Alphonse Areola on verge of making West Ham United history
Alphonse Areola is on the brink of making history by being the only West Ham United player to win two World Cups as France get set to battle Argentina in the final.
Didier Deschamps’ side edged past England in the quarter-final and narrowly beat Morocco to reach a second successive final. Hugo Lloris has been France’s number one during the tournament with the West Ham keeper yet to feature.
However, if France beat Argentina in the final, the 29-year-old will make West Ham history. Before 2010, 15 players had represented the Hammers at the World Cup. Since then, Spain, Germany and France have won the competition, with Areola being part of the French squad in 2018.
Harry Hooper, Bobby Moore, Geoff Hurst, Martin Peters, Trevor Brooking, Alvin Martin, Rio Ferdinand, Trevor Sinclair, Joe Cole and David James have all represented England.
Since 2010, Mathew Upson, Robert Green and Declan Rice have represented the Three Lions. England have obviously only one the World Cup once and Frenchman Bernard Lama is the other West Ham player to get his hands on the Jules Rimet trophy.
So if France are successful on Sunday (18 December) Areola will be part of an exclusive club. Considering West Ham pride themselves on being a key component in England’s only World Cup win, this is an impressive achievement by the Frenchman.
Many players dream of just playing in the World Cup, let alone lifting the trophy twice. If Deschamps team are victorious on Sunday they will cement themselves as one of the most successful international teams in history, and become only the third team to retain the trophy.
Areola can probably count himself unlucky not to have featured so far with Chris Sutton previously suggesting (Daily Mail, 7 December) the West Ham keep should’ve been selected ahead of Lloris.