Lionel Messi has confirmed he will play his last FIFA World Cup game when Argentina takes on either France or Morocco in the final coming Sunday, December 18, in Qatar.
The Argentine Footballer noted that Qatar 2022 is “my last World Cup” after his performance helped Argentina beat Croatia 3-0 to reach Sunday’s final.
“I feel very happy, to be able to achieve this, to finish my World Cup journey by playing my last game in a final. It’s many years for the next one and I don’t think I’ll be able to do it. And to finish like this, it’s the best.”
Messi
Messi is playing at his fifth World Cup and was a key figure of the team that qualified for the final in 2014, which they lost 1-0 to Germany after extra time.
The Paris Saint-Germain player has been in sensational form in Qatar, and scored his fifth goal of the tournament against Croatia on Tuesday December 13.
The high standard of his performances have led to speculation that he could attempt to star at a sixth World Cup in 2026. However, speaking after Argentina’s win over Croatia, Messi disclosed that he expected the current tournament in Qatar to be his last.
The football player added that he hoped his team could go better than in 2014, when they lost to a late goal from Mario Gotze, now of Eintracht Frankfurt. “Personally I’m very happy, I’m enjoying it a lot and I’m happy that I’m able to help my squad make things happen,” he stated.
Argentina is looking forward to winning the World Cup for the third time in their history and first since 1986 with Messi looking to add football’s biggest prize to his already glittering trophy cabinet.
Argentina At The FIFA World Cup
Argentina is persistently ranked as the second-best team in South America. It has topped the FIFA World Rankings on many occasions, including as recently as 2017. Argentina is currently into the final at the 2022 FIFA World Cup Finals. But after an initial shaky campaign, many had written them off, with the first World Cup final being held in the Middle East. However, that could be a massive mistake because history had proved that Argentina is not a football team one should write off when the World Cup tournaments are concerned.
Since its inception in 1902, the Argentina national team has appeared in five FIFA World Cup finals, including the inaugural final in 1930, and in 1978 when the team won its first World Cup, beating the Netherlands. Then in 1986 (winning its second World Cup after defeating West Germany).
Argentina was runner-up three times, in 1930, 1990, and 2014.
The almighty Argentina hosted the FIFA World Cup final for the first time in 1978, and it was two years after a military coup that led to a somewhat controversial tournament.
Argentina was on the brink of exiting this tournament in the second round. It needed to beat Peru by at least four clear goals to get through, but in the end, they beat their fellow South Americans by a total of 6 goals before beating the Netherlands in the final match.
Argentina failed to make it past the quarter-finals for sometime, but they made up for those poor showings in Brazil 2014 when they once again made it to the final and again lost to Germany.
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