Argentina’s Lionel Messi is one of the favorites to win the World Cup Golden Ball, handed to the player deemed to have played best during the tournament by Fifa.
The Argentina star has four goals to his name in the tournament and has been one of the tournament’s standouts as the last four prepare for the semi-finals.
Kylian Mbappe of France and Luka Modric of Croatia are other names mentioned in the same bracket as the Argentine. France are sportbet favorites to go all the way to the finals, which gives Mbappe an extra shot at the golden boot.
The chances of Lionel Messi and Kylian Mbappe winning the World Cup Golden Ball are now even and it can not be any other way. These two players have been outstanding this season, but we believe the competition is only getting stronger. It is Messi’s last World Cup, and you can bet with Betway for Argentina to give their talisman a befitting goodbye.
He previously won the Golden Ball in 2014 for his remarkable contribution to Argentina, which helped the team qualify for the final game against Germany, which La Albiceleste lost. Back in 2014, no one deserved the trophy more than him, but today he has company, as Kylian Mbappe seems poised to take it as well.
Messi got four goals and one assist at the 2014 World Cup. This year, we’ve seen an even better side of him. He scored four goals for Argentina while also assisting on two others. In addition, he earned four MVP honors in five games! In every game thus far, he has been a constant for Lionel Scaloni. And now, in the semi-finals, he will seek vengeance on Croatia.
Kylian Mbappe, as excellent as he was in the group stage, had a quiet game against England in the quarter-finals. This time, it was Antoine Griezmann and Olivier Giroud who carried Kylian Mbappe rather than the other way around.
France is fortunate to have qualified for the semi-finals, and Kylian Mbappe is lucky to still be in contention for the Golden Ball. If England had eliminated France from the World Cup, Kylian Mbappe’s chances of winning the Golden Ball would have been nil
In the match against England, we saw how a player like Kyle Walker was able to neutralize the PSG superstar. That’s not what you want from a Golden Ball winner. In the semi-finals, Kylian Mbappe will play his PSG colleague Achraf Hakimi, who has also been outstanding at the defense.
Everything appears to be possible for the Croatians with playmaker-in-chief Luka Modric. Zlatko Dalic has no trouble selecting his team’s starting lineup. There is no doubt about who will be the central midfielder.
Luka Modric just seems to grow better with age, and we’re certain he’ll be a major player for Croatia in the crucial encounter against Argentina on Tuesday. Luka Modric previously won the Golden Ball in 2018. Seeing him get football’s most coveted individual accolades will not be a surprise, and you can check all the World Cup odds at Betway for different markets. Nonetheless, he has some significant competition for this title, with Messi and Mbappe looking strong ahead of the semi-finals.