Argentina, on Sunday evening, won the FIFA World Cup for the first time in 36 years following a 4-2 penalties victory over France in the finals of the tournament at the Lusail Iconic Stadium, Qatar on Sunday evening.
Argentina started the game as the dominant side, earning a controversial penalty in the 23rd minute, which Lionel Messi unmistakably converted.
In the 36th minute, Di Maria doubled the lead for the La Albiceleste from a counterattack that was laid to the former Real Madrid star by Alexis Mac Allister to hand the South Americans a 2-nil halftime advantage.
There was no real action from both side in the second half of the sensational finals until the 80th minute of the game when Kylian Mbappe scored twice in less than 60 seconds to equalise for France.
The 23-year-old scored his first goal from the spot kick in the 80th minute on the dot before levelling the game with a beautiful volley to send the game into extra time.
It was an epic show in the extra time, with Messi netting his brace of the evening to return Argentina to the lead. Still, sensational Mbappe scored his third of the match with barely five minutes before the full-time whistle to send the final into penalty shootouts.
Argentina won 4-2 in the shootouts to win the biggest silverware in football for the third time – they first won the World Cup in 1978, the second time in 1986 and now in 2022.
With the defeat, France failed to become the first nation to win the Men’s FIFA World Cup back-to-back since Brazil in 1958-62. But Mbappe claimed the Golden Boot scoring seven goals for the 2022 FIFA World Cup, while Messi finished second on the TopScorer chart with six goals.
The grand finale saw a musical performance from Afrobeats great, David Adeleke, professionally known as Davido, with the singer performing one of the official World Cup three songs ‘Hayya Hayya’ alongside two other musicians.
