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LUSAIL, Qatar – Every once in a while, a game will break out of its standard definition and begin to take on certain human characteristics. It will challenge assumption after assumption, dazzle and stupefy, stun and stir, swerve and turn back almost as if laughing. It will take off into a life of its own, unusually alive and perhaps even enchanted by its own whim.
Then sometimes, as with this endorphin-fest of a World Cup final between Argentina and France on Sunday night in a strange noise at Lusail Stadium, he’ll pull a trick that the rest of the world can’t : will go ahead and demonstrate immediately. without death
That’s where he’s headed now, as the billions who watched the hard-hitting art of processing begin as Argentina and their 35-year-old global hero Lionel Messi beat France and their 23-year-old global hero years, Kylian Mbappé, 4 years old. -2 in penalty kicks after an unreal 3-3 draw. They can try to remember the journey this thing took many of the 46 million Argentinians and the 67 million French and much of the rest of the world from 2-0 Argentina after 79 minutes to 2-2 after 90 to 3-2. Argentina after 108 to 3-3 after 120 on penalties. Here goes this whole episode, breathing into the future.
Lionel Messi wins World Cup glory as Argentina lead France in a thrilling final
In cafes, hairdressers and pubs, classrooms and dens, people can forever talk about a night when a manager, Argentina’s Lionel Scaloni, said: “The game was completely crazy” while that the other, France’s Didier Deschamps, said: “We. managed to come back from the dead.”
That goes to June 2026, when the next men’s World Cup will begin in the United States, Mexico and Canada. This event will take place in a gigantic space after this happened in a small thumb of a country, but what about this final in 2022? This event seems to be Messi-less, but shines with France’s near-dynasty, which has a wealth of young stars, but hey, how about this 2022 final? How close were the French to making 2026 their quest for an unprecedented third consecutive World Cup title, but also, how about that 2022 final?
People far away may not even indicate where it happened, which will be a relief to those who wish it hadn’t happened here, with its controversial multitude of charms and misgivings.
On December 18, after a three-hour match, fans celebrated Argentina winning the World Cup. (Video: The Washington Post)
People can talk about how Messi got the trophy and distinction he chased through five World Cups just before the curtain came down on that chase. They can talk about how Mbappé turned the game into one of those occasions that flatters both the loser and the winner, elevating his own flowery image of the ground-breaker who became the first man to score three goals in a World Cup The final of the Cup since the Englishman Geoff Hurst in 1966 and the equalizing goal in the 81st minute could rate the greatest memory of this surprise shower.
“He can change a game in just one moment,” Deschamps said at the start of the event as France overcame a host of injuries to become the first defending champions to grace the final since Brazil in 1998. Now, the wild closing moments had been. closed, and Deschamps said: “Kylian has left his mark in this final. Unfortunately, he didn’t leave it the way he would have liked, and that’s why I was so disappointed.”
The disappointment of this face will also remain in our memory. That face explained a lot of everything.
Some – those in the Northern Hemisphere, for example – might marvel at how in the 120+3, that third minute of added time, Mbappé seemed ready to take it all over the line himself, with an outrageous move through the defenders. on the left side and in the box.
Others—those in the southern hemisphere, for example—might remember that just before something even bigger than the rest had happened, an Argentine substitute, Paulo Dybala, took the ball away.
‘Argentina endures’: in Buenos Aires, emotional celebrations of a victory in the World Cup
Among the geeks, one could talk about the ingenious managerial decisions, such as Scaloni’s start of Ángel Di María, 34, who chased the French down the left, led to a penalty after which Messi mark and became little. later. Or maybe they’ll talk about France’s 41st-minute substitutions, which brought the exceptional energy of Randal Kolo Muani, still just 24, and Marcus Thuram, still just 25. The panelists might note how the match managed to incorporate a little justice while Argentina’s Gonzalo Montiel — whose 118th-minute arm tackle led to a penalty and Mbappe’s equalizer and postponed a win 10 minutes after Messi had scored and looked as if he had — ended up getting that victory. with the final penalty.
Some will remember some of the threats and scares in the back and forth of overtime. Some will remember others.
In the streets of Argentine cities, those in the crowd will remember how they ran through the streets of Argentine cities, after waiting 36 years to run through the streets of Argentine cities. “Well, that’s too much,” Scaloni said of helping give it to the Argentines in a tough economic time. He added: “Our problems are not going anywhere; however, they’ll be a little bit happier, and that’s great.”
But above all, the people of a planet that has long since gone mad for this sport will remember how the night finally tilted towards Messi, whose name has long appeared on the back of shirts everywhere Of the world. They will remember how he addressed his family and the Argentina fans who made so much noise it almost seemed audible some 8,300 kilometers away in Buenos Aires. They will remember what it looked like, how their tough quest for international cups ended gloriously at the 2021 Copa America and the 2022 World Cup: the first in front of an almost empty stadium in Rio de Janeiro, the second in front of 88,966 in a newborn. excellent stadium to withstand the noise – the same stadium where Argentina started here last month with a lot of noise from the other side during a stunning 2-1 defeat by Saudi Arabia.
It’s a fun planet that wishes peace of mind to a global citizen worth hundreds of millions and visible on billboards on every continent. However, this is what the world wanted to see in the familiar face of Messi after all these years of wizardry, and this is what the world ended up seeing after a game that became its own unforgettable life.
World Cup in Qatar
The last: Argentina have won the World Cup, defeating France on penalty kicks in a thrilling final on Sunday in Lusail, Qatar, for their first world championship since 1986. Argentina was led by global soccer star Lionel Messi in what is expected to be his last World Cup appearance. . France were aiming to become the first repeat champions since Brazil won back-to-back trophies in 1958 and 1962.
Today’s WorldView: In the minds of many critics, especially in the West, the World Cup in Qatar will always be a tournament surrounded by controversy. But Qatari Foreign Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani wants people to take another view.
Perspective: “America is not a men’s soccer ass right now. It’s about something, and it’s more in tune with what works for the rest of the world rather than stubbornly forcing an American sports culture, without the benefit of the best of the best talent, into international competition.” Read Jerry Brewer on the future of the US men’s national team.
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