Argentina has won the men’s soccer World Cup in Qatar by defeating France in the white-knuckle penalty shootout of the final. It was the South American team’s first title in 36 years, and its third overall.
The two powerhouses clashed at Lusail stadium on Sunday. Argentina is third in the FIFA rankings while defending champion France is fourth.
Argentina’s Lionel Messi netted the match opener in the 23rd minute by converting a penalty kick. It added a goal when Angel Di Maria fired a shot on a cross from Alexis McAllister.
France halved the deficit at the 80th minute when Kylian Mbappe narrowly steered the penalty off the goalkeeper’s hands.
The European side finally caught up just one minute later when Mbappe took a pass in the penalty area and volleyed it to the back of the net.
The nail-biter went into extra time.
Argentina bagged a much-awaited goal early in the second extra period when Messi pushed the ball over the goal line after Lautaro Martinez’s shot was parried by the keeper.
But France tied the score again in the 118th minute when Mbappe buried another penalty to complete his hat trick. It was the striker’s eighth goal in the tournament, bringing him to the top of the scoring ranking.
The extra periods ended in a 3-3 draw, leaving the fate of the match to a penalty shootout.
Mbappe and Messi both scored as the first kickers for their respective teams. But two subsequent French players failed to score back to back.
Argentina edged France 4-2 on penalties.
This was Argentina’s third World Cup title. It had previously won the quadrennial competition in 1978 and 1986.
Brazil has five World Cup titles, the most of all sides. It is followed by Germany and Italy at fourth.
Messi participated in a fifth straight World Cup. His start in the final made him the player with the most match appearances in the tournament’s history at 26. The previous record of 25 was established by Germany’s Lothar Matthaus.
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