Winner Takes All

A clash of titans at a tectonic venue. A battle of continents. A battle of champions, one old, one new. Whichever way one looked at it, none could have predicted the heart stopping turn that the final of the FIFA World Cup 2022 would take in Qatar, particularly after it seemed destiny had only one name for the better part of ninety minutes.

Even before the start of the game, Gianni Infantino, the FIFA President, declared that the World Cup in Qatar was the best ever. While not all might agree about the tournament or how it panned out in terms of controversial moments, what many will concur is that the final was one of the greatest ever as two champion worthy teams took the battle to the brink.

When even a hat trick of goals from someone as talented, prodigious and ominous as France's Kylian Mbappe cannot overturn impending history, it has been a glorious day and game of football. But for the Les Bleus, featuring in their fourth World Cup final would bring them little cheer in the end, despite a terrific fightback few expected.

One of six countries to win the World Cup more than once, they will take some heart in the fact that they pushed two time champions Argentina to the brink. It was only the third time in World Cup history where a final was decided on a penalty shoot out. No team had made it to successive World Cup finals in twenty years. But that would not be enough on the night. Not when a World Cup was involved.

For France to fight the way they did in the dying moments of the 90 minutes to then set up a tough extra time followed by a heartbreaking penalty for the defending champions, Argentina had their hearts in their mouths after having their hands around the trophy at one point. France deserve credit to fight from where all was lost, making the match a tale of two halves in a sense and a humdinger in the end.

Argentina almost had it too easy. Looking to do what only teams have done and that too more than a half century ago, France, who until the final had looked like the strongest team of the tournament, found themselves quivering against Argentina and down and out for the count.

But as football, particularly in this World Cup, has shown, nothing is set in stone. Not until the fat lady sings and then some.

The last time Argentina won a World Cup was back in 1985. In contrast, France started the World Cup as defending champions and two time champions, winning their first World Cup in 1998 with Didier Deschamps as captain and in 2018 with Deschamps as coach. Winning back to back World Cups only happened twice in the history of the FIFA World Cup, way back in 1934 and 1938 for Italy and then for Brazil in 1958 and 1962. In that sense, France already had their backs to the wall, with history not on their side.

Lionel Scaloni, the youngest coach on the football field, was looking for his first as coach of Argentina, while Deschamps chased history. However, France's hopes seemed to evaporate quickly as only one team looked to have control of the game on pitch, for practically 75 minutes of the match.

The likes of Kylian Mbappe, Antoine Griezmann and Olivier Giroud fell silent as a Messi-led Argentina turned the screws on early, against France's wobbly feet that could barely get possession, let alone attempt a single shot on goal in the first half. Messi, with the penalty goal, shot past the twenty-three year old Mbappe with 6 goals to 5 to become the frontrunner for the Golden Boot. And for a time Argentina's highest goal scorer seemed a sure shot into the history books.

It could be said that Argentina played it both fortuitous and shrewd, judging by the fact that they have had the most penalty kicks in the tournament, 5 to be precise including the one that Lionel Messi converted 22 minutes past the start of the final at the Lusail Stadium, after a foul on De Maria. It took less than that time when De Maria sailed one past the flying arms of the flailing French captain and goalkeeper, Hugo Lloris to hit France hard at 2-0.

If a deflected France left the field at half time, paying heavily for their unusual, nervous and twitchy start, Argentina continued to play aggressive primarily because they could afford to challenge and put pressure, 2-0 up. It was a sedate atmosphere where French fans were concerned as a vociferous sea of blue and white engulfed the noisy atmosphere.

It was a far cry from the way Argentina started the tournament, which now seems ages ago, though only a month has passed. Sensational headlines captured the globe as Saudi Arabia upturned the South American nation, winning their first match 2-0. In stark contrast, France weathered the storms that felled their European counterparts such as Germany and Belgium and late England in the dust storms of Qatar.

Messi, expected to be playing his last World Cup at age thirty-five, had already made history, becoming the sixth man to feature in five World Cups. En route to the final, Argentina had a better time against Croatia in the semi final than they did against the Netherlands who stretched them to the penalty shoot outs in the quarter finals. Croatia, a dogmatic team that nearly repeated history when they made the final in 2018, lost to Argentina who won the semi final 3-0.

Meanwhile, France dashed the hopes of an unexpected Morocco team who became the first Arab nation to get further in the tournament and the first African nation to make the semi final. Unfortunately France proved more than they could handle, unlike the tournament which has seen upsets creating suspense, intrigue, drama and attention along the way.

Possibly the last time that the tournament will feature only thirty-two teams with the World Cup expected to expand to 48 teams in the next edition, the controversy riddled World Cup in Qatar seemed to find its sanity only in that two familiar and traditional footballing nations came together for the summit clash, making this an epic event of global proportions.

Even then, there was a sense of occasion with Messi in Argentina's ranks looking for his thus far elusive World Cup glory and a sense of the mantle being passed on as France looked to relatively younger but equally talented faces in the face of a spate of injuries that saw the regulars like Paul Pogba and Karim Benzema miss their time under the sun.

It was not until the 77th minute that France saw the net in front of them, when a penalty presented itself after Griezmann had been substituted. Mbappe kept his cool and his focus and scored the tentative penalty.

That was all the inspiration France needed as two minutes later Mbappe had his foot on the ball again, sending it past the outstretched goalkeeper, an animated Emiliano Martinez, who could get a hand on it but could not stop France from scoring the equaliser.

A day when shots on goals came easy at the feet of the Argentinians, particularly Messi and when it meant that the French goalkeeper was perhaps the busiest man on the field, Mbappe breathed fresh life not only into France but also, the World Cup that kept its heart pulsating at an unusually high rate thereafter for the better part of an hour.

It was always going to end in tears, but after the 77th minute of the match, it was hard to tell which team would need to wipe away their tears. Messi came back with a goal with barely 11 minutes left in extra time. Tears flowed down the France dug out. However, there was still time.

A hand obstruction from Gonzalo Montiel to an attempt on a shot on goal with barely five minutes to go in extra time once again gave Mbappe his moment in history, a hat trick of goals for him in the final of a World Cup and another penalty that turned the match on its head. Even Messi, who was part of three assists helping players like J. Alvarez put his name on the tournament, must have wondered what the gods of football had in store for him.