FIFA

With the FIFA World Cup final between Argentina and France a few days away, a new champion to be spotted on Sunday as the organisers have tried to catch on to the football fever and give away a replica of the FIFA World Cup trophy. "Taking advantage of the World Cup fever, we are auctioning off an exact replica of the gold-plated World Cup trophy ($9,000) and many national team jerseys," said Yael Rodriguez, one of the three partners of the Matchday the Argentine company behind the auction, while talking to IANS in a Zoom interview.

Theo Hernandez's goal in the fifth minute and Randal Kolo Muani's close-range effort in the 79th minute sealed a 2-0 semifinal victory for the defending champions and set up a title clash against Lionel Messi-led Argentina at the Lusail Stadium on December 18.

While Lionel Messi is looking to lift his first World Cup, France are looking to retain the title they won in 2018 in what promises to be a tough game for both sides, Xinhua news agency reported. "Argentina are a really great team. They have shown how competitive they are, and they have this player (Messi) who has left his mark on the sport," said Lloris after Wednesday's 2-0 semifinal win over Morocco.

The 35-year-old scored a goal in the match through a penalty, which is his fifth in Qatar 2022. In the process of taking Argentina to the final, Messi set many records and also set himself up for bettering more marks in international football and FIFA World Cup when Argentina take on the winner of the second semifinal between France and Morocco.

Julian Alvarez scored a brace and Lionel Messi converted a penalty as Argentina won their fifth consecutive match in this tournament after starting with a shock defeat to Saudi Arabia. "We'll celebrate because we know it's exciting to advance to the final," Scaloni said after the semifinal.

Griezmann's form, along that of While Kylian Mbappe and Olivier Giroud, will be a key element when the defending champions take on tournament surprise semi-finalists Morocco on Wednesday night as they aim to become the first European nation to reach successive World Cup finals since Italy in 1938.

The Three Lions captain converted the first of the two kicks, to level both the match and Wayne Rooney's all-time England goal record, that his team got in regulation time but failed to get the second one past his Tottenham teammate Hugo Lloris in the Les Blues goal blasting it over the crossbar and thereby missing the chance to make it 2-2.

Al Hilm, which translates as "The Dream" in Arabic, follows on from the Official Match Ball of the group stages, Al Rihla, which translates as "The Journey". Both balls feature the same technology, engineered to support the highest game speeds as they travel faster in flight than any other World Cup ball.

Portugal crashed out of the 2022 World Cup following a 0-1 defeat against Morocco in the quarter-final. "No trophy or any title can take anything away from what you have done in this sport and for sports fans around the world. No title can explain the impact you have had on people and what I and so many around the world feel when we watch you play," Kohli wrote in an Instagram post.

The never-say-die spirit of the Croatians, coupled with the excellence of veteran midfielder Luka Modric and defender Dejan Lovren, saw a fine defensive display and shows that a side that has taken many ties in knockout stages of recent major tournaments to extra time, does not know how to give up, reports Xinhua news agency.