France were on Saturday anxiously awaiting news on the health of three key players on the eve of the World Cup final against an Argentina side led by Lionel Messi.

While the finalists prepare to do battle for football’s biggest prize, Morocco and Croatia have to pick themselves up to contest the third-place playoff on Saturday.

Defending champions France were forced to exclude central defenders Raphael Varane and Ibrahima Konate and winger Kingsley Coman from a training session on Friday because they had cold-like symptoms.

The trio of absentees sparked further fears of a virus in the French camp after two players — Adrien Rabiot and Dayot Upamecano — were ruled out of the semi-final win over Morocco.

Rabiot and Upamecano have both returned to training.

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