I just noticed that one of the French players did “play it low” against Martinez and Argentina at 120 minutes for what would have been a game-winning goal for France, but Martinez saved it superbly. So…some sort of justice/vindication for 2014?
Wonder who will retire internationally. Messi has more or less said he will. Do Maria looks likely to go as well. Modric is also like a goner as is Mueller and while CR7 is never going to retire he probably won’t get picked going forward.
Lloris probably. Grizemann I think will play the Euros.
Generally, players like to time their retirements with WC or Euro/continental cup cycle. This time since it’s already late December, and 18 months to the Euros many who might otherwise have seen the WC as their last hurrah will possibly decide to play the Euros.
Modric has said he’ll play at least until the UEFA Nation’s League next year.
Well, regardless of the outcome, it is clear that PSG won 
//i\\
It would have been Griezmann who would have taken the two penalties Mbappe took, he is their regular kick taker and Giroud is after him. Dead ball is actually one of the few areas where Mbappe isn’t as good as others. He missed the penalty in the Euros. For their first penalty there was a discussion who should take it until Mbappe basically said “I’ll do it.”. As it was two of his penalties came close to being saved.
That aside, while sacrificing Giroud was a tactical move to get Mbappe to the center, why did he remove Grizemann? A couple of the very late chances they had at the end of both normal and extra time which went abegging, Grizemann probably make them.
Oof Martinez
The look on the Qatari’s face 
El Dibu is like that, I think he won the right.
I mean, he gave us this:
https://imgur.com/BmnXzy3
Goalies just aren’t right in the head. Crosses all sports, I believe.
Emi is more crazy than most, I think. His antics during PKs are legendary and go way beyond the typical mind games. But it clearly works and it just won his nation the World Cup, so…
I remember old futbol experts in Argentina celebrating after Dibu did something like that against Colombia “You cannot win the world cup without a psycho GK” they said.
Any word on the total viewership ratings for the final game? 1 billion people watching?
I got to see the game and its aftermath in Buenos Aires (sorry for not posting sooner, but I was dealing with travel back to the US). It was crazy, raised to the 4th power. The swing in emotions from 2-0 to 2-2 was dramatic - almost unbearable. Going to penalty kicks at 3-3 felt like casting the country’s future happiness on a roll of the dice. I think reaction to the Martinez PK save could be heard 80 km away.
I told my Argentine friend that the game would be remembered for a hundred years (which may be an underestimate).
We then had to make our way to the airport, hoping to stay clear of the crowds celebrating. About half the folks we saw were wearing #10 Messi jerseys. I saw some leading dogs wearing capes with #10.
We miscalculated the extent of the surging crowds, and got held up by rivers of people headed to the Obelisco and Avenida 9 de Julio. I saw estimates that 2 million people were there, and pictures I’ve seen say this may be right (or even low). Airport drive was an hour longer than normal; some reported 2+ hour delays.
What a game. What a day for Argentina.
Has there been a goal of the tournament voted on yet?
It probably is, yeah. I and many other baseball fans can tell you about games played 100+ years ago, and those games weren’t broadcast live to three or four billion people.
I don’t think that’s an official category, but it should be. I vote for Brazilian Richarlison’s goal against South Korea, where be balanced the ball with his head, passed the ball and ran into the box to get it back and score. That was a piece of art.
Sorry! I was probably one of those.
I read somewhere before that being a goalkeeper, by definition, requires an unusual mentality. It’s a position where you’re judged solely off “bad-prevention” - preventing bad things from happening as opposed to being a striker, whose job it is to make good things happen.
So when all you’re focused on is preventing bad, and you are the last line of defense, and making even just 1 or 2 mistakes can doom your entire nation, it requires a special mindset, sometimes bordering on obsessive or psychopathic.
Also, playing keeper in soccer means you can play 89 great minutes, mess up for one minute, and be the goat.
Whereas playing striker means you can play 89 lousy minutes, have one great minute, and be the hero.
It’s a little Odd Couple-ish.
I’m really glad Argentina won.
For one thing, there is a small group of national teams that I cheer for at every World Cup : England, Italy, Germany and Argentina, roughly in that order. One of my favourites made it and that’s good.
For another, I like variety and having the same team winning all major tournaments gets boring fast, to me at least. The years of Spanish dominance, when they won two Euros and one World Cup back to back, made me lose almost all interest in the game at the time.
Finally, and that’s the icing on the cake, France lost. I’m half French culturally and its a heritage I cherish, but their insufferable arrogance in sports, and football in particular, just begs for some karmic retribution.
For the record, I’m pretty sure it’s the first time since 1982 that I didn’t watch a single minute of the World Cup. Part of it is due to my not having a TV set, part of it to the human rights brouhaha surrounding the selection of Qatar as the host. But most of it is just that I don’t care much for football anymore.
Still, ARGENTINA !
They are going to have to pry the cup from Messis fingers in 2026. He is currently sleeping with it.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CmYyND_OYMl/?igshid=MWI4MTIyMDE=