The Prestigious tournament is now closing, with one match left before we crown another World Cup winner who will hold the title for another four years. This time, France is making a back-to-back finals appearance as defending champions, while Argentina is hoping to lay their hands on the much-coveted trophy for the third time in their history.

This matchup is undoubtedly one for the books, as there’s so much at stake. A win for the French team will etch their name in history as the third team to win a back-to-back era. In contrast, for the Argentine team, this will mark the crowning of Messi as the best to ever grace the game of football, as a World Cup title is the missing piece to lay claims at the G.O.A.T status. Here we will look at how fans can watch the final in Qatar and worldwide. 

Match Kick Off

The highlight, Lusail Stadium, will host Argentina vs. France FIFA World Cup final in Qatar 2022, bringing an incredible tournament to a close. Here will look at kick-off times for different countries. 

• It starts at 3 pm GMT in the United Kingdom and 10 am ET in the United States. 
• For the host country Qatar, game time is 18:00 local time. 
• Australia 02:00 AEDT, India 20:30 IST, Hong Kong 23:00 HKT, Malaysia 23:00 MYT, 
• Singapore 23:00 SGT, New Zealand 04:00 NZDT, and Pacific Time(PT) 7:00.

Expected Line-Up

These players are expected to start for Argentina and France in the 2022 Qatar FIFA World Cup Final.

Argentina 

Goalkeeper: Martinez

Defenders: Molina, Romero, Otamendi, Acuna

Midfielders: De Paul, Paredes, Fernandez, Mac Allister 

Forwards: Messi and Alvarez 

France 

Goalkeeper: Lloris

Defenders: Kounde, Varane, Konate, T. Hernandez

Midfielders: Rabiot, Tchouameni

Forwards: Dembele, Griezmann, Mbappe, and Giroud 

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Where To Watch The World Cup For Viewers At Home?

• In the USA: You can watch on the following TV Channels; Fox, Telemundo, and Universo, and you can live stream via fuboTV, Fox Sports site/app, Telemundo Deportes site/app, Peacock, and Universo Now.
• For viewers in Canada: You can tune in to the following TV Channels; TSN 1, CTV, and RDS (French), while you can live stream via the TSN site/app, CTV website, and RDS app.
• UK: You can watch on the listed TV Channels; BBC One, ITV 1, and STV, while you can live stream via BBC iPlayer, BBC Sport website, ITVX, STV Player
• Australia: Tune in to Special Broadcasting Service (SBS) or Livestream on SBS on demand
• India: You can tune into the following TV channels; Sports 18 and MTV HD (Hindi), while you can stream on JioTV.
• Hong Kong: You can watch it on TV channels like Now TV (Ch. 616, 618) and ViuTV and live-stream Now TV.
• Viewers in Malaysia can watch on RTM TV2 and Astro FIFA World Cup 1 while streaming on Astro GO and RTMKlik.
• In Singapore, you can watch on Channel 5, StarHub TV FIFA World Cup, and Singtel FIFA World Cup 141, while you can stream on Singtel TV GO, CAST, StarHub TV+, and MeWatch.
• For New Zealand, you can watch on Sky Sports 7 and beIN Sports and can stream via Sky Go and Sky Sports NOW.

With this, we have covered a majority of continents and listed where and when to watch the final World Cup action scheduled to take place on the 18th of December, 2022. Whether you watch it live at the Lusail stadium or from the comfort of your home, this match will go down in the history books. 

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For new bettors, it’s important to note conditions that might influence bet results besides players’ performance, team formations, weather conditions. We will look at how the new refereeing rules impact match outcomes in the 2022 FIFA Qatar World Cup. Bettors need to understand how this influences their bet outcomes and how to factor it into placing bets on games. Here are the rules that should be taken into consideration. 

Additional Time

With 14 minutes at the end of the first half and 10 minutes at the end of the second, England’s crushing 6-2 victory over Iran in Group B was extended by nearly 30 minutes. In the quarterfinal match between the Netherlands and Argentina, there were five extra minutes in the first half and ten in the second as the Dutch sought to score in the last seconds to force extra time.

Why has the 2022 World Cup in Qatar already seen so much overtime? 

According to a former referee, fans shouldn’t be shocked if they see the fourth official raise the electronic board with a large number on it, such as six, seven, or eight minutes. The leading causes of this significant rise in added time have been injuries, holiday time, and some deliberate delays by players. According to the rulebook, additional time is needed to accurately finish the amount of time that football is being played.

