The FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 will be remembered in the coming years as the best in history with a memorable final and a tournament that had multiple upsets and dreams runs.
The first to be hosted in the Middle East, the first to be played in November-December, and the first of its size to be held in such a small geographical area, the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar had many firsts.
There were many doubts in the run up to the event. The host nation has a population of less than 2.9 million and its stadiums are all within a 35-mile radius as questions naturally arose about how Qatar and its infrastructure would cope.
Others wondered how the on-field performances would be impacted by the tournament taking place in the middle of most players’ domestic seasons, with reduced preparation time an inevitable consequence.
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One by one, of course, those doubts were swept away by the beautiful game.
The biggest shock of the World Cup came when Saudi Arabia defeated eventual winners Argentina, the only match they lost in their title march.
South Korea defeated Portugal, with Ghana doing just enough to deny Uruguay, in their last group game.
Japan, had arguably the most topsy-turvy tournament, as they defeated Germany and Spain but the historic wins were sandwiched by a narrow loss to Costa Rica.
Spain scraped through but only to be shocked in the penalty shootout by Morocco. The Atlas Lions made history, beating Portugal, to become the first African team to play in the semi-finals of a FIFA World Cup. They finished fourth eventually, losing to Croatia in the third-place playoff.
The final was dominated by Lionel Messi and France’s Kylian Mbappe.
Messi landed the first blow as he lashed home a 23rd minute penalty before helping set up Angel Di Maria’s second shortly before the half-time.
Not to be outshone, Mbappe dispatched his own penalty with ten minutes to go to give Les Bleus a glimmer. Just sixty seconds later, he brought the game level with a well-taken volley to send the game into extra-time.
Messi then appeared to have won it when he prodded home a loose ball in the 108th minute, but Mbappe picked himself up off the canvas to tuck home another penalty. The pair then converted their respective spot-kicks but two France misses helped Argentina to a first World Cup trophy since 1986.
Messi’s efforts in dragging Argentina over the line saw him win the Golden Ball for the second time in his career, after 2014 (he’s the first player to claim the award twice). He is the first player in World Cup history to net in the group stage, round of 16, quarter-final, semi-final and final in a single edition of the competition.
His appearance in the final saw him become the outright record holder for most World Cup appearances – his 26 overtaking Lothar Matthaus. He also scored 13 goals to become Argentina’s all-time leading scorer at the event, three clear of Gabriel Batistuta.
Messi’s 21 World Cup goal contributions is also a World Cup record, since 1966.
With eight goals in seven appearances, Mbappe produced the highest-scoring World Cup by any individual player since Ronaldo emerged with an identical haul from the 2002 edition. He also became just the fifth player in the tournament history to score in separate finals, the first to score a final hat-trick since Geoff Hurst in 1966.
Apart from Messi and Mbappe, Harry Kane netted his 52nd and 53rd international goal as the England captain moved alongside Wayne Rooney as the Three Lions’ all-time record scorer. Olivier Giroud scored four times to move on to 53 – two clear of Thierry Henry’s previous record of 51 – to become France’s all-time leading goal scorer.
Hugo Lloris surpassed Lilian Thuram (142) as France’s all-time record caps holder and also became the first goalkeeper to reach the milestone of 20 World Cup appearances. Neymar also equalled Pele’s 77-goal haul to become Brazil’s joint-record scorer.
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