Sports Desk : dhakamirror.com

Lionel Messi’s last World Cup match was a fantastic one. The Argentine star’s final World Cup was a magnificent conclusion. The start versus Saudi Arabia was disappointing, but the finale was romantic, exhilarating, and visceral.

After the game ended 3-3 after two quarters of extra time at the Lusail International Stadium in front of a mostly Argentine crowd that never stopped cheering, Argentina beat France 4-2 on penalties.

A spectacular save from Martinez to deny Tchoumeni and a miss from Coman allowed Argentina to clinch the WC trophy after having lead the game for the majority.

Even though Argentina’s star player Messi scored twice and Angel Di Maria scored once, they were not able to get ahead because Mbappe scored his first World Cup hat trick, sending the game to penalties.

Argentina came close to winning

Argentina had the first crack at the French goalpost when previous match hero Julian Alvarez placed one for Alexis Mac Allister who let it fly from outside the box, straight into the cupping hands of Lloris. 

France were pinned back within the first 10 minutes as a powerful goal-inbound shot from de Paul in the eighth minute hit a French defender and crashed across the byline. 

Argentina with their buccaneering attitude kept coming back and managed to earn the well-deserved advantage in the 23rd minute via a Messi penalty. 

The penalty was earned by none other than Angel Di Maria who had Dembele on tenterhooks since the beginning of the game. With France tucked in a compact shape, the winger was forced to do the defensive work but came up short against the Argentine. 

In football, especially, these moments come around every time there is a World Cup, for these are tournaments that are often decided by the barest of margins and leave absolutely no room for error. Di Maria and his selection and later his substitution proved to be that moment. 

With the two goals, Messi went ahead of legendary Pele in the number of goals (13) scored at the World Cup.

After the goal, one would have thought that Deschamps’ men would pick up the pace and counter-attack. However, it was Argentina that dictated the play and through sustained pressure managed to double the lead in the 36th minute. 

A swift move started by Messi with an outside-of-the-boot touch in the right-side half-space to Alvarez who guided it to Mac Allister. The Brighton player charged across the turf and calmly placed the ball at the feet of Di Maria who had no trouble in finding the back of the net from that distance. 

France recovers

After the two goals, Deschamps was forced to make quick substitutions around the 40-minute mark as Giroud and Dembele were hooked and replaced by Marcus Thuram and last-match goalscorer Randal Kolo Muani.

With Argentina firmly in the driving seat, Scaloni opted for defensive changes in the second half as Di Maria was replaced by Acuna. And that turned the game on its head. France jumped to life in the 80th minute when Kolo Muani drove at full tilt in the opposition box and got Otamendi to foul him.

Mbappe covered from the spot and nearly 97 seconds later, rifled a half-volley past Martinez to bring France right back into the competition.

The game ended level after 90 minutes and the first quarter of extra time went without much development. However, in the second half of the extra time, Messi produced another moment of brilliance to beat Lloris and bring Argentina to the cusp.

Just when it looked like France were dead and buried, Mbappe, the 23-year-old youngster brought another special trick from his drawer and managed to stun the full house Argentine crowd.

The WC triumph by Messi and his men is all the more memorable because it comes in the backdrop of the start they had to endure. Argentina were flattened by Saudi Arabia in the opening league game.

“It’s a very hard blow for everyone, we didn’t expect to start like this. Things happen for a reason. We should prepare for what’s coming; we have to win, and it depends on us,” said Messi after the game.

Masterclass by Scaloni

The French camp had a tumultuous 48 hours leading into the World Cup final. A serious bout of illness and minor injuries meant that several players were having a race against time to get fit for, arguably, the biggest game of their careers.

Deschamps decided to make two changes to the lineup from the one that played against Croatia. Defender Dayot Upamecaon and midfielder Adrien Rabiot replaced Ibrahima Konate and Youssouf Fofana.

As for Argentina, Scalnoi brought his big match player Ángel Di María in place of Leandro Parades as the only change. With Ousmane Demble not tracking back and Tchoumaeni expected to be loitering high up the pitch, Scaloni’s plan was to overload the left side with Mac Allister and Di Maria teaming up.

The ploy worked like a charm as Di Maria, along with Messi remained one of the most influential players on the field for the men in blue-and-white stripes.

Fairytales captivate

The 26-day World Cup has concluded. It was over in a flash, yet it left fans with lifelong memories.

