Argentina won the 2022 FIFA World Cup after beating France 4-2 on penalties after a 3-3 draw in the final. Lionel Scaloni's team beat the defending champion in an unprecedented way in the first half, but in the second half Dider Deschamps' team brought the match back from scratch in two minutes.

​

In the second half of extra time, Lionel Messi gave the Argentines the lead again, but Mbappé was able to equalize even that. Argentina thus had to win the match in the penalty shootout, practically for the third time. Our tactical analysis of the final. Regarding the starting teams, Lionel Scaloni clearly brought the biggest surprise. We have already written about it several times that the Argentinian captain likes to adapt his team's lineup to the opponent's game from time to time. Unlike the quarter-final, but similar to the semi-final, the Argentines lined up with four defenders in the final, again Molina, Romero, Otamendi and Tagliafico formed the defensive line. In the midfield, however, Scaloni shuffled the cards: in addition to Enzo Fernandez, Rodrigo De Paul and Alexis MacAllister, this time, instead of a fourth inner midfielder, Ángel Di María, who had played less until now, supported the Messi-Alvarez forward duo as a left winger.

​

This move proved crucial for the first half. Although a virus infection caused concern around the home of the French national team before the final, in the end Didier Deschamps was not forced to make serious sacrifices for his starting team. The composition of the defending champion was thus completely identical to what we saw in the quarter-final against England. In front of Hugo Lloris, the four-man defense consisted of Koundé, Varane, Upamecano and Theo Hernandez, in the midfield, alongside Adrien Rabiot, the youngster of Real Madrid, Aurélien Tchouameni, filtered the attacks. Griezmann was given a free role this time as well, while Dembélé from the right and Mbappé supported the play of center forward Olivier Giroud from the left. Argentina managed to win the match for the first time in the first half. The Messis dominated the 2018 world champions at a level that perhaps we have not seen from anyone at this year's World Cup, not even in a single match.

​

In the first half, France had 41 percent of the ball. In advance, this could even have seemed like a good omen, as Deschamps' team achieved its successes in recent years with an admittedly reactive approach to the game, which it maintained throughout the elimination phase of this year's tournament. This time too, the French received the Argentinian balls in the usual central block, in which the midfielders could leave the basic 4-4-2 formation flexibly as needed. This time, Mbappé was also in the front row, next to Giroud, while Dembélé was responsible for closing the right side of the field. And Griezmann, against the ball, took his place in the middle of the midfield, from where he could also play next to the two front men on occasion.