All eyes were on Argentina’s perpetual number 10 at the Lusail Iconic Stadium in Sunday’s final, but a fit-again Angel Di Maria wanted a slice of the action alongside Lionel Messi and scored one of the all-time great team goals at a World Cup.
Messi was unsurprisingly involved in a lightning-quick Albiceleste counter-attack, producing an audacious flick out to Julian Alvarez, who released Alexis Mac Allister in acres of space down the right.
The Brighton & Hove Albion star looked up before providing a perfectly-weighted pass for Di Maria, who produced a sublime piece of technique to side-foot the ball over the sprawled Hugo Lloris into the far corner.
The tears very nearly flowed for the 34-year-old as he put Argentina 2-0 up before being taken off on the 64-minute mark on what is expected to be his final international appearance, and he could hardly have envisaged a more perfect way to bow out on the biggest stage of them all.
A few eyebrows were raised when Richarlison was chosen to lead the Selecao line ahead of Gabriel Jesus, but Tottenham Hotspur won that section of their North London rivalry with Arsenal, and Tite’s bold selection call was soon justified.
During their opening match of the 2022 tournament, Richarlison sent Brazil ahead from close range in the 62nd minute before he was picked out by Vinicius Junior’s cross from the left-hand side 11 minutes later.
The Tottenham man neatly flicked the ball up before channelling his inner acrobat with a sensational bicycle kick toward the bottom corner, but Brazil’s attacking effectiveness disappointingly only lasted until the quarter-finals.
Having hit an impressive first goal, Mbappe claimed his second with a brilliant curling effort late on for his fifth overall at the tournament.
He received the ball inside the box, surrounded by two or three defenders, adjusted his feet as quick as you like, no back lift on the shot, and before you know it, the goal net rippled again. Not too much Szczesny could’ve done about that one; it was hit right into the top corner with some serious power behind it. He had no right to score from there, a fabulous goal for the French star.
Mbappe also turned up good for his France team in the final versus Argentina as he hit a sensational one-touch volley to level the scoreline and send the game into extra-time.
It is the 11th and final minute of stoppage time. Your team is 2-1 down and you have a free-kick in a dangerous position just outside the box, so what do you do? Have a crack at goal or send in a cross and hope for the best? Or produce the bit of genius the Netherlands did against Argentina?
Teun Koopmeiners looked for the entire world like he was going to shoot but tricked the defence by slipping the ball to Wout Weghorst, who turned and rolled home.
Vincent Aboubakar made headlines off the pitch after boldly claiming that his qualities are on par with Mohamed Salah’s, and even the Liverpool man would have raised a toast after watching the Cameroon striker’s intrepid lob against Serbia in Group F.
The Indomitable Lions were seemingly heading for defeat after finding themselves 3-1 down early in the second half, but Aboubakar needed just eight minutes to reduce the deficit after being brought on as a second-half substitute.
The 30-year-old latched onto a long ball from Bryan Mbeumo over the top, effortlessly evaded the attention of a sliding Nemanja Maksimovic and lifted the ball delicately over Vanja Milinkovic-Savic before the offside flag went up.
However, a quick review showed that Aboubakar’s sensational goal was a perfectly good one, and the striker’s memorable effort ignited a storming Cameroon comeback in a 3-3 draw before that dramatic late winner against Brazil a few days later, albeit an inconsequential one.
Mexico midfielder Luis Chavez would do well to establish a school in free-kick mastery when he hangs up his boots, with his scorcher of an effort against Saudi Arabia in the group stage played on repeat on the big screen.
Henry Martin had drawn first blood for Mexico from close range before El Tri were awarded a free kick a good 35 yards from goal, and Chavez’s wand of a left foot sent the ball searing into the top corner beyond the hapless Guillermo Ochoa.
Chavez very nearly replicated his magnificent dead-ball strike later in the second half on the opposite side of the goal, but Ochoa was equal to that effort before Al-Dawsari’s injury-time strike gave Saudi Arabia a glimmer of hope.
Before packing their bags, Mexico would hold on for a 2-1 win thanks to one of the best free kicks that will ever fly into the back of the net at a World Cup finals, and Chavez’s effort clocked in at a whopping 75mph – the fastest goal of the 2022 group stage.
It wasn’t enough to keep Mexico in the World Cup, but Luis Chavez’s fierce free-kick against Saudi Arabia gave their fans a magical moment to celebrate. Clocking in it at 75mph, it was the most powerfully-struck goal of the group stage and a shot no-one was keeping out.
With England struggling to break the deadlock against Wales, Rashford took aim and fired the Three Lions in front with a magnificent free-kick into the top corner.
Rashford’s free-kick against Wales hit a top speed of 115.63 kilometres per hour (72 miles per hour) as the Manchester United man beat Danny Ward from outside the box.
Rashford’s effort was the first direct free-kick to be scored at the 2022 World Cup. It was one of two second-half goals for the 25-year-old – and one of three for England – as Gareth Southgate’s team secured the top spot in their group.
When you come in for Cristiano Ronaldo, you are going to want to make sure you make an impression and Goncalo Ramos certainly did that in his side’s 6-1 win against Switzerland.
Not only did he score a hat-trick, but his first was an absolute beauty, driving in at the near post from a tight angle.
Receiving the ball in the box from Joao Felix, Ramos quickly turned and fired a sublime tight-angled shot past Yann Sommer into the roof of the net.
“In the game of his life, he’s scored the goal of his life,” said talkSPORT’s Jim Proudfoot.
The Netherlands’ brand of ‘Total Football’ came to the fore as all 11 players played their part in an opening goal billed as one of the best of the World Cup.
Memphis Depay scored the opener in the last 16 clash against the USA, a move which consisted of 20 uninterrupted passes and the most on record for the Dutch at a World Cup since 1966.
Depay’s superb 10th-minute strike paved the way for a 3-1 win as Louis van Gaal’s side became the first nation into the World Cup quarter-finals where they eventually lost on penalties to eventual trophy winners, Argentina.
Spain midfielder Gavi, 18, announced himself on the global stage with a brilliant inch-perfect volley from an Alvaro Morata setup. Gavi’s effort marked his debut at the World Cup in style. He is the youngest ever Spain player to play at the tournament at the age of just 18 years and 110 days. He is also the youngest World Cup scorer since Pele in 1958.
