Everyone’s focus was understandably on the Men’s World Cup final this weekend, but there was a lot more going on in the world of football as always. So, here is our weekly column recapping some of the action, including the good, the bad and the ugly.
By Neel Shelat
🏆 World Cup: Argentina 3-3 France AET (4-2 on pens)
You’ll never see a World Cup final quite like this again.
Argentina and France battled it out in an epic climax to the 2022 FIFA World Cup, which was ultimately decided by a penalty shoot-out.
Before that, it was La Albiceleste who started the game on top. After a dominant first-half display, they went into the half-time break with a two-goal lead thanks to Lionel Messi’s penalty and Ángel Di María’s finish, while France couldn’t even fashion a single shooting opportunity. They continued to look terribly flat as the second half kicked off, but with just over 10 minutes left to play, the drama properly began.
Les Blues were rather gifted a penalty which Kylian Mbappé gladly converted, and just over a minute and a half later, he scored again with a brilliant first-time volley from the edge of the box, even though he was off balance. The 23-year-old striker very much struck out of the blue, taking the game to extra time.
There were many missed chances in that half an hour, but crucially, two goals were scored. Messi struck first in the 108th minute by turning in a rather scrappy rebound, but just as Argentina thought they were within touching distance of the World Cup trophy, France were awarded another penalty. Mbappé took it again, and scored again, extending the match to a shoot-out.
Led by Messi, the Argentines, who had recently experienced such a situation against the Netherlands in the quarter-finals, were faultless from the spot. Mbappé did find the back of the net from 12 yards out for the third time on the night, but the two players after him missed, with Kingsley Coman’s effort saved by Emiliano Martínez and Aurélien Tchouaméni sending his shot wide. So, Gonzalo Montiel stepped up to take a potentially decisive kick, and he won it for Argentina.
La Albiceleste celebrated their first World Cup title since 1986 when a certain Diego Maradona was the star of the show. This time, the Golden Ball went to one Lionel Messi, who can finally claim to have won every major trophy he has competed for in his glistening career.
He had previously said that this would be his last World Cup, although he gave mixed signals after getting his hands on the trophy. If this was the last time he has taken to the pitch on the biggest stage, though, he has enjoyed a fairytale ending, as have his millions of supporters.
🇦🇺 Australia: Melbourne City A-A Melbourne Victoria
Two weeks ago, Australian football was experiencing one of its greatest highs as the Socceroos qualified for the World Cup knockouts for just the second time in their history. They bowed out in the Round of 16 against Argentina, but only after putting up a spirited fight.
Some even called that the start of a golden era for Australian football, and understandably so since things were looking quite positive at the time. A lot has changed since then, though, largely thanks to the APL’s decision to hold the A-League Grand Finals in Sydney for the next three years.
That decision was unanimously opposed by fans of all sides across the Men’s and Women’s top flights alongside many clubs, broadcasters and some players as well. The APL did not budge under this pressure, so a number of fan groups decided to protest by staging walkouts in the 20th minute of this weekend’s matches.
Things went pretty smoothly until the Melbourne derby on Saturday. In this match, flares were thrown onto the pitch around the 20th minute, but one of those that came from the Victory supporters landed close to City goalkeeper Tom Glover. He picked it up and lobbed it away, but back towards the stand with the fans. That sparked an angry reaction from a few supporters, who stormed onto the pitch and assaulted Glover.
The players quickly left the pitch, including Glover who suffered a cut across his face and a likely concussion. After a little bit of waiting, the fans in the rest of the stands heard the decision they were all expecting – the match was abandoned.
Even under these circumstances, the fans who came onto the pitch acted in a way that absolutely cannot be justified, and in the process, soured what otherwise have been peaceful and poignant protests. Only time can tell where Australian football goes from here, but it seems that it has taken more steps backwards than forward this month.
🏆 UEFA Women’s Champions League: PSG 2-1 Real Madrid
The Men’s World Cup semi-finals put us in the unique position of getting Women’s Champions League action on a Friday night, so we will gladly cover that in this column.
Group A had the most pivotal match of the day, as Paris Saint-Germain took on Real Madrid. The hosts had a two-point advantage over the visitors going into the match, where they were essentially directly competing for the second spot in the group. That was because Chelsea sealed progression to the knockouts with a routine win over Vllaznia in the early kick-off, effectively winning the group in the process.
PSG’s final group match was against the WSL champions, so Real Madrid could count on a favour from them. Therefore, they might have taken a draw from this game, but a loss would spell the end of their Champions League campaign.
