In the end, the exciting and creative football on the field won out over the many negatives that swirled around the hosting of the FIFA 2022 Football World Cup in the tiny Arab nation of Qatar.
France, seemingly conquered and left behind by Argentina 2-0 with a mere 10 minutes before the final whistle, experienced an adrenaline rush as its star striker, Kyllian Mbappe, levelled the scores, first from the penalty spot and another in which he displayed his amazing shooting ability.
However, the heart-stopping excitement was far from done. As the world knows now, two more goals, one each by the stars of the teams, Lionel Messi and Mbappe, levelled the scores at 3-3 taking the game into extra time, eventually requiring penalty kicks for a decision.
If anyone were to be singled out, alongside Messi for taking Argentina to victory 4-2 on penalties, it must be the big Argentina goalkeeper, Emiliano Martinez. He not only saved a penalty but surely intimidated French penalty kicker, Gonzalo Monteil, into kicking wide of the post. There are heroes and villains of the piece: Monteil not only caused France a penalty; he missed his chance.
If not in quality and dynamic football by both teams throughout the game, the amazing excitement and goal tussle between two of the giants of modern football, Messi and Mbappe, give a measure of credence to the claim of the television commentators that it was the “greatest World Cup final of all time.”
What is certain is that the players, the teams, all of them in the tournament, rescued the 2022 FIFA World Cup from the pre-tournament complaints and damnation about the stringency of the practice of Islamic culture and way of life of the people of Qatar.
Even before a ball was spotted to be kicked, the above and more, such as the likelihood of persons from the LBGTQ community being denied entry and joyful participation in the tournament, were the issues which seemed certain to have made FIFA’s 2022 staging of the finals a failure.
Even the former FIFA president, Sepp Blatter, expressed great regret that he and his administration had awarded the tournament to Qatar.
He, however, did not tell the world why he was first, part of the decision-making body to have the finals played in the Arab country, and why he has now changed his mind.
Seemingly tired of the criticism spread far and wide in the Western media about the Qatar World Cup, Blatter’s successor, FIFA President, Gianni Infantino, blasted the attacks on the country, its culture and way of life, and went as far as deeming them to be racist. At the end of the tournament, Mr Infantino said the Qatar event was “the greatest World Cup ever.”
What was surely on display in the wonderfully appointed stadia with tens of thousands inside, was the narrowing of the distance between the traditional giants of football in Europe and South America and the rest. Notably, Morocco became the first African nation team to advance to the semi-finals.
FIFA has announced that the next finals, to be played in the USA, will consist of 48 teams thus opening the competition even further for increased participation outside of the traditional dominant footballing nations. VIVA Football!