Coming into this World Cup, I had no clue what to expect because of all the controversies surrounding it. However, after watching all 64 games, I can proudly say that this is the best World Cup that I have ever seen. Starting with the most exciting group stage I’ve ever seen, followed by stunning upsets in the knockout stage, and the best final ever to take place, which allowed the best player in the world to finally get that trophy. 

Before I do a deep dive into recapping the whole tournament, here is a review of the two games this weekend…

Croatia 2 – 1 Morocco

I must admit that my prediction of how this game would go was far off the actual outcome. Croatia surprised me with their pressing attack, which caused trouble for the Moroccans. For Morocco, this game was a disappointment as they had a legitimate shot to win the bronze medal. They simply could not find the back of the net. In the 7th minute, Croatia’s Joško Gvardiol found the back of the net off of a beautiful set piece. An early goal from Croatia was not what many saw coming. However, it took no less than two minutes later in the 9th minute when Achraf Dari scored the equalizer. Morocco was back in it and they looked to have all the momentum. That was until an awkward shot in the 42nd minute from Mislav Oršić went off the post and in. Croatia had the lead heading into halftime, and they kept it throughout the remainder of the game. A stellar result for Croatia, who earned back to back podium finishes, which is impressive for a country of their small size. Luka Modric was able to potentially close out his international career with a bronze for Croatia, and what an awesome ending that is. For Morocco, despite getting fourth, this tournament has a massive positive for them as they will look to continue these deep runs in tournaments, and I can’t wait to see it. 

Argentina 3 (4) – 3 (2) France

For someone who talks a lot, this game left me utterly speechless. This was by far, the BEST. GAME. OF. FOOTBALL. EVER. And yes, for the sake of this article, I will be referring to this sport as football, not soccer. Anyways, this was far and away the greatest sporting event I have ever seen in my life. For over two hours I was on the edge of my seat just sitting in a combination of excitement and nervousness. I will admit, I was riding with Argentina, and I so desperately wanted to see this win for Lionel Messi. Yet, the way that France continuously came back time after time made me see that this game was going to be an all time classic. I will run out of adjectives if you ask me to describe what this game was like. If this was the first ever football match you have watched, go ahead and never watch one again because it will never, and I mean NEVER get any better than that. This was the true epitome of what a World Cup final should look like. Whew. Anyways, let’s get into how this game played out. Starting in the 21st minute, Ángel Di María drew a penalty, and in the 23rd minute, Messi buried the penalty to give Argentina a 1-0 lead. A little over ten minutes later saw a beautiful counter attack from Argentina which ended in a Di María goal. It was 2-0 Argentina, and it appeared as if this was going to be their destiny. That was until the 79th minute when France earned a penalty kick after a rough foul. There was no doubt who was going to take it, and Kylian Mbappé scored to put France within one. A little over 90 seconds later saw Mbappé score another rocket to level the game. In the span of two minutes, this game turned into a tight match with both sides playing incredibly frantic. Just like in their games against Australia and the Netherlands, Argentina’s defense got sloppy and gave away pointless fouls. However, this game was going to extra time. It was in the 108th minute when Lionel Messi scored his second goal of the game that really made fans think that they had it now. Not so fast. A handball in the box in the 118th minute gave Mbappé the chance to level the game 3-3, which he scored with ease. Kylian Mbappé scored a hat trick in the World Cup final, something that hasn’t been done since 1966. It was the 120+3’ minute when Argentina fans, including myself, had their hearts in their throats when France had a one on one breakaway, but Emiliano Martínez came up with one of the most clutch saves I have ever seen. This game was headed to penalties. Right away, Mbappé and Messi scored theirs. However, Martínez was able to save Coman’s shot and Dybala made his, so advantage to Argentina. That advantage got bigger when Tchouaméni missed his shot wide, and Paredes made his. Kolo Muani of France made his, but it all came down to Gonzalo Montiel to give Argentina the win. He made his penalty and the crowd in Lusail Stadium of 88,966 people erupted (well maybe not the French fans). Argentina fans, me included, were going nuts as Messi and the Argentine team had finally achieved their goal of winning the World Cup. The feeling of jubilation in the air was unmatched, and the Messi vs Mbappé showdown that I predicted truly came to be in the best of ways. Argentina are your World Cup Champions. 

