FIFA World Cup 2022 Discussion Thread

[Distraction]

But Messi is not as young as he used to be at dribbling, very different from when Messi was young in his time at Barcelona, compared to now, Messi is too old to continue dribbling, even though his ability is still there and in fact Messi managed to provide Assists and that's true classy as the best player in the world, I have no doubts about Messi's shrewdness when carrying the ball, of course opposing players will always want to stop Messi, somehow, at least prevent Messi from entering the area of the Penalty box, because that would endanger the opponent's goal for sure...

Maybe Messi is not exactly the same as his Barcelona times. However he is still quick with his dribbles actually. I recommend you to watch their third goal in the Croatia match again. It was such a lovely dribbling by Messi and he made a great assist to Alvarez. It was like the goal should have been written to Messi after that.    But Messi will face a much more solid defense this time of course. His quickness level might not be good enough against France defenders. In this case he would play passing focused of course.

He can still make a big contribution by his amazing passes and great shots from an average distance to the goal. I wonder what Argentina will do about the Mbappe threat. Their defense hasn't been very reliable so far. Hence they had better be extra careful here.

[beerlover]

I really think Argentina is going to win this World Cup..... Messi already said it is his last World Cup, so he wants to be known as the GOAT .... and this is his final hoooorah to do it.

I would have wanted to see him against Ronaldo in the final, but that cannot happen anymore..... so I will settle for a Messi vs Mbappe  
I see the odds favor France to win on most sites, but I feel we will see a draw after 90 minutes.  

This will be a crowning achievement for Messi if Argentina wins, demonstrating his status as the GOAT.

This battle presents numerous obstacles to overcome. The competition between the top four scorers. Who will have the most goals in this World Cup, will it be Messi, Mbappe, Alvarez or Giroud? Messi has the advantage in a tie because he can score goals and assist. Mbappe, on the other hand, has two assists, so Messi is only ahead by one point. Because the French also have Dembele and Griezmann, i'm going with Messi.

The betting market is fairly even, but most had France a slight edge.

I said this as well and there are some people who doubts him even if he manages to win. Unfortunately hooligan mindset in football prevents some people to enjoy everyone.

I personally LOVE watching both Messi and Ronaldo, I grew up watching them, their career started all the way back when I was freshmen in high school, so my first year in high school I watched these players, and now I am middle age, balding, and father old dude and I am still watching them and that's the greatness about them both. Just because someone says if Messi gets the world cup then I consider him the best, doesn't mean they have to think Ronaldo sucks and a terrible player at all.

[CryptocurencyKing]

Final between Argentina and France will be very enjoyable. France was the most solid squad in whole bigger nations. Maybe with Brazil. Argentina has great forwards. I can't wait to watch them compete for biggest cup in the world. I am gonna put eye on Messi as everyone around the world. I am sure he will spend whole his energy to win that cup. France should definitely lock him on pitch so he won't become useful for Argentina.

there will be an interesting effect in my opinion in this game which is the following: mbappe will be playing more individually to overcome messi in number of goals and also in winning the world cup, and this will destabilize the france, while in argentina messi plays calm way and focused on making him pass the ball to all the players in argentina, messi is the center of all movements in argentina, and it is very difficult to contain messi, because argentina has many good players

The stage is set. Argentina probably playing as good as they playing alongside their star Messi, and there’s France who has all stars in the team. It’s going to be the crucial. This would be the best final of this century, Argentina would have to perform better than they ever have, defeating france won't be easy. Mbappe will be a threat for Argentina. He’s a very direct player.