This game typically conjures fairytales, and fans had only one they wished to come true. Lionel Messi lifting the WC trophy. It happened Sunday.

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The 2022 FIFA World Cup final will be between Argentina and France. The young French superstar Kylian Mbappé will play against the living legend Lionel Messi of Argentina.

France can repeat as World Cup champions after winning in 2018. (the last team to repeat was Brazil in 1962). Messi’s final World Cup may be his last chance to win.

Argentina reached the final after beating Croatia 3-0. The South American team, which lost to Saudi Arabia in its opener and nearly lost to the Netherlands in a penalty shootout in the tournament quarterfinals.

France won the group stage and knockout phase to reach the final. Les Bleus had a hard time against England in the quarterfinals, but they made it to the final after beating Morocco 2-0.

The final has several narratives. Paris Saint-Germain teammates Mbappé and Messi are battling for the World Cup trophy and golden boot (most goals in a World Cup).

Messi has said that this tournament will be his last opportunity to win a World Cup trophy.

Messi is appearing in his second World Cup final in five tournaments, having lost to Germany 1-0 in 2014.

France winning would give Mbappé his second World Cup before 24. Brazilian legend Pelé is the only player to have won three World Cups.

World Cup third-place match

Morocco and Croatia will play the World Cup’s third-place match.

Saturday, December 17, 10 am ET

World Cup Final

France and Argentina will play the World Cup Final.

Sunday, December 18, 10 am ET

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It fit the occasion. Argentina and Croatia, two modern football powerhouses, faced off in the FIFA World Cup’s first semifinal in Qatar’s Lusail Stadium in front of a packed audience. However, one man and one phenomenon, Lionel Messi stole the show.

Messi scored one goal and assisted on two more as Argentina easily dispatched Croatia 3-0, allowing their star player a shot at immortality.

Even though the score looks good, the South American team was slow to start the game. Argentina changed two things from their last game, which was against the Netherlands. Nicolas Tagliafico and Leandro Parades joined the team in place of Marcos Acuna, who was suspended, and Lisandro Martinez, a defender for Manchester United.

On the other hand, Croatia’s team was the same one that beat Brazil on penalties. Scaloni changed the way the team played to make it harder for the midfield of Kovacic, Modric, and Brozovic to pass through the midfield of Casemiro and Paqueta of Brazil.

Argentina played a midfield four with MacAllister, Enzo, Paredes and de Paul attempting to stop the tank of a Croatian midfield. During the first half-an-hour of the game, Croatia looked compact and the midfield three managed to gobble up most of the Argentine transitions.

In the 25th minute, Enzo Fernandez hit a beautiful shot from outside the penalty box that forced Livakovic to make the first save of the game.

Messi’s men will now look to earn Argentina their third World Cup trophy as they take on the winners of Morocco vs France game on Sunday. This will be Argentina’s sixth appearance in the World Cup finals. 

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England’s teenage sensation Jude Bellingham had a breakout World Cup campaign in Qatar. Despite his stellar performance in the quarterfinal against France, England could not progress to the semifinals. Taking to Twitter after the defeat, the 19-year-old said the better team lost on the night. 

“This one will be painful for a very long time. The better team on the night went out, that’s football sometimes,” tweeted Bellingham. 

“Regardless, I’m so proud of the effort, fight and performance from my teammates over the course of the whole tournament.”

The Borussia Dortmund player thanked the fans for sticking by the team and assured them that the three lions will have their time in the sun soon. 

“Thank you also to the fans for the love and support these past few weeks, stick with us even in this low moment as we use this experience to continue to grow as a team for future tournaments. Keep the faith, our time will come.”

England had arrived in the quarterfinals on the back of enterprising performances in the group stage and pre-quarterfinal. Bellingham scored his maiden World Cup goal in the first match against Iran where the three lions smashed six goals. 

However, it was Bellingham’s stellar performance against Senegal that generated significant traction. Bellingham torpedoed across the Sengalese midfield, setting up the first goal and later assisting one for his captain Harry Kane. 

Bellingham’s performance at the World Cup is expected to drive up his transfer price ahead of the winter transfer window. 

Liverpool have been the frontrunner in acquiring the services of the Borussia Dortmund player but with the price tag reaching almost $123 million, Jurgen Klopp and FSG will have to break the bank and smash the club transfer record. 

– input from Agencies was used in this article.

