The World Cup finished on December 18th, with Argentina’s dramatic victory over France in the final. Messi won his first World Cup. Ronaldo played pretty poorly. Morocco shocked the world and injuries riddled every team.
The Final
Many fans have already considered this one of the best World Cups ever. The dramatic ending to the final supports this. Going into halftime, Argentina lead 2-0 with a dominant performance. However, Mbappe’s heroics kept the French side in the game. Late in the second half, Mbappé lead an attack and drew a foul in the box, resulting in a penalty kick. After burying it bottom corner, France showed some signs of life. Within two minutes, Mbappé had struck again, scoring a beautiful goal. This tied the game up, and lead to overtime.
After an uneventful but tightly competitive first half of overtime, Argentina came out strong to start the second period. They scored in the 108th minute of the game, putting Argentina up 3-2. However, Mbappé threw his team on his back and carried them for the remaining time. He scored once more in the 118th minute. This solidified his hat trick and brought the game to penalty kicks.
Mbappé stepped up first, the crowd roaring, to the penalty spot. Emi Martinez faced him down in goal, a striker and the goalkeeper. Mbappé placed his shot in the bottom left corner and scored. Next up, Messi. He had been on this stage once before, in 2014 when he failed to bring his team the victory with a game-tying free kick. He wouldn’t let that happen again. Hugo Lloris stood in goal, but Messi remained unfazed and sunk his penalty.
The captains had finished. The standard had been set, an example that their teammates would follow. However, the next penalty taken by France’s side was blocked by Emi Martinez. Argentina’s Dybala stepped up to the spot and placed his hard and down the middle, scoring his penalty. Tchouaméni moved to the spot but failed to hit the frame on his P.K. Argentina drained their next shot. After Argentina’s goal, Dembele needed to score to keep France in the game. Despite the pressure, he scored. However, Montel won his team the trophy with a well-placed penalty into the bottom left corner.
Awards
Every World Cup ends with a series of awards given to the highest performers of the tournament.
Golden Ball
The Golden Ball is awarded to the best player in the whole tournament. Messi won the award. He put up a solid number with the second most goals (5 of which were penalties) at 8. He led his team to the world cup final and completed the achievement that had proven so elusive to him throughout his career.
Golden Boot
The Golden Boot is an award for the highest goal scorer in the tournament. Mbappé took home this award, scoring nine goals. Despite his staggering numbers, he wasn’t able to deliver his team a consecutive world cup win. Although, it was a good birthday present seen as he turned 25 two days after his birthday.
Golden Glove
Emi Martinez won the Golden Glove award for being the best goalkeeper of the tournament. However, it was a debatable decision because he didn’t lead in saves. In fact, compared to other goalkeepers that made it to the semi-final, he ranked among the lowest in saves. His penalty saving was his redeeming factor though. He saved six penalties from the quarter-finals to the final.
