The World Cup Is Back And Better Than Ever

Wow, I had a fun time watching the World Cup. In the World Cup, the rounds go group stage, round of 16, quarter-finals, semi-finals, and then the finals. Let’s start with the group stage, which had some of the biggest upsets in World Cup history. First, probably the biggest upset, Saudi Arabia beat Argentina, which has Lionel Messi and crew. The USA made it to the knockout stages, (Part of the group stage) to lose in the first round to the Netherlands. France was first to qualify for the knockouts, getting into the knockout stages in only 2 of the 3 games!

Now let's move on to the round of 16, which was even crazier than the group stage. Netherlands beat the USA getting off to an early 2-0 lead led by Memphis Depay. Argentina beat Australia by one point, sparking Messi’s incredible World Cup run. Portugal beat Switzerland, with their youngster, Gonçalo Ramos scoring 3 goals.

Next, we come to the quarter-finals. Some crazy upsets happened in this round. The biggest loss was Morocco vs. Portugal, where Morocco won 1-0 with Youssef En-Nesyri. France beat England in a thriller where Harry Kane missed a penalty to send it to extra time. Argentina beat the Netherlands in penalties, 4-3, in Messi’s second straight game in the knockout stages scoring a goal. In a thriller, mainly in extra time, the score of Brazil vs Croatia game at full time was 0-0. But, in the first half of extra time, Neymar scored making the score 1-0 Brazil. In the second half of extra time, Bruno Pektović scored in the 116th minute, to tie it up. Then Brazil lost in penalties 4-2 to Croatia.

The semi-finals were crazy. In France vs Morocco, France got off to an early lead, scoring in the fifth minute. Nothing after that really happened until the 79th minute, when substitute Kolo Muani made the score 2-0 France, and the game ended with that score. Argentina beat Croatia 3-0 with Messi scoring in his 3rd knockout game in a row. Young Julian Alvarez added 2 goals as well.

Finally, we get to the finals, Argentina vs France, and what a thriller this game was. 23 minutes in, Di Maria drew a foul in the box for a penalty, and Messi obviously converted, putting Argentina up 1-0. 13 minutes later, Di Maria scored a fastbreak 2-on-1 goal, putting Argentina up 2-0. For a while, it looked like France had no hope. But in the 80th minute, who else but Kylian Mbappe to score a penalty? And literally, 1 minute later, Kingsley Coman made a beautiful pass to Mbappe for an incredible goal. It was a 2-2 tie going into extra time. Lionel Messi became the Argentina superhero, scoring in the 108th minute. And Kylian Mbappe, becoming the 2nd player ever to score a hat trick in the world cup finals scored again. And it went to penalties, where Argentina won 4-2.

Congrats Argentina for winning the World Cup! (Also RIP to Pelé, the World Cup GOAT).