With the tournament having concluded. Here are the awards of the official top rankings of the teams…

1st Place: Argentina

2nd Place: France

3rd Place: Croatia

4th Place: Morocco

Fair Play Award: England

Golden Boot: Kylian Mbappé 

Golden Glove: Emiliano Martínez

Best Young Player: Enzo Fernández

Golden Ball: Lionel Messi

If I were to describe the overall performance of each team in this World Cup, here would be how I would characterize them…

Qatar: 2/10, it’s like they had never played together, all 3 were bad matches

Netherlands: 8/10, made a much stronger push than expected, bright future

Senegal: 6/10, missing key players hurt, but they still advanced to the knockouts

Ecuador: 5/10, they looked so good until the one bad loss eliminated them

USA: 7/10, their problems are evident, but they are young enough to figure it out

Iran: 5/10, they came oh so close to advancing in the midst of political unrest

Wales: 2/10, they earned a minimal one point, and were lucky to get that

England: 8/10, they have all the keys, but they have to capitalize the big moments 

Argentina: 10/10, it was their destiny all along, the king finally did it

Mexico: 3/10, lackluster in almost game, need a heavy revamping of the program

Poland: 6/10, their goalkeeping helped them get that far, but not overall amazing

Saudi Arabia: 5/10, the only team to beat Argentina, but not much else happened

Denmark: 2/10, my dark horse crashed out early on, and they have major issues

Australia: 7/10, surprising to see them finish that high, but the future looks good

Tunisia: 5/10, good win over France, but they couldn’t manage to get much else

France: 10/10, despite the finals loss, when healthy, they are the best team 

Japan: 7/10, with two big upsets, they showed how good they really were

Germany: 3/10, second World Cup in a row that they couldn’t even advance 

Costa Rica: 4/10, two bad losses, but for a moment things looked positive

Spain: 6/10, looked amazing till the penalty shootout, then not so good

Croatia: 9/10, outdoing everyone’s expectations earned them a bronze medal 

Morocco: 9/10, no one saw them coming, but they are definitely here to stay

Belgium: 3/10, number one in the world, and not even out of the group stage

Canada: 2/10, looked to be dark horses, but were eliminated nearly right away

Serbia: 4/10, high expectations for them, but a bad tournament overall

Switzerland: 5/10, the 6-1 loss really lowered their score compared to before

Brazil: 7/10, they severely underperformed what we all thought they would do

Cameroon: 4/10, the win over Brazil was nice, but they still didn’t advance 

Portugal: 6/10, they weren’t able to deliver Ronaldo the happy farewell

Uruguay: 4/10, major powerhouse that couldn’t even get past the groups

Ghana: 3/10, the one win was nice, but a major underperformance from them

South Korea: 7/10, the win over Portugal was their happy moment, but that’s about it

The Group Stage: 10/10, this was the most exciting group stage of any tournament I’ve ever seen. Each game had all sorts of drama, and tons of amazing goals.

The Knockout Stage: 9/10, the round of 16 and the semifinals prevented this from getting a perfect score, but the drama that unfolded with each game was unmatchable.

There were truly no words to describe the way that this World Cup made me, and millions of others (maybe even billions) feel. It was one of the best tournaments from start to finish that I have ever seen. While their politics and laws caused many fans to be annoyed, myself included, Qatar did a fantastic job hosting this tournament, and if they want to do it again then I am all for it. Qatar did their job hosting, but we will see the aftermath of all the stadiums, and how this impacts them economically. However, for now it’s okay to savor the moment. The 2022 FIFA World Cup will go down as one of the best in history, and I am so sad that it is all over. From myself, this was an absolute blast to cover and I will never forget watching the games then writing about it. However, I plan to do it again next summer when the FIFA Women’s World Cup kicks off in Australia and New Zealand. If you want to check out any of the past articles from this World Cup, click the World Cup tag, and it will take you to all the previous World Cup articles.