France have won a pulsating, high scoring, Round of 16 clash 4-3 at Kazan Arena, eliminating Lionel Messi’s Argentina from the World Cup.
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For all the talk about the Argentinian number 10, it was his French opposite number who decided this contest; Kylian Mbappe scored a brace and won the penalty that opened the scoring.
His inventiveness, control and sheer pace were too much for the Argentinian defence.
The French appeared more dangerous early in the game, but were happy to concede the lion’s share of possession.
The logic behind that became clear in just the 13th minute, when Mbappe received the ball deep in his own half, and simply ran past the defenders on his own from that position, until eventually Rojo brought him down in the box.
From that point on the French seemed understandably content to sit back and look for counterattacking chances.
But Di Maria made them pay for that strategy with a thunderbolt strike in the 40th minute to restore parity.
The Albiceleste then took the lead early in the second half, after a shot by Messi was deflected into the net by Mercado, ultimately credited to the latter.
The French woke up at that point, and the lead lasted just nine minutes, as French full back Benjamin Pavard equalised once more with yet another rocket of a shot, hitting a half volley absolutely perfectly into the top left corner from outside the box.
Then it was Mbappe’s turn to take control, showing perfect control and poise to score his first after controlling a loose ball and hitting it low and under Franco Armani in the 64th minute.
His second came just four minutes later, as the Argentinian defence was opened up down the middle and Oli Giroud’s through ball found Mbappe with pace once more, and he extended the lead with a smart finish low to the keeper’s right.
Despite holding a two goal lead the French didn’t seem to have either the capacity or the desire to close the game down, and it continued fairly open.
With things looking desperate for Argentina, Sergio Aguero was brought on and looked immediately dangerous, while Messi continued to work tirelessly trying to open up the defence.
But it wasn’t until the third minute of stoppage time that the South Americans made a dent in the lead, with Messi finding the perfect long pass to Aguero, who neatly converted one time for Argentina’s third, and a last final chance for his team.
An attempt in the very final seconds of the game was missed, and that was the end of the scoring, the French winning this extraordinary game to go through to the quarter finals, where they’ll meet either Portugal or Uruguay.
If this is going to be typical of the football we see in the knockout stages of this competition, then we are in for one incredible World Cup.
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