Argentina Crowned World Cup 2022 Winners
After an exciting tournament with huge upsets and underdog achievements in equal measure, Argentina has finally taken the 2022 World Cup. The team, led by star forward Lionel Messi, narrowly beat France in what some have called the best World Cup final ever. The game happened in Qatar on Sunday, December 18th, and was watched all over the world.
Argentina beat France to become the winners of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. Karsten Winegeart/Unsplash
Match highlights
The thrilling final featured incredible highs and lows for both teams and made for superbly exciting viewing. Argentina took the game from the beginning, with Messi scoring a penalty alongside another goal from player Angel Di Maria. The first half was solidly Argentina’s game.
However, in the 80th minute, star France player Mbappé managed to score a penalty, closely followed by an equalizing second goal, which stunned the crowd. Argentina went from comfortably ahead by 2-0 to having to battle to get the next shot in overtime.
They succeeded with another score by Messi. This was also quickly matched by France when Mbappé scored yet another penalty goal. When overtime ended, the game went into penalties, which has been the case for an overwhelming number of quarter- and semi-finals matches during this year’s tournament.
In fact, Argentina has been in seven shootouts during the World Cup, and has won six of them, including this final. Ultimately the shootout resulted in a score of 4-2 penalties. The Argentinian team were clearly elated at their win, while France — 2018’s winners — processed the upsetting loss.
Messi has had an incredible track record throughout the World Cup, having played more matches than any other men’s player. He has now been rightly compared to Diego Maradona, the beloved player who brought Argentina to victory in 1986.
It was not the easiest road for Messi or the team. The team lost an early match against Saudi Arabia, but it was not enough to kick them out of the tournament. Likewise, top contenders Spain and Brazil were also unceremoniously booted by underdog teams throughout this year’s matches.
Thankfully Argentina pulled through and pulled off stunning victories throughout the last weeks, culminating in a dramatic game on Sunday. Coach Lionel Scaloni commented on the back and forth that defined the final match, praising his team for overcoming adversity and describing the match as “emotional”.
Betting records broken at Qatar 2022
This World Cup has been one of the most bet-on tournaments of all time. It has also surpassed records of viewership and fan spending. According to FIFA, nearly 800,000 individual fans visited Qatar to watch matches in person. Qatar itself spent $300 billion USD on infrastructure and building projects to prepare for the games.
Figures are still incoming on viewership of the final, but the match between Argentina and Croatia brought in 6.47 million viewers on Fox, a record-breaking number. In terms of betting, odds were evenly matched with both France and Argentina listed at -110 to win by bet365 prior to the game. Lionel Messi had good odds to score at -110 as well.
Early on in the tournament, it was reported that Latin American countries had spent record numbers on sports betting. Brazil took the cake with its sites reporting 114 million visits between the start of the tournament and November 28. It was likewise projected that viewers in England and Wales would spend $312 million USD by the end of the tournament.
