December 12, 2022, 9:30 PM
December 12, 2022, 9:30 PM
With the semifinals, the World Cup enters the penultimate step for the four teams that remain alive to achieve glory. Achieve the dream of every footballer as a child. In this fight for survival, Argentina and Croatia meet on Tuesday, while France and Morocco will meet on Wednesday.
In these two matches that begin at 10:00 p.m. local time (3:00 p.m. HB), Argentina and France start as clear favorites, so on the horizon you could guess a duel Leo Messi and Kylian Mbappé, teammates at Paris Saint Germain, on the horizon.
At 35, for Messi it is the great and probably the last chance to achieve the dream of winning the World Cup, the only title missing from his record, after having achieved everything at club and national team level (Under-20 World Cup, Olympic gold and Copa América).
And above all to match the mythical Diego Maradona, who won the World Cup in Mexico 86 and whose comparison with the legendary former player of Boca Juniors, Barcelona and Naples haunts him.
“Let’s see if he keeps playing or not” then with the Albiceleste or until when, Argentine coach Lionel Scaloni responded on Monday about whether they were Messi’s last games with his team.
“We’re still going to enjoy it, it’s the best for us and for the world of football. If things go well for us, not only will things go well for him, but for the whole country. There’s still a long way to go and a very difficult game like tomorrow’s” , he added regarding Messi, who led Argentina to the quarterfinal victory against the Netherlands (4-3 on penalties, 2-2 after 120 minutes).
– Mbappé in the footsteps of Pelé –
For Mbappé, who will turn 24 on December 20, two days after the World Cup final, It would be the opportunity to hit the table definitively and unofficially proclaim himself the best world player of the moment.
“I have planned my season based on this tournament, both physically and mentally”, declared Mbappé before the quarterfinal match against England, which his team won 2-1.
“The World Cup is an obsession, It is the competition of my dreams”, he added, making his objectives clear.
If Messi would get closer to Maradona by winning the title, Mbappé would emulate Pelé if he beat Morocco in the semifinals and then Argentina or Croatia in the final on Sunday at the Lusail stadium.
Pelé won two consecutive World Cups in 1958 and 1962, as well as a third in 1970, the only footballer who has three titles to his credit, and Mbappé, should he be crowned in Qatar 2022, He would also get his second win in a row, after winning in Russia-2018, when he was only 19 years old.
For now, in the duel that Mbappé and Messi have in the scorers’ table, the French striker leads, with five goals, one more than Messi.
But before the ‘dream’ final between Messi, whom many consider the best in recent times, and his possible successor, Kylian Mbappé, Argentina must win on Tuesday at the Lusail Stadium against Croatia, which knocked out Brazil in the quarterfinals (4-2 on penalties, after 1-1 in 120 minutes).
If Croatia gives a new surprise, there could be a repeat of the Russia-2018 final between Modric and Mbappé.
“Argentina is an extraordinary team, they play compactly, we know they will give it their all tomorrow. But they are under a lot of pressure, more than us. For our part, we will find ourselves with the obstacle of the many fans in the stadium,” Croatian coach Zlatko Dalic said on Monday.
Nor will it be easy for France to defeat a highly motivated Morocco with sky-high morale with the most difficult route among the semifinalists, after having eliminated Belgium, Spain and Portugal.
The French central Raphael Varane, who was about to miss the World Cup due to an injury at Manchester United, He warned this Monday that “the only objective is to win” the World Cup with the French team.
The defender responded in this way to a question regarding statements by the president of his federation, Noel Le Graet, who stated before the tournament that the minimum objective was to reach the semifinals.
But Morocco, having become the first African country to reach the semi-finals, An entire continent and the Arab world dream of a new feat in the semi-final against France on Wednesday at Al Bayt Stadium.
