Highlights before Argentina and France; Important figures precede the anticipated signing between the Argentine team and their French counterparts in the FIFA World Cup final Qatar 2022 at Lucille Stadium Sunday.
The main figures are as follows:
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- Argentina is in the World Cup final for the sixth time in its history; only Germany has reached more times in the final (8). Argentina aspired to achieve the 3 World Cup titles after 1978 and 1986, but the loss could make them the most in a World Cup final in history (4, partly with Germany).
- France reached its fourth World Cup final since 1998 (1998, 2006, 2018, 2022), double any team’s participation in the final during this period, the reigning Blue team looking to be only the third team in history to maintain its World Cup title after Italy (1934, 1938) and Brazil (1958, 1962).
- This is Argentina and France’s fourth World Cup rally; the Albiceleste have won two of their previous three matches, while the only knockout clash they have compiled has lost by losing 3-4 in the last 16 of the previous edition. This is the 13 clash between them in all competitions; France has won only 3 of the previous 12 (T3, 6). The last of these clashes was a 4-3 victory in the last 16 of the previous edition of the World Cup in Russia 2018.
- France has not lost in the last 10 clashes against South American teams at the World Cup (V6, T4); paradoxically, the previous loss against those teams was against Argentina itself in the 1978 World Cup group stage for two goals.
- This 11 World Cup final, which brings together a South American team against a European team; The South American teams succeeded in the title in 7 of these 10 previous finals, with Argentina participating in two of the 3 losses to the Latin continent (against Germany in 1990 and 2014), while France secured the third European win over those teams (3-0 against Brazil in 1998).
- With the loss of the first-round match against Saudi Arabia 1-2, Argentina could become only the second national team in World Cup history to lose its first game and then be crowned after Spain in the 2010 edition.
- In losing Argentina against Saudi Arabia 1-2 and France against Tunisia 0-1 in the group stage, this will be only the second final in the history of the World Cup, which brings together two teams who lost a match on their way to the final scene, the first being in the 1978 edition – as Argentina secured the title by beating the Netherlands 3-1 in the final.
- France won the seven knockout matches it has played since the beginning of the 2018 edition; in the history of the World Cup, only Brazil between the 1958 and 1970 (9) won more consecutive knockout matches than in the World Cup (including group stage play-offs and excluding group stage, second and final clashes).
- Argentina has received only 5.7 shots per match in this edition of the World Cup, the lowest percentage of all participating teams, and the percentage of expected goals against Argentina has not been 0.6 in any of its 6 games in the tournament so far.
- France has the highest projected goal rate without penalties in the current World Cup (11.9), while Argentina has the lowest percentage during this edition (0.40).
- Argentina’s Lionel Messi will become the most active player in World Cup matches in this match (26) and may become the first player ever to score in every knockout round from the last 16 to the final in one edition of the World Cup (since the current version was introduced in the 1986 version).
- Messi scored 11 goals and 8 assists for Argentina in 25 World Cup games, and scoring or creating a goal in this match will be the first player ever to contribute to 20 goals in World Cup history (calculating goals and creating them since the 1966 edition).
- Antoine Griezmann and Kylian Mbappe scored for France in the previous World Cup final in 2018 (in the French Roosters’ 4-2 win against Croatia); only 4 players previously scored in two different World Cup finals: Fava (1958, 1962), Pele (1958, 1970), Paul Brightner (1974, 1982) and Zinedine Zidane (1998, 2006), and aged 23 and 363 days on the day of the final, Kylian Mbappe may become the youngest player to score in two different World Cup finals.
- France’s Antoine Griezmann has created more chances (21) and has a projected goal-making ratio (3.5) than any other player in the current World Cup. Since Opta began compiling statistics, only one French player has created more chances in one World Cup than Griezmann (21) and Alain Gires (24) in the 1982 and 1986 editions.
- At 44 years old, Argentina coach Lionel Scaloni will be the youngest coach to lead a World Cup finalist since Rudy Fuller in the 2002 version (42) and may become the youngest coach to win the title since compatriot César Luis Minotti in the 1978 edition (39).
- France coach Didier Deschamps may become only the second coach in World Cup history to be elected to win two different finals of the tournament after Italian Vittorio Potso with Italy in the 1934 and 1938 editions, and Deschamps won 14 of his 18 matches as a coach with France at the World Cup (T2, Kh2); Only Helmut Shaun (16) has won more games as a World Cup coach, while his winning percentage as a coach (78%) is the best for any coach who has played more than 10 games in the World Cup.
- During the last two editions of the World Cup, the two most chances created after advancing the ball (and moving with it + 5 meters) were Argentina’s Lionel Messi (27) and France’s Kylian Mbappe (22); Messi had 17 shots and 10 chances after advancing the ball, while Mbappe had 8 shots and 14 more.
- Hugo Lloris may become the fourth captain to lead in two different finals after Karl-Heinz Rummenigge (1982, 1986), Diego Maradona (1968, 1990), and Dunga (1994, 1998), each of whom has lost one of these finals, and Lloris may become the first captain to win the World Cup twice.
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