Football, bloody hell. The 2022 World Cup final is evolving into the best game ever. The tension is unbearable on the steep grandstands of the Lusail. The unreal duel between Argentina and France does not only have one winner in the end.
The “best World Cup ever” has its best final ever. Argentina wins the Golden Cup again after 36 years. They dethroned France 4-2 on penalties in a century final. After 120 unbelievable minutes it is 3:3, in the last seconds of extra time both teams have the best chances. First the Frankfurter Kolo Muani fails at Emiliano Martinez, in return Lautaro Martinez forgives. Munich’s Kingsley Coman, among others, awarded penalties. Lionel Messi celebrates. But only after the Emir of Qatar wraps him in a kiss.
“The game was just crazy,” says world champion coach Lionel Scaloni after the game: “We didn’t give up. We wanted to win.” His opposite number Didier Deschamps says: “Anything is possible in football, you can change everything in the blink of an eye. We almost succeeded.” They are words that cannot even come close to describing what happened in the more than 120 minutes of the World Cup final. Too many stories to tell in this incredible game that will see a whole world fall in love with football all over again. It’s a game that generations will rave about, will live on forever, and books will be written about and Netflix documentaries about for decades to come. Iconic goals, great drama, unbelievable twists and turns will be seen by the viewers at the Lusail Iconic Stadium.
The final stadium closes its gates forever with this last game of the World Cup. Probably never again will the steep bleachers of the Lusail’s golden bowl be full of life. The stadium in the barren desert landscape in northern Doha will forever remain a myth. It will stay in the memories of the Argentine fans who continued to sing their songs and create their own memories long, long, long after the final whistle. What Qatar and FIFA had hoped for has happened. This game will live forever and it will always be associated with this place.
The Lusail is now the place where Lionel Messi finally rises into the pantheon of football gods and where his successor, Kylian Mbappé, clamors for entry. He is still denied that. In the end he stands alone on the sparkling winner’s podium and presents a golden shoe with a wry smile. “It was the World Cup of records. A lot of players broke records and Kylian left his mark on the final, but not in the way he hoped,” says his coach Deschamps sympathetically.
The Lusail brings the great story of this World Championship to a happy ending this December 18th. Lionel Messi wins the final battle of the football gods for the title of ‘The Greatest Of All Time’ at the first World Cup since Diego Maradona’s death. With him wins Argentina, hungry for a title. But the Lusail also tells of the magic of the game, which brings people together around the world and creates collective memories.
Memories of Kylian Mbappé and his French soaring out of hell and reaching for the stars in the blink of an eye. Memories of how Argentina, who have been the certain winners of this World Cup since the first minutes of the game, break out in collective panic, as they so often do. With trembling passes, they drag themselves into overtime, recharge their batteries and take the lead. Then they stand there almost empty-handed again. As in the 1990 and 2014 finals, both lost to Germany.
Football has rebelled with a vengeance against all the game’s gravediggers in this final of the century. With the simplest means and the best players in the tournament. Lionel Messi and Kylian Mbappé shone on the biggest stage, but they could only do so because there were ten players alongside them at all times, ready to give their all to achieve their dream.
First France falters. They don’t happen at all. The 2018 world champion is paralyzed long before the dubious penalty kick to make it 1-0 for Argentina. Angel Di Maria’s return caught her by surprise. At no time did the Deschamps team find a way to counter the old masters, who took a penalty against Ousmane Dembélé and put the ball into the far corner at the end of the sensational combination to make it 2-0. The French rush to catch up, but the ball travels so quickly through the Argentines’ ranks. Panting, the French around Aurelien Tchouameni hit the net just behind the ball. Then the shock paralyzes them and their opponent’s physicality and aggressiveness knocks them down. Alexis McAllister always splashes into the pass, and Nicolas Otamendi always pushes his leg towards the ball.
The tightrope act of the French went well in this tournament for a long time. Against England they still manage to catch a stumble, against Morocco they survive the attack of Qatar’s air conditioning systems. They put Dayot Upamecano and Adrien Rabiot out of action. Both are fit again for the final. They fall into the depths. They fall unchecked and they fall deeper and deeper. The gates of hell open beneath them. Deschamps is desperately on the sidelines and makes a change before the break. He brings in Frankfurt’s Randal Kolo Muani and Marcus Thuram for Olivier Giroud and Dembele. The ex-Borussian sees no country against Di Maria, Mac Allister, Nicolas Tagliafico and Enzo Fernandez. There are simply too many players for him.
But nothing changes in the first 20 minutes of the second half either. Di Maria crossed the ball over the defense in the 49th minute, on the other hand Rodrigo De Paul threw everything into the shot. But Hugo Lloris parried. Very slowly, so that no one notices, the game tilts.
First Di Maria leaves the field, then Antoine Griezmann and Theo Hernandez. The next double change. There are 71 minutes played and Kolo Mouani is worrying Argentina. France coach Deschamps will later say “we came back from the dead” about what happened next.
Panic creeps up on them. Twice in the Lusail they conceded two quick goals in the second half. They are unable to react to changes in dynamics. Mbappé scores twice. Once he transforms from the point. Shooting star Kolo Muani is fouled beforehand. And once he hits an irresistible volley after Coman robs the tired Messi of the ball, which finds its way to Mbappé via Thuram from Gladbach and Adrien Rabiot.
“I went through all the emotions today,” says Deschamps, whose team now looks like the sure winner. But then another substitution, another new dynamic. For the exhausted Julian Alvarez, for the spider long without legs, Lautaro Martinez arrives and puts the game back on Argentina’s side. Then Messi meets and then Mbappé again and it’s unbearable. The game that must never end goes to penalties. When Gonzalo Montiel scores to make it 4:2, all dams break.
“The finals that we lost. How many years have I cried for them. But that’s over because we won again in the final against the Brazilians in the Maracanã,” sing the fans of the sky blue. “Muchachos. Now we have hope again. I want to win the third title. I want to be world champion. We can see Diego in the sky, cheering for Lionel with (Diego’s parents) from there.” They stand under the stands of the Lusail, they dance on the streets of Buenos Aires. Diego looks down and Argentina is world champion. The time for tears is over.
What is soccer? A shadow that never goes away. Who lays himself over everything that comes into contact with him, will stop at nothing for people. Because football spreads its sweet poison. Soccer is a game played on football pitches and stadiums glittering with gold. It is a fairy tale that makes the world forget. It’s a game that means everything. And that game culminated at the Lusail, the stadium that will never be again. There will never be a final like this again. Football is indestructible and that’s what makes it so dangerous when in the wrong hands.