We are trying to take as many safeguards as possible, to adjust as required, and go on with it.”
Although reporters were hurried off the field after only 15 minutes, he was encouraged to see all 24 members of his side onto the field at the start of their penultimate team training session before the final.
Hugo Lloris, France’s captain, decided to ignore Messi’s criticism and instead focus on the game at hand. He praised his team’s resilience in the face of injuries, citing the contributions of Paul Pogba, N’Golo Kante, and Karim Benzema as examples.
Lloris: “A lot of people didn’t believe in us, but here we are again in the final.”
Despite the significance of Messi to our sport’s past, France and Argentina are competing on the field today. In order to ensure victory in this final conflict, we shall spare no effort.
In his fifth World Cup, Messi has been outstanding, and Sunday’s final will likely be his last chance to equal the feat of Diego Maradona, who led Argentina to victory in Mexico in 1986.
On the other hand, Mbappe, 23, a teammate of Neymar’s at Paris Saint-Germain, is trying to break Pele’s record of becoming the youngest player to win two World Cups.
Antoine Griezmann, France’s midfield dynamo, has been crucial in their path to the final.
An anticipated minimum of 40,000 Argentine fans will travel to Doha to fill the stadium.
Their enthusiastic attendance has been a standout element of this year’s tournament, which is the first World Cup to take place in a time frame other than the summer.
Ricardo Schwarz, a teacher from Cordoba, told AFP at the Souq Waqif in the heart of the Qatari city that “we all feel this will be Messi’s day.”
On Saturday, Croatia defeated Morocco 2-1 to go to the third-place match, but Morocco’s coach, Walid Regragui, still believes an African side will win the World Cup within the next “15-20 years.”
The number of teams competing in the World Cup will increase to 48 in 2026, with Africa receiving nine qualifying spots instead of five.
There are nine of us, so let’s get to work and learn. “In fifteen to twenty years, I’m confident an African side will win the World Cup because we will have learned,” Regragui added.