[Odusko]

Final between Argentina and France will be very enjoyable. France was the most solid squad in whole bigger nations. Maybe with Brazil. Argentina has great forwards. I can't wait to watch them compete for biggest cup in the world. I am gonna put eye on Messi as everyone around the world. I am sure he will spend whole his energy to win that cup. France should definitely lock him on pitch so he won't become useful for Argentina.

there will be an interesting effect in my opinion in this game which is the following: mbappe will be playing more individually to overcome messi in number of goals and also in winning the world cup, and this will destabilize the france, while in argentina messi plays calm way and focused on making him pass the ball to all the players in argentina, messi is the center of all movements in argentina, and it is very difficult to contain messi, because argentina has many good players

The stage is set. Argentina probably playing as good as they playing alongside their star Messi, and there’s France who has all stars in the team. It’s going to be the crucial. This would be the best final of this century, Argentina would have to perform better than they ever have, defeating france won't be easy. Mbappe will be a threat to Argentina. He’s a very direct player.

Instead looking at the weekend final match between the France team and their Argentina counterpart will be more of two giant players trying to create history in the global football history book, talking about Messi leading the Argentina squad and Mpappe coming from the other hand as a defending champion.
The outcome of the Sunday finals is going to have a.life time mark in the football career of both footballers, but as we know it is all about the luck when skills fail and I hope the right team will carry the trophy on Sunday until then let us keep speculating.

[Issa56]

France will never allow Argentina to have their way to win this FIFA world cup title, than to use all their tools to mark their players not to have access to achieve goals that will give them victory.

Do you think Argentina will ever allow France to win the match? The two country will struggle to win, the two countries performed well in their previous matches and the two of them are fighting for the first position, I think it will be a very difficult match for the both country, because both of them are after the world cup and they both have players that can win the world cup for them.

From what I notice about people's prediction for the match, most people that Messi is their favorite are supporting Argentina to win, why people that don't really like Messi are supporting France to win, most people are not doing their analysis on a neutral ground. I can't really predict who is going to win the world cup because the two countries are very strong.

[bitcampaign]

With many individual experienced players, it will be difficult to untie the strings that bind a team's performance. Considering this very factor, I think Franks has the upper hand in winning the cup once again as they have many players that have featured in top leagues, both In the starting 11 and the substitutes. But Looking at Argentina, there are few players the team cannot do without. If players like Messi and Alvarez are well-tackled, Argentina may likely go out on a limb.

There are many star players in France, so it's no wonder they reached the final once again, even though I'm sure France will get the title for the second time as the defending champion in this world cup, the French team was able to beat Argentina in the final later.

[RockBell]

The games are actually getting more interesting day by day, but the finals will be particularly exciting because both teams will want to win. My main concern right now is Morocco, and I hope they take third because I believe they deserve it after putting in so much effort. I'm not worried about France because I know they will deliver the cup fully to them, and Argentina should take second because I'm still upset that Brazil and England were eliminated.

[gagux123]

The games are actually getting more interesting day by day, but the finals will be particularly exciting because both teams will want to win. My main concern right now is Morocco, and I hope they take third because I believe they deserve it after putting in so much effort. I'm not worried about France because I know they will deliver the cup fully to them, and Argentina should take second because I'm still upset that Brazil and England were eliminated.

Same here... I would really like Croatia and Morocco to go to the finals!
The level of Croatian football had an interesting evolution, and in the cup in 2018 they had a totally satisfactory performance, and in 2022 they had the chance to play again in the finals of the world cup, but unfortunately that did not happen...

Morocco's performance was totally extraordinary, several people I know commented on the level of Moroccan football, they cannot have the technique that an elite team has, for example Brazil, Germany, France and others, but Morocco gave the best of themselves in that cup, they played with a lot of spirit and that made a significant difference for that team.

[wheelz1200]

The games are actually getting more interesting day by day, but the finals will be particularly exciting because both teams will want to win. My main concern right now is Morocco, and I hope they take third because I believe they deserve it after putting in so much effort. I'm not worried about France because I know they will deliver the cup fully to them, and Argentina should take second because I'm still upset that Brazil and England were eliminated.

I'm not so sure you can just count Argentina out.  You do t think Messi is going to want this as part of his lifetime resume.  This will be a well played match with both teams having a great chance to win.  Would love to see a shootout to cap it all.

