Adamo Marinelli
Dec. 19, 2022
In what was arguably the best World Cup Final in the tournament’s history, Lionel Messi solidified his GOAT status with his Golden Ball-winning performance, scoring seven goals and three assists and creating several scoring chances in seven appearances and now has completed football at the international and club level, by winning his first World Cup, the only trophy that has eluded him for his entire career.
Argentina got out to a quick 2-0 lead in the first half after Messi scored a perfectly placed penalty drawn by Angel Di Maria, who was tackled by Ousmane Dembele to give Argentina a 1-0 lead in the 23rd minute. Argentina’s lead doubled 13 minutes later with an excellent goal by Di Maria which was set up by Messi who slotted a brilliant pass on the counterattack to Alexis McAllister who ran with the ball into the box before unselfishly slotting a pass to DiMaria who made no mistake.
Argentina not only controlled the first half, but they controlled the first 75 minutes of the match. They dominated possession, were stellar in the midfield, and were excellent defensively. As soon as France gained possession, Argentina’s fantastic high defensive press took the ball right back from France. France was unable to advance the ball up the pitch to create scoring chances. France was held without a single shot for the entire first half and had an xG of 0.00 at halftime. France’s first shot attempt didn’t come until midway through the second half and their first shot on target came from a questionable penalty awarded to France in the 79th minute which gave France life.
Superstar Kylian Mbappe converted the penalty in the 80th minute to cut his team’s deficit in half. Less than two minutes later, Marcus Thurman slotted a brilliant pass to Kylian Mbappe who struck the ball with a beautiful off-balance volley that found the corner of the net, barely beating Argentina goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez’s hand. The game was tied in the 81st minute.
Argentina held France without a shot on target and completely dominated the match for the first 79 minutes, but fell apart allowing two goals in under two minutes.
Argentina subbed off Di Maria in the 65th minute to bring on another defender to close the game out, which was a good idea in theory, but against a lethal French offense, your best players need to play the entire match. Di Maria is a great playmaker and consistently contributes offensively but his holding play and defensive capabilities are strong too. If he wasn’t subbed out, the game may have not gone to extra time. However, Olivier Giroud and Ousmane Dembele were subbed off in the 41st minute, trailing 2-0, if they stayed on, it might have been a different game earlier.
Both teams were exhausted in extra time but still exchanged several quality goal-scoring opportunities in the first half of extra time. Early in the second half of added time, Argentina took the lead on a shocking play that sent the Argentine crowd into a frenzy.
Argentina broke through France’s backline once again, a really common sight in the World Cup Final and France’s defenders were all over the place. Lautaro Martinez fired a shot on goal and Lloris saved it, however, the rebound found its way to Messi’s boot who tapped it in. France defender Dayot Upecamano appeared to have cleared it, but not before it fully crossed the line giving Messi his second goal of the match, seventh of the tournament, and the lead in the Golden Boot race.
It was the first World Cup Final to see a player from both teams score a brace. But the match wasn’t done yet. Right-back Gonzalo Montiel turned his body to block a France shot attempt in the 116th minute, however, the ball hit his arm in the box while it was away from his body which gave France their second penalty of the game.
Mbappe struck it well, with calmness and precision to tie the game 3-3 in the 118th minute and became only the second player in a World Cup Final to record a hattrick.
With Mbappe’s third goal, he regained the lead in the Golden Boot race with eight goals and the 2022 World Cup became the highest-scoring tournament in World Cup history with 172 goals scored, beating the previous record of 171 goals in 1998 and 2014.
At the end of stoppage time in the second half of extra time, Kolo Muani found himself alone in Argentina’s box with a chance to win the World Cup but was robbed by a phenomenal save by Emiliano Martinez which led to a scoring chance for Lauturo Martinez who put a shot wide after receiving a nice cross from Montiel on the counter. France would've won back-to-back World Cups had it not been for that save, it was by far the best and most crucial save of the tournament.
An incredibly entertaining game was tied 3-3 heading into penalties and in the span of just over half an hour, went from a comfortable 2-0 Argentina lead to a wild 3-3 game.
Argentina had previously beaten the Netherlands on penalties and Martinez made two huge saves; France never played in a penalty shootout in Qatar.
In the penalty shootout, Mbappe slotted France’s first penalty right past the outstretched arms of Martinez and Messi scored Argentina’s first penalty. Kingsley Coman’s shot was saved by Martinez and Paulo Dybala scored to give Argentina the advantage. Aurelien Tchouanemi missed the net to the left and Leandro Paredes scored to give Argentina a 3-1 lead. Despite a goal from Kolo Mulani, Gonzalo Montiel slotted the World Cup-winning penalty past Hugo Lloris before celebrating with his team.
It was a big moment of redemption for Montiel after giving France their second penalty. Now he can be known as the hero for Argentina who secured their World Cup win instead of the man that cost them.
Messi finally won his World Cup in addition to the Golden Ball, Mbappe won the Golden Boot, Emiliano Martinez deservedly won goalkeeper of the tournament and 21-year-old Enzo Fernandes won the young player of the tournament after a stunning display. France falls short of back-to-back titles, and Argentina gets to within two titles of their South American counterparts.
As one of the best World Cup Finals comes to an end, here are my World Cup tournament awards:
Player of the tournament: Lionel Messi, Kylian Mbappe - HM: Sofyan Amrabat, Julian Alvarez
Flop: Romelu Lukaku - HM: Darwin Nunez
Manager: Lionel Scaloni (won a Copa America and World Cup in <48 months, great tactics)
Overachievers: Morocco - HM: Croatia, Australia
Underachievers: Belgium, Germany HM: Uruguay
Defensive player of the tournament: Josko Gvardiol
Best goalkeeper: Emiliano Martinez - HM: Dominik Livakovic, Yassine Bounou
Underrated player of the tournament: Matteo Kovacic - HM: Amrabat, Takehiro Tomiyasu
Best game: The Final - France vs Argentina
Best goal: Messi vs Mexico
Most iconic moment: Messi lifting the World Cup trophy - HM: Ronaldo scoring at 5 World Cups
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