Argentina 3(4) - France 3(2) AET.
22' Messi (pen)
36' Di Maria
78' Mbappe (pen)
81' Mbappe
FT-2-2
108' Messi
116' Mbappe (pen)
AET 3-3
FRA XooX
ARG XXXX
Sometimes when the stakes are ridiculously high and after the duck has been broken, football ceases to be a match of small differences and instead becomes one of wildly swinging fortunes as the two sides vie for ascendency. Both sides came out swinging in this match; with the organised tiki-taka-triangles of Argentina being able to create space against a very disciplined France who held three solid lines.
The opening period of play saw Argentina hold the ball and parry it about; while France held firm and when they did get the ball, broke through with alarming speed. Indeed when De Paul brought down Hernandez outside the area and France got an early free-kick, it already looked like this match would be anything but predictable. The first real inkling that this match would not end in a scoreless rabble, was 19 minutes in, when Grizemann made a lightning run up the right hand flank; then delivered a swinging ball which Olivier Giroud couldn't bring down, and the ball sailed tantilisingly close but over the bar.
Two minutes later, when Argentina made a foray deep into French territory, Dembele shoved Di Maria in the back and as he was the last man and Di Maria was in an obvious scoring position inside the box, the referee had no hesitancy in pointing to the spot, despite the protestations of Le Bleus. Lionel Messi who surely must be playing in his last ever match for Argentina and whose biggest contribution to the match thus far was simply to exist, sent the ball calmly to his right while Lloris dove the other way.
It was now having opened their account that Argentina stamped their authority all over the match; with France being unable to even touch the ball for extended periods of time. When France did manage to win the ball, it was easily stolen off them and once again, Argentina did a slow gambeta into boredom. France could hold the ball occasionally and it was on one of those occasions after they'd managed to punt the ball forwards and drive into the Argentine half, that the sky-blue and whites countered.
When Tchoumeni lost the ball, Messi passed the ball to Martinez, who then drove the ball to the sideline, before passing it back inwards to McAllister who himself drew two players before passing it off to Di Maria. Di Maria who had been dangerous before, now had his own chance to score and while Lloris tried to make himself as big as possible, Di Maria's low shot still bobbled over him to double the advantage.
At 2-0 down at half time, France returned to the pitch as deflated as they'd left it before the break. Argentina's dominance on the ball only got stronger and they should have put the match beyond doubt just after the hour mark when McAllister got on the end of another Di Maria attack; only to miss his shot badly.
If anyone was going to step up and try to stop the bleeding, it was Mbappe. Playing just shy of half-way, he became the go to player for France to make attacks on the counter and his 70th minute strike from the edge of the area, being the first time that France even made an attempt that half, was very high and wouldn't trouble the keeper at all.
It was on one of these runs, in a role-reversed copy of the first half, when Otamendi who was the last defender, brought down Kolo Muani in the area and Mbappe stood up fot the penalty. He drilled it to the left of the Argentine keeper and with 12 minutes to go, suddenly France had a chance of drawing level.
The equaliser would come just three minutes later when Coman swung the ball inwards to find Thuram, who passed the ball off to Mbappe and suddenly with the match sitting at 2-2, this match was destined to be a classic. For ten minutes as the two sides became increasingly desperate, they also became undisciplined and what had been an orderly football match fell into thuggery which was only ended by the final whistle.
The first period of extra time was a very very cautious affair with nobody really wanting to collect a card and risk being sent off. Those first 15 minutes of extra time resulted in no shots that were noteworthy, by either side. Three minutes into the second half though and the French defence broke down; with Martinez breaking free and firing a shot which Lloris managed to spill to the feet of Lionel Messi; who duly tapped home a routine follow-up goal for a striker, for barely 3 yards away.
Perhaps this match should have been won by Argentina there and then and so they attempted to try and park the bus in front of goal. Unfortunately, Montiel let his arms hanging out of the window, only to have a shot hit his arm in the area. Once again France were given an opportunity to draw level and Mbappe took the penalty, to score his hat-trick and only the second hat-trick in a World Cup final; with the other being Geoff Hursts's hat-trick in 1966.
Maybe there was a chance for France to unexpectedly win this game in a seven goal thriller but Mbappe's off-load to Kolo Muani just couldn't be converted in the 119th minute. After being 2-2 at the end of regulation time and 3-3 at the end of added time, this match then went to a penalty-shoot out.
It is fitting that Montiel having conceded the penalty with a handball, should be the one to redeem himself and slot home Argentina's fourth penalty in a row; which gave them an unassailable 4-2 win in the shootout. His penalty sealed the match, which gave Argentina a third star.
I think that I may have finally made peace with penalty shoot-outs. As a wholly unsatisfactory method of deciding a match, it makes some degree of sense if after 120 minutes of football and you still can not find a winner, then this lottery is slightly less unsatisfactory than any other lottery because at least this way adds a sense of tension and some degree of skill.
This being the last match of the 2022 World Cup, it is worth asking what we've seen. I think that we've seen some rather good football being played, an absolutely amazing final and following a pandemic, a chance for fans from all over the world to attend; which didn't happen at the Tokyo Olympics. We also had our first first African semi finalist; so it can not be all that long until we finally get an African nation in the final. What this World Cup also came with was extreme exploitation of workers (to the point of death in some cases) and bought through the process of corruption, which means that even what does glitter as gold, was tarnished.
I think that we can also finally say that perhaps Lionel Messi is the greatest football player of all time. He was part of a Barcelona side that won the Sextuple and has been part of sides that have won the Copa America and the Copa de Mundial. Arguably in wearing the La Albiceleste No.10, he was wearing the heaviest shirt in the tournament and I am sure that having scored twice in the final that he has claim to being a better player than Diego Maradona.
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