France open as bookies' slight favourites over Argentina for final

15 December 2022 - 19:00 By Reuters
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France's Theo Hernandez celebrates scoring their first goal with teammate Olivier Giroud in their World Cup semifinal win against Morocco at Al Bayt Stadium in Al Khor, Qatar on December 14 2022.
France's Theo Hernandez celebrates scoring their first goal with teammate Olivier Giroud in their World Cup semifinal win against Morocco at Al Bayt Stadium in Al Khor, Qatar on December 14 2022.
Image: Reuters/Dylan Martinez

France opened as a slight favourite to deny Lionel Messi's his elusive World Cup title after eliminating Morocco 2-0 in Wednesday's second semifinal.

France will attempt to successfully defend their title on Sunday against Argentina, who received a goal and an assist from Messi in routing Croatia 3-0 in the first semifinal on Tuesday.

In what is expected to be Messi's final World Cup, Argentina opened as slight underdogs at most sports books. That includes being offered at +185 to France's +175 odds at DraftKings, and +175 to France's +170 at BetMGM.

BetRivers did open with both countries offered at +185, although Argentina shifted to a +180 favorite within an hour of France's victory, with France's odds lengthening to +195.

The two countries have taken different paths to meet in the final in Qatar.

After opening with a stunning loss to Saudi Arabia in the group stage, Argentina have steadily found their form. After blowing a 2-0 lead in the closing minutes of the quarterfinals and needing penalties to survive the Netherlands, Argentina thoroughly dominated Croatia, who reached the 2018 World Cup final.

France cruised through their first two group games before resting many of their stars in a 1-0 loss to Tunisia. The defending champions then won a dramatic game against England before muscling past Morocco, the first African side to reach a World Cup semifinal.

Argentina and France last faced each other in a World Cup in the last-16 in 2018, with France prevailing 4-3 en route to the title. This will be the first time the countries have met in a World Cup final.

Only Italy (1934, 1938) and Brazil (1958, 1962) have won consecutive World Cups.

Croatia are heavily favoured in Saturday's third-place playoff as they are being offered at +135 at DraftKings to beat Morocco (+210). Croatia are also favoured at BetMGM (+138) and BetRivers (+123) over Morocco, at +195 and +230, respectively.

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