OneFootball
Joel Sanderson-Murray·14 December 2022
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Joel Sanderson-Murray·14 December 2022
France will meet Argentina in the World Cup final on Sunday after beating Morocco 2-0 on Wednesday night.
And our Man of the Match is …
Griezmann has worn many faces in his professional career.
The marauding winger at Real Sociedad to the complete forward at Atlético Madrid and the playmaker at Barcelona.
But there’s a new regeneration of Griezmann at this World Cup and he appears to be in the form of his life.
Didier Deschamps has started the 31-year-old in a deeper midfield role alongside Aurelien Tchouaméni and Adrien Rabiot in Qatar which looked to be a peculiar choice on the surface but with a second consecutive World Cup final appearance on the horizon it has turned out to be a master stroke.
Griezmann was everywhere against Morocco tonight, covering every blade of glass from driving forward with the ball on the counter-attack to doing the dirty work in his own defensive area.
He won six of his ground duels, providing three vital interceptions and two clearances proving that there is substance to his style.
The Atlético star was there on numerous occasions to nip in and stop a Moroccan attack dead. Griezmann has been many things in his career but defensive lynchpin hasn’t been one of them. Until now.
While Kylian Mbappé has taken the headlines and Olivier Giroud has written himself into French football history, Griezmann has been doing the quiet, dirty work and should his country lift the World Cup for a third time on Sunday then his role would have been pivotal.
The Frenchman has been one of the players of the tournament so far, and he hasn’t even found the back of the net yet but his mark has certainly been left.
Les Bleus supporters will be thankful that their former superstar has become a company man.