December 18, 2022: A controversial World Cup comes to an end with a classic Final, won by Argentina, lifting its biggest star, Lionel Messi, into a legitimate place in the discussion for the title of the greatest player in the history of soccer.
The tournament never should have been given to Qatar. We all know that this country -- bigoted toward women, Jews and gays -- never should have been considered, let alone given the tournament. But the country's royal family guaranteed FIFA, the governing body of world soccer, its most profitable World Cup ever, and got it. As with Russia 2018, it was a bribe. (UPDATE: In 2023, Saudi Arabia was awarded the 2030 World Cup, for the same reason.)
Throw in the moving of the tournament from late Spring and early Summer to late Autumn, due to the intense Middle East heat, the fact that the construction of these stadiums was a reminder of the plight of migrant labor, and even a reminder that there are places in this world where slavery still exists, and it was, clearly, the worst World Cup ever, from an administrative standpoint, surpassing the ones hosted by fascist governments in Italy in 1934, Argentina in 1978, and Russia in 2018.
The time zone differences were a minor issue. Certainly, it was more workable than in 2002, when Japan and South Korea teamed to hold it. If Australia -- with or without New Zealand stepping in as co-hosts -- want to host it in 2030 or beyond, that will have to be dealt with. The tournament has to be convenient for the hosts, but the rest of the world's needs also need to be taken into consideration. (At least Australia is a free country, and, due to having held the Olympics in 2000, and having a thriving A-League, would have the infrastructure already in place.)
A defeat during the Group Stage doesn't necessarily mean disaster. Argentina were upset by Saudi Arabia. It ended up not mattering, any more than did the most embarrassing Group Stage loss ever, West Germany falling to political (if not footballing) arch-rival East Germany on West German soil in 1974.
The English love to remind the Americans of certain things. "It's called 'football,' not 'soccer.'" The English love to remind us that they invented the sport. They did not. They invented its organization, but even that was a co-invention with the Scots. They love to remind us that they've won the World Cup, and we haven't. Well, we've won 4 World Cups. When they hear that, They say the women's game doesn't count. Then that means that their women's team, which has been more successful recently than their men's team, gets insulted.
And England claiming superiority because they've won 1 of the 17 World Cups, and that 1 being 56 years ago, is like Toronto Maple Leafs fans claiming 13 Stanley Cups, when they haven't even made the Finals since 1967. At least the New York Yankees have won 7 of their 27 World Series since England '66 and Toronto '67, and that's still the most since then, as well as overall.
And when the game was played, the U.S. did not play well, and England controlled the game most of the way. And still, it ended 0-0. It had all the markings of a Premier League game where Arsenal dominate but still can't find a win. England were better, but couldn't prove it on the scoreboard.
It was better for England than the 2010 match in South Africa, which became a 1-1 draw thanks to Rob Green's "Hand of Clod" mishandling of a Clint Dempsey shot. That was reminiscent of an Arsenal failure to win because of a fluke goal that never should have happened. For the vast majority of English fans, who like to mock Arsenal, the shoe seems to go on the other foot every 4 years.
Throw in the biggest upset in World Cup history, America's 1950 win over England in Brazil, and the record is as follows: American wins, 1; draws, 2; England wins, exactly none. For all their braggadocio, England have never beaten America at the World Cup.
The draw with England was encouraging, but it followed a draw with England's neighbors, Wales. That was depressing: We led 1-0 after 80 minutes, but indiscipline took over, and we gave away a stupid penalty.
This put us in a position where we had to beat Iran, which had the world supporting them as their people finally seem to have taken the initiative in challenging their evil religious-fanatic government. We won, but it was a very sluggish 1-0, and we felt like the least deserving team in the last 16.
And then we had to play the Netherlands, one of the teams that always seems to grab the world's attention at the World Cup. Haji Wright's goal to pull us within 2-1 was quickly canceled out, and the Dutch won, 3-1.
After not making the tournament at all the time before, making the knockout stage this time was a success. But the Dutch showed us that the difference between Top 16 and Top 8 is big. Manager Gregg Berhalter earned the right to be the man to bridge that difference, but, bridge it, he must, if we are to go any further than this on home soil in 2026.
To go with superstar midfielder Christian Pulisic, we need an out-and-out scorer, and we need stronger defenders. And it's not like "club football," where we can just go out and buy them. They have to be trained. Maybe Berhalter can bring Arsène Wenger in as a consultant, to help them develop "the quality" and "the mental strength." Because, for now, as to either one, we can truthfully say, "I did not see it."