For such a high-stakes affair, the game got off to an absolute flyer as the woodwork was struck at both ends in the first 10 minutes. It was the French side who took the lead a little later, as Élisa de Almeida scored following a corner. That rather took the sting out of Madrid’s performance, as their attacking threat waned thereafter.
The second goal of the game was scored 15 minutes into the second half, when Kadidiatou Diani converted a penalty that was rather gifted by a needless sliding challenge from Olga Carmona. Las Blancas finally began to show some urgency in their attacks a little later after a raft of changes, but they could only pull one back through Athenea del Castillo in the 81st minute.
That proved to be a case of too little too late, so Real Madrid suffered their first group stage exit in what was their second Champions League campaign. Of course, that means PSG are through, but only as runners-up, unless they manage to win by a significant goal margin at Stamford Bridge next week.
🏴 Scotland: Aberdeen 0-1 Celtic
The Scottish Premiership returned to action with Rangers playing Hibernian on Thursday in what was Michael Beale’s first competitive match in charge of the club. The rest of the fixtures for matchday 17 were scheduled for Saturday, although a couple had to be postponed due to pitch damage caused by cold weather.
Rangers’ crosstown rivals Celtic were in action, though, as they made the trip to Aberdeen. They were faced with a staunch 5-3-2 block from the Dons, who defended with eight players behind the ball even when it was close to the edge of their box. Of course, that meant that the home side could barely fashion a shot at goal, but they did frustrate their opponents.
Celtic kept a whopping 80% of possession in the match and attempted 33 shots, but since Aberdeen always had so many bodies in the box, the majority of those came from outside it. It was clear that Ange Postecoglu’s side were going to need a shot to go in from distance if they were to come away with all three points, and eventually, with three minutes of normal time left to play, captain Callum McGregor found the bottom corner from the edge of the box.
That was Celtic’s 200th goal under Postecoglu, their first-ever non-European manager. Their title bid is looking good at the moment, as this win restored a nine-point lead at the top of the table.
🇭🇳 Honduras: Olimpia 2-0 Montagua (agg. 3-0)
Next we go to Honduras, where the second leg of the Liga Nacional 2022/23 Apertura final was played on Saturday night. The match featured the country’s most successful club Olimpia, who faced the most recent Clausura winners and the second-most successful club in the nation, Motagua.
The two sides do not like each other much, not least because they are both based in the Honduran capital Tegucigalpa where they share the Estadio Nacional. Their encounters are known as the Honduran Superclásico, or the Clasico Capitalino (Capital Derby).
Olimpia took a one-goal lead into this game from the first leg in Comayagua thanks to a stoppage-time penalty. This title decider was held in La Ceiba in front of a packed Estadio Ceibeño, where the crowd watched the Lions score from a corner on the stroke of half-time before going on to seal the result in the 69th minute.
With that, Olimpia lifted the Liga Nacional trophy for the 41st time in their history, which means their tally is now is over two times greater than Motagua’s 20.
🇬🇹 Guatemala: Antigua Guatemala 0-0 Cobán Imperial (agg. 0-1)
We are staying in Central America for our last match of the week, crossing the border from Honduras to Guatemala. The top-flight league here is also called the Liga Nacional, and it too crowned a champion in the second leg of the Apertura final this weekend.
This was set to be a special final, as both of Guatemala’s most successful clubs were not a part of it. Municipal and Comunicaciones, both based in the capital Guatemala City, have 31 titles each in the professional era – as many as all of the other sides combined. They were on opposite sides of the play-off bracket, but both were eliminated in the semi-finals.
Instead, Antigua Guatemala and Cobán Imperial, who finished first and second in the table, were vying for the title. Both sides had previously lifted the title, with Antigua having done so four times in the last decade, whereas Cobán had only done so once back in 2004. After that, they spent 8 seasons from 2007/08 to 2014/15 in the lower tiers of Guatemalan football but returned to the Liga Nacional in the summer of 2015.
Now, they have reconquered the summit of the top flight. There was just one goal scored in about three hours of football across the two legs of the final, so Robin Betancourth’s name will live long in Cobán Imperial’s history. They are the oldest team currently playing in Guatemala’s Liga Nacional, so there are few fans of Guatemalan football who will begrudge their success. Cobán will hope to continue competing for the foreseeable future, especially when they celebrate their 100-year anniversary in 2024.
Cover Image from IMAGO