Argentina are World Cup winners for the first time since 1986. They won the final after a penalty shootout in which Argentina scored four out of four, while Kingsley Coman and Aurélien Tchouaméni missed for France. The WC triumph came in a completely wild and dramatic way. – We will all remember this for as long as we live, said news expert Nils Johan Semb, and he is probably right. ANOTHER GOAL: Lionel Messi scored in the World Cup final. Photo: FRANCK FIFE / AFP Lionel Messi and his crew led 2-0 until ten minutes of the match and were seemingly in complete control. – Completely sick But then France woke up. First, superstar Kylian Mbappé reduced the score to 1-2 with a penalty in the 80th minute before leveling the score at 2-2 two minutes later. – It is absolutely sick. It is almost impossible to understand. France didn’t create anything before the penalty kick, and afterwards they completely dominated the match, said news’s World Cup expert Åge Hareide when the match went to extra time. Kylian Mbappé was invisible for a long time in the WC final, but great players should never be written off. Photo: DYLAN MARTINEZ / Reuters And it was going to get sicker. After 108 minutes, Messi scored his second goal of the evening when he poked in 3-2 from close range. To make the drama complete: the goal was allowed after a VAR check showed that it was not offside in front of the goal – by the smallest possible margin. – The Argentine players are sitting and crying on the bench, said news expert Carl-Erik Torp after the dramatic goal they thought secured the WC gold. Here, Lionel Messi scores the goal that made it 3-2 to Argentina. Photo: Thanassis Stavrakis / AP But again France and Mbappé hit back. They were awarded a penalty kick in the 115th minute, and the super striker himself scored 3-3 and completed the hat trick. The match then went to a penalty shoot-out, where Argentina managed to tip the match in their favour. The World Cup triumph in Qatar is the proud soccer nation’s first World Cup gold since Mexico in 1986. And not least: Lionel Messi (35) has now won the trophy he believes was missing to cement him as the best soccer player of all time. He has previously been awarded the Ballon d’Or, perhaps the most prestigious individual award in international football, seven times. He has won the Champions League four times, La Liga ten times, the Olympics and the Copa America, but the World Cup trophy has long been conspicuous by its absence. Until now. In Qatar, Messi has been in phenomenal form and at times carried the Argentina team on his back. And the final was Messi’s last World Cup match, which he confirmed even before the start of the match. In the final, he scored two goals during the match and at the same time scored his penalty in the penalty shootout. Talk about rounding off in an adventurous way. Finally, Messi could cheer for WC gold. Photo: Manu Fernandez / AP For France, the final was a huge setback, and they were unable to defend the World Cup gold from 2018. Thus, it has still only happened twice in the history of the World Cup that a team has managed to win the World Cup twice in a row . Who deserved the WC title the most? Argentina France Show result The match itself started with a one-way drive from Argentina, who regularly drove over the French from the first minute. – Unforgivable defensive play But it took just over 20 minutes before it became really dangerous in front of the goal. Then Angel Di Maria was brought down by Ousmane Dembélé inside the penalty area, and the Polish final referee Szymon Marciniak awarded a penalty. – Dembelé’s defense is usable, said news’s football expert Carl-Erik Torp. Even though the replays showed that the Frenchman ran into Di Maria’s foot, opinions were divided as to whether it was right to award a penalty. Drillo branded it cheap. While other experts, such as Alan Shearer on the BBC, agreed that the referee made the correct decision. Ice-cold Messi Messi was ice-cold from the penalty spot anyway and scored 1-0 with a penalty down the left for Hugo Lloris. – He has the composure in a World Cup final to look up and just look, and just put it down calmly in the opposite direction from where Hugo Lloris throws himself. It can hardly be done better by the world’s best footballer, says Torp. Messi sends Lloris the wrong way and Argentina take the lead. Photo: GIUSEPPE CACACE / AFP Thus the match became historic in several ways for Lionel Messi. First, with his 26th World Cup match, he passed the German legend Lothar Matthaus’ record for the number of World Cup matches. Then he scored his 12th World Cup goal in his career, which means that he increases the record as the all-time top scorer in the World Cup for Argentina. And not least: He eclipsed Brazilian legend Pele’s 12 World Cup goals. – A counterattack of the highest class And it was going to be worse for a French team that could not keep up with the swings against a hungry Argentina. Ten minutes before the break, the South Americans increased their lead after an attack that will remain as one of the championship’s most beautiful. First, Alexis MacAllister was played beautifully free by a lovely Messi pass, before the midfielder beautifully found Di Maria alone in front of goal with the next move. There he made no mistake and put the ball over Lloris and into the goal. – A counterattack of the highest class, was the verdict from Drillo. Angel Di Maria was moved after his own goal. Photo: ADRIAN DENNIS / AFP Argentina went into the break 2-0 down after what was by all accounts a perfect half from Lionel Scaloni’s men. Illustrative of how bad it was: France coach Didier Deschamps replaced both Ousmane Dembélé and Olivier Giroud as early as five minutes before half-time. It took 67 minutes before France had an end to the game. – I am sitting here and am almost a little shocked by what has happened. There has been more or less one team on the field, summarized Egil “Drillo” Olsen, who commented on the match on radio for news, during the break. France rose after the break, but Argentina were in good control until 79 minutes were on the clock. Then the final completely caught fire. French turnaround Then Nicolas Otamendi fouled French substitute Randal Kolo Muani and made a penalty kick. Kylian Mbappé was safe there and reduced to 1-2. A minute later, the same man equalized with a beautiful finish from ten meters. – It is absolutely incredible how quickly this has turned around, said news expert Carl-Erik Torp. The match thus went to extra time. There, Messi first scored the 3-2 goal after 108 minutes, before Mbappé equalized at 3-3 with a penalty three minutes before the end. In the penalty shootout, Argentina won and set the finish line for a final of the very worst. And for those who don’t like football: On Sunday you missed something very special.
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