One person who will never get to see it is Grant Wahl, a journalist who did as much as anyone in the MLS era to spread knowledge of soccer through America. The 49-year-old native of the Kansas side of the Kansas City area, a Princeton graduate, wrote the 2002 Sports Illustrated cover story that introduced the world to a high school basketball star named LeBron James, and continued to write for SI on the subject of soccer, for which Fox Sports hired him as a studio analyst.
He was in the press box watching the Quarterfinal between Argentina and the Netherlands, which Argentina won on penalties (of course: When it comes to penalties, the Dutch are famously as useless as the English), when he collapsed in his seat. Despite his detainment by Qatari authorities after flouting their rules against political statements, and subsequent death threats, it was quickly determined that his claims of feeling unwell were due to an aortic aneurysm, which ruptured.
After showing Senegal the difference between Teams 1 through 8 and Teams 9 through 16, England had to face France, and were lucky to be level going into the 78th minute, when former Arsenal star Olivier Giroud scored for France.
In the 84th minute, the Three Lions were awarded a penalty, and, of course, it would be Harry Kane, golden boy for England and Tottenham Hotspur, who took it. But his former Tottenham teammate, France goalkeeper Hugo Lloris, stopped him. After his giveaway performance in Russia 2018, and now this, any discussion of whether Kane, a known diver for penalties, is "world class" needs to end.
Of course, Kane wasn't the only choker. England haven't had a good defense in 30 years, and, once again, their attack tightened up after falling behind. For England, at least historically, the difference between Teams 1 through 4 and Teams 5 through 8 might be bigger than the U.S.'s difference between Teams 1 through 8 and Teams 9 through 16.
No team from the African continent had ever reached a World Cup Semifinal. The only Muslim-majority country to have done so was Turkey in 2002. But Morocco won Group F. Then, avenging their geopolitical defeat of the Middle Ages, they beat Spain on penalties after a 0-0 draw, with goalkeeper Yassine Bounou stopping 3 penalties. "Bono" then played his club soccer in Spain, for Sevilla.
They faced Portugal in the Quarterfinal. Portugal were expected to play hard in what was to be the last World Cup for Cristiano Ronaldo. But Morocco held them, and Bounou's Sevilla teammate Youssef En-Nesyri scored in the 42nd minute, and Morocco were through to the Semifinal.
Which meant that they would face their former colonial overlords, France, the defending Champions. The dream ended quickly, as France scored in the 5th minute, and Morocco never looked like scoring. France added a goal to make the final 2-0.
As Croatia had done in the previous tournament by reaching the Final and holding their own in it, Morocco had won the world's hearts, but someone else would win the World Cup. It would be between, France, Les Bleus, and Argentina, La Albiceleste (the Sky Blues), at the Lusail Iconic Stadium, in Lusail, outside the Qatari capital of Doha. Fox broadcast it in America.
Only once before had a player scored 3 goals -- known among hockey fans as a "hat trick," and the term has drifted to soccer -- in a World Cup Final. That was Geoff Hurst of England in 1966, and the 2nd of those goals remains controversial.
Kylian Mbappé was a big reason why France won in 2018. He stood to be an even bigger reason why France won in 2022, had they done so. For the 1st 80 minutes of the Final, France did practically nothing in attack. They couldn't: Argentina just controlled the ball the whole way. There was no doubt in my mind that Argentina were the better team.
That said, it was a very rough game. Argentina have been accused of dirty tactics by the world's English-language media since their performance in England in 1966, and this game was no exception. Eventually, the French began replying with their own roughhousing.
I watched the game at Jack Doyle's, a bar in Midtown Manhattan, supporting France but surrounded by Argentina fans. A few of them had been in America long enough to get the joke, adapted from comedian Rodney Dangerfield's line about going to a prizefight: "I went to the World Cup, and a hockey game broke out!" The fact that this bar was only 2 blocks from Madison Square Garden deepened the connection.
Argentina's 1st goal was a penalty, given after an obvious dive by Ángel Di María. No surprise there, because he's spent most of his career at teams where cheating is the norm: Real Madrid, Manchester United, and was then with Juventus. Of course, the penalty was taken by their premier player, Messi.
It would have been hard to say Argentina cheated their way to victory, though, had the subsequent score of 2-0 held up: In the 36th minute, they had a strong setup, leading to a very nice goal by Di María, totally legit. "Ballgame," I said at the time. "France are not coming back from this."
