On Sunday 18 December, the final match of the Qatar 2022 World Cup took place. A historic final that pitted Lionel Messi’s Argentina against Kylian Mbappé’s France. The match was fair between the two teams until the penalty shoot-out, when Argentina emerged victorious.
It is in a stadium full of people and in front of high authorities such as the president of FIFA, Gianni Infantino, the French President, Emmanuel Macron, the Emir of Qatar and others, that the final of the World Cup Qatar 2022 was played. France and Argentina, the two finalist teams, played a historic match.
The Argentina-France match started with great intensity. But the atmosphere of the game changed in the 23rd minute of the first game. A heavy foul in the middle of the box earns the Argentinians a penalty. Thanks to Messi, the first goal of the match is scored. The new surprise for the French was the second goal conceded in the 36th minute from a beautiful shot by Angel Di Maria. The French did not manage to reduce the score until the end of the first half.
France takes the world by surprise
After the break, the match was totally dominated by the Argentines for almost 80 minutes. On the instructions of the French coach Didier Deschamps, Coman, Camavinga, Thuram made their entries. The game took on a new dimension and France won a penalty from Kylian Mbappé who put the ball in the net. Emilano Martinez. In the 81st minute, Mbappé again broke through with a curling shot. These two goals from Mbappé allowed France to come back to a two-goal lead.
The countdown to a new extra-time duel is launched by the match referee. In the first 15 games, no team scored. But it was in the second half of extra time, precisely in the 103rd minute, that Lionel Messi, with his left foot, scored in extremis (the ball went slightly over the goal line) the third Argentine goal.
No hope for the French against the Argentinians who were savouring their victory early on. And this is without counting on the will of the blues who do not want to consume this defeat and let slip the title they held since 2018. But misfortune befell Argentina when, in the 115th minute, a French shot hit Montiel in the arm. The penalty is whistled. With a perfect counter-attack, Mbappé scored the goal and allowed France to hold on for the penalty shoot-out.
Coman and Tchouaméni take France down
The penalty shoot-out did not go in favour of the French. On the French side, Mbappé and Kolo Muani were successful with their shots while Coman had his shot saved by Martinez and Tchouaméni preferred to play off the ball. For the Argentinians, Messi, Dibala, Parades and Montiel were all on target for Hugo Lloris. France thus fell before Argentina.
This important stage, won in pain, allowed Argentina to obtain its third star. Lionel Messi thus holds the last piece of the puzzle that was missing from his rich list of achievements. This makes the pulga, who has scored 98 goals for Argentina, a legend of the calibre of the late Maradona.
Qatar 2022 World Cup Awards
Best Young Player (Enzo Fernandez Argentina)
Best goalkeeper (Emiliano Martinez Argentina)
Top scorer (Kylian Mbappé France)
Best player (Lionel Messi)
The four best teams
Argentina (1st)
France (2nd)
Croatia (3rd)
Morocco (4th) (only African nation to reach the semi-finals of the World Cup)
