If you were sitting in the Lusail Stadium on December 18, 2022, you weren't just watching a soccer game. You were witnessing the death of a thousand "what if" arguments. Argentina won. That is the short answer to who won the World Cup, but the "how" of it is what makes people still get misty-eyed in the bars of Buenos Aires or the cafes of Paris. It was 3-3 after extra time. It was a penalty shootout that felt like a slow-motion car crash for France and a coronation for Lionel Messi.
Football is cruel.
Most people remember the trophy lift, but they forget that for about 80 minutes, France looked like they hadn't even woken up from their pre-match nap. Argentina was dominant. Then Kylian Mbappé decided to turn into a superhero. He scored twice in 97 seconds. Just like that, the "settled" game was a nightmare.
Why the 2022 World Cup Final Was Practically Scripted by a Madman
Seriously, you couldn't write this. When people ask who won the World Cup, they usually want the stats, but the narrative is where the soul is. Argentina’s journey started with a loss to Saudi Arabia. A total disaster. They were one game away from going home in the group stages.
But then, the momentum shifted.
Lionel Scaloni, the manager who many thought was too inexperienced for the job, figured out the midfield. He brought in Alexis Mac Allister and Enzo Fernández. These weren't household names at the time, but they became the engine room that allowed Messi to walk—literally walk—around the pitch until the exact moment he needed to strike.
The final itself was a tactical masterclass until it became a chaotic brawl. Angel Di Maria, a man who has scored in almost every major final Argentina has played, was the secret weapon. He won the penalty for the first goal and scored the second. France manager Didier Deschamps was so desperate he made two substitutions before halftime. Imagine being an elite athlete and getting pulled before the first 45 minutes are even up. Ouch.
The Mbappe Factor and the Near-Miss
We have to talk about Kylian Mbappé. Even though Argentina took the trophy, Mbappé became the first man since Geoff Hurst in 1966 to score a hat-trick in a World Cup final. He didn't just play; he dragged France back from the grave.
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There was a moment.
The 123rd minute.
Randal Kolo Muani was one-on-one with Emiliano "Dibu" Martínez. If that ball goes in, France wins. The world ends for Argentina. But Martínez made "The Save." He stretched out his left leg like a seasoned ballet dancer and blocked a shot that should have been a goal 99 times out of 100. That single save is why Argentina are the ones with three stars on their jersey today.
The Penalty Shootout That Defined a Legacy
Penalties are a lottery? Not if you have Dibu Martínez.
The guy is a psychological warfare expert. He throws the ball away. He dances. He talks trash. It works. Kingsley Coman saw his shot saved, and Aurelien Tchouameni put his wide. Meanwhile, the Argentines were cool. Gonzalo Montiel, a right-back who doesn't usually get the spotlight, stepped up and tucked the winning penalty into the corner.
He didn't even celebrate at first. He just took his shirt off and cried.
Argentina had won their third title (1978, 1986, 2022). It ended a 36-year drought. More importantly for many fans, it ended the debate about whether Messi could ever be considered better than Diego Maradona. Messi now had the one thing Maradona used as a trump card: the gold trophy.
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What Most People Get Wrong About the Result
A lot of casual fans think Argentina "carried" Messi to the win. Honestly, it was the other way around for most of the tournament. Messi scored in every knockout round. The round of 16, the quarter-final, the semi-final, and the final. Nobody had ever done that in the modern format of the tournament.
But there’s a nuance here.
The 2022 squad was the first time Messi had a team that was willing to "die" for him, as Rodrigo De Paul famously put it. It wasn't just about talent; it was about a collective obsession.
Beyond the Final: The Records That Broke
If you're looking for the hard data on who won the World Cup and what they actually achieved, the numbers are staggering:
- Lionel Messi became the player with the most appearances in World Cup history (26).
- Argentina became the first South American team to win since Brazil in 2002, breaking a long-standing European stranglehold.
- Enzo Fernández won the Young Player of the Tournament award, leading to a massive £100+ million transfer to Chelsea shortly after.
- Emiliano Martínez took home the Golden Glove, though his celebrations were... controversial, to say the least.
People often forget that Croatia actually finished third. They beat Morocco in the third-place playoff. Morocco was the story of the tournament for many, becoming the first African nation to ever reach a semi-final. They beat Spain. They beat Portugal. They made Cristiano Ronaldo cry in the tunnel. It was a tournament of giants falling and underdogs biting back.
The Financial and Cultural Impact
Winning the World Cup isn't just about a trophy. It changed Argentina’s economy for a brief window—not in terms of GDP, but in terms of national morale. The country was (and is) dealing with massive inflation. When the team returned to Buenos Aires, an estimated five to six million people flooded the streets. It was the largest mobilization of people in Argentine history.
They had to airlift the players out by helicopter because the team bus couldn't move. People were jumping off bridges to try and land in the bus with the players. It was beautiful, terrifying, and completely chaotic.
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What Happens Next for World Cup History?
The cycle never stops. While we know who won the World Cup in 2022, the focus has already shifted to 2026. This will be the first "mega-tournament," hosted across three countries: the USA, Mexico, and Canada.
It’s going to be different.
48 teams instead of 32.
More games, more travel, and potentially more dilution of quality? That’s the big debate in the football world right now. Some purists hate it. They think 32 was the perfect number. But FIFA wants the growth, and frankly, the money.
If you are looking to understand the legacy of Argentina's win or prepare for the next cycle, here is what you should actually do:
- Watch the "Mancini" or "All or Nothing" style documentaries that have come out since. They show the locker room footage from the final that explains the "Dibu" Martínez psyche better than any news report.
- Keep an eye on the 2026 qualifiers. The South American (CONMEBOL) qualifiers are already underway, and they are notoriously the hardest in the world. Even as defending champions, Argentina has to fight for every point.
- Study the tactical shift. The 2022 win proved that you don't need 70% possession to win a tournament. You need "verticality"—the ability to transition from defense to attack in three seconds. Every major club team is now trying to replicate Scaloni's mid-block.
- Follow the young core. Players like Julian Alvarez and Alexis Mac Allister are now the leaders. Watching how they perform in the Premier League gives you a direct preview of whether Argentina can pull off a "back-to-back" win, which hasn't been done since Brazil in 1958 and 1962.
The 2022 World Cup didn't just give us a winner; it gave us a definitive ending to one of the greatest sporting stories ever told. Messi got his cup. Argentina got their star. And the rest of us got a game that we'll be talking about when we're eighty.