Argentina won the 2022 FIFA World Cup thanks to a dramatic penalty shootout win over France in the final.
Argentina had taken a 2-0 lead thanks to a penalty from Lionel Messi and a goal from Angel Di Maria and looked set to cruise to victory before Kylian Mbappe turned the game in the final 10 minutes.
The French superstar scored a penalty kick and volleyed another in to take the game to extra time when his nation looked down and out. Messi would then step up in extra time to make it 3-2 before Mbappe converted another spot kick to take the game to penalties and secure a hat-trick.
The penalty shootout was then won by Argentina, with Gonzalo Montiel scoring the final kick.
Argentina made a slightly surprising tactical tweak for the game, reverting to a 4-3-3 with Di Maria on one flank and Messi occupying the other. The tweak completely caught France on the hop as Didier Deschamps’ side largely struggled to retain possession throughout the first half.
The first notable efforts on goal all came from La Albiceleste as Rodrigo De Paul and Enzo Fernandez both fired decent efforts goalward – one which would deflect wide, the other right into Hugo Lloris’ mid-riff.
Argentina would get their reward for their dominance in the 21st minute when Di Maria had his heels clipped by Ousmane Dembele in the box. While not the most contact we’ve ever seen, it was deemed enough for referee Szymon Marciniak to give a penalty kick.
Up stepped Messi who casually sent Lloris the wrong way to give Argentina a 1-0 lead.
Going behind didn’t exactly wake France up and Argentina continued to dominate throughout the remainder of the first half without really having to get out of second gear.
In short, France were awful and Argentina were brilliant.
They were so brilliant in fact that, in the 35th minute, they doubled their lead. The second would come from Di Maria who passed the ball into the corner of the net after a brilliant quick counter attack led by Alexis Mac Allister.
Argentina’s dominance continued into the second half as they were able to largely hold Les Bleus at arm’s length.
Julian Alvarez, who put in a proper shift throughout, was next to come close to bagging a goal. The Man City man did well to get on the outside of Varane before drilling a shot toward the near post – a shot that Lloris saved well.
It would take France until the 67th minute to record their first shot on goal. Yep, 67 minutes to even have a shot on goal in a World Cup final.
That shot would come via Randal…
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