[rendravolt]

I really think Argentina is going to win this World Cup..... Messi already said it is his last World Cup, so he wants to be known as the GOAT .... and this is his final hoooorah to do it.
I would have wanted to see him against Ronaldo in the final, but that cannot happen anymore..... so I will settle for a Messi vs Mbappe  
I see the odds favor France to win on most sites, but I feel we will see a draw after 90 minutes.  

      

Everyone's dream is to bring GOAT CR7 and LM10 together in the world cup final, but unfortunately CR7 has to go home early in the quarter finals and that hurts him a lot. Now talking about the ideal world cup final between Argentina and France, of course both of them have influential players in their team as you say Messi vs Mbappe, we know that stopping these two players requires a strong defense, otherwise there will be opportunities for goals to be created.
At least in the previous match both of them were heavily guarded by 4 to 5 opposing players and that made it difficult for them to move or feed players, but if that continues then there are other opportunities for other players who are free in the opposite position. Apart from all that, I hope that Argentina and France will be able to present an exciting match in the final and hope that at least a total of 4 goals will be scored by each of these countries.

It was obviously a dream for a lot of people to witness the two GOATS in the final. But sadly Portugal could not make it. It was really heartbreaking to see how Cristiano Ronaldo was crying on his exit from the World Cup. Lionel Messi is still there and still fighting.

Yes, we saw Lionel Messi being guarded by at least three players at all times in the match against Croatia. However, Messi was still creating good chances, and he continued dribbling away with the ball. He will have to do that against France as well. He will also need to make chances against France and he will also have to be ready to make some hero plays. And we all know that Lionel Messi is still very capable of doing that. Even the haters of Lionel Messi want him to win the World Cup this time. But it is going to be a challenging task to accomplish.

I'm sure Lionel Messi will overcome this hurdle, but of the many French players there is one name that can stop Lionel Messi, namely Raphael Varane, we know the two of them have often met when they defended their respective teams in El Classico matches. But it doesn't mean that it can stop Lionel Messi easily and it's true that they still need at least 3 players to block the pace of the ball being led by Lionel Messi. A match worth waiting for, whether France can win the world cup back to back this year or Argentina will lift the world cup for the third time.

[blue Snow]

Maybe Messi is not exactly the same as his Barcelona times. However he is still quick with his dribbles actually. I recommend you to watch their third goal in the Croatia match again. It was such a lovely dribbling by Messi and he made a great assist to Alvarez. It was like the goal should have been written to Messi after that.    But Messi will face a much more solid defense this time of course. His quickness level might not be good enough against France defenders. In this case he would play passing focused of course.

Messi as a leader in the Argentina team now, probably want to show to the squad if he is still Messi were same as a player who has fast dribble and movement. but, the age factor is a problem, he will tire quickly if forced to do all jobs for every line then he must divide it because France has a young player who has a fast move and passing, if Messi do itself probably the world cup champion would not come to him anymore.

[Sithara007]

Messi as a leader in the Argentina team now, probably want to show to the squad if he is still Messi were same as a player who has fast dribble and movement. but, the age factor is a problem, he will tire quickly if forced to do all jobs for every line then he must divide it because France has a young player who has a fast move and passing, if Messi do itself probably the world cup champion would not come to him anymore.

Surprising. So far I haven't noticed Messi getting tired in any of the matches. He has two decades of experience behind him, and even in matches that went for penalty shootout he looked quite fired up. At least for him, age is just a number. Anyway, Argentina just have one more obstacle to cross before they can kiss on the world cup trophy. They are trying really hard ever since 1986, without much luck. And this time their long wait may come to an end. And credit should be given to the younger players as well. They have provided adequate support to Messi.

[hd49728]

Messi as a leader in the Argentina team now, probably want to show to the squad if he is still Messi were same as a player who has fast dribble and movement

This World Cup is a first time I saw Messi shown his leadership too well. His goal celebration against Dutch coach (Van Gaal), their staffs and substitute players is a first time I saw he behaved strongly and arrogantly like that. A first time ever.

but, the age factor is a problem, he will tire quickly if forced to do all jobs for every line then he must divide it because France has a young player who has a fast move and passing, if Messi do itself probably the world cup champion would not come to him anymore.

