Text/Kui Peng
Ups and downs, ups and downs!
The god of luck finally favored the eagle of the Pampas!
In the early morning of December 19, Beijing time, Argentina won the championship and runner-up final of the 2022 Qatar World Cup in the final of the 2022 Qatar World Cup, and finally defeated France with a penalty shootout, winning the championship again after 36 years to lift the Hercules Cup.
Argentina and France, the scene of them shuttling back and forth from heaven to hell on the green field made this World Cup final an indelible memory that no one will remember for a lifetime.
As the tournament comes to an end, the whole world is waiting for the moment when Argentina will lift the World Cup trophy.
Messi, wearing a black Arabian cape, took the Hercules Cup from FIFA president Gianni Infantino, bending his legs and slowly walking towards his teammates while the Argentine players were collectively half-crouched and waiting for the captain to arrive.
As Messi lifted the trophy, the Argentine players cheered collectively and the brilliant fireworks on the pitch erupted.
I'm not a fan of football, I haven't watched a few football matches during the World Cup, and it can even be said that the final is the only World Cup football game I have watched in its entirety, but this night I didn't stay up in vain!
This is a classic battle of the century. Messi scored twice and Kylian Mbappe scored a hat-trick.
For 120 minutes, the two sides were tied 3-3 and had to fight each other through penalties.
Perhaps decades from now, we can still vividly remember the classic match between the Pampas Eagles and the Gallic Roosters during the 2022 World Cup final.
I'm expecting Argentina to win, I've always liked the style of South American football, their unrestrainedness, their passion, always make people breathe.
If Brazil is there, I would prefer Bass to win the championship, Brazil is out, naturally I expect Argentina.
But before the game, I didn't have a bottom in my heart, I knew that the French team was not vegetarian, and their late-coming power was really daunting. It is also this style that in the last World Cup, they lifted the Hercules Cup.
What's more, France has taken out Australia, Denmark, Poland, England and Morocco all the way in this World Cup, and is invincible!
Before the final, although Argentina's support rate was higher, there were still many fans who thought that the French team was stronger than Argentina in terms of overall strength, so many people thought that the French team had a better chance of winning the championship.
On the evening of December 18, Argentina soon brought surprises. In the 23rd minute, Di Maria cut into the left side of the box and was tripped by Dembele, and Messi scored a penalty. In the 36th minute, McColliser countered with an oblique cross and Di Maria's low shot into the net in front of the penalty area. At the end of the first half, the score was locked at 2-0.
France, on the other hand, seemed to have been sleepwalking throughout the first half, never finding the rhythm and feeling to play. There is a saying that many of the main members of the French team fell ill with the flu and were unwell, and if this is the case, it is enough for them to be unlucky!
Long after the start of the second half, the French team still did not open the situation, so much so that the famous British host Morgan even posted on social media: "It's not a virus, the French team is obviously deliberately poisoned!" ”
This is obviously angry words and has no basis! But why was France absent in the first 80 minutes of the game? I believe it won't be long before there will be answers.
At that time, seeing the French team in such a state, I thought that the big picture was decided and the French team was no longer able to recover.
Who would have thought that the transformation would only be instantaneous.
In the 80th minute, Otamendi fouled Muani in the box and Kylian Mbappe scored a penalty to make it 2-1. In the 81st minute, Thuram passed the ball and Kylian Mbappe fired into the net from 15 yards on the left side of the penalty area, 2-2.
In just 97 seconds, France captain Kylian Mbappe scored two goals in a row! It's also amazing! Make people's little hearts almost unbearable!
Then the morale of the French team was boosted, and the Argentine team looked a little flustered.
I also started sighing for the Argentine team, feeling that there was something hanging behind them!
But Argentina, who quickly adjusted their form, withstood the French attack.
After going into extra time. The god of fate still favored Argentina, and in the 108th minute they went ahead again, Enzo passed, Lautaro shot from a small angle on the right side of the box was saved by Lowry, and Messi's close-range shot was blocked by Conde inside the goal line, 3-2.
