World Cup: Showing The Beauty of Sports.

The World Cup is the biggest event in the world, it occurs every 4 years in different countries. In 2022, Qatar was the host country, with the obvious controversy of the slave workers and the obvious horrible work conditions. With those controversies, then came the 2022 World Cup showed why sports can be such a beautiful story.

Upsets and Underdogs

One of the beautiful things about sports is an underdog story or an unlikely upset win, the first one came on November 22nd, Saudi Arabia would face off versus Argentina in a what would be one of the biggest upsets in World Cup history. Coming into the game, Argentina would be ranked in the top 5 and Saudi Arabia wouldn't even be ranked in the top 50. The game started as always with Messi getting a goal on a penalty and leading by 1 at half time. Then the game would change in the first 10 minutes of the second half, When Saudi got 2 goals in the 48th minute and then the lead in the 53rd minute, they would eventually win. This would be the biggest upset in World Cup History as all the talk was Messi last dance and coming out of it the talk was how big of an upset this was.

The upsets story was a huge part of the World Cup, this would be the story on Nov. 23rd when Japan would face off with Germany. Coming in to this, the 2014 World Cup champions would look for redemption after getting eliminated from the group stages in 2018.

Japan coming in would be ranked 24th, according to Fifa, while Germany would be ranked 11th. There would be a lot of the same players on Germany roster and lot of veterans. While having one of the great young players like Musiala, they veterans would have a big presence on their game.

The Game would start off as usual with Germany obtaining most of possession in the game finishing with 65% advantage and 9 shots on goal to the 3. The problem was not converting those chances and would have Guendogan would score first for Germany in the 33rd minute. Germany would have control most of the game and Japan would ultimately sub in players and that when they would start getting back in the game. Japan would tie the game up from on of the subs in the 75th minute and then a 2nd goal in the 83rd minute. They would win vs Germany and both teams would be eliminated from the group stages.

Run of a lifetime: Coming into the World Cup, expectations for Morocco were very low. A lot of experts predicted them to be last in their group and to be eliminated from the group stage. They would come in ranked 22nd in the Fifa rankings. They would upset #2 ranking Belgium on their 2nd game of the group stage and would get both goals in the 2nd half of the game. Then a huge win over Canada would grant them a spot in the round of 16.

They would face off against Spain in the round of 16 and would play all around a defensive game and would go into penalties. They would win 3-0 and advance to the quarter-finals vs Portugal. Coming into their game vs Portugal, everyone expected Portugal to win with Ronaldo on the team. Most of the game was held by possession by Portugal but Morocco would take advantage on the counter attacks, when they did get the ball back. They would play more aggressive in this game, fouling more than 15 times and even getting a red card. They would score in the 42nd minute, and eventually upset Portugal. They would put up a good fight versus France but would lose 2-0. This Morocco team would be the first African team to make it to the semi-finals.

Morocco run was a lot of taking advantages of the possession they had, because a lot of their games they would lose the possession battle.

The story of underdogs shows how sports can be an un-predictable game and how rankings doesn't matter. What matters is the play and taking what the opponents give you. A lot of these games they would always be on defense and their opponent would win the possession battle the whole game. This is the beauty of sports, you can be more talented and dominate a game but it's how you convert the chances you get.

The Last Dance and Repeating champion, Story of the Final:

Coming into the World cup final, the matchup of France and Argentina told completely different stories.

France, the Champions in 2018, came into the World Cup, with some huge injuries to Karim Bezema (2022 Balloon D'or winner) and the mid-fielders Pogba and Kante. The injuries would not stop France as the great young player Mbappe would lead France to cruise to the finals.

Argentina: Messi announced that the World Cup would be his last one and would look to win the one trophy he hasn't won and would be the biggest trophy. Argentina would be a team made up of veterans and young players and that would help shape their game.

They would not get off to the best of starts as they would be upset by Saudi Arabia, which would be the biggest upset in World Cup history. This would mean that they would need to win the next 2 group stage games to advance to the round of 16, they would beat Mexico and Poland to make it to the round of 16.

After making to the knockout stage, it would be an ease to the Finals, with the help of Messi and one of the rising stars in Julian Alvarez.

The World Cup Final: Starting this game, there would be the story of an illness going around France but it did not affect the game. The game first half was dominated by Argentina Possession and the defense was important with them double-teaming Mbappe. Argentina would score on penalty by Messi in the 23rd minute, and in the 36 minute, with some beautiful passes, scored the 2nd goal by Di Maria. This would be the same story in the 2nd half until the 80th minute when France got a penalty and Mpabbe scores on that penalty. The game would change as the momentum would shift towards France. The next minute Mbappe would score a 2nd goal to tie the game and it would go into extra time. In the 108th minute Messi would score and them Mbappe would score a hat-trick on the 118th minute. Then Argentina goalie Emiliano Martinez would have of the biggest saves in the 120th minute, which would help them go win the World Cup after they won the penalties.

Messi finally achieved the one trophy that he hasn't won and how on his last dance he won versus one of the great young players in futbol. It showed the beauty of the story of sports.