Messi hunts World Cup glory as Mbappe stands in his way

Doha: Arab World Cup

Doha: Arab World Cup. Check. This time for Africa. Check. All continents represented in the round of 16. Check. Three teams from Asia in knockout round. Check that too. But missing in this World Cup of several firsts is a thriller, a goal rush, of the kind Argentina and France played four years ago. Argentina were flawed, deeply, but managed to introduce enough frenzy in that round-of-16 game before Kylian Mbappe showed why speed thrills. How about that for a finish this time?

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How about a finale that gets people of a certain vintage to lapse into recollections of the afternoon at Azteca when West Germany produced a stirring eight-minute fightback through the instinct and opportunism of Karl Heinz Rummenigge and Rudi Voeller to leave Argentina dazed till Diego Maradona found Jorge Burruchaga with a pass that only he could see? And get those born after 1986 to revisit that final on the Internet.

Or 1966, when West Germany scored in the 89th minute to delay celebrations in England. Fifty-six years later, by which time all the bricks in the Wall had been removed and a country reunited, the debate continues in Germany whether the ball had crossed the line for Geoff Hurst’s second goal. Or the joga bonito of 1970, or the goal fest of 1958...you get the drift.

So, please, Kylian Mbappe and Lionel Messi, first-among-equals in a sport that is a celebration of collective effort, France and Argentina, twice world champions, both give us a finale that we will talk about long after the World Cup and some stadiums pack up from Doha. They are of course under no obligation to do that — the oldest saying in football is that finals are won not played, said Argentina coach Lionel Scaloni — but we will remain in their debt if they did. A happy ending to a hectic 29 days of football will help us ease back into our workaday lives.

For many on this planet, a happy ending would mean Lionel Messi winning his first World Cup at the fifth time of trying. “The brilliance of Messi, he is of a different make. If you have a player like him, you put all the cards into his pocket,” said Juergen Klinsmann, head of the Fifa Technical Study Group and World Cup winner in 1990.

“Over the years, Argentina have had some players who did very well for them in the World Cup: Diego Maradona is the perfect example of that. And now Messi, legends of football both,” said Hugo Lloris, who could be the first player in the 92-year history of the tournament to be the captain who is successful in two consecutive editions.

You feel as if Maradona is here. He is, Argentina fans tell you with the conviction of devotees talking about their God. It’s not all of Doha that has hummed with life during the World Cup but he has been seen in all the spots it has: Souk Waqif, the restored marketplace in Doha, fan parks, at Argentina games, the housing cluster in Al Wakrah, the metro. In flags, in cardboard cut-outs, on the back of Argentina fans, he has travelled. In songs conveying unconditional love for Messi and Maradona, his mother too, he has been remembered.

The emotional bond finds resonance in cold, hard numbers too. Through 45 shot involvements (also an indication of chances created), Messi is responsible for 56.3% of Argentina’s shots here. In 1986, that number for Maradona was 56.4%, according to Opta Analyst. Messi already has more World Cup goals than Maradona, more World Cup games but he would trade all that for what he still doesn’t have. Will it come on Sunday against the defending champions?

Or will France, headlined by Mbappe, be the first since the days of Pele and Garrincha to keep the World Cup? The French camp is dealing with illnesses to key players as they did with injuries in the lead-up to the competition. “We are trying to manage the situation as well as we can,” Deschamps said when asked whether all from Adrien Rabiot, Theo Hernandez, Ibrahima Konate, Dayot Upamecano and Raphael Varane have recovered from flu-like symptoms.

“But we will try to get to our objective,” said Deschamps, the only man on the planet who could on Sunday know what it feels to win the World Cup as a player and twice as a coach.

In a country that has celebrated the wizardry of Zidane, the artistry of Platini, Cantona’s poaching instinct and is now in Mbappe’s thrall, Deschamps has been an outlier as player and coach. Cantona called him a water carrier because Deschamps did the unglamorous work of winning possession. As coach, he has been chided for being too defensive despite an array of attacking talent available. It’s a popular opinion that hasn’t changed after a World Cup win as captain and then as coach 20 years later.

“I often get that feeling, I am fine with it,” said Deschamps when asked if he felt alone against a world rooting for Messi. “I get it that most fans at the stadium will support Argentina,” he said. “It will be like playing local,” said Argentina goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez. “But our opponents will not be in the crowd. They will be on the pitch and are good enough for us to be worrying about them,” said Deschamps.

Different context, different competition and different players, he said when asked to compare between the 4-3 win in Russia and the final.

The days of trash talking ahead of marquee games are long gone. Partly because no one wants to anger the opponent, largely because no one can do it like Muhammad Ali. So there were a lot of smiles from Scaloni and Deschamps, Lloris and Martinez. They are all champions at continental or world level or, as with Deschamps, both. They also play similarly reacting to the situation and then going for speedy counters, said Arsene Wenger, Fifa head of global football development. And through the past month, they have been the most deserving to be playing the final game of the 2022 World Cup. Can they please give us a game to remember?