'I've never experienced anything like that World Cup final'

The Independent’s football newsletter [SUBSCRIBE]( [SUBSCRIBE]( December 19, 2022 [View in browser](   [The Independent]( [The Independent]( Welcome to this special edition of the newsletter being sent today to mark the end of an incredible World Cup tournament. Miguel has considered some of the main talking points from yesterday's final and discussed below. Enjoy! The uniqueness of the tournament re-affirmed A beautiful story cynically used A beautiful football story, that has been so cynically used. That is the legacy of this [World Cup](. Most stories like Messi's, where a great sporting figure has one grand last ambition that would mean everything, aren't often fulfilled. This was, and in a manner that was simply unbelievable. [Messi himself won the game twice](, before having to go and win it a third time, something all the more fitting given this was Argentina's historic third World Cup. It surely completes his legacy as the greatest ever. That is what Qatar as a host nation ultimately set the stage for. [That is what Qatar the state, however, made a successful calculation about](. This is what they wanted in bidding for the World Cup 12 years ago, for an autocracy with this hugely criticised human rights record to be associated with these joyous moments. It is a powerful thing, as anyone who got lost in the emotion of it all can testify to. The World Cup as a whole re-affirmed the uniqueness of the tournament. It may not have the higher quality of the club game, since teams can't impose the same football ideas or be as cohesive, but that s greatly compensated by the level of emotional investment it all goes to. The last hour of the final is testament to that. This was lucratively paid players going to the very limits of human and sporting spirit, putting everything in. That happened in so many games. That's what Qatar get out of it. Wistful confirmation The eve of the final saw confirmation of [Gareth Southgate staying on as England manager](, which was perhaps accompanied by some wistfulness that his team weren't there. That may seem a waste but it doesn't necessarily mean there are any greater questions required about this. Sometimes, as with England's quarter-final, it is just a supremely contested 50-50 game that can go either way. Southgate has actually got England closer to victory, even if they ended further away from the trophy than either 2018 or 2020. He of course deserves the chance to take this project and this team to its fruition. The squad has improved - and so has the manager. Never experienced anything like it As a journalist who reports on live games, I've never experienced anything like that World Cup final - in any sense. [There was the intensity of it, and the sheer entertainment of it](. It is exceedingly rare for games of such stakes to rise to such states of exhilarating play, the prize at the end in this case invigorating everything rather than suffocating it. There were so many different events and minutes that you could write essays on in itself, that would constitute iconic moments in less eventful matches: Angel Di Maria's goal, Messi losing the ball for Kylian Mbappe's second, Messi's drive in the final minutes of the 90, Hugo Lloris' save, Dayot Upamecano's block, Messi's second goal, Emi Martinez's save, Lauturo Martinez's miss, the nature of France's second penalty, the theatrics of the penalties. I've never seen so much in one match with so much at stake. It was, by some distance, the best football event I have ever been to. It was also so much bigger than football given the way the Qatari state attempted to use it. The challenge for a reporter is to try and appropriately capture it, which creates what is almost a contradiction of being completely consumed by the event but it also passing you by as you are so immersed. I honestly can't wait to watch it all again. My team of the World Cup 1. Emiliano Martinez 2. Achraf Hakimi 3. Nahuel Molina 4. Romain Saiss 5. Josko Gvardiol 6. Sofyan Amrabat 7. Alexis Mac Allister 8. Antoine Griezmann 9. Kylian Mbappe 10. Leo Messi 11. Luka Modric And my player of the World Cup: there can only be one - Leo Messi. My goal of the World Cup My goal of the World Cup: [Mbappe's first against Poland](. I just adored the way he gave Wojciech Sczesny the eyes, with everyone expecting the French star to just curl it into the far corner, only for him to absolutely drive it into the other corner with audacious force. Players in that situation usually go for precise low finishes, as Mbappe has done before. He here went for the spectacular, because he could. It was a player on form. The only pity for me is that I didn't get to see it live as I was in the media room ahead of England-Senegal. If we're going for goals from matches I was at it, it was probably the move for Angel Di Maria's in the final - which had echoes of Carlos Alberto - and Messi's against Mexico in the group stage, a low and precise drive where he could only put it in one spot, with time and space running out. It set Argentina off.   Top stories Qatar’s billions get the picture they paid for]( [Argentina’s final act of combativeness after World Cup defined by it](   Enjoying this newsletter? 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