Argentina-France, the contest against quality. In the final all that counts is winning – Corriere.it

The World Cup in the desert confirmed the trend of the moment: ball possession is moving to the attic. The eighth final between Morocco and Spain the perhaps exaggerated photography of the new frontier. Football goes in cycles. It feels like a step backwards, actually one step forward. The ball lap of the Red Furies, horizontal and an end in itself, was put under by the energetic team of Regragui, able to close the gaps and quick to strike on the counterattack.

France, world champions, 4 finals in the last 7 editions, quickly understood which way to go, also because they have a fast and infallible arrow like Mbapp. Les Bleus got rid of Morocco in the semifinals leaving the initiative to the North Africans, who didn’t want it but were forced to take it because they found themselves chasing.

It’s easy to imagine that Deschamps will try again today, in the open, balanced and suggestive final against Argentina. You keep the ball, we score. DD knows how to do it. Scaloni has less experience of days like this, in which emotions need to be managed, but the same idea in mind. The final will be contracted, played at low rhythmsat least until the tactic will prevail over the emotional aspect and lucidity over tiredness.

A kind of chess game in which patience will be the first virtue. Each of the two teams will try to leave the initiative to the other, trying not to reveal themselves. Messi the answer to Mbapp. Leo’s tango or Kylian’s rap? Much will pass by here. The Argentine inside the game of Select
and even the charismatic leader of it, the Frenchman suddenly turns on and chastises you. Messi rejuvenated, as inspired as he was in Barcelona and never at PSG, as if he had gone to Paris to prepare for the World Cup and spy on the enemy. Mbapp has already won the World Cup and will have less pressure on him.

staircases, unlike Deschamps, Argentina often changes, in men, but above all in the game system. This time, indeed to stem the devastating fury of the boy who goes at 35 km per hour, he could choose the 3-5-2 already experienced against the Netherlands, sacrificing Paredes and Di Maria and inserting an extra defender, Lisandro Martinez. It will be the match of the stars, tactics and balancers of the midfield whose role will be fundamental.

On the one hand the new Griezmann, the revelation in Qatar, is no longer a striker but an all-campera, a Kant with less muscle but more technique; on the other act De Paul, who learned tactics at Udinese and now escorts Messi and helps Enzo Fernandez build the game. Scaloni relies on the push of 40,000 Argentines who dream of the Cup.

Deschamps has to live with sinister signs, the flu that hit his defenders in recent days and the knee problem that threatens to sideline Giroud. France has more quality, Argentina more garra. But a final. It doesn’t count to play it, it counts to win it. And every detail can change the story.