Piers Morgan's World Cup Prediction Sparks Debate Ahead of Semi-Finals

Piers Morgan has predicted that the FIFA World Cup final will be a repeat of 2018, in which Croatia will meet France this coming Sunday.

The 57-year-old British broadcaster is never more than a step away from controversy and he has continued from his tirade against Argentina's soccer legend, Lionel Messi, by tipping them to be knocked out of the tournament at the semi-final stage.

Morgan had stated after Argentina beat the Netherlands on penalties (in an distinctly ill-tempered game) that Messi should have been sent off and miss the semi-final.

With Messi staying on the pitch and being available to play, Morgan now believes he will get his comeuppance at the hands of Luka Modric and the Croatians.

Morgan tweeted on Tuesday morning: "PREDICTION: Croatia will beat Argentina, France will beat Morocco, and France will beat Croatia in the final to win the World Cup."

Of course, this was like lighting a fuse for his 8.2 million followers who were soon sharing their opinions on what the result will be, and their thoughts on Morgan himself.

One Twitter user was in agreement and threw in that it would be payback for Cristiano Ronaldo not making it through after Portugal's shock loss to Morocco, in which they were denied a late penalty.

They replied to Morgan: "That's perfect. They all want Messi to win the world cup after robbing Portugal because of Ronaldo, but sorry folks, it ain't happening. France is winning it."

Another hit back at the TV presenter, tweeting: "You have no business in the world cup Piers. England are out, Ronaldo is out. Go back to interviewing Ronaldo and leave world cup talks for people who still have their teams in it."

A third replied: "@piersmorgan hatred for Messi is legendary. His prediction is fueled by his prayers for Messi not to upstage his favorite @Cristiano. Argentina plays France in the final and the scores is 2-1 in Favour of #Argentina"

Morgan also got some heat from Morocco supporters who believed that they could go all the way after becoming the first African nation to reach the semi-finals.

One asked Morgan: "Have you watched a single game Morocco played? Most countries have very good players including the bests. But they don't have a team-don't sync together. But teams like Morocco have played many together as a team. So they did well and likely to beat this prediction."

Morgan had previously railed against Messi and his behavior during the fiery game with the Netherlands.

The game was marred by several ugly confrontations between players and staff of both sides and the referee issued a record number of cautions for a World Cup tie in the process.

Morgan was not impressed, tweeting: "So yesterday, Lionel Messi abused the referee, abused the rival coach and abused one of his opponents. Methinks if Ronaldo did that, it would get a tad more media attention."

Tennis star Andy Murray then hailed Messi's performance on the pitch and Morgan was not going to let that pass without comment.

He responded to Murray by tweeting: "Messi shouldn't have been on the pitch. Should have got a 2nd booking & red card."

Argentina were beaten finalists in 2014 when Germany won the trophy and Messi is currently one goal behind France striker Kylian Mbappe for the coveted Golden Boot at the tournament.

Croatia and France played out the last World Cup final, in 2018, with the French running out 4-2 winners and it is expected that France will be the favorites to win back-to-back World Cup trophies.

What is for sure, if Morgan is proved to be right with his predictions, then he won't waste any time in telling his followers that he has got it right.

Do you have a tip on a sports story that Newsweek should be covering? Do you have a question about the World Cup? Let us know via entertainment@newsweek.com.