Can Lionel Messi finally lift the World Cup? On the 19th at midnight (Korean time), while the 2022 Qatar World Cup final was scheduled between Argentina and France, unexpected bad news hit the French national soccer team. With less than two days left before the match, several French players are absent from training due to flu symptoms.

Due to the nature of players who train, eat, talk, and spend every day in close contact with each other, there are concerns that the virus is likely to spread to the entire team.

According to AP and AFP on the 16th (local time), 스포츠토토 Rafael Varane (Manchester United) and Ibraima Konate (Liverpool) did not attend team training scheduled for the day due to cold symptoms. Earlier, Dayo Upamecano, Kingsle Koman (Bayern Munich), and Adrien Rabiot (Juventus) also showed the same symptoms a few days ago. Only confirmed were at least five people showing cold symptoms.

Theo Hernandez (AC Milan) and Aurelien Chuameni (Real Madrid) did not appear in the training that day, so there is speculation that the cold has spread widely within the team.

Questions are also being raised as to whether the players are suffering from a cold. Players who were not feeling well were known to have symptoms such as sore throat, abdominal pain, and headache. Based on this, US Fox News cited French national team employees and reported that Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) appears to be the cause, and public broadcaster France 24 raised the possibility of Corona 19 infection based on sore throat.

As Corona 19 or MERS is highly contagious, it can become a variable in the final if even key players such as Kylian Mbappe, Olivier Giroud, and Antoine Griezmann are infected.

For now, the French team is treating players who show symptoms by isolating them to a room. He said that he was washing his hands well and greeting with a fist instead of shaking hands, but he has no choice but to hope that the players will show their immunity as much as they train while bumping into each other.

Ousmane Dembele (Barcelona) told the Associated Press, “Viruses are not scary. Upamecano and Rabiot suffered from headaches and slight stomachaches. I made tea with ginger and honey, and my condition improved.”

The French team is not the only one with bad news. In the case of Argentina, the possibility of a hamstring injury is being raised over Messi, the team’s focal point, not attending the team training on the 15th. There are also reports that Messi complained of pain in the affected area after the semifinal match against Croatia (3-0 Argentina win).

Messi, a living legend, played a big role in this tournament with 5 goals and 3 assists, making a decisive contribution to the team reaching the final. In addition, the entire team is also playing a role as a mental support for the team, burning the spirit of battle, saying, “I will throw my body so that Messi can surely lift the trophy in the last World Cup.”

France and Argentina will play the World Cup final at Lusail Stadium in Qatar on the 19th at 0:00 Korean time.