The World Cup semi-finals were boring.
The statement is straightforward – after all, we saw, among other things, a 35-year-old playing the best national team year of his life Lionel Messi’s magic at its best.
Unfortunately, only the snacks of the surprises of the games had been eaten at this point. The last time both semi-final matches ended with a difference of more than one goal was in 1986. In the World Cup in Mexico, West Germany beat France 2–0 and Argentina beat Belgium 2–0 in the semi-final.
Now Croatia was 0-3 behind Argentina’s thunder in the Messi show. Morocco, which was the first African country to play in the World Cup semi-finals, did not continue its surprises, but lost to France 0–2.
– Well, it’s not far, said Urheilu’s expert Jonne Kunnaswhen he was presented with the argument “boring semi-finals”.
In their six matches of the tournament, Croatia scored five goals in regular time. Four of the five goals were scored in the Canadian net.
In the 2018 Games, Croatia advanced to the final by winning all of their playoff matches in penalty kicks or overtime. In the same way, Croatia won the quarter-final and the semi-final with a lot of hard work.
All credit to Croatia for tenacity and tournament play. Four wins out of four penalty kicks at the World Cup is no accident.
Argentina knew how to attack Croatia’s weaknesses, and there was no scoring threat from Croatia.
Morocco offered relatively tougher resistance in the latter semi-final. However, France’s quick lead goal in the fifth minute of the match was the worst possible setback.
France is dull boring and clinical. The French championship in 2018 did not come with fireworks or a beautiful game in the traditional sense, and the same pattern has been continued by Les Bleus in Qatar.
In any case, France is content to defend low in a tight block, relying on the lightning fast Kylian Mbappe’s and Ousmane Dembele’s to counterattacks as well Antoine Griezmann for free passes. When France scored a quick lead against Morocco, the game plan was clearer than ever.
France head coach Didier Deschamps believes in a familiar, simple template, which is especially useful when the preparation time for the national teams was non-existent during the World Cup tournament.
England and Morocco defended superstar Mbappe practically to the hilt. It didn’t bother France. And it hasn’t bothered them that they were injured even before the tournament Karim Benzema, N’Golo Kante, Paul Pogba…
– Let’s finish the games, France will win in any case, Kunnas succinctly described France’s World Cup heaven after the Morocco match.
It took Morocco 32 minutes against France to produce the number of assists they managed in their entire win over Portugal. France held the ball for only 39 percent of the match. Shots France won 14–13, but expected goal 2.23–1.06.
Argentina, on the other hand, took a 3.09-0.53 expected goal against Croatia, although Croatia had 60.8 percent of the ball control and Croatia took 12-9 shots.
Isn’t a game tool a tool of power after all?
The winners, Argentina and France, recorded a total of 5.32 expected goals – the losers 1.59.
Messi or Mbappe
As a whole, the World Cup has not been poor in events or boring in terms of results. Germany and Belgium remained in the initial group. Japan won their group. Morocco made African history.
Argentina and Holland set up a ruckus, in which a record number of warnings were handed out and after which Messi, who was considered to be unruffled, barked at the opponent’s coach, the players and the referee.
Still, it’s good that the surprises ended there. In the final of the World Cup tournament, he hopes to see the greatest of the greatest shake hands.
In the 2018 Games, Croatia became the lowest-ranked Fifa country in history (20th) to make it to the finals. The final was not memorable.
Now it will become one, guarantees have already been given.
Immediately after the end of the latter semi-final, the debate began – not whether France or Argentina would win the title, but whether Messi or Mbappe would win. It is completely understandable, because the biggest audience is interested in the brightest stars, not the heights of the press lines.
Messi has been awarded the most times in history, seven times, with the Ballon d’Or for the best player in the world. In the opinion of many, the futa player of all time will play the last World Cup match of his career in the final.
23-year-old Mbappe is firmly on his way to becoming the all-time World Cup goalscorer. He has already scored in the World Cup final as well. Messi scored his first World Cup knockout goal only in these games.
Of course, the PSG duo is also a nanna for the host country, because the Parisian club is owned by the Qatari state through Qatar Sports Investments.
Sportswear is its own story, but at least in terms of football, the ingredients are all there.
The World Cup final between Argentina and France will be played on Sunday, December 18. The broadcast starts on TV2 at 4 p.m., the match at 5 p.m. Bronze match Morocco-Croatia (MTV) on Saturday, December 17. follows the World Cup in this article.