World Cup 2022: from 1930 to 2018, four memorable France-Argentina meetings

The Argentinians and the French have faced each other twelve times between 1930 and 2018. The thirteenth opposition will take place on December 18, 2022, in the final of the World Cup in Qatar.

© Carlo Fumagalli, David Vincent, Claude Paris/AP

Text by: Nicolas Bamba Follow

7 mins

For the thirteenth time in their history, the France team and the Argentina selection will face each other on Sunday 18 December.

This time, it will be for the biggest meeting that can exist, namely in the final of the World Cup in Qatar.

Before this poster in apotheosis, look back on four previous special confrontations between the Blues and the Albiceleste.

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The end of 36 years of scarcity for Argentina, or the first back-to-back (two consecutive coronations) for France, an unprecedented performance since Brazil in 1958-1962?

On Sunday, at the Lusail stadium, Argentinians and French meet for the

.

The men of Didier Deschamps and Lionel Scaloni dream of the title and of entering the history of football.

Between the two selections, there is a common story.

Since 1930, France and Argentina have crossed swords twelve times (three times in the World Cup, nine times in a friendly), for a favorable record for the South Americans.

They have six wins, three draws and three French wins.

Before the

, focus on four France-Argentina who have remained in the memories.

• July 15, 1930, World Cup, Argentina-France (1-0) – An incredible first

This is the very first football World Cup in history, in Uruguay.

In Montevideo, 13 countries met.

Argentina and France are in pool 1 with Chile and Mexico.

Only the team that places first will qualify for the semi-finals.

On July 15, two days after beating Mexico (4-1), the Blues face the Albiceleste, who dominate the debates and besiege the tricolor cage.

On his line, Alex Thépot performs miracles.

But in the 81st minute, Luis Monti finally deceives the goalkeeper, with a direct free kick.

In the 84th minute, Brazilian referee Gilberto de Almeida Rego signaled the end of the match.

Both teams are surprised, the French and the spectators angry.

It is only after long minutes of talks that the man with the whistle recognizes his mistake.

The players, back in the locker room, and some already in the shower, are invited to come back to play the last six minutes.

Argentina maintain their advantage.

In the semi-finals, Argentinians and Uruguayans will respectively crunch the United States and Yugoslavia (6-1).

And in the final, the last word will go to the host country (4-2).

Argentina loses its first final.

• June 6, 1978, World Cup, Argentina-France (2-1) – Albiceleste finally crowned

Argentina is organizing the 11th World Cup and wants to be ambitious.

Since the South American Championship of 1959 (ancestor of the Copa America), she has not won anything and intends to lift the trophy in front of her public, while the country has suffered for two years from the dictatorship of General Jorge Rafael Videla.

The team coached by César Luis Menotti and the Blues, led by Michel Hidalgo, are in group 1.

The two teams meet on the second day.

During the first, Argentina beat Hungary (2-1) and France lost against Italy (2-1).

The Tricolores must therefore raise their heads so as not to be already eliminated.

But in Buenos Aires, the game is tough.

Argentina dominates the debates, Mario Kempes makes the defenders suffer and Marius Tresor, the French captain, touches the ball with his hand in the box after a strike from Leopoldo Luque.

The other captain, Daniel Passarella, opened the scoring by beating Jean-Paul Bertrand-Demanes from the penalty spot (45').

After the break, everything speeds up.

The Blues first lose Bertrand-Demanes, knocked out and replaced by Dominique Baratelli.

Then, they equalize through

 (60th).

Shortly after, Didier Six failed by nothing in his face-to-face with Ubaldo Fillol, the Argentinian goalkeeper.

The Albiceleste is more effective.

Left alone full axis within 25 meters, Leopoldo Luque controls the ball before flying a powerful half-volley into the back of the net (73rd).

In the second round, the Argentines will rank first in group B to the detriment of Brazil, in a dubious context;

the Brazilians had already played their last match against Poland and the Albiceleste knew how many goals they had to score against Peru to eliminate the Selecao.

In the final, on June 25, Argentina will win against the Netherlands (3-1).

Since June 6, 1978, France has not lost in the World Cup against a South American selection.

