JAKARTA - Although Lionel Messi versus Kylian Mbappe is the most interesting episode in the 2022 World Cup final match, this is actually also a fight between Rodrigo de Paul and Aurelien Tchouameni.
These two hard-working midfielders are openers to the opponent's defense gates and at the same time anchors that ward off opponents before attacking the defense territory.
De Paul is even even more special. This is Argentina's highest-tailed player, most often stabs and cuts off opponents' attacks, and receives and sends the ball the most.
He is one of three high-statistics Argentine players besides Messi and Angel de Maria. While from France, there are four most prominent players including Mbappe. The other three are Tchouameni, Antoine Griezmann and Ousmane Dembele.
This match is also a contest for the two great goalkeepers left in the 2022 World Cup, between Emiliano Martinez and Hugo Lloris. Martinez has saved Argentina's goal 34 times, while Lloris has 53 times saved the French goal from conceding.
But the way all the second players, including their defenders, will be parallel to how Messi and Mbappe play the ball.
They are also two candidates who will definitely win the Golden Boot, but who among them wins the trophy, is more difficult to predict.
Messi may be more eager than Mbappe, who already won the trophy in 2018 at the age of just one year older than when Messi made his World Cup debut in 2006.
But Messi may not care about his silent rivalry with Mbappe. On the other hand, Mbappe may think this sequence is one of the most interesting parts in the back of the 2022 World Cup final sequel.
Is this the culmination of Messi's career peak or is it the inauguration for the brilliant era of Mbappe? Two days left for the answer.
The English, Chinese, Japanese, Arabic, and French versions are automatically generated by the AI. So there may still be inaccuracies in translating, please always see Indonesian as our main language. (system supported by DigitalSiber.id)
