Argentina’s first football team won the World Cup for the third time after winning 4-2 on penalties over France in the final match, after the end of normal and extra time, with a 3-3 draw in Qatar, on Sunday.
The original time ended with a 2-2 draw, then Argentina advanced with a goal by Lionel Messi from close range at the 108th minute, before France equalized by Kylian Mbappe, and a penalty shootout was resorted to.
Mbappe became the second player in history to score a hat-trick in the World Cup final, after England’s Jeff Hurst, who scored a hat-trick in the World Cup final in a 4-2 victory over West Germany, after extra time in 1966.
Mbappe won the World Cup top scorer award with eight goals, one goal behind his Paris Saint-Germain colleague Messi.
Messi had presented the first goal for Argentina at the 23rd minute from a penalty kick that was calculated after a mistake against Angel Di Maria, who himself added the second goal after a quick counterattack at the 36th.
But Di Maria’s exit after 64 minutes relieved the pressure on France’s defense, which advanced to the attack and scored twice by Mbappe at the 80th and 81st minutes from a penalty kick, to resort to extra time.
Messi, 35, succeeded in making up for the 2014 final loss, fulfilling a long-awaited dream in his last World Cup match, and giving Argentina its third title after winning in 1978 and 1986.
And Di Maria entered the starting line-up surprisingly, according to the good faith of coach Lionel Scaloni, and he won a penalty kick after he dribbled Osman Dembele and then was subjected to an interference that knocked him down.
Captain Messi calmly took the penalty against France captain and goalkeeper Hugo Lloris, sparking wild celebrations at Lusail Stadium, which was packed mostly by Argentina fans.
And from a quick counterattack launched by Messi, the ball reached Alexis McAllister on the right side and sent a pass to Di Maria, who was in a solitary position with goalkeeper Loris and hit the net with a deft touch.
Shortly before the break, France coach Didier Deschamps made two changes, with the exit of striker Olivier Giroud and winger Dembele, and involved wings Randall Kolo Mwani and Marcus Thuram, while Mbappe moved to the center of the spearhead in the hope of achieving an uprising.
The uprising was delayed until near the end, as Mbappe reduced the difference from a penalty kick that was awarded after a mistake by Niklas Otamendi against Kolo Mwani, then one minute later Mbappe exchanged the ball with Thuram and hit a wonderfully direct ball into the net, making the score 2-2.
Messi followed a rebound from goalkeeper Lloris and shot from close range to finally think he had scored the goal to win Argentina the title, but two minutes before the end of extra time, Mbappe equalized from another penalty kick after a handball.
Argentina scored all four penalties, while France wasted twice by Kingsley Coman and Aurelien Choameni, so Messi won almost the only major title missing from his coffers. 
