By Tunde Odesola
A counteroffensive ignited by Alexis Mac Allister from the right of the Argentine midfield finds Messi, who gave a two-touch twisty flick to a speeding Julian Alverez, whose intelligent pass returns the ball to Allister, who measured a diagonal pass across the French defence line to locate Angel Di Maria, who stabbed in a sublime second goal.
For 70 minutes, Argentina was in control, and France was in a coma with their talisman, Kylian Mbappe, locked in the cooler. France had their first shot on target in the 71st minute. Then, substitute Kolo Muani, who replaced Ousmane Dembele, burst forth with youthful energy to beat the ageing and tired Nicolas Otamendi who pulled back Muani in the 18-yard box. Penalty!
Mbappe fired a low shot to the far right of Argentina goalie, Emiliano Martinez, whose fingertips failed to keep the ball out. Goooal! 2-1. 80th minute. The French were back the next minute when Marcus Thuram found Mbappe with a sweet dink in the Argentina box, and the rejuvenated PSG superstar made no mistake, volleying the ball into the left of Argentina’s post. 2-2!
The cat with nine lives, Messi, pounced in the 108th minute of the extra time to make it 3-2, blasting in a rare right-foot shot inside the 16-yard box after goalkeeper Hugo Lloris’ point-blank save, sending the 88,966-capacity Lusail Stadium on fire.
Argentina idol, Diego Armando Maradona, fooled the world during the 1986 Mexico World Cup quarterfinal match against England when he scored his infamous ‘Hand of God’ goal to send La Albiceleste en route to a second World Cup glory. English players, including Gary Lineker, John Barnes and goalkeeper Peter Shilton protested but Tunisian referee, Ben Nasser, had no Video Assistant Referee to consult. So, the goal stood. After the dubious first goal, Maradona produced a breathtaking second goal, dribbling past half of the English team right from outside his own centre-circle and slotting home FIFA’s ‘Goal of the Century’ inside the box with his left foot.
But Polish referee Szymon Marciniak didn’t see the ‘Hand of God’ in the 116th minute of the Qatar 2022 World Cup final, he saw the hand of Gonzalo Montiel stop a shot from Mbappe and he rightly awarded a penalty. Again, Mbappe stepped forward to send Martinez the wrong way, scoring all his three penalties in the final to the right of the keeper and sending the game into a pulsating penalty shootout. 3-3!
Keeper Martinez aka Dibu weaved his name into World Cup folklore as he saved Kingsley Coman’s penalty and Aurelien Tchouameni missed while Messi, Paredes Leandro, Lucas Ocampus, and villain-turned-hero Montiel delivered the coveted trophy with the last kick of the game, sending Lloris on a wild goose chase leftward.
In the final analysis, Argentina came tops in the vital statistics of the game with 54% possession to France’s 46%, 10 shots on goal to 5 for France, 20 to 10 shot attempts, 6 to 5 corner kicks, and taking the lead on all three occasions.
But no matter what Ádámò does, he can never please the citizens of the Land of Àkámárà. Even if he gets another horse and he and his son ride one each, the people of Àkámárà would blame him for an impudent display of wealth.
I have many anti-Messi friends, who are citizens of the Land of Àkámárà, they include Nigeria’s Ambassador to Mexico, Adejare Bello; a former Editor of PUNCH, Chiawo Nwankwo; childhood friend and banker, Victor Olowogorioye; former spokesperson for former Governor Olagunsoye Oyinlola, Kayode Oladeji; and a former colleague, Femi Adepoju. Look, it’s not only men that populate Àkámárà, there are women there, too. One of them is the smashing General Manager, Corporate Services, PUNCH Nigeria Limited, Mrs Folakemi Gbemuotor, whose love for Real Madrid is conc. Despite all Messi had done to win his 8th Ballon d’Or, she still believes her team’s former icon, Ronaldo, is superior with his five Ballons d’Or haul. Even though my maths is struggling, I think 8-5 remains 3, abi?
