How Argentina won the 2022 World Cup: a final that refused to end

For 79 minutes in Lusail, Argentina had a final they could understand. They were two goals ahead, France were struggling to find a route back, and the trophy was close enough for the crowd to begin imagining the ceremony. Within minutes, that version of the evening had gone.

Argentina eventually beat France 4–2 on penalties after a 3–3 draw on 18 December 2022. The result gave them their third men's World Cup title. It also left an awkward task for anyone trying to explain the game: where, exactly, should the story start?

Di María gives Argentina the first advantage

Lionel Messi's penalty in the 23rd minute opened the scoring. Ángel Di María added the second in the 36th, finishing a move that carried Argentina swiftly into the space France had left behind.

Di María mattered for more than his goal. His presence on the left gave Argentina a different route towards the penalty area, rather than requiring every attack to pass through Messi. The second goal is the clearest illustration: movement and a quick exchange of passes turned a defensive situation into a finish at the far end.

For anyone revisiting the match, that first half deserves attention in its own right. The late drama can obscure how convincingly Argentina established their lead. Their final was initially a demonstration of control, not a desperate attempt to stay level.

Mbappé changes the match in two minutes

Kylian Mbappé scored a penalty in the 80th minute and equalised in the 81st. France had gone from needing a rescue to forcing Argentina to begin again.

A two-goal lead can change how a team reads risk. Once that cushion disappears, even familiar decisions become harder: push forward and leave space, or retreat and invite another attack? Argentina now had to answer those questions under the pressure of a final they had seemed ready to win.

France's recovery is why the match cannot be reduced to Messi finally collecting the trophy. Mbappé gave the opposing story equal force. There was an exceptional French performance inside an Argentine triumph, and the archive needs room for both.

Extra time produces another reversal

Messi put Argentina ahead again in the 108th minute. Mbappé's second penalty, in the 118th, completed his hat-trick and restored the draw. Neither lead had been enough to close the evening.

The late chance for Randal Kolo Muani, stopped by Emiliano Martínez, belongs beside the goals when explaining the outcome. Argentina's eventual success depended on a goalkeeper keeping the contest alive as well as on forwards creating the lead.

It is tempting to tell a champion's story backwards, as though the last penalty makes everything before it inevitable. This final resists that treatment. France were close enough to winning it for the alternative ending to remain visible even after the celebrations.

Four penalties, and the title

Martínez saved Kingsley Coman's attempt in the shoot-out; Aurélien Tchouaméni then missed. Argentina converted all four of their kicks, with Gonzalo Montiel taking the decisive one. The shoot-out score was 4–2; those goals are recorded separately from the 3–3 match score.

Argentina's title was therefore won in several different ways during the same evening: through the fluency of their opening, their response to losing a lead, and their execution from the penalty spot. Messi was central to the achievement, but the final also gave Di María, Martínez and Montiel moments without which its ending would have been different.

How to revisit the final

Start with Di María's role before moving to the last ten minutes of normal time. Then watch the end of extra time before the shoot-out. That order preserves the changes in the match instead of treating the six goals as a collection of isolated highlights.

This is an editorial retrospective, not a contemporaneous report or an account from inside the stadium. The official match report and FIFA's retrospective below provide the reference record for the result and scoring sequence.