It is the night of December 18, 2022, in the Qatari capital, Doha, at Lusail Stadium. All the spotlight is focused on only one player, Lionel Messi. Will he succeed this time? Or a new disappointment that deprives the world football legend of his biggest dream, the World Cup?
Before this match, Messi had everything, individually and collectively, but the fans of Diego Armando Maradona and Pele always denounced the flea being compared to them. Why not, since they were the ones who brought the greatest glory to the nations of Argentina and Brazil, while Messi could never.
After all his impressive skills on the field throughout the entire 2022 World Cup, would it all have been in vain? Will the World Cup be snatched from his grasp again?
There is no doubt that December 18, 2022 is a date that chills the souls of all Argentines, and all Messi fans, the night in which Messi made up for many previous disappointments, and put the country of Tango on the throne of football, champion of the World Cup for the first time since 1986, and with it, the 35-year-old. Back then, he had completed everything in the Round Witch Realm.
In his celebration of the first anniversary of the Argentina-France final and his country’s World Cup win, Messi described it as “the craziest journey” and dearest to his heart, which will not be forgotten no matter how old he gets, and will be told even to the descendants of current generations as one of the greatest football things ever.
7 goals and 3 assists are the result of what Messi provided over the course of 30 days in Qatar, during which he was the most prominent contributor to Argentina achieving the third world title, and ending the controversy over his right to be named the best in history, or at least competing with his compatriot Diego Armando Maradona, who died before the tournament. In a few months.
The story of the 2022 World Cup for the Argentine national team is exciting in all its details, immortal forever, and we go back and remember with you at FanZword the journey from the first moment until Messi wore the Arab abaya and raised the cup in the sky of Doha.
A shocking fall at the beginning
From the moment the Argentine national team was drawn with the teams of Saudi Arabia, Poland and Mexico, the “green” team was viewed as the easiest opponent, and perhaps achieving three points against them would be guaranteed for Messi’s teammates.
The Flea actually opened his goals in the World Cup with a penalty kick in the first half of the first Saudi match, but what happened in the second half was never taken into account.
Hervé Renard's historic speech against the Saudi players when he told them what it means to look in the face of your families when you are at this level was enough for the Arabs to pull out all the stops and turn their 1-0 deficit into a historic 2-1 victory with the goal of the legendary Salem Al-Dosari.
Messi fell in the first test, the pressure is increasing on his shoulders, and everyone remembers the disappointment of the 2018 World Cup in particular and criticizes Lionel Scaloni's current generation.
Disengagement by goal in Mexico
Everyone was aware that Argentina needed to win against Mexico, otherwise the catastrophe of an early exit loomed on the horizon. A night whose first hero was Lionel Messi, as usual, after he received the ball and fired a powerful shot from outside the penalty area into the net of the World Cup's brilliance specialist, Ochoa.
The pressures calmed down a little with this victory, especially since Poland succeeded in stopping Saudi Arabia's surprise, and qualification became in the hands of Tango, provided that it beats Poland by any result in the last round.
Lewandowski provoked him, so he decided to respond
Messi says about the Poland match in particular that it was important to him on a personal level after Robert Lewandowski’s statements in which he belittled the flea and his winning the Ballon d’Or Messi deliberately dodged Lewandowski on the field and completely ignored the conversation with him.
Messi did not score or assist in this match, and he even missed a penalty kick, but it went smoothly for the Argentines thanks to a brace from Mac Allister and Julian Alvarez, and with it a new chapter begins, the most dangerous and difficult.
Australia cannot find solutions for Messi
What can Australians do when Messi is at his best? A skill that makes it impossible to stand up to him in a 1-on-1 situation, then a low shot goes past goalkeeper Mateo Ryan, and now Argentina is in the quarter-finals in a difficult task against the Netherlands, led by the expert Van Gaal.
Night "What are you looking at, you idiot?"
Van Gaal's statements before the match were very provocative to the Argentine national team players. The psychological warfare practiced by the experienced coach made the match fiery on the field and more like a real war between the Dutch and the Argentines.
But how beautiful it is for Messi to be one of your leaders in the war. His pass for the first goal to Molina may explain what Zinedine Zidane said later: “Messi sees what the rest of the players do not see, three seconds before the ball.” No one knows how he passed and how Molina saw.
Argentina was on the verge of a setback, as the Netherlands came back from 2-0 down to equalize in the last minute, and things got very heated between the two opponents in extra time and the quarrels did not stop, then it was the turn for penalty kicks.
Without a doubt, it was Emiliano Martinez's night, as is usual in penalty shootouts. Virgil van Dijk's kick was blocked, Messi scored his kick without any problems, and Argentina qualified for the semi-finals again.
The most memorable moment from this match occurred afterwards, when Foote Figurst went to Messi to greet him in front of the media after all the quarreling between the players of the two teams. The Argentine thought that he wanted to quarrel with him and launched his famous phrase: “What are you looking at, you idiot? Get out of here.”
Messi spreads his magic
There was talk about Joshko Gvardiol as one of the best centre-backs in the world. This hypothesis was often dropped on the night of the match between Croatia and Argentina in the semi-finals, and the credit goes to what Lionel Messi did to the Leipzig player at the time.
A very smooth 3-0 victory in which Messi scored a goal from a penalty kick and assisted another. A night in which no defender in Croatia could stand against the flea whose goal was clear. Bring me the World Cup final now.
Thank you Kolo Muani..
When you face a star-studded France team headed by Kylian Mbappe, it is a very difficult task, but the way Argentina entered the final confrontation of the 2022 World Cup was perfect, two goals in 36 minutes, the heroism of Messi and Di Maria. Everyone thought things were over and the title went to the Land of Silver.
But do not trust Mbappe, in the second half he led the remontada in the last moments, so the two teams went to an extra half led by Messi. It is assumed that the crisis is over, this is the norm in football, but Mbappe appears again and from a penalty kick equalizes the score.
The last minute's first hero was Emiliano Martinez, Kolo Muani, the young Frankfurt striker, scored a goal alone, an achieved goal saved by the Aston Villa goalkeeper with unparalleled skill, giving the kiss of life to his country by heading to penalty kicks.
Historically, Messi suffered with Argentina when he took decisive penalty kicks, and his kick against Chile in the Copa America is unforgettable, which caused him to retire from international football after that, but every knot has its day, and the 2022 World Cup final was the awaited day for Messi, who put his kick into Hugo Lloris, and then... Martinez shined, and Argentina became world champions.
Messi climbs the podium, wears the Arab abaya, lifts the World Cup, finishes football in his favor...
An unforgettable historical trip in Qatar. Happy anniversary to fans of Argentina and Messi!
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