Soccer-France awaits as back-to-back World Cup bid begins

Soccer fans gathered on the Champs Elysees boulevard in Paris and packed bars and sports centres across France as Sunday's World Cup final against Argentina got underway. Supporters near the Arc de Triomphe braved near-freezing temperatures, breaking out into song as they urged "Les Bleus" to bring back the cup for a second straight tournament.

Soccer fans gathered on the Champs Elysees boulevard in Paris and packed bars and sports centres across France as Sunday's World Cup final against Argentina got underway.

Supporters near the Arc de Triomphe braved near-freezing temperatures, breaking out into song as they urged "Les Bleus" to bring back the cup for a second straight tournament. Many waved the national 'tricolor' flag above their heads. "I've put 100 euros on a win for France, with a goal for Mbappe," France supporter Antonio Suarez told Reuters in a sports bar where giant screens were hung from the ceiling.

"I'm here to back our boys and after we're going to party," said Suarez's friend Audrey Vincelot. Both France and Argentina are seeking a third World Cup trophy.

The Paris Metro temporarily renamed the "Argentine" underground station "France", covering up the name with "Allez les Bleus" (Go the Blues) banners. On the Champs Elysees, likely to be the focal point for celebrations should France win, some store owners boarded up their windows.

"I'm sure that France is going to win, it's a close-knit team with a young spirit and they have the potential to win," said Xavier Grand-Jacquot. "It's a spectacular team and they're going to go all the way." "For History," weekend newspaper Le Journal du Dimanche exhorted the French, for whom a win would make them the first back-to-back champions since Brazil in 1962.

Some 14,000 police have deployed across France with 2,750 in Paris alone to keep any celebrations from getting out of control, the Interior Ministry said. "Let's do it again?" President Emmanuel Macron, in Doha for the final, tweeted with a video of post-match locker-room festivities after France beat Morocco in the semi-finals.