Argentina have won the world cup beating France in a penalty shootout in a nail-biting final at the Lusail Stadium that hosted the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 Final. Lionel Messi, Argentinian captain, made history as he became the only player to score in every stage of a World Cup, from the group stages all the way to the final. Kylian Mbappe scored 2 goals to bring the French back from a 2-0 deficit sending the game to extra time with Lionel Messi’s goal in the 108th minute taking Argentina ahead only for the French to reply with an equalizer in the dying seconds of extra time.
This win takes Messi to the history books as it was the only title he had not won, making Argentina the champions for the third time.
FiFA young player of the tournament 21 year old Enzo Fernández
Best goal keeper of the tournament went to Argentina’s Emiliano Martínez
The boot went to Kylian Mbappe with 8 goals, the award given to the highest goal scorer of the tournament.
The Golden ball Award went to Lionel Messi an award given to the best player in the tournament
The grand finale of the FIFA world cup after 28 days saw Argentina vs France two teams in the FIFAs top 5 rankings. Argentina was looking to take home the title for the third time having won it in 1978 and 1986 while France are the 2018 world cup defending champions.
France were expected to have an advantage here having played England a side with a similar type of football as Argentina although not as good, while Argentina had not been tested and played against anything like the type of play that France would bring.
Argentina has had a strange tournament losing 2-1 to Saudi Arabia and winning against Mexico and Poland then drawing with Netherlands 2-2 in a game where most felt that if the Dutch had continued with their ariel bombardment they might have won the game in extra time. They then went ahead to beat Croatia 3-0 in the semi finals.
That said Messi has been incredible throughout the tournament, scoring a record five goals a tying with Kylian Mbappe in the race for FIFA 2022 World cup golden boot. He was expected to be at his best for the final and he delivered.
Julián Álvarez has also been impressive rising to the occasion and getting goals.
Didier Deschamps on the other hand has created a great team with France. Going back to Euro 2016 France got to the finals but were beaten by Portugal in the finals then in 2018 they won the world cup in 2018. They then had a big slip up in the Euros against the Swiss and there were problems in that tournament with team selection as he looked not to be sure what his best eleven or formation was, but he has learnt from that and in a weird way some of the injuries his team faced leading to the world cup helped him because they forced him into a formula that has proven to be successful.
The game started off with a lot of attacking football from both sides, Argentina having the majority of possession in the 20th minute Argentina were awarded a penalty where Messi converted it easily breaking a record of being the only player in history to have scored in all stages of a FIFA world cup.
Argentina scored a second goal in the 36th minute when Di Maria beat Lloris from the left side to give Argentina a 2-0 lead.
French star Kylian Mbappe was restricted by the Argentina defense in the first half, being constantly marked by two Argentina players.
The second half saw more of the same from Argentina, with Messi looking to take the game away from France.
France’s turn around came in the second half, when Kylian Mbappe pulled one back with France being awarded a penalty.
Three minutes later he scored a second one making it 2-2.
The match then went into extra time, both sides looked to have the game in their hands. Lionel Messi’s goal in the 108th minute put Argentina ahead but the French were awarded a penalty when Kylian Mbappe’s hit an Argentine player on the hand and the French were awarded a penalty which Mbappe converted making it 3-3.
It got even more nail biting with both sides missing great chances on both ends.
The game would be decided on a penalty shootout.
