As it was so eloquently phrased by ‘Sam’s Army’ on Instagram, “Its rare to witness history. It is even rarer to know you are witnessing history while witnessing history.”
And, Sunday’s World Cup Final between Argentina and France will go down in history for more than a few reasons. It was basically an ‘all-you-can-eat’ buffet of storylines, narrative, drama, intrigue, and true footballing theatre.
Messi and Argentina celebrate their World Cup triumph (Via Jabin Botsford)
So, going into this match, where do you want to begin with the storylines? At Messi’s last chance raise the only trophy he’s yet to hold? At Argentina’s chance to win the first World Cup since the passing of their hero, Diego Maradona? At France’s chance to become repeat World champions for the first time since 1962? At Mbappe’s chance to lift his second World Cup’s before his 24th birthday? Or, how about the GOAT debate being finally settled between Messi and Ronaldo?
One way or another, all of these “what if’s” were going to be settled in one match, and the drama of these storylines alone would have been more than enough to create a once-in-a-lifetime final. But, as the match itself unfolded, you could’ve chucked all these sub-plots out the window and it still could’ve been considered among the best finals of all-time.
Messi and Mbappe (Via KIRILL KUDRYAVTSEV)
It was a match that truly had everything, so while I could go on for hours, I’ll do my best to describe it succinctly here:
Argentina ran the helpless French out of the building for 79 and a half minutes, going up 2-0 with a goal from the GOAT and with one of the best team goals of the entire tournament. Then, out of absolutely nowhere, Mbappe arrived and said, “hold this Argentina”, and bagged two goals in two minutes, with the second being one of the best of his young career. Bang, bang. Tie ballgame, and we’re blessed with 30 more minutes of football in extra time.
Messi, not to be outdone by his slightly annoying PSG teammate, put himself right back on the scoresheet in the first half of extra time, only for “that boy muhbappe” (shoutout Charles Barkley) to answer back with another penalty kick goal in the 118th minute to equalize.
On to PK’s, right? WRONG (almost), because substitute and token ‘guy that none of us had ever heard of’, Randal Kolo Muani, almost stole the game in the 123rd minute for the French, but his last ditch effort was saved in ridiculous fashion by Argentinian goalkeeper and professional shithouser, Emiliano Martínez.
Martínez making THAT save on Kolo Muani (Via GETTY)
Immediately following the greatest save I’ve literally ever seen, Argentina bombed forward down the right flank on the counter in what looked like a “do not scratch your eyes” Watford DEEENEY moment, only for Latauro Martinez to brick his 12th chance of the tournament, and send the match (eventually) to PK’s. Perhaps this was the only fitting way to end a game that had three PK goals already.
The shootout itself was pretty standard compared to the rest of the match, with Messi and Mbappe comfortably slotting home their chances. But, a save from Martínez and a miss from young Tchouaméni meant that the conversion from Gonzalo Montiel, the very man who gave away the penalty on the 118th minute, was enough to see Argentina win their first World Cup since 1986. Only now can you exhale.
Now, did I actually describe that succinctly? No, pretty much not at all. But to be fair, I didn’t even get to everything that unfolded - the game was just that crazy.
Messi kissing the cup (Via Julian Finney)
But, to get back to the essence of this article, this match was simply…historic. We have not seen anything like it, and we probably won’t see anything like it for as long as we shall watch the beautiful game. And since it’s almost impossible to understand the gravity of something without the benefit of hindsight, I’ll just begrudgingly quote Martin Tyler (as a Man United Fan) and say, “I swear you’ll never see anything like this ever again. So watch it - drink it in”.
So, I’m not sure if its just the emotion of seeing Leo Messi lift that famous trophy, the recency bias, or the Budweiser I’m drinking right now (in solidarity of those who could’t in Qatar), but I’m gonna say it: that was the best game of all time. Period. Goodnight.
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