Final: France versus Argentina

The most important game of the tournament: the final. 

The new crowd favorite, Argentina, was a two-time World Cup winner that had not won since 1986, a team that fought time and time again to make it to the finals but had their attempts thwarted each time. The team hoped to help Lionel Messi, one of the best players in the world, achieve his goal of winning the World Cup in his fifth and final attempt. 

Then there is France, the winner of the recent 2018 Russian World Cup, and a team that could beat the “World Cup curse” of the previous champions losing the year after they win. France has soccer prodigy Kylian Mbappé, a rising star. 

This game was set to go either way, but the numbers predicted that France would win. However, this game would not be decided on numbers alone. It was up to the 22 players on that field to decide where the game went. Only one team could take the cup home. Who would it be? The reigning champions or the team of dreamers?

The first half ended at 2-0 for Argentina. This was exciting to see. Messi made the first goal off a penalty that French goalie Hugo Lloris misread, making the score 1-0. The second goal was a perfect display of touch and go, with Argentina stealing the ball from the French on their half, then moving the ball around the French defense. This dexterity put Argentina ahead by two points, but there was still a lot of time left on the clock. 

Early in the second half, France scored two goals in a rapid two-minute window, both by Mbappé. The first, similar to Argentina, was a penalty that Argentina initiated in the goal box. Mbappé took the ball from the penalty dot and was nearly stopped by Argentinian goalie Damián Martínez, but the shot was just too fast. 

Not long after, Mbappé had a killer chance with a setup from Kinglsey Coman that allowed him to tie the game, 2-2. After France’s pair of goals in the second half, the end of regular time put the game in France’s favor. This was heart-wrenching for Argentina’s fans. The French seemed to have Argentina on their back foot. Both teams had more opportunities with the additional time, but the exhaustion of the 115 minutes was a challenge for even the best players. 

Argentina had a great chance in the second half of extra time, and Messi scored. However, a French defender seemed to kick the ball out of the goal in place of the fallen goalie Lloris. Luckily, with the help of the video assistant referee, the goal was confirmed, making the game 3-2 in the 108th minute. This goal is saved by the fact that Messi was barely onside, which means he was not ahead of the defender before the pass to him. With this goal, Argentina pulled forward with the lead. As a result, Argentina started to kill time. They had about ten minutes left in regular time and chose a defensive strategy. 

In those tense ten minutes, the Argentinians became too aggressive, resulting in a few yellow cards, free kicks and, worst of all, a hand ball, leading to a penalty kick for Mbappé. As expected, he scored it with a shot to the middle, tying the game 3-3 in the 118th minute. Not only did he score and tie the game, Mbappé got a hat trick, scoring three goals in one game. 

Near the end of extra time, Randal Kolo Muani nearly took a powerful lower right corner shot that Martinez stopped even with pressure around him. Argentina took the ball down again for one last push, but they missed the goal. In a dramatic end to the final’s extra time, the tie game went into a penalty kick shootout. 

For this final portion I was in my house with my dad, watching the game on our TV. This is how it played out:

• France shot first with the elite shooter Mbappé. This was his third penalty of the game, in which he was 2-2 for goals to attempts. He fired a shot that grazed Martínez’s glove, but he was unable to stop it. The score became 1-0 France.
• Argentina was next with Messi. He took his time, as he did with the previous penalty kick, and attempted to throw off Lloris. He stalked forward and shot the ball to the left as Lloris jumped to the right, scoring. 1-1.
• France was up again with the winger Kingsley Coman. He took the shot, but Martínez read it exactly right and got in front of it for the save! The score remained at 1-1, giving Argentina the chance to get ahead in their second shot. A great aspect of this game was that Martínez did little dances after each save. After this shot he jumped around and celebrated his save. His enthusiasm was really fun to see.
• Back to the shootout, Argentina’s Paulo Dybala took a point against Lloris, gaining an edge over France. Dybala’’ shot was a powershot down the middle that Lloris’ foot almost clipped, but the ball was too far right to stop. 2-1, favoring Argentina.
• Up next was France with Aurélien Tchouaméni, a defender with a good leg on him. His shot was powerful, but it was aimed too far left and his miss put Argentina one step closer to the cup! 2-1 Argentina!
• Argentinian defensive midfielder Leandro Paredes was the third shooter. Lloris read his left leaning shot perfectly, but he was unable to dive low and far enough to get the ball off course on its way into the net. Argentina widens their lead: 3-1!
• Randl Kolo Muani shot fourth for France. Muani was the French striker that nearly scored in the 118th minute that could have ended the match, and he wasted no time on getting the ball past Martínez with a fast center ball. 3-2 Argentina; France could catch up if Argentina missed the next shot. Perhaps France had a chance. 
• This was Argentina’s most important shot. If they made it, the Cup was theirs. Gonzalo Montiel, a right back defender, meticulously situated the ball, of course with the supervision of the referee. Montiel and Lloris then began a tough mental battle to read each other, staring each other down. Montiel backs up and rushes to the ball! He kicks it! IT GOES IN! 

ARGENTINA SCORES AND WINS THE WORLD CUP! It is a quick end to one of the best matches in the whole tournament and a wonderfully suspenseful ending for the World Cup.