In the 118th minute, France equalised again when Montiel fouled a handball in the box and Kylian Mbappe scored a hat-trick with a penalty, 3-3.
Penalty finale. Argentina-France came 4-2 with Argentine goalkeeper Martin turning the tide on penalties.
The classic final between Argentina and France also taught us that on the road of our lives, risks are everywhere, that is, when the wind is good and the situation is good, there will be occasional changes. Until the last minute, no one knows what else will happen? Only by persevering to the end will you win the final victory!
Argentina was a founding member of the World Cup, finishing runners-up in the 1930 World Cup. At the 1978 World Cup in Argentina, Argentina won the World Cup for the first time in history by beating the Netherlands 3-1 in the final. That year's World Cup gave the world a taste of the style of top scorer Kempes.
At the 1986 World Cup in Mexico, Argentina won the World Cup for the second time in history by beating Germany 3-2 in the final.
In that World Cup, Maradona scored five goals and provided five assists. In the quarter-final match against England, Maradona broke the deadlock with the controversial "hand of God" and eventually eliminated England 2-1 to advance to the semi-finals and win the World Cup that year.
In 1978, I was just born. When they won the World Cup for the second time, I was just a child under 8 years old, I was not in elementary school that summer, I didn't have a TV at home, and I didn't know what football looked like when I grew up in the mountains of the Three Gorges.
From 1986 to 2018, Argentina tried to win the Hercules Cup for the third time, but it never did. At the 1990 World Cup in Italy and the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, Argentina reached the final twice, just one step away from winning the championship, but it was Germany who won the tournament.
German tanks crushed Argentina's dreams!
Germany used to be my favourite European football team and that was because of their goalkeeper, Oliver Kahn.
Kahn started playing for the German national team in 1994, helped the national team win the European Championship in 1996, became the main goalkeeper of the German national team in 1998, then became the captain of the national team, participated in two World Cups, two European Championships, he helped the German national team to win the 2002 Japan and South Korea World Cup runner-up.
It is because of Kahn's excellent performance that I favored the German team 20 years ago when I was still studying in Xi'an.
But to be honest, I don't like the German team's bucket formation, they are far less fluent than Brazil and Argentina!
Before this World Cup, I was not optimistic about Argentina, and in the group stage, Argentina lost 1-2 to Saudi Arabia in the first game, which was a surprise.
After that game, many people had only two predictions for Argentina's prospects:
A. Hang up in the group stage.
B. Even if you can get out, you can't stumble far.
Who would have thought that the Argentine team would have been more and more courageous since then, and Messi's outbreak made him the key Mr. of the Argentine team.
In the second round of the group stage against Mexico, Argentina, already standing on the edge of the cliff, felt that it was going to be cold all over the world, and Messi fired a punch from outside the box that pierced the gate guarded by Ochoa.
In this championship and runner-up peak matchup, Messi once again played the role of setting the sea god needle.
To some extent, Argentina's victory also had an element of luck, and the French team also performed well, but the balance of luck did not tip them in the end.
Messi is Argentina's biggest contributor to this victory.
In this World Cup, Messi played a full 690 minutes of 7 games, contributing 7 goals and 3 assists, of which Messi first scored a penalty in the final, and then scored a key goal with his right foot in extra time.
At the World Cup 36 years ago, new king Maradona was born, leading Argentina to the top for the second time.
36 years later, Messi has become the undisputed third generation of football kings in football history.
When Argentina last won the title, Messi wasn't even born. Now, Messi and this group of Argentine boys have personally embroidered the third world championship star on Argentina's jersey!
Messi also won the Golden Ball Award of this World Cup, and when his football career was about to end, Messi finally succeeded in being crowned!
Although Mbappe also won the Golden Boot and made history this time, it was not in the way he expected. France were so close to the title that they unfortunately lacked the same luck as Argentina in the penalty shootout.
