Argentina is the champion! Maradona smiled
The football fairy tale with an oriental flavor has come to an end. The dream of most football fans has come true – Messi, who owns all imaginable and unimaginable records, at the last (as many believe) World Cup for him, finally became world champion!
Qatar had everything: the enchanting joys of victories and the despair of unfulfilled hopes, the fantastic surprises of a notorious outsider and the overthrown favorites.
And there was also a lot of sweat shed, as well as tears of happiness and lost illusions – both among ordinary fans and world-class stars...
The energy that erupted on Sunday on the pitch and stands of the Lusail Iconik Stadium seemed to shake even the heavens. The history of football has never known such a tense and twisted plot.
The first half was for the Argentines – they, technical and sneaky, very skillfully set tactical "traps" into which the attacking forces of the French repeatedly fell. And they themselves, led by the nimble and all the time eluding the guardianship of Messi, used the principle of the Far Eastern sages (most likely, without knowing it themselves): the power is in the void! To avoid collisions with physically strong opponents, the ball was directed at a free player, which provided them with the opportunity to move forward without a tough fight.
This tactic gave the Argentines a tangible advantage over the French – the current world champions at that time, who had little consolation left – to accept the fate of catching up. That's how the first half ended, and the score 2:0 in favor of the Argentines fully reflected the balance of forces.
The beginning of the second half of the meeting for the Argentines did not portend anything terrible. It remained in this style to bring the meeting to the final whistle. But after about 15-20 minutes, it began to feel that somewhere in the camp of the Argentine national team it began to storm. Either the taste of a close victory turned the Argentines' heads, or the French realized that they, except for the remaining minutes, would have no other opportunity to save the situation, but it turned out that the opponents switched roles.
And it ended with the fact that the indomitable Kylian Mbappé scored two goals within two minutes (one of them from the penalty spot), destroyed all the castles in the air of the Argentines about a close victory.
In extra time, both teams had to start all over again, except that the psychological advantage was already on the side of the French national team.
In the first 15 minutes, both teams tried more to catch the opponent on an error. It seemed that both of them had left the whole burden of problems for later. And here it is, the Argentine happiness – in the 109th minute, the indomitable and indefatigable Lionel Messi plunged the ball into the French goal, the defender beat it off, but after the ball crossed the coveted line: 3:2!
It would seem that everything is already! There are minutes left until the final whistle, and this time the football firebird will not slip out of the hands of the Argentine national team! Forty thousand ardent fans from this country rejoiced in the stands, among whom were those who mortgaged their property on credit to go to Qatar and support their favorites.
But this mood did not last long – the ill-fated ball after hitting the Argentines in the penalty area hit the defender's hand, and the referee's verdict was cruel, but, according to the rules, fair. The clever Mbappé, punching a penalty, after a short run-up, abruptly made a micro–pause, the goalkeeper rushed to the left corner, and Mbappé, taking this into account, struck at the opposite corner of the goal - 3:3.
As a result, it came to a penalty. All the fans of the world curse the pattern according to which the best player of the match, who gave a lot of effort to the game for the sake of victory, will fail in the penalty shootout.
Mbappé and Messi should have been the first to break through. They are like epic two heroes who break down before the battle to fight first one on one. And it was believed that the army of the one who wins will receive help from Heaven.
Once again, the great master of his craft Mbappé did not miss his chance.
Supporters of Argentina froze in anticipation: really…
But Messi calmly, as in a repeatedly duplicated scene, competently put the goalkeeper in one direction with false movements, and after a microscopic moment struck in the opposite direction.
And this was a signal for the Argentines to a close victory, after which they hammered the ball into the French goal one by one, so much so that the last – the fifth penalty – the Argentines no longer had to beat. The opponent was defeated without him.
There was no end to the jubilation on the field, in the stands and on the other side of the ocean – in distant Argentina.
...The last time the Argentine national team, led by the legendary Maradona, became champion was in 1986. Diego was 26 years old at the time.
And today, when his followers, having won the championship titles, took out a banner with the image of Maradona on the field, his spirit in football Heaven probably smiled…
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