With 62 games now done and dusted, just two matches are yet to be played at the World Cup in Qatar: the third-place playoff between Croatia and Morocco on Saturday, Dec. 17 and then the small matter of the final itself, between Argentina and defending champions France 24 hours later.
Lionel Messi has already vowed that, win or lose, the 2022 final in Lusail will be his last World Cup match for the Albiceleste and the stage is certainly set for the 35-year-old forward to go out on the ultimate high.
However, France are equally keen to become the championship’s first back-to-back winners since the great Brazil sides of 1958 and 1962, and Les Bleus also boast their very own talismanic superstar in Kylian Mbappe who they hope will spur them on in their quest.
But as well as the World Cup itself, there are also still a number of individual prizes on the line as the Golden Boot, Golden Glove and Golden Ball awards will be handed out after the final concludes on Sunday. Indeed, all three could still be decided over the course of the two games remaining at the 2022 World Cup given the various players left in the running.
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Golden Boot
The Golden Boot is awarded to the top goal scorer at the World Cup and, as things stand, opposing finalists Messi and Mbappe are joint front-runners with five goals to their name heading into the final.
But this is no two-horse race, as Julian Alvarez of Argentina and Olivier Giroud of France are only just behind on four goals apiece, with the latter also having the distinction of overtaking Thierry Henry to become France’s all-time record men’s goal-scorer during the 2022 World Cup.
The Golden Boot is primarily decided on total number of goals scored by an individual player at the tournament, but should there be any level-pegging at the summit come the close of play then the award is settled using tie-breaker criteria: first assists, then fewest minutes played.
Therefore Messi is leading the standings by contributing three assists to Argentina’s cause (the joint-most of any player at the tournament) while Mbappe has laid on two assists for his France teammates. However, this could all change during the final.
There have been extremely tight Golden Boot races settled in this manner before. For example, the 2010 race was eventually won by Thomas Muller despite him being one of four players to score five goals in South Africa along with Wesley Sneijder, David Villa and Diego Forlan. The German was given the award by virtue of his three assists.
When it comes to the 2022 Golden Boot race, there is only one other player beneath Messi, Mbappe, Alavarez and Giroud in the standings who is still active and has more than one goal to his credit. Morocco striker Youssef En-Nesyri has netted two goals so far but will therefore need to produce something truly extraordinary against Croatia if he is to usurp his rivals and claim the award for himself.
