Lionel Messi lifts the trophy as Argentina celebrate winning the World Cup final. Photo / AP
It was noted in some quarters before Argentina vs France that we had waited a long time for a truly memorable World Cup final.
That felt a slightly harsh assessment on Sunday morning, not so much by Sunday night. So move over Brazil 0 Italy 0 AET in 1994, we have a new champion.
This was not just an epochal World Cup final, surely an instant contender for the best ever, but it was a struggle to remember many better football matches.
It was a game so volatile it was difficult to process, even in real time. Dizzying highs, desperate lows and ultimately a wholly fitting denouement for this enjoyable but undeniably wonky tournament, the Louis Vuitton Desert Christmas Invitational.
Here are the moments which made the 2022 World Cup final unforgettable.
Utter unpredictability
Nothing about this match could be forecast. The shoddiness of France’s first half, the suddenness of Argentina’s collapse, the rarity of an extra-time goal, the added rarity of a second. You can usually measure the excitement of a match by the stressfulness of writing about it for journalists in the stadium, call it Rewrite Theorem. RIP the laptop keyboards and sore typing fingers of my distinguished colleagues in the press tribunes at Lusail.
France’s surprise subs
A double substitution before half-time is a move straight out of the Jose Mourinho tough love playbook, when he was still capable of love. Olivier Giroud and Ousmane Dembele were the unfortunate French pair to make way, humiliatingly early. The virus which ran through the French camp seems a likely explanation. Dembele could do with an excuse after his game: zero successful dribbles, zero out of five duels won, seven possession losses and one penalty conceded.
Both stars performing
Pre-match hype about individuals in a team game should be a red flag. Football has an enduring distaste for following the narratives we prescribe to it. Not the Lionel Messi vs Kylian Mbappe final, in which both did enough to win several games. Mbappe scored the first World Cup final hat-trick since Geoff Hurst. Messi managed one goal fewer and, most shockingly of all, made a few key tackles.
The supporting cast
Cometh the hour, cometh the man from Brighton and Hove Albion. Alexis Mac Allister, Irish of name, pure Argentine of game, was a bit of a curios at the beginning of the tournament. He played wonderfully in his team’s well-balanced midfield. In the first half Adrien Rabiot frequently looked the only France player not running through le treacle. Hugo Lloris added stardust with several camera saves.
Argentina’s ridiculous second goal
A loose pass from Dayot Upamecano, then two swift first-time balls forward and Argentina did what they have trained their whole lives for: get the ball to Lionel Messi. Two sweet touches put it out wide with Julian Alvarez whose cushioned pass released Mac Allister into clear space. He sprinted, swept a perfect ball to the left for Angel Di Maria, who finished unerringly. An outstanding team goal.
Mbappe’s outragegous second goal
In the ITV Sport coverage both Ally McCoist and Lee Dixon kept saying “he should have taken a touch there,” in the way you would after a player has missed. Here they were remarking on the impossibility of Mbappe’s finish. Instigating a one-two with his head with Marcus Thuram, his first-time volley which completed the move flew past Emi Martinez with stunning power. Unstoppable, and tough to imagine any other player in world football managing similar.
A heart-stopping end to extra-time
Both teams had viable chances to win it in the final minutes, with the game briefly poised at a chemically unstable 3-3. Martinez made a wonderful save from Randal Kolo Muani, Argentina raced up the other end and Lautaro Martinez headed wide. Then Mbappe attempted a historical reenactment of every Diego Maradona career highlight, condensed into one move. Desperate Argentina defending saved their jamon.
Players crying during the match
Di Maria seemed to be weeping after Argentina’s second, Messi looked close after the first. Poor Raphael Varane chased down a loose ball in the 112th minute and more or less collapsed over the byline, simply unable to do any more. No tears from him, he looked too tired for that. The intensity of watching the game was tripled by seeing such visible emotion from both sides.
A satisfying penalty shoot-out
The rote line on penalties is they are an unfair way to decide a tight football match. Not these, which felt clear and thankfully brief. No real tragedy to the manner of France’s misses, a final bracing dose of Argentine cunning/cheating from Martinez, and no mistakes from anyone in pale blue and white. A relief, somehow, that it was not a dramatic shootout. The organic drama of the match was left undiluted by comparison.
A match without Var controversy
And therefore an impeccable performance from referee Szymon Marciniak, who won hearts and minds with his no-nonsense approach. It takes some high-level refereeing nous to manage this Argentina team, let alone in a match of this intensity and emotion, so enormous credit to him and his team for getting all the big calls right. Helps that he looks like a beefed-up Pierluigi Collina, never a bad starting point for a modern football official.
The sight of Messi with the trophy
Unfortunately tainted by the proximity of Gianni Infantino and the insistence that Messi should lift the trophy wearing a symbol of the dubious host nation. Treasure instead the moment he kissed the trophy tenderly on his way to receive the Golden Ball for player of the tournament. The love-in about him can grate at times, but it was hard not to be moved by his fairytale ending.
Uruguay 2 Brazil 1, 1950
The Maracana housed 173,850, who came to see Brazil crowned kings of the world. Uruguay had other ideas, coming from behind for a timeless shock
England 4 West Germany 2, 1966
Like a favourite film, you know the ending but it still delights on every re-watch. Hurst’s hat-trick feat at Wembley stood alone until Sunday night in Doha
Brazil 4 Italy 1, 1970
The first final broadcast in colour, Pele’s last dance, and beautiful goals which have few rivals as an expression of football in its purest form
Argentina 3 West Germany 2, 1986
Argentina cruising to victory in sweltering conditions before being rocked by two late goals, then rallying to win anyway. Did Sunday feel familiar?
France 4 Croatia 2, 2018
Slim pickings from the modern game, when finals have generally been one-sided or played cautiously, this was a welcome return to football’s freewheeling past
Qualification is massive for the sport and also comes with huge financial rewards.