Those who watched got to see and feel and be part of and almost touch godliness. It was apt that the 2022 World Cup final was played on a Sunday — for many the event might have come about as close as sport should to rivalling a religious experience.
In the temple of the World Cup they witnessed a great final and a player being deified into an exclusive club who can call themselves the footballer's equivalent of a god — the Goats, or greatest of all times.
Now Lionel Messi is a Goat, and there can be no argument. And the match that elevated him there cannot be separated from the greatness of the man. His rise to greatness was part of what made the final great. The two are the same.
In the same way, the greatness of Muhammad Ali — the Goat of all sport — is woven through the giants he faced in brutal battles that are the stuff of folklore. The Rumble in the Jungle against George Foreman and Thrilla in Manila against Joe Frazier are an essential aspect of the mystique — the levels of the opponents and the monstrous clashes that resulted.
On Sunday Messi's Frazier was Kylian Mbappé and Argentina’s Foreman was France.
The scale of the battle was planted on day three of the World Cup. Hunger and awareness of the immensity of a mission can inspire or paralyse. It was the latter when Messi and Argentina froze against Saudi Arabia.
In When We Were Kings — the epic documentary about Ali, at 32 and rusty from inaction after his ban for refusing the draft to fight in Vietnam, beating Foreman in Kinshasa — writer Norman Mailer recounts a moment early in the fight.
Ali came out throwing right-hand leads, an unheard of tactic against one of the heaviest hitters boxing ever saw in Foreman, and this enraged the man mountain who pummeled Ali back in a fury. Mailer, who covered the fight ringside, said there was almost a moment when you saw in Ali's eyes a realisation that, to paraphrase a little, “this was it, this was what he had been preparing for his whole life”.
The defeat against Saudi Arabia seemed to have a similar effect on Argentina. The scale of what was required became clear to the team and Messi.
Even after winning the World Cup, the introverted little genius knows he will never be loved in Argentina like Diego Maradona, who was just that much more monumentally human. But winning a first World Cup since Maradona carried Argentina to the trophy in Mexico in 1986 would at least elevate the man whose statistics eclipse most footballers of any era — seven Ballon d'Ors, six European Golden Shoes, four Uefa Champions Leagues, a Copa America and 792 goals in 1,002 games for clubs and country — to a par of greatness.
It was like Argentina realised what was at stake historically, especially for Messi, and what had to be done to get it. Their progression, edging matches through narrow margins as they gained a rhythm through sheer tenacity and hunger, was a version of Ali's rope-a-dope against arguably superior athlete — definitely bigger hitter — Foreman.
In the final, that tenacity and hunger saw them remarkably snuff out France's explosive front-line to the extent Les Bleus had not had a legitimate touch in Argentina's penalty area by the 70th minute. All the while La Albiceleste landed blows and drew blood, full value for a 2-0 lead. It would have been a good enough final for the impressiveness of that effort alone if that was how it continued to the end.
France got a sniff with a penalty Mbappé buried with 10 minutes left. Critical moments in football are those just after the start, before and after the break, before final whistle and either side of a goal or red card. Ninety seven seconds later Mbappé volleyed a second as Argentina were still recovering from the first. France's front-line had exploded and continued to, but Argentina wrestled an alligator and Messi's extra-time second, after his first-half penalty, seemed to win it. Mbappé shot into an arm for a 118th-minute penalty and scored with two minutes of extra time, plus three added, left.
That the two top scorers, on five apiece, contested the final, and one scored a brace and the other (Mbappé) a hat-trick but ended on the losing side, but the Golden Boot winner; and the other (Messi) the Golden Ball, reflected the beautiful insanity of it all.
Ordinarily penalties is an awful way to settle a World Cup final. On Sunday, even though France were cancelled for 80 minutes, in the contest of two fine teams and players it seemed poetically acceptable to let the football gods choose the winner. Of course they had to choose Messi.
In tennis, Goats Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal blew minds combining the awe-inspiring brutality of the modern power game with artistry. The Qatar World Cup was being talked of before the final for how teams fused the pace and physical strength from modern fitness regimes with art. The final was the pinnacle of that — Federer vs Nadal at their best.
In his era Messi competed with Cristiano Ronaldo for the title of best player. There was always the asterisk for both of never having won a World Cup. With Messi's asterisk removed in a classic matchup with his successor for world's best player, Mbappé, he can be talked of with Pelé and Maradona. A Goat.
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