There's a reason a lot of people are wary on betting on Kylian Mbappe and France to win their second straight World Cup: the World Cup curse.
For those following the sport faithfully, it's common knowledge that the reigning champs rarely win back-to-back titles. In the previous three installments of the tournament, the defending champions even got knocked out in the group stage. Italy took home the trophy in 2006 but was eliminated in the group stage in 2010, and the same thing happened to Spain in 2014 after winning it all in 2010. Germany came out victorious in 2014 and only to finish last in the group phase in 2018.
France already broke that group stage curse by making it to the knockout rounds and eventually reaching the final. But still, history remains against them. No reigning champion has won back-to-back since Brazil did so in 1958 and 1962. That's 60 years and 15 World Cups later.
Of course France has a good chance to break put an end to that drought–betting odds have shifted on their favor, anyway–but they certainly can't be too overconfident. Not against Lionel Messi and Argentina who are just as hungry to win their first World Cup title in 36 years.
It will certainly be interesting to see who comes out victorious in the final. Both teams have two titles each, so it's guaranteed that one nation will have three World Cup titles when it's all said and done.
For their part, at least France can be happy with the fact that their talisman Kylian Mbappe doesn't seem to be too worried and pressured b y the difficulty of what they are trying to accomplish.
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