Messi’s mission

Argentina national team once again became the best in the world

The unbelievably heated finale ended with a dramatic series of penalty shoot-outs. Lionel Messi played like a god, while Kylian Mbappe scored a hat-trick and made a weighty claim to the title of king of world football in the next ten years. For two World Cups, this 23-year-old unique scored 12 goals (like Pele in his entire career), but his efforts were still not enough to defeat Argentina.

Interestingly, the Saudi Arabia team is the only team that managed to defeat the future champions of the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022! In the first leg, the Saudis upstaged Messi and company in brilliant style, giving them, as it turned out, an excellent gift. Firstly, they threw dust in everyone’s eyes — they say that the king is no longer the same and all his retinue is no good as they were before. And secondly, they made the Argentines themselves wake up, mobilise and get angry. They woke up the tiger. So much so that the predator was furious in earnest. It was one of the most spectacular finals in World Cup history. The last time such incendiary football was shown in a decisive match was 36 years ago at the 1986 World Cup, and then, interestingly, Argentina also won: the Argentines, led by Diego Maradona, derailed a powerful German football powerhouse — 3:2. Since then, Germany, Brazil and France have become champions twice, the Italians and the Spaniards have won, but Messi and his comrades have not been able to get to the title. But then thunder struck, exactly when it began to seem to everyone that Leo was not destined to become truly great and raise a gold cup over his head. In a crazy final, Argentina and France scored each other three goals each, failed to determine the strongest either in normal or extra time, and only in a series of post-match penalties did luck swing towards the South Americans. Who’s to say it’s unfair?   
In Argentina, they love football so much that they sincerely believe that the Earth originated from the ball, and a human took on its present appearance only after he or she struck the first shot on goal. 90 percent of Argentines consider football not a game, but part of their cultural code — almost a religion. There are about five thousand officially registered teams in this country (we don’t have even a hundred) and several million football players. There are 28 (!) clubs in the Primera Division of the Argentine Championship, however, there are five divisions in total! Apart from the whole network of regional leagues, which, like an octopus, enveloped the entire territory of the country. Indeed, they have Messi. The ways of the football god are inscrutable, he could not let this genius end his career without a World Cup title. At the age of 35 he finally got his hands on the prize. 

Gonzalo Montiel's final penalty shot

Probably, in terms of the totality of results on the way to the final, France deserved the title a little more. The epidemic of injuries and illnesses knocked out almost half of the main performers from the ‘Tricolores’, but the French did not seem to notice this — they went ahead with the Napoleonic army and smashed everyone who got in their way. In France, football is also a cult. But it so happened that the principle of formation of the roster is completely different. If only Argentines really play in the Argentina national team, then it is quite possible to study the geography of Africa and adjacent regions by origin of French football players. The vast majority of the players of this team have dark skin and are descendants of people from the hottest continent. In general, how do you like such a curious fact for reflection: most of the players who played in the semi-finals of the 2022 World Cup are guys with African roots! Congo, Angola, Benin, Cameroon, Algeria, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Martinique, Guadeloupe...

This is not a complete list of countries from which the mothers-fathers-grandfathers of the French national team come from. But that’s not all. Hugo Lloris’ father is Spaniard. Just like the Hernandez brothers. Antoine Griezmann’s father is an immigrant from Germany, and his mother is from Portugal. Olivier Giroud is half Italian. Only three players in the French squad for this cup are really French in full — these are Benjamin Pavard, Adrien Rabiot and Jordan Veretout. So it is quite possible to say that Argentina met with the world team in the final match and won. It was a graceful and well deserved victory. 

SCORE
Final. Argentina — France — 3: 3 (Messi, 23, from the penalty spot, 108, Di Maria, 36; Mbappe, 80, 118 — both from the penalty spot, 81) (on penalties — 4: 2).
Third-place play-off. Croatia — Morocco — 2:1 (Gvardiol, 7, Orsic, 42; Dari, 9). 

By Sergei Kanashits
Photos by REUTERS