Maradona may claim the hand of God; Queanbeyan dad and professional sports announcer Steve Peios will be the voice of God as he stands pitch-side in the Lusail Stadium in Qatar early on Monday morning as the official announcer of the 2022 World Cup final between France and Argentina.
"I'm beyond words in terms of excitement for what's coming up," he said from Qatar on Friday.
"It's really starting to hit me now just how big this occasion is. Three to four billion people are expected to watch this game. It's going to have the eyes of the world on it."
Steve, 36, will be hosting all the pre-game festivities and all the major protocols of the game in front of about 88,000 passionate fans at Lusail Stadium - from who scores a goal to which team claims victory to who is the winner of the Golden Boot at the end.
"I'll be the voice you hear announcing the teams out on to the pitch, announcing the national anthems of the team and then counting down to kick-off to the actual World Cup final," he said.
"And during the game, I'll do all the protocol stuff like, 'Goal for Argentina'. All the other protocol announcements we do, yellow card, red card, substitution, additional time. It's kind of the voice of God you hear that covers off all the protocol information for the fans.
"Then we have half-time where there will be some special performers. Can't say who they'll be, but they're big names. And then continue to do the rest of the protocol for the second half, announce the winners, wrap it up and then I'll be the MC for the trophy presentation and guiding all the players up to receive their awards."
It's a long way from Queanbeyan FM where his passion for sports broadcasting began when he was still a student at Queanbeyan High.
A well-known boxing announcer, Steve got his big break when he announced the 2018 Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast and met a Canadian producer who worked with FIFA. He also ended up working with football's governing body and never looked back.
"It was just one of those fantastic right place at the right time things that happen in life," he said.
His first gig was at the FIFA Club World Cup in 2018 in the United Arab Emirates when he was "chucked in in front of some Real Madrid players after about three days and told, 'Off you go, go and interview them'."
"That was my first couple of days in Abu Dhabi, sitting in the Four Seasons in front of Dani Carvajal and Sergio Ramos and Gareth Bale. I was like, 'Oh my God. I've just gone from Monaro Street in Queanbeyan to the Four Seasons in Abu Dhabi'. And it was awesome."
At this World Cup, Steve has announced at 15 games and attended another 10, cherishing every moment. He says being pitch-side at the final is like having "the Willy Wonka golden ticket".
"It's just been wild," he said.
Steve says he is nervous but they are "nerves of pure anticipation and excitement".
"Years ago when I was younger and less experience, I would have been more, 'Oh God, don't bugger this up'. But now it's all about the information gets out clearly and it goes off without a hitch. It's so good to be a part of and so exciting," he said.
His pre-match routine will be the same - a good sleep the night before, enough food to get him through the four hours of pre-match entertainment as well as the game, and some meditation.
"I really try to visualise what I'm going to do and centre myself about what's ahead," he said.
"We're on a very strict schedule. We get to the venue about six hours before kick-off and then at that time, in that first hour we have our team meetings and I'll know exactly what I'll be doing, what the likely line-ups will be and then what I'll do is go over the exact timings for when the teams come out to play, the announcement of the national anthems, getting that countdown into kick-off. FIFA is so brilliant in getting the timings right and getting these superstars of football out of the sheds on time and they're ready to go."
Steve says the atmosphere in Qatar is electric. He was out to dinner on Thursday and YouTube star Logan Paul walked past with his entourage. People are "talking non-stop" about Argentina legend Lionel Messi and his chance to be "the greatest of all time". Argentina fans have told Steve they have sold their car or home to get to the final.
The game means so much to so many. But not everyone will get the fairytale ending.
"I don't want to bust the bubble of everyone who wants Lionel Messi to win but I just think France at 1 to 11, are just a better team overall," Steve said.
A dad to Elise, 13, and Lucas, 11, and married to Stacey, Steve is looking forward to returning to the slower pace of life in Queanbeyan after four weeks in Qatar.
"Still live in Queanbeyan and love living there," he said.
"I was tempted to move to Sydney to be closer to the bigger sports but we have a really good airport where you can be anywhere in the world in one or two stops. I like the quieter lifestyle after the bustle of a World Cup in Doha or the crazy Gold Cups in Las Vegas or Los Angeles."
- Argentina and France play in the 2022 FIFA World Cup final at 2am Monday Canberra time. TV: Live on SBS and SBS On Demand.
