Reasons Why 2022 Finals Could Be Remembered As Best World Cup Game Ever

Many soccer fans are already declaring the 2022 World Cup finals as the best one of all time and these three are the biggest reasons why.

High Drama From Start To Finish

In the eyes of casual fans, the sport can get a little dragging since there are some matches where the score ends up in a 0-0 draw and the thought of players running around the field with the hopes of potentially scoring.

However, France and Argentina proved that the genuine excitement in soccer is in the journey to create scoring opportunities.

It was the Argentinian side, care of attacking midfielder Angel Di Maria, who showcased what a highly potent offense can do and the stats showed it.

They had possession of the ball 53% of the time compared to France's 47 while also taking more shots in general (21 to 8) and on goal (10 to 4).

Opta Analyst's official Twitter account posted a diagram of Di Maria's wonderful goal at the 36th minute thanks to Argentina's surgical dissection of France's defense.

For the French, Kylian Mbappe was the star of the show as he kept his side in the fight to draw level with a penalty at the 80th minute, but the team's concerted efforts to find him once again a minute and 33 seconds later was the stuff of legends.

Midfielder Adrien Rabiot lobbed the ball to Mbappe who headed it to Marcus Thuram then lobbed it back to him and fired the ball to the far post, finding the back of the net.

The game would be decided in a final penalty shootout after Argentina and France, Lionel Messi and Mbappe ended the extra 20-minute period at three goals apiece.

All throughout the match, fans around the world were kept on the edges of their seats as it looked like momentum could swing in any direction at any given moment, but the Argentinians found themselves on the winning side of history.

The match proved both sides were worthy of winning the trophy and showed the world just how high stakes a game of soccer is and the interesting thing is it is very much capable of happening every single game.

Kylian Mbappe Lives Up To Potential

Les Bleus was looking to become only the third-ever nation to go back-to-back in the World Cup with a win over Argentina and their hope rested mainly on the young shoulders of Kylian Mbappe.

The 24-year-old from Paris, France has been a natural-born scorer with Paris Saint-Germain, but many had high hopes for a generational star-level performance in the global tournament.

It appeared to be the case after he scored a total of three goals in the group stages, later increasing those numbers to five ahead of the World Cup final.

Against Argentina, Mbappe carried his side into the penalty shootout with three goals, including the aforementioned masterful one in the 81st minute.

Mbappe gave France a fighting chance in the shootout by making his penalty, but Kingsley Coman and Aurelien Tchouameni flubbed their attempts which allowed Argentina to leave Qatar with the World Cup trophy.

However, there was a silver lining for the French side as Mbappe took home the Golden Boot for his stellar eight-goal performance while going toe-to-toe with Lionel Messi in the striking department.

Underdog Story To Remember

The 2022 World Cup finals was the staging ground for Messi to capture the lone accolade that had eluded him in his career: a World Cup trophy.

Messi has been a participant in the international tournament since 2006 at 19 years old, and his star only continued to grow with many soccer fans believing that he would achieve his destiny at the 2014 World Cup when they faced Germany in the finals.

However, Mario Gotze scored the game-winning goal at the 113th minute, putting Messi and Argentina's hopes of winning their first title since 1986.

In the 2018 edition, they finished at 16th place–the lowest since Messi joined.

Their 2022 run was not without any hiccups though as they stumbled right off the blocks with a 2-1 loss to Saudi Arabia and many counted them out from there.

Bounce-back performances against Poland and Mexico allowed them to move on to the Round of 16, where they defeated the Netherlands in penalties after goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez turned away two shots and Lautaro Martinez secured the victory.

Against France, La Albiceleste were given plus-100 odds of winning the World Cup trophy following the semifinal because of France's overwhelming firepower.

But they proved that this was their Cinderella moment and Messi, with the help of the aforementioned keeper and striker, extinguished all of his demons while they ended their long drought.