World Cup Finals: A tale of 2 stars

Mbappe

Let’s leave the game analysis to the experts and touch on the other highlights of the Argentina-France World Cup Final showdown in Qatar: Lionel Messi and Kylian Mbappe.

One will try to make a fitting ending to his storied career, while the other hopes to continue his path to greatness.

The Argentina-France game will be played this Monday (Saipan time) and Messi hopes to walk away from the sport with the FIFA World Cup trophy that has eluded him since he debuted for the La Albiceleste in World Cup in 2006. On top of having the chance to finally hoist the gold-plated trophy in his last dance on the World Cup stage, the 35-year-old will have the most World Cup appearances (by a male player) in the history of the prestigious event, as the game against France will be his 26th. In their semis match over Croatia, Messi’s 25th World Cup stint tied the record of Germany’s Lothar Matthäus.

Messi

Going into the World Cup Finals, the stats’ gods are on Messi’s side—at least his individual stats. He has scored five times which incidentally ties him with Mbappe for the most goals scored so far in Qatar. The Paris Saint-Germain forward is also the top scorer for Argentina in the history of World Cup with his 11, eclipsing the 10 of Gabriel Batistuta. Messi’s 16 goals this year is his best since suiting up for the Argentina men’s senior team 16 years ago.

The left-footed Messi is a double-threat, as he does not only possess a great ability to score, but also has the skills to help his teammates hit the board. Remember how he fed Julian Alvarez in the second half of their 3-0 semis win over 2018 finalist Croatia? Messi attacked and toyed with the defense of Josko Gvardiol, who must have felt lightheaded after turning left and right on several occasions before he haplessly watched the Argentinian star pass the ball to Alvarez for the finish. Messi leads the Qatar World Cup in assists with three so far.

If there’s a player on the French side that could crush Messi’s World Cup dreams, that would be rising star Mbappe.

The self-confessed Ronaldo fan stole the thunder from the more established football stars in the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Brazil. Mbappe scored four goals in his debut—one in their 4-2 finals win over Croatia, the game-winner in their scary 4-3 victory over Peru, and two against Messi and company, as France booted out Argentina in the Round of 16, 4-2.  At 19, he was the first teenager to score in the World Cup Finals since the fabled Pele (two goals), then aged 17, did it in 1958 in Brazil’s 5-2 win over hosts Sweden.

Fast forward to 2022.  Here comes Mbappe, showing he belongs in the world of Messi, Ronaldo, and other legends in the sport. For his tournament-best 5 goals in Qatar, he had a brace against Poland in the quarterfinals and also two versus Denmark, while he made one versus Australia. He has stepped up for France in absence of key players Paul Pogba, N’Golo Kante, Karim Benzema.

Just in his second World Cup appearance and after 11 games, the PSG striker has collected 9 goals, surpassing Les Bleus’ pride Thierry Henry (6) and Zinedine Zidane (5). Mbappe has also broken another Pele record (8 World Cup goals before the age of 24) and is looking at matching the legend’s back-to-back World Cup titles that the latter won when he was 21.

Barring injuries and other untoward incidents, the lightning-fast Mbappe is heading for more World Cup participation and a lot of chances to break the record (13 goals) of France’s prolific striker Just Fontaine. Ronaldo, who also indicated the Qatar World Cup is his last, scored 9 in his five World Cup appearances. Messi’s 11 is from his five World Cup stints, too. Mbappe will still be counting.

Will Mbappe make it back-to-back and spoil Messi’s date with history? Or will Messi get his crowning glory?

I will go for the sentimental favorite.