What FIFA think really doesn’t matter, so we have decided who deserves each World Cup award, while making plenty of our own.
There’s a lot of praise for Morocco – as there should be – and we give an experienced Frenchman his flowers. And nobody has to wear a negligee to receive these awards.
Best player – Lionel Messi (Argentina)
What a tournament this little genius had. Lionel Messi finally won some international silverware last year and now has a bloody World Cup to his name. That GOAT debate just got even more interesting. If it’s even a debate at this stage. Messi scored seven in the 2022 World Cup finals, including two in the final against France. He also became the first player in men’s World Cup finals history to score in every knockout round match.
He was man of the match in the final – even though Kylian Mbappe scored a hat-trick – and Argentina’s best player by a country mile. But his teammates played their part, no more so than Emi Martinez, who stopped Randal Kolo Muani in the last minute of extra-time before saving a penalty in the shootout.
Best young player – Josko Gvardiol (Croatia)
No defender can make it in this world without having their arse ripped to shreds from Lionel Messi at least once. Going into the semi-final between Croatia and Argentina, Josko Gvardiol had arguably been the best defender at the tournament, but Messi made him look incredibly foolish to assist Julian Alvarez for his side’s third goal of the game.
Having said that, this is a time to praise the 20-year-old defender, who is expected to leave RB Leipzig next year. His performances were stellar as Croatia were hard to beat – except for that semi-final loss – and he looks like someone who has been playing at this level for ten years. You can see why the German club want around £100million for him…
Even though the impressive Enzo Fernandez was given this award, Gvardiol had a better tournament, not taking into account overall team success.
Best goalkeeper – Dominik Livakovic (Croatia)
There were some cracking goalkeepers at this World Cup. Argentina’s Emi Martinez was brilliant, as was France captain Hugo Lloris and Poland’s Wojciech Szczesny, and Morocco’s Yassine Bounou is a close second here, but Dominik Livakovic was the best ‘keeper in Qatar.
No goalkeeper made more saves in Qatar and Livakovic was the hero as Croatia beat Japan on penalties in the last 16, before helping his side win another shootout to upset…
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