After nearly a month of incredible action, we are at the end of the World Cup as France take on Argentina to claim football’s greatest prize.
The World Cup holders and the reigning Copa America champions have navigated six tricky opponents each and will now go head-to-head in a massive clash between the two giants – live on talkSPORT this afternoon.
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Lionel Messi has led the two-time world champions to this stage with several top displays across the tournament.
Meanwhile, France have cemented their place as the dominant side on the international stage with back-to-back World Cup final appearances and have their own superstar in Kylian Mbappe.
This has the potential to be very special and should be a thrilling final no matter who emerges victorious.
Argentina v France: Date and kick-off time
The World Cup final will be held on Sunday, December 18.
Kick-off at the Lusail Iconic Stadium in Lusail is scheduled for 6pm local time, which is 3pm UK time.
Argentina v France: How to watch on TV
The World Cup final will be available to watch on both ITV One and BBC One.
The game will be free-to-air and can also be streamed on the BBC iPlayer or ITVX.
ITV’s coverage will start at 1:30pm, while the BBC’s is set to get underway at 2pm.
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Argentina v France: How to listen
Full coverage from the Lusail Iconic Stadium will be live on talkSPORT, with our special pre-match build-up starting at 1pm.
Adrian Durham will take you through as your host, while Jim Proudfoot and Stuart Pearce will serve as your commentary team.
talkSPORT.com will also have a dedicated match blog.
talkSPORT World Cup 2022 Coverage
talkSPORT is bringing you wall-to-wall coverage of the 2022 World Cup.
We are broadcasting all 64 games in the tournament live, with over 600 hours of coverage across our network.
You can tune in to talkSPORT and talkSPORT 2 via our free online streaming service at talkSPORT.com.
talkSPORT is widely available across the UK via DAB digital radio and on 1089 or 1053 AM.
You can also download the talkSPORT app, or ask your smart speaker to play talkSPORT.
Argentina v France: Squads and team news
Argentina are set to welcome Carlos Acuna and Gonzalo Montiel back into their squad after one-match bans kept them out of the semi-final.
Angel Di Maria was an unused substitute in the 3-0 win over Croatia but was fully fit and Lionel Scaloni decided to ensure he was ready for the final.
Alejandro Gomez also remains a doubt with an ankle problem.
Meanwhile, France have a wave of illness running through their squad.
Adrien Rabiot, Kingsley Coman and Dayot Upamecano were deemed too ill to feature in the 2-0 win over Morocco, while Ibrahima Konate and Raphael Varane were also ill.
Plus, Aurelien Tchouameni and Theo Hernandez missed training on Friday with minor niggles.
Lucas Hernandez is definitely out, while Karim Benzema won’t play any part despite reports he might be involved in the final.
But every member of Didier Deschamps’ squad trained on Saturday, suggesting Les Bleus might be over the worst of their issues.
Argentina
- Goalkeepers: Emiliano Martinez, Geronimo Rulli, Franco Armani
- Defenders: Nahuel Molina, Gonzalo Montiel, Cristian Romero, German Pezzella, Nicolas Otamendi, Lisandro Martinez, Marcos Acuna, Nicolas Tagliafico, Juan Foyth
- Midfielders: Rodrigo De Paul, Leandro Paredes, Alexis Mac Allister, Guido Rodriguez, Alejandro Gomez, Enzo Fernandez, Exequiel Palacios
- Forwards: Angel di Maria, Lautaro Martinez, Julian Alvarez, Nicolas Gonzalez, Joaquin Correa, Paulo Dybala, Lionel Messi
France
- Goalkeepers: Alphonse Areola, Hugo Lloris, Steve Mandanda
- Defenders: Lucas Hernandez, Theo Hernandez, Axel Disasi, Ibrahima Konate, Jules Kounde, Benjamin Pavard, William Saliba, Dayot Upamecano, Raphael Varane
- Midfielders Eduardo Camavinga, Youssouf Fofana, Matteo Guendouzi, Adrien Rabiot, Aurelien Tchouameni, Jordan Veretout
- Forwards: Karim Benzema, Kingsley Coman, Ousmane Dembele, Olivier Giroud, Antoine Griezmann, Kylian Mbappe, Christopher Nkunku, Marcus Thuram
Argentina v France: What has been said?
France’s Antoine Griezmann: “Any team with Messi in is a totally different proposition.
“We’ve seen Argentina play and we know how they play. They are a difficult team to play and they seem on top form.
“It’s not only Messi. They have a strong side around them and they are going to have a lot of support in the crowd. We will be well prepared.”
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Argentina v France: Match facts
- Argentina are competing in their sixth World Cup final, with only Germany (8) participating in more. They’re looking to win the trophy for a third time along with 1978 and 1986, but defeat would see them with the joint-most World Cup final losses in history (4, level with Germany).
