2022 FIFA World Cup Finals

[Webster]

Disappointing, Gibbons...disappointing!

 

[PGen98]

Slap that man! Slap him!!

 

[Webster]

One slap coming up....

 

[PGen98]

One slap coming up....

Right in the face!!

 

[Webster]

Right in the face!!

 

[PGen98]

 

[Webster]

 

[PGen98]

If you can dodge a wrench, you can dodge a ball!

 

[Webster]

If you can dodge a wrench, you can dodge a ball!

That's right....

 

[PGen98]

That's right....

 

[Webster]

Phil McNulty, BBC Sport chief football writer at Lusail Stadium: Croatia were undone, like so many before them, by the brilliance of Lionel Messi - as well as his young partner Julian Alvarez - after making a confident and composed start to this World Cup semi-final.

Croatia, however, have had an outstanding tournament once more as the country with a population of only four million followed up their appearance in the final in Russia in 2018 with a place in the last four in Qatar.

If Argentina have Messi, then Croatia have their own master footballer in Luka Modric and he received warm applause from all parts of Lusail Stadium when he was substituted with nine minutes left. He, like Messi, had his sights set on a World Cup triumph after experiencing the same pain of final defeat, but it was not to be.

 

[Webster]

 

[Webster]

(BBC Sport) Argentina captain Lionel Messi says Sunday's final will be the last World Cup game of his career.

The 35-year-old forward scored his fifth goal of Qatar 2022 and helped set up two others in Tuesday's 3-0 semi-final win over Croatia.

Playing in his fifth World Cup, Messi has never won the game's biggest prize. "I am very happy for finishing my journey in World Cups in a final, to play the last game in a final. That is really very gratifying," he said. "Everything I lived in this World Cup has been emotional, seeing how much it has been enjoyed in Argentina. There are a lot of years from this year to the next one. I don't think I will be able to do that. To finish this way is brilliant."

Argentina will play France or Morocco, who meet on Wednesday at 19:00 GMT, in the final, when Messi is set to make a record 26th appearance in a men's World Cup. The 2026 World Cup will be held in the United States, Canada and Mexico.

Messi has won the Ballon d'Or - awarded to the world's best player - a record seven times and been named Fifa Best Men's Player once.

Other honours include four Champions Leagues, 11 top-flight titles and Copa America glory with Argentina in 2021. The World Cup is the one glaring omission, Argentina having lost to Germany in the 2014 final in Brazil.

"We are going to do our best, as we have done up until now, so that this time it really happens - we really win it," said Messi, who retired from international duty in June 2016 before reversing his decision two months later. "I have been enjoying it the past few years, being with the national side. I am really enjoying everything that is happening to us. To get the Copa America, to reach the World Cup with 36 games unbeaten, and to finish all that trajectory in a final is just incredible. I hope the people in Argentina enjoy themselves and what we are doing. They shouldn't doubt we are giving absolutely everything."

Messi, who plays for French giants Paris St-Germain, is one of only six men to have appeared in five World Cups, along with German Lothar Matthaus, Portugal's Cristiano Ronaldo, and Antonio Carbajal, Andres Guardado and Rafael Marquez of Mexico.

Currently leading the Golden Boot race in Qatar alongside France's Kylian Mbappe, Messi became the first Argentina player to score in four World Cups and also became their record World Cup scorer with 11 goals. He made his Argentina debut at the age of 18 in 2005 and has scored 97 goals in 172 games.

 

[PGen98]

Makes sense, it's time for him and why not go out as one of the two best teams of the world

 

[Webster]

As Qatar’s World Cup ends it is time for truth: Fifa chose death and suffering

Fifa had options in 2010 and from the moment it made its bid decision there was only one route from there to here

www.theguardian.com

It was a different Gianni Infantino, a more pensive Gianni Infantino, a less alarmingly excited Gianni Infantino who addressed Hall 1 at the Qatar National Convention Centre on Friday morning.

This had been the scene of Infantino’s own defining moment just a month ago, his sacking of the temple, his Woodstock, his I have (a Very Peculiar) Dream. Brusquely late, Infantino was all business this time. “I am … happy … to be here,” he kicked off in a descending tone as though announcing the imminent execution of a colony of wasps. “Has this World Cup been a massive success?” he was asked from the floor. No, Gianni demurred very sightly. It had, in fact, been “an incredible success”.

Mainly he talked numbers: 3.27 million spectators; 1.7 million in the fan zone, a billion dollars in excess profits, $11bn in projected profits for next time.

He talked love, he talked joy, he talked (could this be a simple misunderstanding? Does he just need to look this phrase up?) about human rights. Above all Infantino was “very, very happy” at the progress of his World Cup. Put your hands together and rejoice, cheer, be thankful. Rejoice, even though your name is death.

Because the fact is some numbers were missing from Infantino’s podium notes; some usefully vague numbers that feel as if they are now on their way to being buried in plain sight.

The total number of migrant worker deaths during the 12-year cycle of Qatar’s World Cup has oscillated from three to 6,500, from 400 to 37. The New York Times reported just before the tournament that Nepal had calculated 2,000 deaths, including 200 suicides, a genuinely heartbreaking detail, albeit one that must, as ever, be degraded by Qatar’s bizarre absence of hard data.

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But the fact remains Fifa had choices here. And Fifa chose death and suffering. Look back with a clear line of sight and from the moment Fifa made its bid decision there was only one route from there to here. Define corporate manslaughter. What does that crime look or feel like as a chain of events? It is another question that has not been asked enough.

 

[Webster]

(BBC Sport) Lionel Messi finally achieved his World Cup dream as Argentina won their third crown on penalties in one of the greatest finals in the tournament's history.

Argentina won the shootout 4-2 after a spectacular game which developed into the much-anticipated confrontation between the 35-year-old maestro Messi and his France opposite number Kylian Mbappe.

France's own superstar scored a hat-trick - the first in a Fifa World Cup final since 1966 - but still ended up on the losing side at Lusail Stadium.

Messi looked to be securing the one major honour missing from his glittering collection in comfort as Argentina cruised into a two-goal lead. This all changed when an explosive intervention from Mbappe, who scored two goals inside two minutes late on, turned this frantic, magnificent match for the ages on its head.

Messi had given Argentina the lead from the penalty spot in the 23rd minute following Ousmane Dembele's foul on Angel di Maria. It made him the first player in World Cup history to score in the group stage, last 16, quarter-final, semi-final and final of a single tournament. He then contributed a delicate touch within a magnificent counter-attack that ended with Brighton's Alexis Mac Allister setting up Di Maria for the second 13 minutes later.

Argentina were untroubled until the closing stages, only for Mbappe to give France a lifeline from the penalty spot with nine minutes left - then restore equality with a magnificent volley moments later.

Messi bundled Argentina back in front in extra time, but Mbappe completed his treble from the spot two minutes from the end of a frantic, chaotic added spell. And so it went to penalties, with the two greats opening the scoring. But Argentina and Aston Villa goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez saved from Kingsley Coman, before Aurelian Tchouameni missed, leaving Gonzalo Montiel to win the World Cup.

Messi, a World Cup winner at last, collapsed to his knees in the centre circle and was engulfed by jubilant Argentina team-mates.

 

[Webster]

 

[PGen98]

...you had to post HIM with Messi? It's not bad enough Argentina won, you had to post HIM too? So mean.

I'm glad for Messi, but ugh...

 

[Webster]

...you had to post HIM with Messi?

Let me think....yes.

 

[PGen98]

Let me think....yes.

Just so mean.