Lionel Messi turned his body as he will pass the ball backwards with Josko Gvardiol covering him goal side. Barely anybody had an idea it was feint. The next series of sequences involved a sole turn, a burst of sudden acceleration and a subtle cutback which Julian Alvarez found no difficulty in guiding to the back of the net. We witnessed a piece of Lionel Messi genius on the biggest stage of football in the world. Meanwhile, Kylian Mbappe allowed the incoming cross to run across his body, turned in a snapshot, taking the ball in a less crowded left side. Although it didn't matter as he then charged into the crowded box alone like a legendary knight from yesteryears. In a second, a magical touch opened up the well reputed Moroccan defence and the pass, perfectly weighted just appealed to on rushing Kolo Muani to tap the ball in. The term generational was justified by a 23-year-old at that single moment. FIFA World Cup 2022: Argentina Will Be Really Hard in World Cup Final, Says French Goalkeeper and Captain Hugo Lloris.

Lionel Messi and Kylian Mbappe, one at the dusk of his career and the other at the dawn but displaying the same touches of genius throughout. Teammates in club football but set to meet at the ultimate stage for the ultimate prize. Whose team will lift the cup? Who will be able to give the tribute to their own superstar? Let's try and solve the puzzle one final time as Argentina takes on France in the final of FIFA World Cup 2022.

Argentina has continued to evolve in their short road to the finals. After a poor first game and a first half against Mexico, Lionel Scaloni kept changing systems and formations according to opposition strength and has been able to score in all games despite facing a variety of defensive organizations. Inclusion of Enzo Fernandez, who sat at the base of the midfield and helped tp bypass opposition press by his amazing technical ability was the first good change by Scaloni. He added it up with the inclusion of Julian Alvarez, who with his all-round ability of scoring and also dropping to create, provided a lot of freedom and opportunity to conserve stamina to Messi making him more dangerous in phases. Scaloni has used both back three and back four formations according to need and remained flexible throughout. Although Argentina has been good in both offense and defence, Scaloni's biggest strength still remains to foresee possible game situations and it will give him competitive edge even in the finals. FIFA World Cup 2022: Argentina Set To Play The Final Against France Wearing Home Jersey.

No team has suffered more due to injury in this FIFA World Cup then Didier Deschamps' France. Although they have drifted afar from Plan A, their depth of talent was good enough to take them FIFA World Cup finals consecutively for the second time. Inclusion of Theo Hernandez, even though accidentally, has upgraded the attacking setup of France. His presence freed up Kylian Mbappe by always providing him an outlet to combine. The trio of Theo Hernandez, Kylian Mbappe and Olivier Giroud occupies the left side of oppositions opening up the right side for Antoine Griezman to exploit who has been brilliant throughout the tournament. Although they have thrived offensively, unlike Argentina, France looked vulnerable in defensive transitions due to lack of defensive effort from Mbappe and Theo. It was Hugo Lloris' form that has kept France alive in the games before and allowed them to execute their plan of winning key moments in the game and control the match according to game state. Despite that, the weakness of the formation of France in the left and Argentina's strength on the right will keep Didier Deschamps worried.

A FIFA World Cup final between two teams with a rich history and legacy is always difficult to predict. But considering the form Argentina has entered the competition with and the form they showed in the tournament, along with the added factors of France's defensive fragilities and big match experience, it can be said Lionel Messi is the one who is going to have the fairy tale of farewells with the FIFA World Cup 2022 trophy in hand.

 

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Dec 15, 2022 11:02 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).