The Daily Morning Voice Online Desk: Lionel Messi’s Argentina beat France to clinch the World Cup title in a lively game at the Lusail Stadium in Qatar Sunday evening. The South American side beat the holders 4 – 2 on penalties. Argentina is the first country from outside Europe to lift the trophy since Brazil, 20 years ago in Japan. It’s also the country’s third World Cup title. The first 80 minutes of the game were largely one-sided, with France failing to have a single shot on goal for the entire first half. Argentina opened the goal-scoring in the 20th minute with Messi calmly converting a penalty given away by Ousmane Dembélé.

Argentina doubled their lead in the 35th minute when Ángel Di María raced to the end of a through-ball from Alexis Mac Allister. The dynamic attack was, once again, started by Leo Messi, who ran the show from the start, drifting between the lines of France’s midfield and defense. French starlet Kylian Mbappé turned the game on its head in the 79th minute, cooly slotting a late penalty away. Less than five minutes later, the 23-year-old scored again after combining some smart play with his teammate Marcus Thuram. Twitter owner Elon Musk, who was in attendance at the Lusail Stadium, tweeted that 24,400 tweets were sent per second after France’s first goal. Musk said that this was the “highest ever for World Cup.”

The game went to extra time, and France appeared to have all the momentum until Messi snuck in a scrappy goal at the tail end of the second half of extra time. A few moments later, France won their second penalty of the game. Mbappé stepped up and slotted away his third goal of the game and his eighth of the tournament, taking the game to penalties. During the shootout, Mbappé stepped up first and scored again. However, France missed two penalties while Argentina converted all four to win. The winning penalty was scored by Gonzalo Montiel.

Sunday’s final was Messi’s 26th tournament appearance, and the 35-year-old has said the game was the last World Cup fixture he will play for his country. Messi’s dominant performance and a world cup title will also go far in concluding debates surrounding the player in his home country. The 35-year-old was born in Rosario, Argentina, but moved to Spain to join FC Barcelona. He has lived in Europe since and has often been criticized for his performances for Argentina, even after leading the country to a Copa América title last year, the country’s first international title in 28 years.