World Cup Final best bets: Messi, Argentina to prevail vs. France

We have a tremendous World Cup Final to look forward to on Sunday morning.

Can Lionel Messi reach new heights and go out a winner in his final World Cup, or will Kylian Mbappe continue his dominance over the sport and win his second trophy in two tries?

Let's attempt to answer exactly that with our best bet for the championship game.

Argentina (+175) vs. France (+175)
Dec. 18, 10:00 a.m. EST

France is one final whistle away from winning back-to-back World Cups - a truly remarkable feat.

Despite playing the entire tournament without key pieces like N'Golo Kante, Karim Benzema, and Paul Pogba, Les Bleus have cruised to the final with relative ease.

France has netted at least two goals in five of six games thus far, only failing to win in a throwaway game against Tunisia after it had already qualified for the elimination round.

Les Bleus have posted strong results along the way, piling up about 4.5 more expected goals than their opponents - a pretty healthy differential in a six-game span, especially considering they have more talent than most of their counterparts.

That being said, France has yet to face a team playing as well as Argentina. Messi has turned back the clock in this tournament, looking as good as ever as a finisher and a creator. His partner in crime Julian Alvarez has been there every step of the way and sits only one tally behind Messi and Mbappe for the tournament lead in goals.

That dynamic duo will cause a ton of problems for a France backline that, while mostly strong, has had moments of vulnerability in this tournament.

While Les Bleus only conceded via penalty over the last couple of games, England applied pressure for a lot of that knockout-round matchup. They generated eight more shot attempts, three more looks on target, and held a 14% edge in possession.

I expect the Argentines to continue controlling the ball a lot in this game, as they've won the expected goal battle by more than 10 goals through six contests. Absurdity.

Penalties have helped inflate the numbers, but even without them, Argentina has been the class of the tournament.

I think Messi has a bit of magic left in him and can pull one more rabbit out of his hat on Sunday to add a World Cup victory to his resume.

Take the protection, throw the 90-minute line out the window, and back Argentina to get the job done in any fashion.

Bet: Argentina to lift the trophy (-110)

Todd Cordell is a sports betting writer at theScore. Be sure to follow him on Twitter @ToddCordell.