First of all, England. If someone told me that one side would have scored four goals by half time in the 3rd/4th playoff, I would have been depressed thinking that England surrendered again. But we had not. France may have expected the team that allowed Argentina to play football to face them, but a changed line up with the pace that is a strength of the team brought belief and four goals. The good thing about the game is that our two talismans were not playing for the first half, but we did need Jude for the final half with his goal to settle nerves. I watched the game with my wife. We actually have not watched any games together, this being the first one. She did watch the game when we got back from Portugal, but I was off collecting our dog at the time. What a game to watch together! I may try to convince her that she is the lucky talisman and should watch more games with me in the future! She has a soft spot for Saka after the abuse he has received in the past. She is one of many who sent him messages of support after the abuse he got from that penalty miss (and he thanked her as well) in the 2020 final.
As for the final, Argentina have regained the record for the most number of players sent off in a World Cup Final. They were a dirty team against us in the semi-final and while not as dirty in the final, they still were. They also got away with a lot of tackles that should have got a yellow card as well as managing to get a valid goal disallowed. Their behaviour after the end of the game is inexcusable, though based on what has happened before, I suspect that FIFA will let them off.
Unlike 2006, when bad sportsmanship was rewarded, this year, the best team won. Football would have been worse if Argentina had lifted the trophy. I am glad, that on this occasion, the right result occurred.
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