After the game, the lost Mbappe was "paralyzed" on the bench.
Messi also had dark moments in life. In 2016, he even announced his retirement from the Argentine national team in disappointment.
That year, Enzo Fernandez, a 15-year-old soccer teenager who is now a member of Argentina's national team, wrote a long poem on social media, excerpted from it like this:
"If you leave, it will be disastrous for us.
How are we going to convince you? We never have 1% pressure on you, but 40 million people want you to do the perfect thing.
How are we going to convince you? We don't understand, even if you're the best player on the planet, but after all you're just a person.
How are we going to convince you? You could have been lying on the beach on vacation, but you kept running hard and represented our country.
Do what you want, Leo. But please think about staying, staying for the pleasure of playing, and that's exactly what those people took away from you.
Seeing you in a blue and white jersey is the biggest pride in the world. You have to play fun, because when you play fun, you don't know how happy we are.
Thank you and forgive us. ”
15-year-old Enzo Fernandez's poem for Messi
Messi did not disappoint in the end.
Some people say that the high-ranking and widowed Messi originally wanted to go down the mountain, but a group of children asked him how to go up the mountain, so he took them all the way to the top.
Yes, Messi is the soul of the current Argentine team. With Messi, Argentina is a world-class team, if Messi is missing, then it is another story! It's clear that their head coach, Scaloni, knows that.
But Ronaldo is not so lucky! Portugal's defeat to Morocco to the quarter-finals of the World Cup in Qatar on 10 December saw the team's top star, Que Ronaldo (Cristiano Ronaldo), as a substitute in a major match for the second time in a row.
In fact, in the previous 6-1 victory over Switzerland in the round of 16, Ronaldo also surprisingly failed to enter the starting lineup. Was coach Santos too confident after Portugal's victory over Switzerland?
After the game, Enzo Fernandez posted a photo with Messi and the Hercules Cup in the dressing room, and they shared the joy of victory together.
As Messi's team-mate, now enjoying the joy of being at the top, perhaps Alvarez can still remember the interview he gave when he was 11 years ago.
"What is your football dream?"
"To the World Cup."
"Who is your idol?"
"Messi."
Alvarez's dream has come true!
Eleven years later, Alvarez dreamed of competing side by side with his idol in the World Cup, and all his dreams became a reality, and he also reaped his own supreme glory!
Is there anything more joyful than our own life?
In the author's circle of friends, there are not a few who also hope that Argentina will win the World Cup. We all got our wish!
In the midst of the pandemic, this is the happiest thing!
The world of football is always full of countless legends, with ups and downs, and perhaps this is the biggest charm of the World Cup!
From now on, let's start looking forward to the next World Cup!
I don't expect Argentina to win the next World Cup, after all, Brazil is my favorite.
But for Brazil, without Ronaldo, the generation of Ronaldo Jr., the light of their football has dimmed. Can I expect anything from them?
Of course, it is not surprising that the Gallic Roosters, German tanks, and even any team from the Spanish, Portuguese, British, Croatian legions reached the top!
This is an era of heroes, no one will be immortal, under the sweat, tears, blood and youth, everything is possible!
In this World Cup, we have also seen the amazing of Morocco, South Korea, Japan, Saudi Arabia, Iran and the rapid growth of Asian teams, although the road ahead is still long, but from them, we see the future and hope of Asian football.
Of course, the Chinese national team can only be spectators, let's not talk about it!
Regarding Messi, some Chinese people have opened a new brain hole, no, they are compiling a family tree for him!
Seeing such news, I wonder if we should cry or laugh? I don't know if Mr. Messi recognizes this stubble?
I think that Messi will probably not recognize it, and he will definitely not carry out the so-called "recognition of ancestors and return to the ancestors", and take it as a joke!
But such a brain hole conforms to the brain circuits of many Chinese!
Editor| Xiaohai