The extraordinary career of Lionel Messi, who only comes around once in a generation, is now over. The legendary player from Argentina won the World Cup for Argentina in the end.
Despite the fact that Kylian Mbappé scored the first hat trick in a final in 56 years, Argentina was able to overcome France 4-2 on penalties after a 3-3 draw on Sunday to win their third World Cup. Messi scored two goals in regulation and then added another in the shootout.
There is no longer room for argument. Messi has cemented his place as one of the all-time greats of the game of soccer, earning him a place with the likes of Pelé, a Brazilian who won the World Cup a record three times, and Diego Maradona, a former great of Argentina who was often compared to Messi.
In the same way as Maradona did in 1986, Lionel Messi was able to dominate a World Cup competition for Argentina. Mbappé, whose late goals lit up one of the most dramatic finals in the tournament’s 92-year history and emulated Geoff Hurst’s hat trick for England in 1966, will one day take over the mantle, but that day is not yet. Mbappé’s late goals lit up one of the most dramatic finals in the tournament’s history.
Messi was in dazzling form from the beginning of the match, scoring Argentina’s first goal from the penalty spot and assisting on Angel Di Maria’s second goal, which made the score 2-0 after 36 minutes.
Mbappé, on the other hand, did not make his presence known until he scored two goals in a period of 97 seconds to send the game into extra time. The first goal was a penalty kick, and the second was a volley from just inside the penalty area.
Messi finished off his hat trick with a tap-in during the 108th minute, putting Argentina on the verge of winning the championship once again. However, there was still time for Mbappé to convert another penalty kick, sending the enthralling match into a shootout.
Gonzalo Montiel scored the game-winning penalty kick after Emi Martinez, the goalkeeper for Argentina, stopped Kingsley Coman’s effort and Aurelien Tchouameni, who was trying to score for France, missed the target. Martinez said that this was his “dream.”
The streak of four consecutive victories in the World Cup by Europe came to an end. Brazil was the most recent nation to win the South American championship, and it was also held in Asia at the time, in 2002, when Japan and South Korea took turns hosting the competition.
The country of Argentina has previously won the World Cup twice, in 1978 and 1986. In Qatar, the nation was able to defend its title from the previous year’s Copa America tournament, when it had won its first major trophy since 1993.
This marks the pinnacle of Messi’s international career, which, despite the fact that he is almost 35 years old, may not be done just yet since he is in such dominant form. In the end, he ended the World Cup with seven goals, which was only one short of Mbappé’s tournament-leading eight goals.
It was a remarkable conclusion to a historic World Cup, which was the first time the tournament was held anywhere in the Arab world or the Middle East.
For FIFA and the Qatari organisers, a final between two major soccer nations and the two best players in the world represented the perfect way to cap a tournament that has been riddled with controversy ever since the scandal-shrouded vote in 2010 to give the event to a tiny Arab emirate. In other words, it was the perfect way to cap a tournament that was riddled with controversy.
Since then, a great deal of attention has been paid to the fact that the dates of the tournament were moved from their traditional slot in June and July to the months of November and December. There has also been a great deal of criticism directed toward the manner in which migrant workers have been treated, as well as some unease regarding the fact that the tournament’s most important match will be played in a country in which homosexual acts are against the law.