How Does This Affect Betting? 

• It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that games with longer durations have more goals because goals take much longer to achieve. There are a few fundamental ideas you should generally keep in mind when analyzing a football game.
• Every betting market relies on someone offering a price to bet at, and that price is frequently based on a model. The time left to play when placing a football wager is a component of that concept.
• To score a goal, any prices in the market must adapt for more time if you add more than that. As a result, the over/under market will change over a long period of additional time.
• The additional stoppage time has opened up a possibility in the market for match odds. There will be late goals if there is a lot of time left in the game.
• Very late goals have been scored thus far in a good number of World Cup games due to the new rules this year. That is a significant spike and wholly unanticipated. 

Several alternatives depend on how you might take advantage of this, but they all depend totally on the specific match and the score at the time. The idea is to back the over in most games due to the enormous additional minutes. 

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Video Assistant Referee (VAR)

The technology is being used for the second time at the Men’s World Cup. The first occurred in Russia in 2018. However, between World Cups, the Video Assistant Referee has participated in significant men’s professional soccer leagues and important FIFA competitions. The technology and its application are familiar and comfortable for the officials. 

When Is The VAR Used? 

Goals, penalty decisions, direct red-card events, and mistaken identity are match-changing circumstances when VAR will only be used for “clear and evident errors” or “severe missed incidents.”

• Goals: The VAR automatically examines any goal or no goal to see if any fouls would have prevented the goal from being scored, if there was any offside before the goal, or if there was a missed ball in or out of the field.
• Penalty judgments: Any potential fouls, whether called or not, are examined by the VAR concerning the tackle, offense, and foul location, whether inside or outside the penalty area.
• Straight Red Card: Red card challenges or possible red card challenges are automatically examined, whether they are given or not. There is no review of a second yellow card that changes to a red card.
• The Error of Identity: A card accidentally provided to the wrong person can be reviewed and changed.

The last World Cup saw a record 29 penalties awarded, but this one has only seen 16, which is a massive decrease from 2018’s World Cup held in Russia. Bettors should bet less on penalties as the VAR system has improved, which has decreased the number of awarded penalties. Bet more on no penalty awarded in a game. 

The World Cup is a prestigious tournament, but it is still far from perfect; referees still impact the game’s outcome, and their decisions cannot always be fair. That’s why it’s advisable for bettors to take the refereeing rules into consideration before betting. The VAR and the ridiculous added time in the tournament have been the standouts so far. 

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The 2022 FIFA World Cup has been full of surprises, drama, and unending entertainment. We have seen teams razzle and dazzle in their glory while others have bowed their heads in disappointment. As the competition is in its late stage, we have four national teams left. Argentina, France, Croatia, and Morocco are the four countries left and are about to face up for a chance to book a spot in the finals.

After battling it out on penalties against the Netherlands, Argentina is now up against Croatia. At the same time, Morocco, who, against all odds, edged past Portugal, will face reigning World Cup champions France. Here we will look at the events that led to this stage of the competition and give a prediction of the outcome of the semi-finals matchups.

Argentina Vs Croatia

Argentina is the only South American team in this stage of the competition. They face a Croatian side who defeated Brazil, another South American team, in the quarterfinals to get to the semi-finals. 

Croatia

If Morocco did not make it to the semi-finals, Croatia would have easily been the dark horse of the tournament. Croatia is only a game away from making its back-to-back finals appearance. They do not boast of a particularly outstanding star player, but they have been a team that thrived on collective effort, although they have a Ballon d’Or winner Лука Модрич leading them. 

• Croatia was in Group F, the same as Morocco, Canada, and Belgium. They opened the tournament against Morocco, ending in a goalless draw. 

• Croatia played Canada next, and they won emphatically. Four goals to one, potentially ending Canada’s hopes of making it out of the group stage. 

• In a bid to grab a spot in the round of 16, Croatia held Belgium to a goalless draw to finish second in Group F behind Morocco. 

• Croatia was up against Japan in the round of 16, and it was a fight till the end kind of game. It came down to penalties after playing a 1-1 draw, including extra time. Croatia won 3-1 on penalties to advance to the semi-finals.

• Croatia faced title-favorite Brazil in the quarter-finals and played out another 1-1 draw at the end of extra time. Croatia won 4-2 on penalties to send Brazil home and advance to the semi-finals.