To adapt to ageing problem, Messi is free from defense and he walks a lot in matches. He reserves his energy for attacking chances but magically, when he needs to run and dribble as we saw, he even can beat one of best defenders in World Cup 2022, Gvardiol who is at his very young age, 20.

Anyway, Argentina just have one more obstacle to cross before they can kiss on the world cup trophy. They are trying really hard ever since 1986, without much luck. And this time their long wait may come to an end. And credit should be given to the younger players as well. They have provided adequate support to Messi.

This World Cup maybe the one for Messi and Argentina. Recent days, France are struggling with flu virus. Is that a coincidence to support Messi and Argentina? It is Argentina advantage but will they win the final?

Soon we will the World Cup champions in Quatar.

[Daltonik]

Messi as a leader in the Argentina team now, probably want to show to the squad if he is still Messi were same as a player who has fast dribble and movement. but, the age factor is a problem, he will tire quickly if forced to do all jobs for every line then he must divide it because France has a young player who has a fast move and passing, if Messi do itself probably the world cup champion would not come to him anymore.

Surprising. So far I haven't noticed Messi getting tired in any of the matches. He has two decades of experience behind him, and even in matches that went for penalty shootout he looked quite fired up. At least for him, age is just a number. Anyway, Argentina just have one more obstacle to cross before they can kiss on the world cup trophy. They are trying really hard ever since 1986, without much luck. And this time their long wait may come to an end. And credit should be given to the younger players as well. They have provided adequate support to Messi.

Messi is in great shape, of course, but Mbappe also feels great, besides he is much younger, so if France manages to impose their game, they can become world champions for the third time in their history.

[Juggy777]

Messi as a leader in the Argentina team now, probably want to show to the squad if he is still Messi were same as a player who has fast dribble and movement. but, the age factor is a problem, he will tire quickly if forced to do all jobs for every line then he must divide it because France has a young player who has a fast move and passing, if Messi do itself probably the world cup champion would not come to him anymore.

Surprising. So far I haven't noticed Messi getting tired in any of the matches. He has two decades of experience behind him, and even in matches that went for penalty shootout he looked quite fired up. At least for him, age is just a number. Anyway, Argentina just have one more obstacle to cross before they can kiss on the world cup trophy. They are trying really hard ever since 1986, without much luck. And this time their long wait may come to an end. And credit should be given to the younger players as well. They have provided adequate support to Messi.

Messi is in great shape, of course, but Mbappe also feels great, besides he is much younger, so if France manages to impose their game, they can become world champions for the third time in their history.

@Sithara007 while you’re discussing about Messi and Mbappe you’ll conveniently forgot about Benzema, and if he turns up then France will have the upper hand. Furthermore Messi can definitely inspire his team, but in the end I feel that France are stronger and can definitely defeat Messi’s Argentina and the only way Argentina can win is if they can neutralise France attacking player’s but I doubt that they can stop them from scoring goals.

[Fara Chan]

Surprising. So far I haven't noticed Messi getting tired in any of the matches. He has two decades of experience behind him, and even in matches that went for penalty shootout he looked quite fired up. At least for him, age is just a number. Anyway, Argentina just have one more obstacle to cross before they can kiss on the world cup trophy. They are trying really hard ever since 1986, without much luck. And this time their long wait may come to an end. And credit should be given to the younger players as well. They have provided adequate support to Messi.

The age factor often causes a decline in play, especially for single strikers, but it's different if you look at Lionel Messi, he is smarter in placing positions under single strikers so he doesn't have to run and duel openly.

The two teams only need to concentrate on one final match, France's pressure is much greater, because they are the previous World Cup Trophy winners, while Argentina has the opportunity to bury France's dream of defending the title. Lionel Messi has the opportunity to appear at the last World Cup this time and has the opportunity to lift the trophy before retiring from the Argentina national team.

