I consider France’s 4-3 win over Argentina as one of the greatest World Cup matches of all time. Not every high scoring match at the elite level is an all-time classic. But in this match, it was champagne football all the way — fluctuating fortunes, sublime passing, explosive speed, silky skills and above all great goals that will always be remembered.
France won because of individual brilliance combined with a collective endeavour. All of France’s goals came from an established game plan, speed, quick passing and rotation of the ball and constant interchange of positions.
Argentina had great individual brilliance — Lionel Messi’s sublime diagonal cross for Sergio Aguero to head the third goal, in which the ball seemed to float and hang in the air was a touch of genius. However, their ageing defence was exposed by the speed of the new superstar Kylian Mbappe, the non-stop endeavours of N’ Golo Kante and Paul Pogba, and the slick passing of the whole French team.
In the space of twenty minutes, from the 48th to the 68th minute, there were four sublime goals, incessant box-to-box attacks and rapidly fluctuating fortunes. The ebb and flow, the sheet pace and intensity of those twenty minutes will remain etched in memory forever.
All great matches must have great goals and in the 41st minute, Angel di Maria equalised for Argentina with an exquisite long-range curling shot. After Gabriel Mercado ‘s 48th-minute lucky deflection goal, Argentina had the upper hand and it seemed the young French team would crumble.
But France came back stylishly. Right-back Benjamin Pavard’s blockbuster equaliser came at the end of an attractive flowing move and a cross of utmost athleticism. The quality of his sublime angular volley from the edge of the 18-yard box showed exemplary courage and great technique. It was proof of the great coaching systems that France have at their national training centre at Clairefontaine where they develop young talent.
In the four-minute phase, from the 64th to the 68th minute, Mbappe’s blistering pace, opportunism and sheer exuberance led to him scoring a brace and establishing himself as the new superstar of World football. The 19-year-old Mbappe is the first teenager to score a brace in the World Cup since the incomparable Pele, who achieved the feat as a 17-year-old in 1958.
On Saturday, at the Kazan arena, a new superstar was born. After the Messi-Ronaldo era, it will be the Mbappe era.
Was it the greatest World Cup game of all time?
Italy’s 3-2 win over Brazil in 1982, in which Paolo Rossi’s hat-trick eliminated one of the most charming and gifted sides Brazil had ever produced, will have its advocates. Those of an older generation may feel that Italy’s 4-3 win over West Germany in the semi-final of the 1970 World Cup was the Game of the Century, whose five goals in extra time set a record that still remains unbeaten.