Sports

It’s ARGENTINA! Wild 3-3 World Cup win with PK’s – Messi Soars!

LUSAIL, Qatar – Argentina won the World Cup on Sunday by breaking an 3-3 draw on penalty kicks in what will be remembered as the greatest game ever played at Lusail Stadium.

Lionel Messi of Argentina

The game was a wild, drama-filled match with Lionel Messi scoring two goals, seemingly on his way to a long awaited World Cup Championship. But French striker Kylian Mbappe had different ideas.

Mbape single handedly brought the Blue back into the match with three goals of his own, keeping pace with the Albicelestes.

Argentina opened up with aggressive play. They challenged every ball and took. lot of one on one’s with the French. Messi seemed to seal that deal as the world’s best player by sending in a penalty kick in the 23rd minute. minute. 

Later in the 36th minute, Argentina ran a masterpiece, seven touch play via six players and a couple of bursting 50-yard runs. Angel Di Maria  sent the final ball in for a 2-0 win, depressing the high flying French.

But Mbappe wasn’t having it. The French got a ray of hope.

Around the 0th minute, Marcus Thuram, who’d entered as a first-half substitute with the French faltering and flailing, got behind the Argentina defense and won a penalty. Mbappé waited, patiently, as the ball hung in the air, at the edge of the penalty spot. He swiveled his hips, and spanked it past Martinez. 2-1.

Mbappé raced to recover the ball from the back of the net, and placed it at midfield, ready to go in search of a second, which he scored a minute later, equalizing the match.

From then the teams went back and forth, with both Messi and Mbappe having chances until the end of regulation.

In the 108th minute, a ball fell into Messi’s lap, finally. He pounced on that ball in France’s penalty area, scored his second goal of the night, and rekindled dreams of glory for Argentina.

Then Mbappé shattered them again. An Argentine handball in the penalty box gave the French star yet another chance to equalize. He sent Martinez the wrong way, and elevated a legendary game to an unparalleled game.

Both teams moved into extra time with confidence, yet came out of the battle tied 3-3.

It was on to penalty kicks.

In penalties, Mbappe and Messi went first for their respective clubs and both converted for their teams, leaving their supporting casts to define the title. Argentinian keeper Emiliano Martinez then became the hero. He saved one penalty, then Aurelian Tchouameni missed another for France and that was all it took for Argentina to win a battle for the ages 4-2 on penalties.

While a hat trick wasn’t enough for Kylian Mbappe to win the World Cup, he came to life with everything on the line for France and was able to will them back into the match. Despite not really touching the ball during the first half, Mbappe sprang to life scoring with all three of his shots on target and taking six shots overall. At only 23, Mbappe will be back at this stage and he’s more than ready for the spotlight.

The ending was one that the enduring greatness of Lionel Messi deserved. He had been trying for so long, being questioned if he was fading into old age and losing his skills. 
 
The World Cup has hung over him, more a crushing force than a prize to be embraced. Messi made the impossible into the ordinary. Still, he had to deliver more. He had to deliver that missing piece.

 

Qatar 2022 has been Messi’s tournament. He has scored in every game bar one — the group stage win against Poland when he had a penalty saved by Wojciech Szczesny — and he has risen to the occasion every time Argentina has needed him to make a difference.

Big goals against Mexico and Australia, amazing assists for Nahuel Molina and Julian Alvarez against Netherlands and Croatia respectively and, in the final against France, he set Argentina on the way to victory by scoring a first-half penalty.

It has been the perfect tournament for Messi in every sense. The perfect embellishment to an unrivalled career.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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