A month of intense football action has finally boiled down to just two teams, when defending champions France take on Lionel Messi's Argentina in the final of the 2022 FIFA World Cup at the Lusail Stadium in Qatar on Sunday, December 18.
Messi will break the record for most World Cup match appearances in Sunday's final against France after being named in Argentina's starting XI. His outing in the semifinal win over Croatia took his World Cup games tally to 25, level with Lothar Matthaus, and he will now go one above than the German legend, in what might be his final World Cup game.
He will be joined by Angel di Maria, who was on the bench for most of the tournament. Di Maria did not start in the 2014 World Cup final against Germany after suffering an injury in the Quarters, and this will be a chance for the forward to redeem himself in the upcoming final.
Recap of the finalists' tournament
Argentina have literally risen from the ashes in this tournament. After losing the first match of the tournament against Saudi Arabia, the Albiceleste have bounced back with some aplomb. They have won four of their remaining five matches, and drew with the Netherlands 2-2 in the Quarterfinals before beating them in the penalty shootouts.
Meanwhile, their opponents France have been dominant throughout the tournament. Their only loss was in the final Group Stage game against Tunisia, which was a dead rubber fixture. They were extremely dominant throughout the knockouts of the competition.
Argentina
GK: Emiliano Martinez
DEF: Nahuel Molina, Romero, Nicholas Otamendi, Nicolas Tagliafico
MID: Angel Di Maria, Rodrigo De Paul, Enzo Fernandez, Alexis Mac Allister
FWD: Lionel Messi. Julian Alvarez
France
GK: Hugo Lloris
DEF: Jules Kounde, Raphael Varane, Dayot Upamecano, Theo Hernandez
MID: Antoine Griezmann, Aurelien Tchouameni, Adrien Rabiot
FWD: Ousmane Dembele, Olivier Giroud, Kylian Mbappe