[emrecemsan]

I have heard that the relationship between Deschamps and Benzema isn't good these days. This might mean that Benzema still couldn't have been able to play in the World Cup much even if he didn't get injured. I wonder what the problem is because he was a regular in the starting eleven before and he was performing really great as well. But he is still expected to fly to Qatar to watch the Argentina - France finale on Sunday. As far as I know he has recovered from his injury finally.

Until now, Giroud has done a great work and didn't make his team feel Benzema's absence much. Giroud has scored 4 goals so far and he is one of the candidates for Golden Boot as well. He wasn't very effective in the latest match maybe but he will be expected to play better in the finale.

[minime0105]

Maybe Messi is not exactly the same as his Barcelona times. However he is still quick with his dribbles actually. I recommend you to watch their third goal in the Croatia match again. It was such a lovely dribbling by Messi and he made a great assist to Alvarez. It was like the goal should have been written to Messi after that.    But Messi will face a much more solid defense this time of course. His quickness level might not be good enough against France defenders. In this case he would play passing focused of course.

Messi as a leader in the Argentina team now, probably want to show to the squad if he is still Messi were same as a player who has fast dribble and movement. but, the age factor is a problem, he will tire quickly if forced to do all jobs for every line then he must divide it because France has a young player who has a fast move and passing, if Messi do itself probably the world cup champion would not come to him anymore.

Do you believe on young players, of cause everyone values young players, but the thing is that you can't compare an experience player with young players, the age of messi is not anything in messi, where we should consider the age and the it's performance in this tournament is  Ronald, i agree with you that France is made up of young players, but realize that Argentina has being wining players of young age before gotten to the finals, so France can't escape France wining them.

[BobK71]

It is very difficult to score goals when both of the team will be big opponent. Simply as it would be the final and last world cup for messi so he will try to give his maximum effort to win the World Cup. On December 18, Messi will have to fight Kylian Mbappe, Antoine Griezmann's France with their best at Lucille Stadium. In this World Cup Argentina and France are very similar in one point. Both teams lost against their Arab opponents in the group stage. Argentina lost their first match against Saudi Arabia. France lost to Tunisia in their last group match. Messi and Mbappe are the top scorers in the World Cup so far with five goals each. Both of them are fighting for the 'Golden Boot', but Mbappe may be slightly ahead in this fight. We are going to see one of the best ever match between two good teams on the final.

[beerlover]

Messi as a leader in the Argentina team now, probably want to show to the squad if he is still Messi were same as a player who has fast dribble and movement. but, the age factor is a problem, he will tire quickly if forced to do all jobs for every line then he must divide it because France has a young player who has a fast move and passing, if Messi do itself probably the world cup champion would not come to him anymore.

Surprising. So far I haven't noticed Messi getting tired in any of the matches. He has two decades of experience behind him, and even in matches that went for penalty shootout he looked quite fired up. At least for him, age is just a number. Anyway, Argentina just have one more obstacle to cross before they can kiss on the world cup trophy. They are trying really hard ever since 1986, without much luck. And this time their long wait may come to an end. And credit should be given to the younger players as well. They have provided adequate support to Messi.

Messi is in great shape, of course, but Mbappe also feels great, besides he is much younger, so if France manages to impose their game, they can become world champions for the third time in their history.

They are not playing against each other, Mbappe will be fighting Argentina defence, and Messi will fight against French defence. Which means that they could both have great games and doesn't make one or the other worse. I feel like Messi will play better than Mbappe, because Mbappe got too used to playing at striker position in PSG whereas he is left wing at France so there is a difference he goes back to adjust, he is used to that too but not entirely.

However, France attacking players will play better than Argentina ones, and that will result with a goal from Messi, but probably more goals from France. I hope Messi ends up with a cup, that would be very sweet retirement, France could always win later next time around with this team.