Dr. Data Parlay +150: Both Teams to Score an over 2.5 goals
Sunday marks a true clash of the titans in world football. Argentina and France are massive heavy weights of the sport. Argentina looking for their first title since 86' and France looking to repeat as champions. You have Messi vs Mbappe, the teammates from PSG. Messi is a god among men, the best to ever do it but lacks a world cup crown. Mbappe is the next young generational talent who, at 23 years old, already has a world cup title. The headlines leading up to this game have been Mbappe and Messi but they both can't do this on their own. I believe this game will be won in the midfield.
The key match up in this game will be De Paul, MacAllister and Fernandez vs Rabiot, Tchouameni and Griezmann. The French trio have been extremely solid throughout the tournament. Rabiot seems to have new life, Tchouameni sits a bit deeper and Griezmann has been spectacular especially with his service into the box. However, I don't think they've met a midfield with this much and talent furiosity. France manager Didier Deschamps may change up formation for this purpose. He said he was willing to bench Olivier Giroud, move Mbappe to the 9 position and add some more help in the midfield. This will mean France will be playing more defensively, and relying on Dembele and Mbappe to take guys on. However, if Griezmann starts to drift out wide, look for him cross to Mbappe in the box or a far post runner in Dembele or Thio Hernandez. Going the other way, the emergence of MacAllister and Allvarez has created another attacking threat. This frees up Messi to cook. The French defense has looked shaky, and has conceded at least goal a game. The over of 2.5 seems like a lock along with both teams scoring.
I believe Argentina will get the job done. The best thing to happen for this team was losing to Saudi Arabia. It forced the squad to treat every game like an elimination game. This pressure let guys like Enzo Fernandez and Julian Alvarez rise to the occasion. This team is motivated and driven, and they are playing for their role model Messi. 2-1 for the La albiceleste.
Go check out my blog I made before the World Cup started. I backed Argentina to win so fingers crossed since I'm sitting on a nice ticket and I hope to cash it.