Doha – Argentina won the FIFA World Cup 2022 in Qatar on penalties against a gallant France side that came back twice from behind.
The final score was (4) 3 – 3 (2).
On a night 23-year-old Kylian Mbappe had French Prime Minister Emmanuel Macron jumping for joy four times, the effort still fell short.
The PSG striker scored four goals – three penalties and one volley – to take the Golden Boot with a total of nine goals in Qatar.
The fairy tale ending many had wished for – 35-year-old Messi scoring and Argentina lifting the trophy – came true on Sunday at the Lusail Stadium, which was mostly draped in blue and white stripes of the south American nation.
Finally, the one gold medal Messi was missing has been earned. The mercurial PSG club footballer also won the Golden Ball for Best Player of the tournament.
The pulsating game started with Argentina in control of proceedings.
In the first half of normal time, France’s Ousmane Dembélé fouled Di Maria Angel in the penalty area and the Referee Szymon Marciniak pointed to the spot.
Argentina skipper Messi stepped up and scored from the spot in the 23rd minute.
From then on Argentina was firmly in control of the first half in which they had France on the back foot.
Messi had a hand in setting up the space for a pass to Di Maria, who beat France’s keeper Hugo Lloris in the 36th minute to put the South Americans 2-0 up.
The onslaught was relentless until French coach Didier Deschamps was forced to make two substitutions to steady his team.
He took Dembélé and Olivier Giroud off for Marcus Thuram and Randal Kolo Muani.
With only 10 minutes to the end, Mbappe, the French talisman, finally showed his true potential.
He scored a penalty and equalised 97 seconds later with an explosive volley that gave the Argentina goal-minder Emiliano Martinez no chance.
Messi scored in the second half of extra time and again with just minutes to the end Mbappe equalised – from the penalty spot.
Then came the dreaded penalties.
Teammates at PSG Messi and Mbappe both scored their opening spot kicks. However, goals scored in penalty shoot-outs do not count in the final tally for the Golden Boot.
French pair Kingsley Coman and Aurélien Djani Tchouameni missed their spot kicks, while Argentina seized the advantage through Paulo Dybala and Gonzalo Ariel Montiel putting the result beyond doubt.
Muani scored for the defending champions France, but the odds had already favoured Argentina.
