Argentina v France World Cup Final Betting Guide

The Road to the Final

Argentina – A Very Messi Tale

‘Al Albiceleste’ will play in their sixth World Cup final in the 2022 World Cup. The Argentinian national football team have won the World Cup twice, in 1978 and 1986. Their most recent appearance in the World Cup final was in the 2014 Brazil World Cup.

Argentina began their World Cup campaign in the worst possible way. After scoring the first goal, Al Albiceleste lost their opening game against Saudi Arabia. The pressure was on Argentina to bounce back, and they did so in style. Argentina won their two remaining group stage matches against Mexico and Poland. Both matches ended 2-0 meaning Argentina qualified as first from their group with six points.

Having advanced to the knockout stages of the World Cup, Argentina faced Australia in the round of 16. In the match, Messi continued his fine goal scoring form, as he found the back of the net in a 2-1 win. The victory meant Argentina would set-up a clash with the Netherlands in the quarterfinal.

The last time the Netherlands and Argentina played against each other was in the 2014 World Cup semi-final. In the match, Argentina defeated the Netherlands on penalties after a goalless draw.

In the quarterfinal, Argentina took the lead in the first half and then looked to seal the victory after Lionel Messi converted a penalty. However, despite being 2-0 up, the Netherlands brought on the 6’6” Wout Weghorst, who scored two late goals to send the tie to extra time. After a goalless thirty minutes, Argentina eventually defeated the Netherlands on penalties for the second time to book their place in the semi-finals. The match was one of the most exciting in the World Cup, and saw a total of 18 bookings.

The semi-finals of the World Cup was a battle between two recent World Cup runners-up. In the 2014 World Cup final, Argentina lost the final to Germany. In the 2018 World Cup final, France defeated Croatia. Argentina versus Croatia could have been a true battle. Fortunately for Argentina, they were granted a penalty in the first half that was scored by Lionel Messi.

The semi-final match between the two nations finished as a 3-0 win to Argentina. Messi scored a goal and also set up one for Julian Alvarez. The goal for Messi saw him the become the joint-top scorer with five goals, a stat that is matched by Frenchman Kylian Mbappé.

France - Mbappé Mbappé Mbappé

‘Les Bleus’ have a chance to become the first team to successfully defend their World Cup trophy since Brazil in 1962. The French national football team were not seen as one of the favourites for the tournament given the fact that they are without many key players. Before the World Cup started, Karim Benzema, Paul Pogba, Christopher Nkunku and Ngolo Kanté were all ruled out of the tournament. However, Les Bleus have found their way to the final through their star player, Kylian Mbappé.

In the 2018 World Cup, Mbappé burst onto the scene and scored many goals, including one in the final. At only 19-years-old, Mbappé was only the second teenager to score in a World Cup final. The first teenager to do so was Pelé in 1958. Four years later, Brazil was in the final again and won it in consecutive tournaments. Could the same thing happen again in Qatar?

France began their World Cup campaign with an impressive 4-1 win over Australia, followed up by a 2-1 win over Denmark. Although Les Bleus lost their final group stage match 1-0 to Tunisia, they still qualified from Group D in first.

The first-place finish for France meant they faced Group C runners-up Poland in the round of 16. France made light work of Poland, defeating them 3-1. Mbappé scored two goals against the Poles, taking his total tally of goals up to five.

The quarterfinals were a far more challenging test for France. They were up against England, who were the top scorers of the tournament at the time. Although England huffed and puffed, France managed to defeat ‘The Three Lions’ by two goals to one. In the final minutes of the game, Harry Kane blasted a penalty over the bar, sealing the win for France.

In a surprising turn of events, Morocco was drawn against France in the semi-finals having defeated both Spain and Portugal in the knockout rounds. ‘The Atlas Lions’ became the first African and Arabic nation to reach the semi-finals of the tournament. Les Bleus were incredibly professional in their performance and managed to defeat Morocco 2-0. The goals were scored by Theo Hernández and substitute Randal Kolo Muani.

Current Odds at mr.play

mr.play, like many other online sportsbooks, cannot pick a winner between these two nations. The current odds of France to win in 90 minutes are 2.66 whilst the odds of Argentina winning are 2.69. A draw would pay out 2.92.

If you do not want to bet on the result, there are many other markets available including whether both teams will score, how many goals will occur in the match, how many corners France will have and how many yellow cards Argentina will receive.

The odds of Argentina winning the World Cup are 1.79. France is given odds 1.78 to lift the trophy.

The Messi v Mbappé Final

Not only are Argentina and France in the final of the World Cup, the two top scorers of the competition are also there. Paris Saint Germain’s Lionel Messi and Kylian Mbappé have both scored five goals each. Messi has the slightly better statistics, with a goal in all the games he has played except for the 2-0 win over Poland. The seven-time Balon D’or winner has also registered three assists, whilst Mbappé only has two. It remains to be seen which player will eventually lift the trophy and if one of them will score to become the outright Golden Boot winner.