And, until the 80th minute, it looked like I was right. But Randal Kolo Mouani was brought down in the box. That gave France a penalty and a lifeline. Mbappé took it and scored, and France had a chance. Just 1 minute later, Mbappé scored brilliantly from open play. It was 2-2. Argentina had blown a game they had controlled for its 1st 87 percent. As the old English soccer saying goes, "Two-nil, and they fucked it up!"
The last 10 minutes were nervy. And, as usual, given the heat and the injury stoppages, there were 8 minutes of stoppage time, but neither team could find a 3rd goal. On to extra time.
In the 108th minute, Messi fired. The ball crossed the goal line, but was kicked out by a France player before it could reach the back of the next. VAR (Video-Aided Refereeing) showed that the goal was complete, and it was properly awarded. Argentina, again, had it won.
Except, again, they didn't. A handball in the box by Gonzalo Montiel meant another penalty for France. Mbappé took it, and it was 3-3. After 123 minutes -- 134 minutes, counting all the stoppage time -- referee Szymon Marciniak of Poland blew his whistle, and this insane game was not over yet. It went to penalties.
France won the toss, and elected to kick first, against Argentina goalkeeper Emiliano Martínez, of Aston Villa of Birmingham, England -- and, formerly, of Arsenal. There was no question that Mbappé was going to take the 1st one for them, even if it wouldn't be credited as a record-breaking 4th goal in a Final. He made it. Likewise, there was no question that the 1st Argentine to shoot toward Lloris would be Messi. He made it.
But in the 2nd Round, Martínez stopped Kingsley Coman. Paulo Dybala made it 2-1 Argentina. And then, after having a great tournament for France, Real Madrid's Aurélien Tchouaméni missed the net completely, shooting wide left. Leandro Parades made it 3-1. Kolo Muani converted to keep France going, but Montiel, a right back for Sevilla in the club game, converted to give Argentina the 4-2 win, and their 3rd World Cup.
And to give Lionel Messi the World Cup that had previously been denied to him, as he'd been with Argentina as they lost to Germany in penalties at the 2006 Quarterfinals; were knocked out by Germany in regular time at the 2010 Quarterfinals; lost to Germany yet again, in extra time, in the 2014 Final; and were knocked out by France in the Round of 16 in 2018. Finally, the "GOAT" (Greatest Of All Time) had removed the only doubt as to that title, by winning the biggest trophy of all, the one that had, until now, eluded him.
Pelé -- whose illness prevented his attendance at the World Cup for the 1st time since 1954, and who died before the month was out -- won 3 World Cups, was definitively the best player in the world longer than the debate between Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo has raged; and, unlike Messi and Cristiano, never had to cheat, or to benefit from his teammates' cheating.
But Messi and Argentina had the World Cup. Although I didn't like the result, it was a great way to end a very shady tournament.
*
December 18, 2022 was a Sunday. As crazy as the World Cup Final was, in America, it was, beyond any doubt, the craziest weekend in NFL history, and I have a separate entry for that.
There were no college football bowl games. Baseball was out of season. There were 7 games in that NBA that day:
* The New York Knicks beat the Indiana Pacers, 109-106 at the Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.
* The Brooklyn Nets beat the Detroit Pistons, 124-121 at the Little Caesars Arena in Detroit.
* The Orlando Magic beat the Boston Celtics, 95-92 at the TD Garden in Boston.
* The Golden State Warriors beat the Toronto Raptors, 126-110 at the Scotiabank Arena in Toronto.
* The Minnesota Timberwolves beat the Chicago Bulls, 150-126 at the Target Center in Minneapolis.
* The Denver Nuggets beat the Charlotte Hornets, 119-115 at the Ball Arena in Denver.
* And the Los Angeles Lakers beat the Washington Wizards, 119-117 at the Crypto.com Arena.
And there were 5 games played in the NHL:
* In an "Original Six" matchup, the New York Rangers beat the Chicago Blackhawks, 7-1 at the United Center in Chicago. The Rangers pulled off the unusual feat of having 7 different scorers: Filip Chytil, Artemi Panarin, Kaapo Kakko, Jacob Trouba, Vincent Trochck, Vitali Kravtsov and Jonny Brodzinski.
* The Carolina Hurricanes beat the Pittsburgh Penguins, 3-2 at the PNC Arena (now the Lenovo Center) in Raleigh, North Carolina.
* The Minnesota Wild beat the Ottawa Senators, 4-2 at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minnesota.
* The Calgary Flames beat the San Jose Sharks, 5-2 at the SAP Center in San Jose.
* And the Seattle Kraken beat the Winnipeg Jets, 3-2 at the Canada Life Centre in Winnipeg.
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