Argentina Wins the World Cup

 “This World Cup arrived courtesy of Western commercial capital and FIFA. The blood stains their hands as well.” Jules Boykoff and Dave Zirin, The Nation 

Super Bowl games and heavyweight title fights don’t always live up to their hype. Not so the 2022 World Cup Final between Argentina and France. The last match of a tournament that saw upsets in the group stages, late goals, penalty shootouts, Croatia knocking Brazil out, and Morocco making an improbable run to the Semi Finals, delivered, and then some. 

It was the best this beautiful, worldwide sport has to offer. The devotion and passion of fans along with the grit and skill of the players. The drama. The twists and turns and heart-stopping suspense, wild swings of emotion, from joy to despair in a matter of seconds. No other sport comes close. It’s what sets football apart.

For 75 minutes, Argentina completely outplayed France, dominating  the midfield, winning almost every duel, pouncing on every loose ball, and defending with an intensity that left France struggling to cope. It was a clinic of tactics and execution. A penalty from Lionel Messi and a stunning team goal on a counter-attack saw Argentina with what looked like a comfortable two goal advantage with fifteen minutes to play.

What happened thereafter will go down in World Cup history. After Kylian Mbappe converted a penalty everything changed for France. The players’ body language was revived as if all of them had received an injection of adrenalin. Within 90 seconds, Mbappe struck again with a bit of incredible individual skill and the match was suddenly tied at two goals apiece. Now it was Argentina’s turn to look dazed. This was a scenario they had seen in the Quarterfinals against the Netherlands, when a comfortable two goal lead vanished in ten minutes; that time Argentina escaped, winning a penalty shootout, but this was the Final against the defending champions. 

Near the end of the first period of extra time, Lionel Messi scored, and it looked like it might be enough to pull Argentina over the line for the first time since 1986. But in the second period Mbappe converted another penalty, giving him a hat trick and pulling France level. 3-3. 

Penalty shootouts are nerve wracking, gut wrenching affairs, full of psychology and mind games, and sometimes even the best penalty takers falter. Look what happened to Harry Kane when England and France tangled in the Quarterfinals. I thought Argentina would have an advantage because France’s goalkeeper, Hugo Lloris, isn’t known as a great penalty stopper, unlike Argentina’s keeper, Emiliano Martinez. Sure enough, France came out on the losing end, 4-2.

France gave everything. Making it to the final of the World Cup two tournaments in a row is a feat of which the French can, and should, be proud. 

But it’s impossible not to feel happy for Argentina and Lionel Messi. The country has faced tough economic times the past several years. For Messi, bringing the World Cup trophy home completes his set of football achievements. The diminutive magician has won everything, individually, and for club and country. As far as I’m concerned, Messi is the greatest player of the modern era. 

This World Cup was phenomenal, but while I loved the matches I can’t forget the enormous human cost; thousands of workers died building the facilities and infrastructure. According to Jules Boykoff and Dave Zirin, the financial cost landed in the neighborhood of $220 billion. Writing in the Nation Boykoff and Zirin observe:

“So why did Qatar do it? This World Cup shows that authoritarian, unchecked power can launder surplus capital—the mega-event reportedly cost some $220 billion—into reputational capital. “

One of the commercials on the Fox network boasted about Qatar’s progress and modernization, and its integration with Western institutions, including the US military. That seems a dubious endorsement. Suffice to say that a tremendous amount of money was spent, made, and splashed around. Now that Qatar has all these beautiful facilities, what will it do with them? 

Heavyweights

It comes down to two of world football’s heavyweights, France and Argentina. When the World Cup tournament started I had three teams, basically my sentimental favorites. France, because my favorite player is N’golo Kante; Croatia, because I love watching Luka Modric command the midfield; and Belgium, because of Eden Hazard and Kevin DeBruyne, both of whom played for Chelsea at one time. Belgium looked old and tired and didn’t make it out of the group stage; Croatia were defeated by Lionel Messi and Argentina, though I think Croatia deserves lots of credit and praise for making it to the Final in 2018 and the Semi-Final in 2022. How does tiny Croatia consistently produce so many footballers of the highest quality, who play in all of Europe’s top divisions? The country is a football factory. 

