Final Preview, Franco or Peron? choose your poison

Finally, the finish line is in sight, as in the fifty kilometer walk, the last two surviving competitors have entered the stadium for the final lap. Tonight we will see Espana, the flamencos, the clicking castanets face, the Evil Empire, oops I meant to write Los Gauchos, Messi et al, the Peronistas of Argentina.

Before we look at that game, a brief word about the farce of a game that took place last night between the old enemies, Les Bleus and EnGerLand. This game was to see who finished third, a concept which only exists in world cup tournaments, nobody really wanted to play, nobody tried to tackle each other. None of the players wanted to get hurt and Mbappe scored two goals which might win him the golden boot.

I have seen it compared to the FIFA video football game or an exhibition by the Harlem Globe Trotters, for those who remember them, and the game ended with a tennis score of 6-4 to EnGerLand.

Argentina was a colony of Espana for nearly 300 years, Argentina declared independence in 1816, but it took Espana, nearly fifty years to recognize the fledgling state. They do not really have any beef between them, which makes it rather boring. 

Surprisingly, they have only faced each other once before in a world cup and that was way back in 1966 with the Argies triumphing by two goals to one.

There has been a certain inevitability about the Argies reaching the final, they have shown tremendous resilience, having had to come from behind on more than one occasion. There is no doubt and I am not saying that it is fixed, but the referring and the VAR decisions have favoured the Argies throughout the tournament, readers who have been with me all the away, will remember my disbelief that Messi did not get sent off in his first game.

The Performance of the Castanets has mirrored the way they won the tournament in 2010, starting slowly with that scoreless draw with the Blue Sharks from Cape Verde and slowly picking up the rhythm and speed culminating so far with an absolute dismantling of Les Bleus in the semifinal.

If the Flamencos repeat the performance from the semifinal, I cannot see the Argies being able to cope with them even with external help.

In my Opinion and taking any emotions out of the equation, Espana have been the best team throughout the tournament, they have never looked like losing. They have only conceded one goal, they have only moved out of second gear twice, firstly against the strudels and then against the froggies. 

The Argies on the other hand have conceded seven goals and were close to going out against the Pharaohs and EnGerLand, they have not played particularly well and on that basis alone, justice would be done if Espana were to triumph. It is also incredibly difficult to win back-to-back titles. The last team to achieve this was the Samba Kings in 1958 and 1962. So, for me, Espana will come out on top and Messi will not win the golden boot.

One of the things which is going to annoy traditional football fans is that there will be a Superbowl style halftime show, which is supposed to be eleven minutes long meaning that the Half time break will be extended to accommodate this unnecessary show. This extended break is not good for the players welfare, which of course is something that the evil empire does not care about. It is just another sop to the American market.

Interestingly enough, the Evil Empire has admitted that the hydration breaks have not been very popular, and they are going to review the concept which is a step in the right direction.

As with the semifinals, this game will be decided in midfield, Espana controlled that area for the whole game against the Frogs, and once EnGerLand had taken the lead against the Argies, they completely conceded the center of the park to the Argies, thus allowing the Argie fightback to begin.

Two of the players I picked out to watch in the semis will again be the key to this game. The battle between Rodri of Espana and Enzo of the Argies will be vital.

To sum up, overall, it was a good world cup, with highs and lows as would be expected. I hope you have enjoyed the journey with me, and I look forward to being back in two years' time for the European championships to be held in the United Kingdom in 2028.

I thank all those who commented on the blog and encourage more of you to do so in the future.