Countdown To FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 Finals

Thrilled supporters are ticking down the minutes till what is sure to be a thrilling World Cup final in Doha.

Both parties risk changing the course of history. Following in the footsteps of Italy and Brazil, France hopes to become just the third side in the tournament's 92-year history to retain the trophy.

Didier Deschamps, who led France to victory in 1998, is also hoping to become the first manager to win back-to-back championships since Italy's Vittorio Pozzo in 1938.

Lionel Messi is tasked with carrying out the aspirations of Argentina. He is regarded as the best player of all time, and in what he claims will be his final international match, the 35-year-old is looking to cap an illustrious career with a World Cup victory medal.

In Buenos Aires, it seems as though the outcome of the World Cup final will determine the nation's pleasure in the future.

Argentina's economy is currently suffering. Rampant inflation makes it difficult for millions of people to survive each month, but Lionel Messi and the Argentina team are doing incredibly well to go to the final, and now everyone seems to have set aside their concerns and are concentrating on football.

In seven World Cups, this is France's fourth championship game. The fact that France is unbeaten in its past 10 World Cup games against South American opponents is one of the stats that fans are eager to highlight. The most recent loss occurred in 1978 to Argentina.

This is inextricably linked to Kylian Mbappe's infamous remarks from earlier this year that South American football was "less advanced" than European football due to "lower" levels of competitiveness.

He was making reference to the fact that Argentina hasn't won since 1986 and that Brazil was the last South American team to win in 2002.

He was undoubtedly also thinking back to the last France-Argentina match, which France famously won 4-3 with Mbappe scoring twice in the Round of 16 of the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia.

France has much more justification for being confident. However, from the standpoint of Argentina, there are now even more grounds for them to exact revenge.

President Emmanuel Macron and his wife Brigitte are on their way to Qatar as the countdown begins.

A group of athletes will travel with them, including Stephanie Frapport, who earlier this month became the first woman to officiate a men's World Cup match.

The president has visited Qatar twice in the past four days. He flew out for the semi-final match against Morocco on Wednesday, keeping a promise he made at the beginning of the competition.

People who are concerned about Qatar's human rights record have criticized President Macron, but generally speaking, it is evident that the calls for a boycott have become less frequent as France has advanced in the competition.