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Morocco held on to the lead when Youssef En-Nesyri headed in from close range in the final minutes of the first half. Ronaldo and his team tried hard and came near several times.

Cristiano Ronaldo cried inconsolably after Portugal lost 1-0 to Morocco in the quarterfinals of the FIFA World Cup in Qatar, which may have been his last World Cup match.

Morocco became the first African nation to reach the final four of the flagship tournament. Before them, Cameroon, Senegal, and Ghana had all lost in the quarterfinals.

Ronaldo, who came on as a substitute early in the second half, was spotted crying as he left the stadium and entered the tunnel.

The unbeaten Moroccan team has had a magnificent World Cup. After a goalless draw against the Croatians in their opening encounter, they defeated Belgium and Canada to get to the knockout stage.

They defeated Spain on penalties in the round of 16 to face Portugal.

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Sports Desk : dhakamirror.com

England will play France on Saturday. With their 3-0 win over Senegal, the Three Lions officially booked their spot in the World Cup quarterfinals.

England played well against the African team after seeing the Netherlands, Argentina, and Les Bleus advance to the round of 16.

In the first half, Senegal had most of the chances, raising concerns of an upset.

Ismaila Sarr was active in front of England’s static backline, threading a pass forward into the penalty area, but Jordan Pickford saved the chance with his left hand.

Harry Maguire twice lost the ball trying to pass from defense to midfield, and Jude Bellingham couldn’t get on the ball. England were sloppy in possession.

Southgate didn’t worry and was convinced his team selection would succeed as the contest went.

Senegal’s penalty shout was the next key incident, but VAR ruled that the ball hit John Stones’ knee before his hand.

England improved their counter-attacking just as Senegal was dreaming of a famous win.

An incisive breakaway saw Bellingham free on the left side, and the Borussia Dortmund midfielder cut the ball back to an onrushing Jordan Henderson, who slid the ball beyond Edouard Mendy.

Senegal had to get to the break at 1-0, but they couldn’t. With time on the clock up, Bellingham again won the ball energetically in midfield and surged through the middle of the pitch.

He expertly rode three attempts of intentional fouls before placing a perfect pass into the path of Phil Foden.

Foden, making use of the last defender, curled the ball into space and Harry Kane netted his first goal of the tournament with a blistering half-volley. England eased through the second-half

In truth, the result was sealed with the right-footed strike from England’s captain, but England were professional in their second-half work.

Southgate was able to make several substitutions to rest players ahead of the aforementioned clash with the defending World Champions.

Yet, Bukayo Saka was able to add a third goal in the early stages of the half.

Foden played some beautiful football with Kane and Luke Shaw, and then he just slid the ball across the box to the Arsenal winger.

Saka chipped the ball over Mendy to finish the rout and make sure England would make it to the quarterfinals for the second straight World Cup.

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Lionel Messi had one of his best games for Argentina in a 2-1 win over Australia on Saturday. This helped his team move on to the quarterfinals of the FIFA World Cup 2022.

Messi, who is 35 years old and is playing in his fifth world cup, is known as one of the best football players of all time. He wants to win the title at the age of 35.

Messi, who is the captain of Argentina, scored his 789th goal to give his team a 1-0 lead in the first half of the knockout match at Doha’s Ahmad bin Ali Stadium. This was his 1,000th game overall.

The scoreline makes it look like it was a tight match, and it was. But Messi had to give something of a master class to put Argentina ahead, and magician did just that.

Messi’s final touch that put the ball in the goal looked pretty easy, but what he did to get there was nothing short of amazing.

Messi said after the game that Argentina is now one step closer to their goal. “We have reached another target. Messi said, “We are one step closer to our objective.” He also thanked the Argentine fans.

Argentina will next face Netherlands in the quarterfinals now.

What’s the cherry on the top?

Lionel Messi has surpassed Diego Maradona and Cristiano Ronaldo as the player with the most goals in FIFA World Cup history.

Messi had a great game against Australia in a match before the quarterfinals on Saturday night. He scored a goal, which was his 9th in all World Cups, and now has more than Maradona and Ronaldo, who each scored eight goals in the tournament.

Messi achieved this feat in his 1000th career game. Also, this was the first time Messi scored a goal in the World Cup knockout stage.

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Argentina advanced to the quarterfinals with a 2-1 win against Australia in their last-16 encounter on Saturday. Lionel Messi and Julian Alvarez scored either side of halftime.

