There are a few games that assign winners, but instead foster an entire dynasty. The 2022 FIFA World Cup Final between France and Argentina was one of those. The spectators in Qatar experienced 90 minutes of intense passion and 30 minutes of utter madness, and a never-ending penalty shootout that made the entire world gasp.
Some would say it wasn’t a game, but a work of art, a musical piece, and a theatre rolled into one. The tension that builds with every goal was a reminder of how the world of betting on football works. Relive the moment with us and forward this to your fellow football fans who die hard for football drama.
The Perfect Backdrop for Immortality
It was set up to spectacular proportions in the final. Lionel Messi carried Argentina’s expectation, Kylian Mbappé, France’s promise. The drama needed ninety minutes, but football stretched it out dozens of hours more. People everywhere streamed clips on pages like Melbet Indonesia, a sportsbook and casino page that enables fans to replay historic battles. Reruns took every turn, so this game lingered, lingered far beyond its whistle. The theatre was huge, the stakes enormous, and the performers delivered for the era.
The Qatar final showed how the World Cup remains football’s greatest theatre. Scoring goals was not just about it, but two countries baring their hearts.
Why Fans Call It the Best Game
There are several reasons the 2022 final differed from all others. From solo brilliance to collective determination, every aspect of football perfection was on display that night.
Key Reasons Behind the Greatness
- Dramatic Scoreline — Argentina led 2–0, France equalized, Argentina struck again, then France forced penalties.
- Iconic Performances — Messi and Mbappé each produced moments worthy of their legacies.
- Unpredictable Swings — The game shifted from certainty to chaos, keeping fans glued until the end.
- Emotional Weight — Messi’s career-defining triumph added layers of meaning.
Fans love matches that feel larger than life. This one did so every ten minutes.
The game delivered every plot twist at once: redemption, heartbreak, and destiny. It was a film written in the moment.
Comparing the Numbers to Other Finals
Numbers also confirm the 2022 final was unique. It wasn’t just thrilling — it was historically unique.
| Year | Teams | Goals Scored | Extra Time | Penalties |
| 1954 | West Germany vs Hungary | 5 | No | No |
| 1966 | England vs Germany | 4 | Yes | No |
| 1986 | Argentina vs Germany | 5 | No | No |
| 2022 | Argentina vs France | 6 | Yes | Yes |
No other end-of-season filled six goals, extra time, and a penalty shootout. That statistic cocktail makes 2022 unique.
The facts prove what feelings I already knew — this was football in all its madness. It had the bedlam of goals plus the tension of penalties for a one-off climax.
Messi vs Mbappé: A Duel for the Ages
Apart from teams, the last then turned into a duel of two legends. Messi, in perhaps his last World Cup, scored twice and converted the shootout. Mbappé, at only 23 years of age, scored a hat-trick and yet lost — a paradox of greatness.
Their duel encapsulated the past and future converging in the present. One was looking for closure; the other, opening a new book. This face-off took the final to the realm of folklore. Fans did not observe goals — they observed history being passed from one generation to the next. The Messi-Mbappé encounter transformed the final into mythology. Football seldom offered such equanimity between endings and beginnings.
The Emotions That Captured the World
What truly separates 2022 is the atmosphere. Stadium cameras captured tears, gasps, and smiles that resonated through living rooms worldwide. Millions stayed up at unreasonable hours just to witness the drama.
Redeeming Argentina. Heartache served with a dash of pride for France. Unadulterated joy for neutrals. Each shot is a story of resolve, tension, and liberation. Few matches leave one’s heart so indelibly marked.
Strangers embraced, parents clutched children. Generations shared a shared emotional rhythm across the world. That shared humaneness is why 2022 will never be forgotten.
Penalties: The Last Frontier of Football
Penalties are brutal enough, but imagine having to single-handedly convert one in the final of a Cup. In Qatar, with every heartbeat, a stadium-sized lightning bolt thrust and rumbled. Slow and steady, Messi hit the first, and the shoe was strutting down the runway, claiming that ‘the drama was happy’. Same with Mbappé.
This drama was also constructed and personified by Argentine Emiliano Martinez, who, torn between a psychological monologue of a hero and a wuss, decided to do both and built the tension and the morale that the spectators needed to haul in the victory along with Martinez. And in the process, he crowned himself as a hero and instantaneously turned the rest of the country into one.
This is also because the spectators faced pure joy and only joy during, and pain and only pain before the match. The drama that followed was unmatched. The country is completely detached and lost in reality, which seems to be a state of pure joy and only joy. And all of this was the result of a single shot by Gonzalo Montiel, which vanquished the nation. The rest of the game is the only testament and proof needed for the greatness that the game has reached. The rest of the game, without a single doubt, is nothing but pure and complete immortality.
The absolute peak of football has been reached. The 2022 World Cup Final, unlike every other in history, was constructed with a foundation of emotions. Why do the rest of the billions love this game? The answer is because, when Messi lifts the trophy for the first time with Mbappe just beside him, standing completely still, the answer to the question holds for itself.
In every era, every generation, the essence of the sport continues to evolve, one might say, with every new stride. For decades, the argument about ‘the best game’ will hinge on the 2022 final. To watch it unfold, even to be an onlooker, was an experience that tantalized the senses and the boundaries of logic and order were stretched to ecstatic extremes. The game will continue to aspire toward this utter and absolute zenith of achievement.