- France have reached the World Cup final for a fourth time, all since 1998 (1998, 2006, 2018, 2022). This is twice as many as any other nation in this period. Les Bleus, the reigning champions, are looking to become only the third nation to win back-to-back World Cups, after Italy (1934 and 1938) and Brazil (1958 and 1962).
- This will be the fourth World Cup meeting between Argentina and France. La Albiceleste won two of the previous three, but lost the only such encounter in the knockout stage, a 3-4 defeat in 2018’s round of 16. Overall, this will be the 13th meeting between Argentina and France in all competitions, with Les Bleus winning just three of the previous 12 (D3 L6), although the most recent was their 4-3 win at the 2018 World Cup.
- France are unbeaten in their last 10 World Cup matches against South American nations (W6 D4). Indeed, their last such defeat came against Argentina, doing down 2-1 in the 1978 first group stage.
- This will be the 11th World Cup final competed between a South American and European nation; South American sides lifted the trophy on seven of those previous 10 occasions. However, Argentina are responsible for two of the three such defeats for South American teams (against Germany in 1990 and 2014), while France are responsible for the other win (3-0 v Brazil in 1998).
- Having lost 2-1 to Saudi Arabia on MD1, Argentina could become the second side in World Cup history to lose their opening game of an edition and go on to lift the trophy, after Spain in 2010.
- With Argentina losing 2-1 to Saudi Arabia and France losing 1-0 to Tunisia in their respective groups, this will be only the second World Cup final where both finalists had lost a match en route to the showpiece. The other came in 1978 – when Argentina won the trophy after beating Netherlands 3-1 in the final, both having lost once each in their first round groups.
- France have won all seven of their World Cup knockout games since the start of the 2018 tournament. In World Cup history, only Brazil from 1958 to 1970 (9) have ever had a longer winning run in knockout matches at the finals (knockouts exclude first group, second group and final group but include group play-off matches).
- Argentina have restricted their opponents to just 5.7 shots per game at this World Cup, fewer than any other side. They haven’t faced above 0.6 expected goals against in any of their six games so far.
- France have the highest non-penalty expected goals (xG) total of any nation at the 2022 World Cup (11.9), while Argentina’s average of 0.40 non-penalty xG faced per game is the lowest in this year’s tournament.
- Argentina’s Lionel Messi will become the all-time record appearance maker in World Cup history in this game (26). He could also become the first player to score in every knockout round from the round of 16 to the final in a single edition of the tournament (since the current format in 1986).
- Argentina’s Lionel Messi has 11 goals and eight assists in 25 World Cup appearances. If he scores or assists in this match, he will be the first player to record 20 goal involvements at the competition (counting goals all-time and assists since 1966).
- Antoine Griezmann and Kylian Mbappé both scored for France in the 2018 World Cup final (4-2 win v Croatia). Only four players have ever scored in two separate World Cup finals: Vavá (1958, 1962), Pelé (1958, 1970), Paul Breitner (1974, 1982), and Zinedine Zidane (1998, 2006). Aged 23 years and 363 days on the day of this year’s showpiece, Mbappé could become the youngest player to score in multiple World Cup finals.
- France’s Antoine Griezmann has created more chances (21) and has a higher expected assists total (3.5) than any other player at the 2022 World Cup. Since Opta have this data available (from 1966), only one French player has created more chances at a single edition of the World Cup than Griezmann’s 21, with Alain Giresse creating 24 in 1982 and 24 again in 1986.
- At 44 years old, Argentina coach Lionel Scaloni is the youngest manager to take charge of a World Cup final since Rudi Völler in 2002 (42), while he could be the youngest to win the trophy since his compatriot César Luis Menotti in 1978 (39).
- France’s Didier Deschamps could become only the second manager to lead a nation to victory at two separate World Cups, after Vittorio Pozzo with Italy in 1934 and 1938. Deschamps has won 14 of his 18 matches as manager at the finals (D2 L2); only Helmut Schön (16) has more World Cup wins as a manager, while his win rate of 78% is the best of any manager to take charge of more than 10 World Cup matches.
- Across the last two World Cup tournaments, the two players who have generated the most chances following a carry (moving 5+ metres with the ball) are Argentina’s Lionel Messi (27) and France’s Kylian Mbappé (22). Messi has had 17 shots and created 10 chances following a carry, while Mbappé has had eight shots and created 14 chances in this manner.
- France goalkeeper Hugo Lloris could become just the third player to captain a side in consecutive World Cup finals, after Diego Maradona (1986 and 1990) and Dunga (1994 and 1998). With each of the previous two losing one of theirs, Lloris could be the first to captain a winning team in two separate finals.
Watch the World Cup with talkSPORT
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