#Efemérides A 4⃣4⃣ años de la gloria eterna ⭐️

Un día como hoy, pero en 1978, @Argentina 🇦🇷 obtuvo por primera vez en su historia la Copa del Mundo 🏆🙌.

pic.twitter.com/TVhGsNfA1w

— Selección Argentina 🇦🇷 (@Argentina) June 25, 2022

• February 11, 2009, Friendly, France-Argentina (0-2) – Messi's ride

The legends are out at the Stade Vélodrome in Marseille for a friendly match.

The Argentina team presents itself with

.

" 

 " ("The Golden Kid") took office four months earlier.

This is his second game.

And on the pitch, there is of course Lionel Messi, who is taking on an incredible dimension with FC Barcelona.

The Blues are dying.

The end of the Zidane era in 2006 is difficult.

France is coming out of a cataclysmic Euro 2008 and is looking for a new lease of life.

She will not find it in Marseille.

Without background, without cohesion, without genius, the European selection gives in for the first time on a shot from Jonas Gutierrez (41st).

The second period will not be much brighter for the Blues.

Dominated, they always suffer.

Sergio Agüero, very restless, gives way to Carlos Tevez.

And just entering the game, the striker dynamites the French rearguard and passes the ball to Leo Messi, n°18 in the back (the n°10 was still attributed to Juan Roman Riquelme).

The defense of Bacary Sagna and the returns of Lassana Diarra and Yoann Gourcuff will do nothing.

Messi slaloms, enters the area and deceives Steve Mandanda for the second time of the evening.

The French team will hardly qualify for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, where it will hit rock bottom with the infamous Knysna affair.

The Maradona experiment will not bear fruit either for Argentina, brutally eliminated from the 2010 World Cup in the quarter-finals by Germany (4-0).

► To read also: World Cup 2022: Argentina, its Messi, its fans and its economic chaos

• June 30, 2018, World Cup, France-Argentina (4-3) – Mbappé crushes the Argentines

The last clash between the two teams smiled on France.

It was

, at the stage of the round of 16.

Jostled during the first round, the Argentines were able to count on Lionel Messi, their usual guide, to get by.

It is again on him that they bet to get rid of a France team that has appeared serious until then.

Only here, in the ranks of the Blues, there is a certain Kylian Mbappé, a new gem of the round ball who has been shining for a little over a year.

From the start of the match in Kazan, the striker places a terrible acceleration which leads to the penalty converted by Antoine Griezmann (13th).

Argentina reacted before the break thanks to Angel Di Maria from afar (41st), then took the lead just after on a shot deflected by Gabriel Mercado (48th).

For nine minutes, France will be behind.

In the 57th minute, Benjamin Pavard released a half-volley from another world to equalize at 2-2.

This is the beginning of a madness that will last about ten minutes.

From then on,

thanks to Kylian Mbappé.

The young player, then 19 years old, gave his side the advantage (64th) before scoring the break goal (68th).

Argentina will not recover.

She will just reduce the gap by Sergio Aguëro (90 + 3rd) and send some chills to the end.

The French team obtains its first success against the Albiceleste since a friendly match in 1986. And on this momentum, the band led by Didier Deschamps will win the world title.

Four years later, fate brings the two top names face to face.

Argentina has the opportunity to take its revenge.

But not sure that France hears it that way...

🚄💨 Mbappe arriving on the right like a Parisian bullet train@KMbappe |

@equipedefrance |

#WorldCup pic.twitter.com/GTNwODS2qX

— FIFA World Cup (@FIFAWorldCup) March 13, 2022

The survivors of the last France-Argentina of June 30, 2018

France

: Hugo Lloris (captain), Steve Mandanda, Alphone Areola, Benjamin Pavard, Raphaël Varane, Lucas Hernandez, Antoine Griezmann, Olivier Giroud, Kylian Mbappé, Ousmane Dembélé + Didier Deschamps.

Argentina

: Franco Armani, Nicolas Tagliafico, Marcos Acuna, Nicolas Otamendi, Angel Di Maria, Lionel Messi (captain), Paulo Dybala.

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