December 18, 2022

Argentina Prevails Over France in Dramatic World Cup Final

It was a wild finish to a global contest fraught with political controversy.

Argentina's Lionel Messi celebrates his team's victory in the Qatar World Cup final.Grigory Sysoev/Sputnik via AP

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Argentina won the World Cup on Sunday, defeating France in a dramatic 4-2 shootout after staving off a late-game French comeback that sent the match into overtime.

Argentina star Lionel Messi, who scored one of the pivotal penalty kicks, pumped his arms triumphantly after the victory—his first World Cup win after five tournaments. At age 35, he is not expected to compete in another. His teammates and family cried joyfully as they embraced him on the field and celebrated the country’s first world soccer championship since 1986.

Argentina outplayed their opponents for much of the match in Lusail, Qatar, but France’s Kylian Mbappé scored two goals with 10 minutes to spare, forcing the game into extra time that also ended in a tie, before Argentina pulled away in the shootout.

It was a thrilling end to a game that fans will surely be talking about for a long time. If you find yourself refreshing the replays and wanting more, I highly recommend reading my colleague Tim Murphy’s deep dive into the tournament and the political dramas underlying it, including how oligarchs and petro states took over the sport. 

“The story of this year’s World Cup,” Murphy wrote in another piece, “has in large part been the story of an attempt to keep inconvenient politics out of an event that is political to its core, on everything from its sponsorships to its hosts to its construction to its participants.” But, he adds, “It’s not possible to stick to sports at the World Cup. The world always finds a way.”

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