Sunday’s dramatic World Cup final between Argentina and France was one for the ages, with Lionel Messi cementing his standing as the best soccer player ever, while Kylian Mbappé established why he may be the next best.
When Argentina’s Angel Di Maria was awarded the softest of penalties in the first half of the World Cup final, the French supporters at the Black Horse pub in Park Slope were livid. “They’re giving it to him!” they cried, referring not to Di Maria but to Lionel Messi, the man who would convert the penalty and, five goals and a shootout later, hoist the solid-gold trophy that once and for all secured his legacy as the greatest player of all time.
There was a sense that the universe was willing Messi to win, that this was the only right and fitting end to both his international career and this deeply satisfying tournament, though in truth he had to earn it over 120-plus minutes of wild and unpredictable soccer, playing the game of his life and overcoming a bravura performance from France’s Kylian Mbappé, who became the first person to score a hat trick in a World Cup final since England’s Geoff Hurst in 1966.
World Cup finals are usually cagey or one-sided affairs. Today’s game was neither, an evenly matched contest that featured a plethora of goals and that kept fans guessing all the way to the conclusion.
