During a World Cup full of shocks and surprises, we have a third-place play-off between Croatia and the surprise team of the tournament, Morocco, tomorrow, Saturday (December 16), then on Sunday it’s the final dance. It’s Messi vs Mbappe, it’s two heavyweights, Argentina and France in a mouth-watering World Cup finale.

Event # 1 – W/Cup – Croatia vs Morocco – 10:00 am (Sat, Dec 17)

Prior to Sunday’s showpiece final, there’s the small matter of settling for third place in this World Cup in Qatar, as Croatia and Morocco square off with both teams looking to close out a successful tournament on a high note. For Croatia, this is an opportunity to right the wrongs of their surprising 3-0 defeat to Argentina, and a chance for their superstar midfielder, Luka Modric, to sign off the World Cup on a positive note, in a match that is probably his final World Cup appearance. In what is, maybe, one of the most remarkable statistics, Croatia reached the 2018 final and the semi-finals of the 2022 edition without winning a knockout match in normal time, and they will have fond memories of the 1998 third-placed play-offs having defeated the Netherlands 2-1 back then.

Morocco, oh how they have delighted fans worldwide with their resilience and eye-catching displays at Qatar 2022. The first African side to reach a World Cup semi-final could have cemented themselves into even greater football folklore by becoming the first team from the continent to make it all the way to the final, but a lack of killer instinct in front of goal against France in their semi-final matchup ended their impressive journey in this year’s tournament.

However, despite their obvious disappointment, Morocco can certainly hold their heads up high as wins over the likes of Belgium, Spain, and Portugal, in particular, will long live in the memories of the Moroccan people.

KEY STATS

• Croatia – have kept a clean sheet in all three of their previous World Cup matches against African sides, beating Cameroon 4-0 in 2014, Nigeria 2-0 in 2018, and drawing 0-0 with Morocco this year.

• Morocco – conceded more goals in their 2-0 semi-final defeat to France than they had in their previous five matches at this World Cup combined (1). They could still become the eighth team to keep as many as five clean sheets in a single tournament, after The Netherlands (1974), Italy (1990), Brazil (1994), France (1998), Germany (2002), Italy (2006), and Spain (2010).

• Both sides – this is the second meeting between Croatia and Morocco at this World Cup, having played out a 0-0 draw on MD1. Croatia were restricted to five shots, their fewest ever in a World Cup match.

The betting tip. Croatia win

Event # 2 W/Cup – Argentina vs France – 10:00 am (Sunday, Dec 18)

And then there were two — we have a final between two teams that many people might have predicted would make it this far. We have the prospect of Lionel Messi and Kylian Mbappe vying to be the star of the show when Argentina and defending champions France face off on the grandest stage for the right to become champions of the World.

Argentina will be aiming to lift a third World Cup title after lifting the trophy in 1978 and most recently, in 1986, while France will be bidding to make it back-to-back World Cup glory. Indeed, this is likely to be Lionel Messi’s final chance at a World Cup final win which is the only trophy yet to be achieved by the little Argentinian magician and having guided his team to five wins on the trot to reach the final, he and Argentina should be in confident mood.

Like Messi, Kylian Mbappe will be the focal point of the French team’s chances of winning the World Cup and, as much as a Messi-led win would be memorable, a Mbappe-led victory will be historic, as it would be the first time since 1962 that a nation won the tournament twice in a row.

A French win would break Argentines’ hearts, but this is a French side that is that good and could go down in history with a win. With that said, one could say France rode their luck again at times against Morocco in their semi-final matchup, but they still came away with a 2-0 win and maintained their ability to win ugly when it matters. Nevertheless, France have won five of their last six matches in this tournament and unlike Argentina, they didn’t need extra time nor penalties to reach the final, and they will enter the game with a slight psychological edge over Argentina having beaten them 4-3 in the previous World Cup.

KEY STATS

• Argentina – having lost 2-1 to Saudi Arabia in their opening game, Argentina could become the second side in World Cup history to lose their opening game of a World Cup and go on to lift the trophy, after Spain in 2010. Argentina’s Lionel Messi has 11 goals and eight assists in 25 World Cup appearances. If he scores or assists in this match, he will be the first player to record 20 goal involvements at the competition (counting goals all-time and assists since 1966).

• France – are unbeaten in their last 10 World Cup matches against South American nations (W6 D4). Indeed, their last such defeat came against Argentina, going down 2-1 in the 1978 first group stage. France have reached the World Cup final for the fourth time, all since 1998 (1998, 2006, 2018, 2022). This is twice as many as any other nation in this period.

• Both sides – this will be the fourth World Cup meeting between Argentina and France. Argentina won two of the previous three but lost the only such encounter in the knockout stage, a 3-4 defeat in 2018’s round of 16. Overall, this will be the 13th meeting between Argentina and France in all competitions, with France winning just three of the previous 12 (D3 L6), although the most recent was their 4-3 win at the 2018 World Cup.

The betting tip. Argentina win.

JUSTBET ODDS – Croatia vs Morocco

Saturday, December 17, 2022

PredictionOdds on PredictionOdds Calculation

CROATIA TO WIN$2.35which means a $1000 bet would pay $2,350

MOROCCO TO WIN$2.95which means a $1000 bet would pay $2,950

MATCH TO DRAW$3.30which means a $1000 bet would pay $3,300

Odds on the Home Team (Croatia) winning the game 2-0 at full time$12.00which means that a $1,000 bet would pay $12,000

Odds on the Away Team (Morocco) winning the game 0-1 at full time$10.00which means that a $1,000 bet would pay $10,000

Odds on the game drawing 0-0 at full time$11.00which means that a $1,000 bet would pay $11,000.

JUSTBET ODDS – Argentina vs France

Sunday, December 18, 2022

PredictionOdds on PredictionOdds Calculation

ARGENTINA TO WIN$2.75which means a $1000 bet would pay $2,750

FRANCE TO WIN$2.75which means a $1000 bet would pay $2,750

MATCH TO DRAW$3.00which means a $1000 bet would pay $3,000

Odds on the Home Team (Argentina) winning the game 2-1 at full time$11.00which means that a $1,000 bet would pay $11,000

Odds on the Away Team (France) winning the game 0-1 at full time$7.00which means that a $1,000 bet would pay $7,000

Odds on the game drawing 1-1 at full time$5.50which means that a $1,000 bet would pay $5,500.