The ongoing FIFA World Cup in Qatar has reached its business end and we now stand just three matches away, excluding the third place tie, from knowing who will be crowned the world champions. The teams in fray are South American giants Argentina, who will be meeting previous edition’s runners-up Croatia in the final four. In the second semis, we’ll see Morocco, who are enjoying a dream run, lock horns with defending champions France.
All the four teams have been impressive, with both Croatia and Morocco reaching the final four despite being pooled in the same group. For Croatia all eyes will be on their main man Luka Modric, who was breathtaking in the quarterfinal tie against Brazil.
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Morocco, on the other hand, have been the surprise package of this edition. The team topped Group F, which also had star studded Belgium and Canada. They then went to stun Spain in the round of 16 and then secured a 1-0 win over Portugal in the quarterfinal.
The remaining two sides have the most odds of reaching the finals, considering the reputation they hold. Not just that both Argentina and France also have a star studded line-up, which include the likes of modern era greats in the form of Lionel Messi and Kylian Mbappe.
Both the stars, who represent Paris Saint Germain in club competitions, have shown their spark and the fans will be hoping to see both in the finals.
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Ahead of the semifinals, the first of which will be played on Tuesday night, 2002 World Cup winner Ronaldo Nazário passed a massive prediction on who could finish as the best player of the ongoing edition. The Brazilian legend, who had scored the highest number of goals in the 2002 edition played in Japan and South Korea, believes Mbappe can emerge as the best player of the tournament and also explained the possible reasons behind his pick.
“He can be the best player of the World Cup. He has natural talent, having the experience of winning the last World Cup. He keeps improving,” Ronaldo was quoted as saying in a tweet by renowned football journalist Samindra Kunti.
Meanwhile, both Messi and Mbappe are leading the goal scoring charts, with the French forward leading the tally by one goal. Mbappe has so far scored five goals, while Messi has netted four times. Olivier Giroud stands third in the list and has the same number of goals as Messi.