What A Game.

The 2022 FIFA World Cup could not have asked for or gotten a better final than it did when Argentina and France met in Lusail Stadium, Qatar. A sporting event that only happens every four years is worth the hype, and this year’s World Cup Final did not disappoint.

Argentina returned to the World Cup Final for the first time since 2014 and would look to win their first world championship since 1986. On the other side, the defending champions, France, return to the World Cup Final looking to repeat as champions to become only the 3rd time a Men’s national team has repeated as champions.

So how did this game play out? Let’s find out.

Argentina Dominates The First Half

One of the keys for Argentina coming into this game was to key in on the potent France attack, and they certainly had an effective game plan for the first half. At the half, they held the French to zero shots and held French superstar Kylian Mbappé quiet.

For Argentina offensively, they received their record-breaking 6th penalty of the World Cup and quickly cashed in as Lionel Messi scored to give Argentina a 1-0 lead in the 23rd minute. Later on, Argentina would counterattack the French with beautiful passes that ended in a tremendous finish by another Argentinian legend, Ángel Di Maria, for Argentina’s second goal that made it 2-0 at the half.

This defensive dominance would continue for Argentina until the 80th minute when France and their superstar would wake up.

Mbappé and France Wake Up.

In the 80th minute, the French received a foul of their own, and Kylian Mbappé knocked in France’s first goal of the night. And just as quickly as it felt like Argentina had gotten the lead, the French would go on to tie the game just 1 minute later as in the 81st minute, Mbappé knocked in a helluva goal to tie the game at two a piece.

Regulatory time would continue to dwindle down, and eventually, the officials blew their whistles and sent the World Cup Final into extra time.

Extra Time Madness.

Extra time kicked off, and Argentina was looking to regain their groove after such a swift French response. Luckily for Argentina, they have the greatest player ever to play fútbol on their team as Lionel Messi knocked in his second goal of the night and regave Argentina the lead in the 108th minute.

As the first “half” of extra time was finished, Argentina was only another 15 minutes away from winning a championship. However, France, and more specifically Mbappé, had other plans.

Argentina would commit a foul in the box and would award France a penalty and a chance to tie the game up once more. So here comes Kylian Mbappé with the weight of France on his back. Would he go on to make it and tie the game? Or would he miss and would Argentina be crowned champions? It would be the former as Mbappé knocked in his 3rd(!) goal of the game and, here we go again, this game is tied once more.

Although those were the only 2 goals in extra time, albeit huge goals for both respective teams, both teams had a chance to score more but terrific plays by defenders and goalkeepers kept any further damage from happening.

As extra time wounded down the refs would once again blow their whistles and would send this wacky marathon into a penalty shootout.

Because, Why Not a Penalty Shootout?

A World Cup Final coming down to a penalty shootout. Could you really script it any better? Well apparently the answer is yes, because as I mentioned before this is Lionel Messi vs Kylian Mbappé. The past vs the future. Who would prevail?

It would be 1-1 after Messi and Mbappé make their respective shots. However, it would be 2-1 as Argentinian goalkeeper Emiliano Martínez would block the French penalty and would get Argentina one step closer to winning.

It would then soon be 3-1 Argentina as Aurelien Tchouameni would miss his shot and Argentina could just about taste it now.

Randal Kolo Muani would make his shot but it was all for nought as Gonzalo Montiel would make the decisive World Cup winning goal and Argentina was victorious.

And with that an incredible game, and an incredible World Cup had ended.

Holy Moly.

Argentina started with heartbreak as they had lost to Saudi Arabia in their first game in the World Cup and ended with a world championship. An incredible story and an excellent team.

Is this Messi’s final game playing for Argentina? Who knows, but what we all know is that Argentina is the world champs and that the game of fútbol is beautiful.