The Shoemaker Bugle

By Edmundo Manriquez

The World Cup Final is all set: Argentina vs France will be held this Sunday, December 18 at 7:00am and will be the first time these nations have faced each other in the final of the World Cup.

This game will be a fierce and tough game for both nations, but I see Argentina winning this game 3-2 in overtime with a late goal from an Argentina corner kick.

I originally predicted Argentina going all the way to the finals of the World Cup and even saw them beating France to secure their spot as the 2022 World Cup Champions. Argentina will be led by Lionel Messi and with a strong and motivated Argentina team behind him that is hungry for World Cup glory.

The last time Croatia and Argentina met up in the World Cup, Croatia overcame Argentina and defeated them to a 3-0 game in the group stages. Since then, this Argentina team has developed serious players and a new system with a new coaching staff that should lead this team to the championship.

The third place game is tomorrow, Saturday, December 17 between Croatia and Morocco at 7:00am. This will be the first time Morocco has made it to the semifinals and since they didn’t manage to defeat France, they will have the chance to play to get third place, which will be the first time any African team has made it to this point. That alone could put a whole lot of pressure on Morocco.

Croatia will be frustrated from the game against Argentina, and I could see Croatia breezing through this game, since the Moroccon team will be tired from the France game and will have less time to rest and prepare for Croatia. Overall, I predict Croatia winning this game 2-0.

When the Final 16 of the World Cup was released, Brazil and France were the favorites. Many were predicting them to head up against each other in the final. Many failed to see that while Brazil may have had a star-studded team, they lacked the discipline to play as a team and had a lackluster coaching staff. France not only has a star-studded team, they have the discipline to play as a team and a coaching staff that are more than comfortable enough to lead the team throughout the tournament. They did all this while missing key starters such as The Ballon d’or winner Karim Benzema (which is the highest individual level a pro player can achieve in their career). Pogba and Kante are other key players for France and lead them to win the 2018 World Cup.

The Final 16 was also just the second time Germany had not qualified to the knockout rounds due to goal difference. Belgium did not see the knockout rounds either, due to goal difference, despite having their “golden generation.” Due to not qualifying, Roberto Martinez, the head coach of Belgium has resigned and will not coach Belgium’s men’s national team for future games. He will not be the only coach to resign due to not qualifying further into the World Cup as the Mexico National Team has failed to qualify into the final 16 since 1994. Uruguay has also failed to qualify to the knockout stages from the same problem the last few teams have suffered, which was from having a low goal difference.