The 2022 World Cup final will go down as arguably the greatest bookend to the world’s most popular sporting event in history.
Though this will be hotly debated for years to come as part of the post-tournament discussion surrounding the Arab world’s first job as host, what cannot be denied is that the drama that unfolded in the eight stadia around Qatar has, from start to finish, kept billions on the edge of their seat for a month of mid-season action that will be tough to top moving forward.
For former defending champions France, Les Bleus went from the top of the world four years ago to having to witness Lionel Messi finally win the one trophy that had long been elusive across his storied club career. But despite their penalty shootout loss, Kylian Mbappé and co. fought back from a two-goal deficient come the halftime interval to force extra time before trying to take their chances from 12 yards out.
Didier Deschamps à la mi-temps d’Argentine-France : « Vous connaissez la différence entre eux et nous ? C’est que eux jouent une finale de Coupe du Monde ! Nous on la joue pas ! » 😡
(@TF1) pic.twitter.com/WAxSLBEoFs
— BeFootball (@_BeFootball) December 19, 2022
And according to French outlet BeFootbal, a portion of what head coach Didier Deschamp’s said to rally his troops during the mid-way stoppage has been revealed.
“Do you know the difference between them and us? It’s because they are playing a World Cup final! We don’t play it!”
What Deschamps said rang true, with the South American giants jumping to a 1-0 lead in the 23rd minute courtesy of a Messi penalty before doubling their advantage thirteen minutes later through friend and clubmate Ángel Di María.
Both nations played out drama football pitch that has rarely ever been seen before, and certainly may not be seen again for years in a World Cup final, but for what it is worth, Deschamps seemingly deserves a fair bit of credit for inspiring his men to fight back while almost securing immortality.
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