Darius1998

I doubt any singer was needed for the national anthems. Argentina fans drowned her out anyway.

Preview This is it then. The first winter World Cup (for the northern hemisphere) comes to its conclusion following a month-long duel in the desert. 28 days after Ecuador beat hosts Qatar in the tournament's first game, the 80,000-capacity Lusail Stadium hosts the final as two nations steeped in footballing history go head to head to decide the winners of the 22nd FIFA World Cup. Argentina are in their first final since 2014 and looking to end a 36 year drought since a 3-2 win against West Germany at the Azteca. Having suffered a shocking defeat to Saudi Arabia in the opener, they have since topped their group, beaten Australia, followed by the Netherlands despite throwing away a 2-0 lead late in the game before sweeping aside 2018 runners-up Croatia in the semis. France secured qualification with a game to spare in the groups before a rotated side lost to Tunisia after Griezmann's late goal was contentiously ruled out. Since then, they have won every match within 90 minutes even despite giving up possession and looking shaky defensively. They take their chances going forward but seemingly only try to score when they are not leading. Team news Lionel Messi has had some issues with his hamstring but is expected to fit to start. France had a sickness bug going around that affected Upamecano, Rabiot, Varane and Konate but all of them were back in training yesterday. Olivier Giroud is a possible doubt for the starting XI. Past finals Argentina have reached 5 World Cup finals (1930, 1978, 1986, 1990 and 2014). France have done so on four occasions (1998, 2006 and 2018). Head to head The two sides have played each other on 12 occasions, with Argentina winning 6 to France's 3. They have played thrice in the World Cup - Argentina won 1-0 in 1930 and 2-1 in 1978 while France won their most recent meeting 4-3 in Kazan in 2018. Match stats Argentina are competing in their sixth World Cup final, with only Germany (eight) and Brazil (seven) participating in more. They won in 1978 and 1986 and lost in 1930, 1990 and 2014. They could become the second side in World Cup history to lose their opening game and go on to lift the trophy, emulating Spain in 2010. Messi can become the third Argentine player to win the Golden Boot at the World Cup after Guillermo Stabile in 1930 and Mario Kempes in 1978. France have reached the World Cup final for a fourth time, all since 1998. This is twice as many as any other nation in this period. Les Bleus are looking to become only the third nation to win back-to-back World Cups, after Italy (1934-38) and Brazil (1958-62). Didier Deschamps could become the second manager to win two World Cups, following in the footsteps of Vittorio Pozzo (1934 and 1938). Golden Boot Race Lionel Messi: 5 goals, 3 assists Kylian Mbappe: 5 goals, 2 assists Julian Alvarez: 4 goals Olivier Giroud: 4 goals

Classic Kovacic. Does everything right then gets his finish completely wrong.

Two bad decisions in a minute. Impressive. Andy Townsend is blind if he can't see Amrabat making contact.

Moroccan defenders still dropping like flies.

This is great fun.

Lineups

Preview Previous World Cup runners-up Croatia take on Africa's first semi-finalists in Morocco in today's third place play-off. Both sides started off in the same group, exceeded expectations and will now hope to put their semi-final disappointments behind them. After all, there are medals at stake and finishing 3rd is usually better than losing a final. Romain Saiss is definitely out while Marcelo Brozovic is a big doubt for Croatia. Past meetings This will be the third meeting between the sides. Croatia beat Morocco on penalties after a 2-2 draw in the Hassan II Trophy in 1996 while their group meeting at this World Cup finished goalless. About third place play-offs None of the 19 previous third place games have gone to penalties. Only one has ever been to extra time - France vs Belgium in 1986 and European countries have won this on the last 10 occasions, including Croatia themselves (2-1 vs Netherlands in 1998). Last three games: 2010 - Uruguay 2-3 Germany 2014 - Brazil 0-3 Netherlands 2018 - Belgium 2-0 England No lineups yet obviously as kick off is still a few hours away so here are some stats instead: Ivan Perisic is Croatia's joint top scorer at World Cups with 6, level with Davor Suker. This will be Walid Regragui's 7th World Cup game, tying Aliou Cisse's record for an African coach. Morocco conceded more goals in the semis than they did in their past 5 World Cup games (1). Croatia conceded as many as they had in their past 5 games (3). Morocco could also become the eighth team to keep five clean sheets at a single tournament after Netherlands (1974), Italy (1990), Brazil (1994), France (1998), Germany (2002), Italy (2006) and Spain (2010).

Third/fourth place play off Saturday 17th December Croatia 2-1 Morocco 15.00 The Final Sunday 18th December Argentina 2-1 France 15.00 Bonuses - Note - the bonuses ONLY apply to the final - there are no bonuses for the, err, what's it called game The total number of goals scored - 3 The number of goals scored in the first half - 1 The number of goals scored in the second half - 2 The number of goals scored after 90 minutes - 0 The number of hattricks - 0 Will the game go to extra time - No Will the game go to penalties - No The total number of penalties scored (including those in normal game play) - 1 The team which scores the fastest goal - Argentina The team which scores the last goal - France The time of the first goal - 14th minute The time of the last goal - 89th minute The scorer of the first goal - Lionel Messi The scorer of the last goal - Antoine Griezmann The total number of yellow cards - 6 The total number of red cards - 0 The total number of substitutions across all games - 7 ****Super, Hyper, Mega bonus*** Predict the exact score, whether the game will go to 90 or 120 minutes, the exact times of goal(s) and the goalscorer(s) - Messi (14th), Alvarez (42nd) and Griezmann (89th minute)

Aw man. Still no goal.

Kolo Muani having some season.

Andy Townsend nearly losing his mind shouting at him to shoot.

How is Dari still not a yellow?

He's gone from a playmaker to the best DM at the World Cup in about 7 years.

He's great for us. I think it's because he wants Morocco to win. Edit: Yeah, there it is.

That is so unlucky.

Clearly sacrificed his brother for it.

Moyes will keep playing Soucek over him anyway.

Ounahi looks a pretty good prospect. Was playing in the French 3rd tier a couple of years ago but he's 22 and has been excellent so far.

There's the early breakthrough.

As with every final since 1982, a Bayern and an Inter player are guaranteed to be part of the teams playing in the final. Either Mazraoui or Upamecano/Lucas (even if injured) are guaranteed to get there.

Preview Our second semi-final sees reigning champions France take on Africa's first ever semi-finalists in Morocco. France come into this having beaten Poland and England in the previous knockout rounds while Morocco come into this having knocked out two Iberian sides in a row in the form of Spain and Portugal. Nayef Aguerd and Noussair Mazraoui are fit again for Morocco while Walid Cheddira is suspended. France have two doubts in the form of Dayot Upamecano and Adrien Rabiot. Moroccan fans are expected to make up over 80% of tonight's crowd at the Al Bayt Stadium. Semi-final history France have made this stage on six previous occasions (1958, 1982, 1986, 1998, 2006 and 2018). Morocco, like any other African nation have never made it this far previously. Past meetings They have played each other on 10 occasions, with France winning 7 times while Morocco won their very first meeting. Their most recent meeting was a 2-2 draw in Paris in 2007. Lineups Upamecano and Rabiot do miss out with Konate and Fofana coming in for France. As expected, Aguerd and Mazraoui are back for Morocco while Saiss is fit to start again.

Close one, leaning towards Barry here.

Maradona wasn't in the 1978 squad. I agree with the rest though, no way they will ever agree about Messi being better.

I keep forgetting about that.