That moment has arrived that an entire country was waiting for 36 years ago. A month ago it was just a wish, a dream. But little by little, it began to become reality. THE ARGENTINE SELECTION IS WORLD CHAMPION. The Albiceleste is at the top of world football. Hand in hand with Lionel Scaloni as coach, Lionel Messi as its great figure and captain, and with a team that invaded us with football and dedication until the end. After drawing 3-3 at the Lusail Stadium, they defeated France on penalties in the final and won the most coveted cup on the planet.
The match
The first chance was at the feet of Alexis Mac Allister, with a mid-distance shot that was well controlled by the goalkeeper. Argentina continued to control the party's strings. A collective move ended with a shot by Rodrigo de Paul who was looking for a rival goal, but was deflected by a defender.
France always waited in its own camp. La Albiceleste continued to control the rhythm of the game and, after the first 20 minutes, Dembelé committed an offense inside the area against Di María and Lionel Messi changed the penalty for a goal to break zero.
The second blow came with a lethal counter. Argentina came out with a quick transition to pure touch: from Molina to Messi, Leo opened to the right for Álvarez, Julián did the same for Mac Allister and it was Alexis who assisted Di María, who did not hesitate and defined before the goalkeeper left for the 2-0.
The second part began with the same trend as the first. Scaloni's team continued to manage possession of the ball, looking for spaces with a touch and breaking lines with the precision of their playmakers. De Paul was the one who had the first approximation of the complement, with a volley well controlled by Lloris.
Julián Álvarez also had his own: he received near the area and shot against the goalkeeper's right post, which he controlled in two stages.
At 70 minutes into the game, France had their first approach with an individual play by Mbappé, which culminated in a shot that missed over the crossbar.
With just over 10 minutes to go, Kolo Muani got into the area, Nicolás Otamendi took him by the shoulder and Mbappé correctly executed the penalty marked by the referee: Emiliano Martínez came to touch the ball, but could not prevent it from it gets against his right stick.
The European team was going to hit again. Once again it was Kylian Mbappé who managed to beat the Argentine goalkeeper and, with an accurate volley shot, made it 2-2.
The emotion lasted until the last moment of regulation time. Lloris shone with a phenomenal save against a mid-range shot from Leo Messi and thus forced the game to go into extra time.
The first part of the extra time was very even. Both teams tried to find air and strength after a round trip game. Lautaro Martínez had two dangerous chances in front of the goal, but the last French line drowned out his goal cry.
Argentina never gave up. He fought until the end with football and courage. And, after a rebound from Lloris after a shot from Lautaro Martínez, it was Messi who pushed her under the arc to make things 3-2. However, the story incredibly did not end. After a shot on the edge of the area, the ball hit Montiel's arm and the referee awarded the third penalty of the final: Mbappé put things back to the beginning to take the title to the penalty shootout. But before, Dibu Martínez had an anthology save to bring the team to life.
Argentina 3 (4) - France 3 (2)
This is how history should have been defined from the twelve steps: Mbappé himself was the one who opened the penalty shootout, a shot that the Argentine goalkeeper could not contain at all.
Lionel Messi equalized the score and, in the next execution, Dibu Martínez became a hero again after saving France's second penalty: history put itself to the advantage for Argentina, once again.
Paulo Dybala was in charge of keeping the score in favor of the Albiceleste with a shot in the middle and then Tchouaméni finished off the goal. With the goal from Leandro Paredes, Argentina sealed their difference by two goals.
If the Frenchman Kolo Muani missed his penalty, Argentina was champion. But when converting, it was Gonzalo Montiel who had the sacred and definitive cry, which would materialize in the third world star.
Summary of the party
Argentina: Emiliano Martinez; Nahuel Molina, Cristian Romero, Nicolás Otamendi and Nicolás Tagliafico; Rodrigo De Paul, Enzo Fernández and Alexis Mac Allister; Ángel Di María, Julián Álvarez and Lionel Messi. DT: Lionel Scaloni.
France: Hugo Lloris; Jules Koundé, Raphael Varane, Dayot Upamecano and Theo Hernández; Aurelien Tchouaméni and Adrien Rabiot; Kolo Muani, Antoine Griezmann and Thuram; Kylian Mbappé. DT: Didier Deschamps.
Goals in the first half: 23m. Messi (A), from a penalty kick, and 36m. Say Maria (A).
Goal in the second half: 35m. Mbappé (F), from a penalty kick, and 36m. Mbappe (F).
Goals in the second extra time: 4m. Messi (A) and 12m. Mbappé (F), from a penalty kick.
Definition by penalties: Mbappé and Kolo Muani converted for France.
Messi, Dybala, Paredes and Montiel scored for Argentina. "Dibu" Martínez blocked the shot from Coman (F) and Tchouanémi (F) deflected his shot.
Changes in the first half: 40m. Marcus Thuram for Dembelé and Randal Kolo Muani for Giroud (F). In the second half: 19m. Marcos Acuna for Di Maria (A); 26m. Kingsley Coman for Griezmann and Eduardo Camavinga for Hernández (F). In the first extra time, at the beginning, Gonzalo Montiel for Molina (A); 5m. Youssouf Fofana for Rabiot (F); 12m. Leandro Paredes for De Paul and Lautaro Martínez for Álvarez (A). In the second half: 7m. Ibrahima Konate by Varane (F) and 10m. Germán Pezzella by Mac Allister (A) and 15m. Dybala for Tagliafico (A) and Axel Disasi for Koundé (F).
Admonished: Enzo Fernández, Acuña, Paredes, Montiel and "Dibu" Martínez (A). Rabiot, Thuram and Giroud (F)
Referee: Szymon Marciniak (Poland), accompanied by his compatriots Pawel Sokolnicki (first assistant), Tomasz Listkiewicz (second) and Tomasz Kwiatkowski (VAR).
Stadium: Lusail.
Audience: 88,966 viewers.
Passes, possession and goals
The Argentine team totaled 3,804 passes, achieved a possession average of 73.5 percent with an accuracy of 59% in the seven games that led them to their third World Cup after the 1978 and 1986 titles.
The numbers demonstrated the offensive vocation of the team led by Lionel Scaloni that had Lionel Messi as its scorer with 7 goals in six of the seven challenges he had on his way to the title.
The Rosario was the one who scored the most on the net and the breakdown is as follows:
Saudi Arabia (1), Mexico (1), Australia (1), Netherlands (1); Croatia (1) and France (2).
In the seven games the albiceleste team finished off the rival goal on 132 occasions and generated 48 goal situations in the rival areas.
In the Qatar 2022 champion team, 23 of the 26 players that made up the World Cup squad participated.
presidential salute
President Alberto Fernández greeted the Argentine team: "Thanks to the players and technical team. They are the example that we should not give up. That we have a great people and a great future," Fernández wrote on his Twitter account, adding : "Always together, always united. We are world champions. There are no other words. Thank you."
MATCH REFEREES:
Referee: Szymon Marciniak (Poland)
Assistant 1: Pawel Sokolnicki (Poland)
Assistant 2: Tomasz Listkiewicz (Poland)
Fourth official: Ismail Elfath (United States)
Fifth official: Kathryn Nesbitt (United States)
VAR: Tomasz Kwiatkowski ( Poland)
AVAR: Juan Soto (Ecuador)
OVAR: Kyle Atkins (United States)
SVAR: Fernando Guerrero (Mexico)
SBAVAR: Corey Parker (United States)
SBVAR: B. Dankert (Germany)
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