Argentina

Argentina is exactly living up to expectations in the 2022 FIFA World Cup, and it might finally be Lionel Messi’s time to lift the much-coveted trophy. Argentina has brilliantly recovered from an early scare to start the competition and is now a game away from making the finals. La Albiceleste has all that is required to get the job done, as they were tipped as one of the favorites to win it all. 

• Argentina was up against Saudi Arabia to begin the tournament. They suffered a 2-1 loss, to everyone’s surprise, but they recovered in their remaining group games.

• Next up, Argentina was up against Mexico and won by two goals to nil for their first points in the group.

• Another 2-0 win against Poland secured Argentina’s spot as group leader 

• Argentina was up next against Australia in the round of 16. They defeated Australia 2-1 to progress to the quarter-finals

• Argentina was up against the Netherlands in the quarter-finals. Messi gave Nahuel Molina the assist for his first-ever international goal as Argentina took the lead. Messi converted a penalty kick in the 73rd minute to make it 2-0 for Argentina. To keep the Netherlands within striking distance of Argentina, 2-1, substitute Wout Weghorst breached the Argentine defense and pierced the goal. He scored again late in extra time to force extra time and ultimately force penalties, which Argentina eventually won 4-2. 

Match Prediction

Argentina, one of the most competitive teams at the FIFA World Cup, will again rely on Lionel Messi’s artistic wizardry this week. The Albiceleste have several difficulties in addressing before this match after giving up late goals against the Netherlands. Croatia has previously caused problems for Argentina and has already caused heartbreak for Brazil at the World Cup. Croatia wants to return to the finals, so we could see them put up another strong showing. Croatia boasts a solid defense and should be able to keep this game under two goals. Under 1.5 is the pick for this game.

France Vs Morocco 

Morocco is clearly the dark horse of the 2022 FIFA World Cup, with impressive showings against all odds. They face the reigning champions France, who appear to show no signs of slowing down as they gradually make their way to the finals once again.

France

France was one of the favorites to win the World Cup despite a number of important players faltering in the last days before the tournament. The remarkable depth of Les Blues’ roster and head coach Didier Deschamps has been crucial to their progress to the semifinals.

• France opened the tournament with a win over a 4-1 win over Australia 

• They went on to win their second group game  2-1 against Denmark. They secured qualification to the round of 16 with this win. 

• In a game that did not affect their qualification hopes, France lost their third group game to Tunisia. 

• France was up against Poland in the round of 16, and they cruised past them, winning three goals to one.

• France played England in the quarter-finals, and a second-half Harry Kane penalty miss ensured their progression to the semi-finals. France opened the scoring, but England got a penalty to bring the game to level terms. Giroud, in the second half, put the French team up front, proving decisive. 

Morocco

The accomplishment of Morocco, the first African team to go to the World Cup semifinals, has the potential to “galvanize” Africa. Morocco has already surpassed expectations in this tournament. Still, if they can defeat France, they’ll be able to set an excellent record.

• Morocco kicked off the tournament with a goalless draw against Croatia 

• They earned their first points of the tournament by defeating Belgium 2-0, to everyone’s surprise. 

• Canada defeated Morocco 2-1 in their last game in the group stage to secure qualification for the round of 16. 

• Morocco played Spain in the round of 16, and the game ended 0-0, including extra time. Morocco went on to win on penalties as the Spanish side failed to convert a single penalty. 

• Morocco went on to play another European giant in Portugal in the quarter-finals and won the game 1-0 as underdogs to make history and book their spot in the semi-finals. 

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Match Predictions

The physical and emotional hunger with which the Moroccans have been playing has been astounding. For Morocco, weariness is a factor. Noussair Mazraoui and Nayef Aguerd missed the victory over Portugal, and they might make a comeback, but they’ll still be hurt.

After yet another center defensive masterclass, the valiant Romain Saiss was stretched off, and they will be much weaker without him. France will easily win this match thanks to their superior quality all over the field, especially in attacking areas. Morocco is one step behind France, which has more experience at this stage of the tournament. Morocco will lose by a wide margin, and the pick here is France -1 Asian handicap.

The World Cup is full of drama and iconic moments; simply anything can happen, but the picks above have been carefully analyzed and backed with facts to attain maximum returns. Argentina against Croatia will be a close game, while France is expected to cruise past Morocco. 

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