Netherlands, who defeated USA 3-1 tonight, will play Argentina in the quarterfinals on Friday.

The first goal came in the first half when Messi slotted home from just inside the area beyond the reach of goalkeeper Mat Ryan after 35 minutes of a scrappy period of play with the only shot on target in the game so far.

In his 1,000th match, Messi scored his ninth World Cup goal and third of the current tournament, making him the joint-top scorer.

After the game started again, in the 57th minute, Alvarez and Rodrigo De Paul worked together to put pressure on the Australia goalkeeper. Alvarez took advantage of this by putting the ball into an empty net.

In the 77th minute, Argentina’s midfielder Enzo Fernandez deflected a shot into his own net. This gave Australia a chance to get back into the game.

Later, Aziz Behich almost tied the game with a quick run, and the Albiceleste’s substitute Lautaro Martinez missed two clear chances.

The last minutes were nervy, but thanks to goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez, Argentina was able to get through.

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As more of our favorite teams advance from the group stage to the knockout rounds, the World Cup fever continues. However, it can be hard to acquire essential game updates when at work or on the road. Here are the top five apps for real-time match updates. These apps can be downloaded from the Google Play Store and Apple App Store.

FIFA+
The official FIFA tracker app by FIFA themselves is the go-to app to satisfy your World Cup craze. After quickly registering your FIFA+ account, you can use the app to check all sorts of information regarding the ongoing matches, including highlights of past games, scores and leaderboard, each participating team and their stats, etc. You can even additional content such as compilations of best goals, best saves and all goals so far in the tournament. Since this official app asks for your home region during account registration, it provides updates based on your local time. 

Toffee
As a part of the Bangladeshi FIFA audience, you should know by now about Toffee’s free streaming service, which is currently airing the live FIFA World Cup 2022 matches. Aside from live coverage, the Toffee mobile app also has video compilations of match highlights and goals of the week, which can be viewed straight in the app. As for live streaming, Toffee provides two channels: regular and premium, the latter of which comes without ads and requires a subscription.

FotMob
If you are looking for an app to keep track of all your favourite teams in regular non-FIFA leagues, FotMob is a good choice. When opening the app for the first time, it will tell you to choose the teams and players you want to follow. Afterwards, in the app’s ‘Following’ tab, you can easily keep track of your favourite teams and players, including when their next match is, for which league and versus whom. For the ongoing FIFA tournament specifically, the main menu of FotMob shows live updates of the score and information on upcoming matches.

SofaScore
SofaScore is a preferred app for checking updates on all sorts of sports, including but not limited to football, cricket, tennis, basketball, volleyball and even esports. When opening the app, you will be asked to choose the sports you want to follow, after which you can receive a variety of information regarding the games you want to follow. You can also pin the leagues you personally prefer so they appear on the app’s main menu. There’s also an in-progress tournaments section in SofaScore that keeps tracks of many relevant national and international sporting events. As for FIFA, aside from checking live scores, you can also check the app’s power rankings and fan ratings for the ongoing tournament.

365 Scores
Like most other sports tracker apps, you can also choose your favourite leagues and teams to follow on 365 Scores. You can also include players you want to follow to receive notifications regarding their birthdays and special occasions. It also has a News section that collects online articles and journals on ongoing tournaments. The Stats section keeps track of live and past games, which is especially helpful to stay updated during the current FIFA event. There is also an interactive quizzes section that rewards in-app currency for playing games. 

If you aren’t satisfied with these apps, you can always utilize Google Search to see the latest scores, data, and leaderboard for the ongoing FIFA World Cup. Having fast warnings and up-to-date information from dedicated apps, however, is typically the more dependable option.

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Sports Desk : dhakamirror.com

Argentina, led by Lionel Messi, defeated Poland, 2-0, in their final Group C encounter at the World Cup on Wednesday at Stadium 974 in Doha, Qatar. Argentina will now face Australia in the round of 16.

Poland finished second in the group behind Argentina with a better goal differential than Mexico, which beat Saudi Arabia 2-1 but still finished in third place.

Midfielder Alexis MacAllister put Argentina ahead straight after the break with a low first-time shot after a flowing passing move, while Julian Alvarez shot past Poland goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny in the 67th minute to make it 2-0.

Szczesny was Poland’s hero in the first half when he produced a diving stretch save to keep Messi from scoring a penalty after his outstretched hand made contact with the Argentine striker’s face.

– Input from News Agencies was used in this article.

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