Factors that can determine the match between France and Argentina

* Argentina - France: 10pm today 18/12, on MetaSports.

The French attacking quartet including Kylian Mbappe, Olivier Giroud, Ousmane Dembele and Antoine Griezmann took turns to shine at the 2022 World Cup.

Giroud broke Thierry Henry's record to become the top scorer in the history of France, while Mbappe is with Lionel Messi leading the list of top scorers with 5 goals. Griezmann quickly integrated into a new role - an assist midfielder - when he was at the top of the list of assists with three times, equal to Messi and Harry Kane, while Dembele played a more quiet role on the right wing.

But it is these stars that make France difficult and easy to make mistakes in ball control. From the beginning of the tournament, France only kept a clean sheet once, in the semi-final beat Morocco 2-0, although the African representative repeatedly threatened Hugo Lloris's goal.

In fact, the French forward line is only dangerous when attacking. Without the ball, Deschamps arranged France to play in a 4-3-3 formation, with Mbappe, Giroud and Griezmann forming a very narrow spearhead. Dembele was given more defensive responsibilities and stepped back to become a third central midfielder.

However, Mbappe is allowed to kick freely, rarely participating in defense and Giroud - at the age of 36 - cannot press and chase the ball for 90 minutes. Therefore, "Les Bleus" always has difficulty in stopping the opponent because the attacking trio does not close and closes the gaps in front. The opponent thus easily bypassed the French front line to give the ball to the attacking players.

At times, France only defended with 7 players, not counting the goalkeeper, because the strikers did not do their job properly. In modern football, the strikers play the role of the first defensive players. When they don't have the ball, they have to chase, press, and close spaces to force opponents to pass long or make mistakes.

On the Lusail pitch today, if he can receive the ball comfortably in the spaces behind the French forward, then Lionel Messi can make the difference and punish the opponent. According to Sunsport, almost certainly, coach Lionel Scaloni will exploit this weakness of France to find his way into Lloris' goal.

Only once at the 2022 World Cup, Argentina kept the starting diagram at the end of the match - the match against Saudi Arabia on the opening day. It is no coincidence that this is the only defeat of the army under Scaloni since the beginning of the tournament.

While Messi dominated the press thanks to his outstanding performances on the field, the media did not give Scaloni enough credit. Unlike his predecessors who always relied on Messi's ability to shine, often to the detriment of the team, Scaloni has shown flexibility in tactics to avoid depending on the 35-year-old star striker.

On the land of Qatar, Argentina constantly changes between playing with a 4-3-3, 4-4-2 and 3-5-2 formation. Scaloni does not use a fixed system to find the rhythm of the game, but adjusts the lineup according to the progress of the game and the strengths of the opponent.

When playing Australia in the 1/8 round, the 44-year-old coach deployed a 4-4-2 and 4-3-3 scheme most of the time. Shortly after, Scaloni replaced Alejandro Gomez with Lisandro Martinez and applied a 3-5-2 formation when meeting the Netherlands - the opponent also kicked three defenders - in the quarterfinals. Analyzing the fact that the Netherlands will try to deploy the ball with Frenkie de Jong's brain, Scaloni chooses a 3-5-2 diagram for the central defenders to alternately rise to the midfield, close to the attacking players, but always ensure secure with two defenders covering the back.

In the semi-final against Croatia, Scaloni switched to a 4-4-2 system when he judged that Argentina could control the ball more. By removing a defender, "La Albiceleste" has added a midfielder and can dominate in the midfield, as Croatia's midfield is highly appreciated by the trio of Luka Modric, Marcelo Brozovic and Mateo Kovacic . The fact that Messi often retreats to the middle of the field helps Argentina's midfield have more troops. In the 62nd minute, when Argentina led 2-0 and didn't need to risk attacking, Scaloni immediately substituted Lisandro Martinez for Leandro Paredes, and switched to a 3-5-2 formation to bring more safety to the defence. .

According to Argentine sports channel TyC Sports, Scaloni can continue to use a 3-5-2 formation, and a 5-3-2 variant with two deep wingers, for the final to deal with the French attack. , especially the danger of Kylian Mbappe.

Besides the sublimated Messi and Alvarez duo, the resilient defense contributed greatly to helping Argentina reach the World Cup final for the sixth time.

However, Scaloni's defense was skewed and faced many difficulties when the opponent attacked more directly and continuously stuffed the ball into the penalty area. As in the match against Saudi Arabia, Argentina lost because of Saleh Al-Shehri's penetration into the penalty area and corner, and Salem Al-Dawsari's improvisational handling situation and then cutting his heart close to the penalty area.

In the quarter-finals, the Netherlands - with a typical Louis van Gaal style of possession - struggled to penetrate the Argentine defence, despite having better ball control. The turning point only came when the 71-year-old coach launched two strikers over 1m8 tall - Wout Weghorst and Luuk de Jong - on the field, and at the same time switched from a short-ball deployment to a header. This adjustment immediately worked, the Netherlands created suffocating pressure thanks to crosses in the last 20 minutes, equalizing thanks to Weghorst's double to force the game to be decided on the 11m mark.

In a game where Mbappe and Messi are at the center of attention and are certainly closely watched, Giroud could be the key to making the difference. At 36 years old, Giroud is still one of the best strikers in world football, and a constant threat from crosses or long balls into the box.

England is the latest "victim" of Giroud, when they fell in the quarter-finals of the 2022 World Cup by this striker's header. Even Harry Maguire, a very good defender at the top, could not cope with the French striker's aerial ability.

France has the advantage in height - 185.2 cm on average, compared to 179.4 for Argentina. In particular, the defense of the South American team with central defenders Otamendi (183 cm) - Romero (185 cm) - Lisandro (172 cm) lost when placed next to Giroud - who was 192 cm tall. Deschamps will easily recognize Argentina's limitations when fighting the ball into the penalty area. Therefore, it will not be surprising if Mbappe or Dembele limit their forte crossing the goal, to constantly stuff the ball for Giroud.