With the finalists now known, we’re taking another look at the World Cup 2022 outright winner odds to see who is being backed for glory in Qatar.
The decider will take place at Lusail Iconic Stadium on Sunday and these are the remaining contenders to lift the trophy:
1 ARGENTINA @ 91/100
La Albiceleste will be full of confidence after cruising past 2018 runners-up Croatia in the semis, with Lionel Messi once more in inspirational form.
The seven-time Ballon d’Or winner fired in a superb penalty to open the scoring and absolutely skinned Josko Gvardiol when setting up Julian Alvarez for his second goal of the night.
Having inspired a recovery from somehow losing to Saudi Arabia first up in Group C, Messi has now netted in five of Argentina’s six matches, while Manchester City striker Alvarez has four goals to his credit overall.
With an army of fans supporting them from the stands, Argentina are on course to follow up last year’s Copa America success with a third World Cup triumph.
“I would say that the first match was a hard blow for all of us because we had been unbeaten in 36 matches,” Messi said. “To start in such a way in a World Cup was a really hard blow.
“We didn’t think that we would lose against Saudi Arabia and so to start it in such a way was an acid test for this whole squad.
“But this squad proved how strong we are and then we won the other matches.
“We have played five finals, and luckily enough we were able to win the five finals – and I hope this will be the same way for the final game.
“I would say that internally we were confident that we would make it because we know what we are capable of as a squad, as a team.”
2 FRANCE @ 17/20
Les Bleus are still on course to become the first team to secure back-to-back World Cup triumphs since Brazil in 1962 but they have not had things all their own way at the business end of this tournament.
Didier Deschamps admitted his side were fortunate to get past England in the quarter-finals.
Aurelien Tchouameni’s excellent strike and a fine Olivier Giroud header proved enough to progress after Harry Kane scored one penalty and missed another, but the Three Lions looked the better team for large parts of that match.
Les Bleus also had to “dig deep” to see off Morocco 2-0 in the semis, coming under sustained pressure in between early and late goals for Theo Hernandez and Randal Kolo Muani.
Deschamps will be hoping for a clean bill of health after Adrien Rabiot was left at the team hotel instead of travelling to Al Bayt Stadium – while Dayot Upamecano and Kingsley Coman had also been struggling with illness.
“We’ve had a few cases of flu-like symptoms,” said the manager. “We are taking all necessary precautions, we are trying to make sure it doesn’t spread but viruses are of course infectious.”
France suffered a blip in their final group game when making wholesale changes for a 1-0 loss to Tunisia after beating Australia and Denmark, but they were quickly back on track when brushing aside Poland 3-1.
Kylian Mbappe has looked in sensational form at times, Olivier Giroud is now Les Bleus’ record scorer and Antoine Griezmann has been fired up throughout.
They beat Argentina 4-3 in the round of 16 in Russia, but Deschamps warned: “This Argentina side is different to the one we played four years ago.
“We have two sides with a great deal of quality and it will be up to key players to make a difference, maybe the team that makes fewest mistakes will win the game.”
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