Two pre-tournament favourites have advanced to the World Cup final, with Argentina and France ready to compete for the ultimate prize.
For weeks, I’ve been working on the story. It’s Lionel Messi’s last opportunity to lead Argentina to World Cup glory. Still, he’ll have to go through the defending champions to complete the one accomplishment evading him throughout his legendary career.
One thing is sure: this will be a terrific game featuring some of the world’s best players. It’s not simple to combine the two teams into a single starting lineup, but here’s what we came up with.
Emiliano Martinez – Goalkeeper It’s challenging to choose between Martinez and Hugo Lloris. Both are good goalkeepers who seem to improve their skills at the international level, with the Argentine reaching a higher level in Qatar. He was the penalty-saving hero against the Netherlands and will be confident from the spot against anybody.
Jules Kounde, RB France, hasn’t used a natural right-back in quite some time. Kunde is more of a centre option, but he can still get the job done comprehensively and barely edges out Nahuel Molina.
Cristian Romero – CB Romero fought his way into Lionel Scaloni’s starting lineup after beginning the competition as a substitute and has been a steady presence in the defence, lining up with either Nicolas Otamendi or Lisandro Martinez.
Raphael Varane – CB France has a plethora of high-quality defence options. Ibrahima Konate and Dayot Upamecano are current and prospective stars, but both will want to emulate Varane’s success, who remains one of the game’s finest defenders.
Theo Hernandez, LB There’s a case to be made that Theo, who didn’t even play in France’s opening game, is the greatest left-back on the globe. Nicolas Tagliafico and Marcos Acuna have led Argentina, but Theo stands out.
DM: Aurelien Tchouameni – Tchouameni, like Pogba and Kante, is an outstanding defensive midfielder who has stepped up in their absence. France’s midfield might be his for the foreseeable future.
DM: Alexis Mac Allister – Mac Allister has performed various roles and excelled in each of them. This season, the Brighton man looks to be enjoying the defensive side of things, but he also brings some genuine inventiveness to the table. He’s slowly becoming a full-fledged midfielder.
Antoine Griezmann – AM Griezmann has been spectacular in his position as France’s number ten. The Atletico Madrid player, who has been an undesirable commodity at the club level for a few years now, takes his game to a new level internationally, leaving some at Barcelona scratching their heads as to why they couldn’t make it work for him.
Lionel Messi – RW Messi now plays centrally, but his ability to wander allows him to return to his old right side. This season, he’s been playing some of the finest football of his career, mixing goals and assists with scary ease, and he’ll be crucial to Argentina’s prospects of success.
Kylian Mbappe. Mbappe may be the world’s finest player right now, and he’s vying for the Golden Boot as he enters Sunday’s final tied with PSG colleague Messi on five goals.
Olivier Giroud – ST Julian Alvarez deserves credit for making this difficult choice because France Giroud is one of the most dangerous attackers in the game. His link-up play with his athletic colleagues is flawless, and he’s scoring many goals this winter. Alvarez is a close second, but Giroud takes the win.
