Argentina have won the World Cup for only the third time in their history with a stubborn penalty shootout victory over defending champions France at the 2022 tournament in Qatar.
After the game, a lot of people said that Argentina won the championship because of the penalties awarded by the referee. It is true that Argentina won five penalties in this World Cup. It is amazing that Messi has played in four World Cups before winning one penalty.
The first penalty was taken in Argentina's opening match against Saudi Arabia, and it was a complete accident. The Argentinian players didn't even know they were being fouled.Today match prediction. The penalty was awarded by the video referee. The penalty meant nothing to Argentina other than a goal for Messi.
The second penalty was Argentina against Poland, which I should say was somewhat controversial because the goalkeeper touched the ball, of course touched the ball and hit Messi, but it didn't go in, so it didn't help Argentina.
The third penalty is Argentina against Holland. Argentina leads 1-0. The referee gave the penalty. Messi scored. Some people say that if there is no Messi penalty, Holland will 2-1. In fact, it is impossible. If 1-0 lead at that time, Argentina is unlikely to replace Romero, even if changed, Holland also equalized the score at most. It is impossible to have the final knockout. The final kill was because the Netherlands were behind, no way to attack. After the score of 2-2, the Netherlands began to defend. It can be seen that the Netherlands did not have the courage to win. Argentina just did not want to lose. That means that without Messi's goal, Argentina and the Netherlands will probably go 1-1 on penalties.
The fourth penalty was against Croatia. This penalty was the first one, and it did have some impact. Some people said that without the penalty Croatia would not have been able to attack and give Argentina a chance. Croatia even equalised behind Brazil, so Croatia didn't have the courage to win and just played penalties without conceding the goal. Even if it hadn't been for the penalty, the goal would have been lost in the back. After all, Croatia were not defending but attacking with possession.
The fifth penalty against France, this penalty is also the first, some people say that without this penalty France 2-1, in fact, it is impossible, the referee of this game obviously does not want to win the regular season between the two sides, if Argentina did not have a penalty, France's first penalty will not be awarded, because Argentina 2-0, the game is almost over, That's when referees tend to err on the side of France, and it's only natural that you don't want to lose the game too soon. When Messi scored in extra time, the referee gave a penalty at the last minute. If Argentina didn't score, the last goal would not be given.
To sum up, regardless of whether these penalties were misjudged or not, Croatia was the first penalty, but this was a game where Argentina could have easily scored with or without penalties. France didn't have a penalty. Most likely it was 1-1. In fact, it could have been 1-0. After all, France didn't have a shot on goal until the 70th minute, Argentina had numerous chances. Now you can see that Argentina could have done without these penalties and it wouldn't have stopped Argentina from winning the championship.