France is missing three key players, Karim Benzema, N’golo Kante, and Paul Pogba. Benzema is a big absence because he’s a big game player and always a scoring threat, Kante a midfield giant when healthy and in form, and Pogba is an athletic midfielder who can join in the attack and provides good passing range. Despite missing these players, the French have reached the Final for the second World Cup in a row. It’s still a very good team, an experienced team. If Adrien Rabiot is fit I will feel good about France’s chance to repeat. 

Argentina has Messi. What more needs to be said? Messi is the ultimate X-factor and this tournament has an air of destiny about it. I can’t explain it other than to say it’s like Lionel Messi is going to get his ultimate prize, no matter what France does. Messi is likely to produce a moment of sheer genius. He’s hard to contain for 90 minutes, and he only needs one opportunity to beat you. 

Messi also has quality players around him, and Argentia are a cohesive unit. They have displayed more solidity than flair, overall, which is how World Cups are won. It’s hard to bet against Argentina. In football, time is an implacable enemy, and this Final is surely Messi’s last chance to add a World Cup to his legendary list of accomplishments. In these circumstances, I give the little magician the edge against a French defense that has seemed vulnerable at times. 

No disrespect to Kylian Mbappe. Like Messi he could easily come up with one moment of magic.

Which side will control the midfield? Which side will take its chances? The French have been very clinical in front of goal. Can they do so again? 

I can’t wait until Sunday. It’s going to be a joy. 

The World Cup: A Conspiracy of Fortune

“And when good soccer happens, I give thanks for the miracle and I don’t give a damn which team or country performs it.” Eduardo Galeano, Soccer in Sun and Shadow

So, France has won the World Cup, beating a spirited Croatia side by a 4-2 margin. For long stretches of the Final, Croatia was ascendent, the better side, but as they did throughout this tournament, France did what they needed to do in order to win. The football wasn’t always free-flowing or lovely or technically brilliant or pretty, but it was effective. France won ugly when it needed to, usually a characteristic of a champion. Half the possession, many fewer corners than Croatia, no problem. France has players who can flick the switch and turn in a moment of quality.

Croatia deserves all the credit it has garnered from the media and public. If you want to see a side with spirit and resiliency, one that will never quit no matter what, look no further. Luka Modric was the best player in this tournament, followed, perhaps, by a duo of my favorites, Eden Hazard and N’golo Kante. A true football fan has to admire what Croatia achieved, a small nation not expected to go deep into the tournament, that defied the experts and the odds and proved they belonged in the Final. Modric, Rakitic, Perisic and Mandzukic proved that they deserved to play in the Final, that Croatia wasn’t a fluke.

Winning the World Cup takes a conspiracy of fortune -- an advantageous sorting in the group stage, fortunate pairings in the knockout rounds, being on the better side of the draw, having a healthy side that peaks at the right time, a measure of pure luck. To lift the trophy a lot has to go right. Football is a game of fine margins, inches, feet, seconds. Having what seems to be an unbeatable squad of talented players isn’t enough -- just ask Germany, Argentina, Brazil or Spain. In this tournament, giants were toppled, and some of the finest players in the world took an early vacation. Talent is one thing, a necessary thing, but so are intangibles like resilience, heart, and belief. Croatia believed. After storming to victory against Japan in one of the greatest comebacks in World Cup history, Belgium believed.

France should have won the 2016 European championship. They were on home soil, after all, and before thirty minutes of the final were over, Portugal’s star player, Cristiano Ronaldo, was subbed off with an injury. The door was wide open, big enough for a locomotive to plow through, but France lost. They avenged that loss in Russia. Kante and Griezmann and Giroud and Pogba and Mbappe, the latter all of nineteen, with the ability to change the game when the opposition got stretched and space opened before him.

The 2018 World Cup was one long feast, a banquet table groaning under the weight of a hundred delicacies; Russia gave us drama and heroics and passion and heart-stopping anxiety; Mexico beating Germany, Croatia stunning Argentina, Sweden going as far as it did, Russia ousting Spain.

When the tournament began I hoped Belgium would lift the cup, and after Belgium, France, and my third choice was Argentina, a pity vote for Messi. If Croatia had won, I would have been happy because they showed incredible mettle and teamwork. For the last month my life has revolved around who was playing who and at what stage. After the winnowing of the group stages there are few easy matches. The deeper into the tournament a team ventures, the tougher the going. Didier Deschamps and his team deserved to lift the trophy in the pelting Moscow rain.