race if lionel messi leads argentina to glory today and in doing so cementing his legacy. reporter: indeed. absolutely. any complicated relationship with messi has been swept across the board. this is a nation that is really in love with its national team. it s a nation that breathes football, kim, like few others around the world and this city is building with the the momentum is building with expectations. i was here late last night and the images of the goals and the highlights of previous matches were shown and projected on the obelisk just behind my back which is one of the symbols of the city of buenos aires. we hear a few thousands of tourists, they have been out here all night waiting with momentum, waiting with a great expectation for this game. it s true what amanda said, that
reporter: that was the view from the france camp. but for their part argentina and their coach has very much urged their players to go out and win this for lionel messi. it was just a month ago chow messi, good-bye messi was ringing out behind us after that shock opening game defeat against saudi arabia. what a difference a month makes. 40 to 50,000 argentina fans expected to have descended here on doha over the last 24 hours or so. they are here in hope, expectation and dreaming that this might finally be their year once again. and we will be talking about that more. just now cnn s amanda davies, thanks, in qatar. really appreciate that. ste stefano pozzebon in bun airs. any ambivalence, it will be a
we re following this match from all angels. in qatar amanda davies is standing by in the heart of the action and we have reaction from argentina s die hard fans. amanda, first to you, it all comes down to you. the matchup they might have dreamed of, soccer s two brightest stars of the past messi and the future, mbappe, what are we expecting? reporter: yeah, just that one gap left to fill on people s wall charts and brackets if they ve been following this tournament closely over the last four weeks or so. i was there in brazil in 2014, the last time argentina and lionel messi reached the world cup final and saw their heartbreak firsthand, experienced it with the fans and they were beaten by their goal from mario ger sza as germany lifted the title at their expense. this is a heavyweight clash in terms of two traditional