Wayne Rooney Picks Argentina Over France In World Cup Final, Gives Reasons: Report

Former England captain Wayne Rooney feels Argentina will beat France in the FIFA World Cup final, which will be played at the Lusail Stadium in Qatar later on Sunday. Argentina eye a third World Cup triumph when they take on the defending champions France, who could become the first team to retain the title since Brazil (1958 and 1962). Rooney believes that the working-class nature of the current crop of players is what separates this Argentina team from the previous ones. Rooney also suggested that the players are ready to give everything for their captain Lionel Messi, who could be playing his last game later on Sunday for La Albiceleste.

"They are almost a working-class team, in the sense they're stubborn, hard to beat, and they'll fight - fight for Messi, fight to stay in a game knowing that if they do, their captain will win it for them. They are a team of scrappers who just don't know how to give in," Rooney wrote in his Sunday Times column, according to an Indian Express Report.

Rooney also compared Messi with the late great Diego Maradona, who had led Argentina to the World Cup title in 1986.

"He has what Diego Maradona had in terms of the ability to go past players and then execute the full range of skills - pass, shoot, cross - and he has everything in terms of vision. You saw it with the goal he set up for Julian Alvarez against Croatia. As a defender in the situation where Messi took possession you are supposed to show him the outside, and that's what Josko Gvardiol did - so Messi just went down the line, turned Gvardiol this way and that, then went inside him anyway before producing the perfect cutback for Alvarez to score the third goal," he added.
 

Topics mentioned in this article

Argentina France Lionel Messi Wayne Rooney Diego Maradona FIFA World Cup 2022 Football