With the semifinals the World Cup in Qatar enter the penultimate rung for the four teams left alive to achieve glory. Achieve the dream of every footballer as a child. In this fight for survival, Argentina and Croatia meet this Tuesday, while France and Morocco do so on Wednesday.
Argentina and France start as clear favorites, so a duel could be guessed on the horizon Leo Messi and Kylian Mbappé, companions in the Paris Saint Germain, on the horizon.
At 35 years old, for Messi is the great and probably last chance to achieve the dream of winning the World Cup, the only title missing in his honorsafter having achieved everything at the club level and selection (Under-20 World Cup, Olympic gold and Copa América).
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And above all to match the mythical Diego Maradona, who won the World Cup in Mexico-86 and whose comparison with the legendary former player of Boca Juniors, Barcelona and Naples haunts him.
“We got into the semifinals, which is something spectacular. Diego (Maradona) is watching us from above, pushing, hopefully it will continue like this until the end,” he said. Messi after the victory in the quarterfinals against the Netherlands (4-3 on penalties, 2-2 after 120 minutes).
The two semifinals of the World Cup will be played at 2:00 in the afternoon (Colombian time). Both can be seen on the open signals of Caracol and RCN and also on DirecTv.
Mbappé in the footsteps of Pelé.
For Mbappé, who will turn 24 on December 20, two days after the World Cup final, it would be the opportunity to hit the table definitively and unofficially proclaim himself the best world player of the moment.
“I have planned my season around this tournament, both physically and mentally,” declared the talented player before the quarterfinal match against Englandwhich his team won 2-1.
“The world Cup It is an obsession, it is the competition of my dreams”, he added, making his objectives clear.
And Messi would approach Maradona achieving the title, Mbappe would emulate Pele if he beat Morocco in the semifinals and then Argentina or Croatia in the final on sunday at Lusail Stadium.
Pele won two consecutive World Cups in 1958 and 1962, plus a third in 1970, the only footballer who has three titles to his credit, and Mbappé, If he were crowned in Qatar-2022, he would also get his second win in a row, after winning in Russia-2018, when he was only 19 years old.
For now, in the duel that Mbappe and Messi They maintain, in the scorers’ table, the French striker leads, with five goals, one more than Messi.
Duel Messi-Modric
But before the ‘dream’ final between Messiwhich many consider the best of recent times, and its possible successr, Kylian MbappeArgentina must win on Tuesday in the Estadium from Lusail to Croatiawhich left Brazil out in the quarterfinals (4-2 on penalties, after 1-1 in 120 minutes).
“It will be a very tough game, it is a great team that played Brazil equally, and at times it was much better. They have very good players, especially in the midfield, who have been working with the same coach since the last World Cup, they know each other very well”, Messi said.
If Croatia gives a new surprise, there could be a repeat of the Russia-2018 final between Modric and Mbappé.
“I think they all left us for dead but we have shown once again that we never gave up. Nobody thought we could go that far, but the important thing is that between us we had faith, trust”, Modric said after leaving Brazil out.
Nor will it be easy for France to defeat a highly motivated and morale-heavy Morocco with the most difficult route among the semi-finalists, having eliminated Belgium, Spain and Portugal.
Having become the first African country to reach the semi-finals, an entire continent and the Arab world are dreaming of another feat in the semi-final against france on wednesday in the stadium Al Bayt.