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Journalism of Courage
From Sulaymaniyah in Iraq and New York City in the US to Cartegena in Spain, Sydney in Australia and India’s Kerala, fans all over the world congregated on the streets to celebrate Argentina’s victory in the FIFA World Cup final against France in Qatar Sunday.
As thousands in Buenos Aires celebrated Argentina lifting the World Cup after a gap of 36 years, passionate supporters of the Argentina team from Kerala also gathered in droves to celebrate Lionel Messi’s ‘coronation’. Messi inspired Argentina and took them over the line, scoring two goals in the final to win his first World Cup in his fifth appearance in the tournament.
Videos of people in Kerala lining up in the streets with Argentinian flags and bursting crackers are now going viral. The clips of people going crazy and dancing wildly as the South American nation won the World Cup show how much football means to the people of Kerala who are ardent supporters of Lionel Messi.
Messi, 35, opened the scoring through a penalty in the 23rd minute to give Argentina the lead and then Angel Di Maria finished a superb counter-attacking goal to make it 2-0 inside 36 minutes. France’s Kylian Mbappe then showed his world-class mettle to score two goals in quick succession. First from the penalty spot in the 80th minute and then a brilliant volley in the 81st minute to make it level.
In extra time, Argentina once again cruised ahead with a goal from Messi through a rebound in the 108th minute that Dayot Upamecano failed to clear from the goal line. However, France were handed another lifeline as they were awarded a penalty in the 118th minute that was duly converted by Mbappe to complete his hat-trick.
Argentina’s ever-dependable goalkeeper Emiliano Martínez once again rose to the occasion as he saved a crucial penalty. Argentina triumphed in the end to lift the coveted trophy, their third World Cup, and their first since 1986.