Well, Juju music superstar, Chief Commander Ebenezer Obey, said it all in his parable of the man and his son journeying on their horse: there’s nothing you can do to please Àkámáràns. I asked another Àkámáràn, Stanley Adiele, a friend, why he didn’t want Messi to win the World Cup, he said, “It’s going to hurt my brand.” Adiele’s brand is not superior football prowess, it’s Ronaldo and his ebbing career.
A good number of anti-Messi fans queued behind Manchester City lightning striker, Erlin Haaland. Let’s consider the optics. Like Haaland, Messi won a treble of Ligue 1, French Super Cuo and the Father of All Trophies, the World Cup. Unlike no other player, Messi won 29 Man-of-the-Match awards to Haaland’s 17, meaning that he impacted more on the game than Haaland. Though Haaland scored more goals than Messi – 52 to 37, Àkámáràns should be reminded that a Soviet goalkeeper, Lev Yashin, won the award in 1963.
Therefore, the Ballon d’Or isn’t an award for goal-scoring alone but for the overall impact a player has on his team. Messi spearheaded the most thrilling World Cup final in history, emerging as the best player of the tournament at 35! Without Haaland, City would have swept the stakes in Europe and England but Argentina, without Messi, would have returned home empty-handed. In the season, Messi had 25 assists to Haaland’s 9. Messi was way ahead of Haaland in other parameters such as Dribbles: 149 to 19; Key Passes: 140 to 37; Tackles: 40 to 8; Big Chances Created: 45 to 13. Yet, Àkámáràns won’t stop saying both the World Cup and the Ballon d’Or were rigged in Messi’s favour.
Do not be fooled, there are Àkámáràns in the white man’s land, too. They dealt a bad hand during the heavyweight boxing fight between British world champion, Tyson Fury, and Cameroonian mixed martial artist, Francis Ngannou, who turned professional boxer recently.
Watching the slugfest, it was obvious that Fury got more than he bargained for in Ngannou, who knocked him down in the third round with a left hook. The booing of the judges’ verdicts at the end of the fight shows the fans’ belief as to where the pendulum of victory should have swung. From rounds one to seven, (David) Ngannou stood toe-to-toe, in my estimation, against the Goliath of England, winning at least four of the seven rounds. The referees also gave Round 8 to Ngannou. With the Round 3 knockdown, the fight should have been awarded to Ngannou even if Fury won the other five rounds of the 10-round encounter.
David had to cut off Goliath’s head, lift it high up and feed it to the birds of the sky. This is boxing, Ngannou couldn’t do so, so he lost. If it was a mixed martial arts fight, Fury the Giant would’ve been levelled in the third round.
Let me tell you why Ngannou can never be declared winner except he yanks off Fury’s head. Declaring Ngannou, a ‘greenhorn’ in professional boxing, the winner of the bout would have greatly diminished boxing in the eyes of the world. How can a newcomer mixed martial artist defeat boxing’s biggest champion in his first professional boxing fight?
I watch wrestling for comic relief because it’s not a true test of strength. Boxing is seen worldwide as a sweet science that tests strength, wit, brains and guts. Mixed martial arts, since its emergence in the 1990s, has, no doubt, gained global acclaim, sharing the stage with boxing.
If Ngannou was declared winner over Fury, MMA would’ve enjoyed an increased popularity, a situation likely to challenge boxing’s position as the king of combat sports.
An Ngannou victory would also have changed the direction of the heavyweight boxing fights in the pipeline as Fury would have no choice but to stake his titles against Ngannou, putting on hold other possible fights.
Ngannou cannot just come from nowhere and pour san-san for boxing garri. E gbe kinni yi wa, Fury lokan. It’s Fury’s turn, not Ngannou’s yet.
•Concluded.
•Odesola, a United States of America, USA-based journalist and public cum political analyst, can be reached via: Email: tundeodesola2003@yahoo.com; Facebook: @Tunde Odesola; and X: @Tunde_Odesola
