International Football
Drama specialists Argentina deserve their World Cup title
Sunday’s World Cup final turned from a one-sided affair into a nerve-racking vintage showdown and it was somehow fitting that footballing diva Argentina prevailed over France amid the drama.
Tears flowed at Lusail stadium when Gonzalo Montiel buried the winning penalty for a 4-2 shootout victory after Kylian Mbappe’s hat-trick had dragged France back into the contest twice following Angel Di Maria’s opener and Lionel Messi’s double.
Argentine, somehow, were ready for an emotional, nail-biting encounter, having already gone through a dress rehearsal in the same stadium against the Netherlands in the quarter-finals.
Leading 2-0 after 73 minutes, they were forced into extra time after Wout Weghorst’s late double, but instead of collapsing after the Dutch substitute’s equaliser 11 minutes into stoppage time, they rallied back to win the shootout.
They did just that again on Sunday, playing like only Argentina can, with a mix of aggression bordering on gamesmanship, sheer talent, heart and guts.
France, instead, might have entered the match with some sense of self-entitlement and were punished for it with Messi’s penalty and Di Maria’s goal at the end of a lightning-quick counter attack.
Didier Deschamps substituted Olivier Giroud and Ousmane Dembele with Marcus Thuram and Randal Kolo Muani before the break, to no immediate effect.
“Argentina have been playing a World Cup final, not us,” Deschamps said at halftime.
LOGIC-DEFYING
Kingsley Coman and Eduardo Camavinga then came on for Antoine Griezmann and Theo Hernandez, and as Kolo Muani’s influence grew, Argentina were hit by some kind of shaky legs syndrome.
Mbappe scored two within 97 seconds in the 80th and 81st, the second with a jaw-dropping volley.
But again, Argentina got back up on their feet and Messi added another from close range. The whole Argentina bench ran onto the pitch like headless chicken, but it was somehow not enough drama for a night to remember.
Mbappe, with ice running through his veins, made it 3-3 with another penalty two minutes from time. Di Maria, who was back on the bench, buried his face in his bib to hide the tears that were flowing down his cheeks.
One of the all-time greatest finals was to be decided by a shootout.
Argentina seemed to have the upper hand as France keeper Hugo Lloris is far from being a shootout specialist and Deschamps believes players cannot master the art of taking penalties in training.
Mbappe converted his third penalty against Emiliano Martinez but as Coman and Aurelien Tchouameni missed, Lloris was never close to saving the Albiceleste’s attempts, leaving Mbappe head in shirt, unable to celebrate his unbelievable hat-trick on the biggest stage.
France have conceded all the last 14 penalties against them in shootouts, with the last person to miss Luigi Di Biagio in the 1998 World Cup quarter-final.
After France’s shootout defeats in the Euro 2021 last 16 and 2006 World Cup final, it was a coherent end to a logic-defying final.
-Reuters
Representatives from four national players’ unions on Thursday launched a new global organisation in Madrid, which they say will strengthen footballers’ rights and improve dialogue with governing bodies.
Opening a new front in the battle over who speaks for players, the International Footballers’ Association (AIF) was unveiled, with David Aganzo, president of Spain’s Association of Footballers (AFE) and a former head of the global union FIFPRO, appointed to lead the organisation.
Players’ unions from Brazil, Mexico and Switzerland were also represented.
The initiative drew a swift rebuke from FIFPRO, which said in a statement that Aganzo was acting out of self-interest and aligning himself with organisations linked to football governing bodies, as well as groups expelled from FIFPRO over alleged mismanagement.
Aganzo rejected the criticism, saying he “will not seek confrontation with FIFPRO”.
The launch comes amid strained relations between players’ unions and football authorities, particularly over the expanding international match calendar.
Relations between FIFA and FIFPRO deteriorated in 2024 after the union lodged a complaint with the European Commission, arguing that the global governing body was abusing its dominant position by adding competitions without sufficient consultation.
Aganzo denied suggestions that the new initiative was backed by FIFA president Gianni Infantino, but said “direct dialogue with FIFA” was essential.
AFE’s Extraordinary General Assembly approved the initiative in February with 99.8% of votes cast in favour of spearheading the creation of the AIF.
The same assembly also backed AFE’s withdrawal from FIFPRO, citing what it described as a “complete lack of transparency, as well as its total lack of dialogue with international bodies.”
“We represent over 30,000 footballers, and we come here with a new model aimed at safeguarding players’ rights and facilitating direct communication with all international bodies,” Aganzo told reporters.
“We are in contact with 15 to 20 unions already who were very aware of this moment and waiting for this announcement to make their move and join our initiative.”
He declined to identify any unions beyond those present.
Asked about a report that a senior envoy to U.S. President Donald Trump had urged FIFA to replace Iran with Italy at the upcoming World Cup, Aganzo urged caution.
“These are more political issues; on April 30th, I’ll be speaking to Gianni (Infantino) at the FIFA Congress, and we will discuss those things,” Aganzo said.
“People who want to go to the World Cup have to earn their place on sporting merit.”
-Reuters
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A new trial over the death of Argentine soccer legend Diego Maradona will begin on Tuesday, with seven members of his medical team charged with negligent homicide nearly a year after a previous case collapsed in a mistrial.
An enduring presence in Argentina – from towering murals to tattoos, opens new tab – Maradona died on November 25, 2020, at 60, after a heart attack while he was recuperating from brain surgery to remove a blood clot.
A court in San Isidro, near Buenos Aires, will hear testimony from just under 100 witnesses as it tries Maradona’s medical team over alleged negligence in the death of the 1986 World Cup champion.
His medical team has denied wrongdoing. The defendants are psychiatrist Agustina Cosachov, neurosurgeon Leopoldo Luque, psychologist Carlos Angel Diaz, physician Nancy Edith Forlini, nurse Ricardo Almiron, head nurse Mariano Ariel Perroni, and physician Pedro Pablo Di Spagna. An eighth defendant, nurse Dahiana Madrid, will be tried in a separate jury trial, with no date yet set.
Two months into the first trial, which started last March, a mistrial was declared when one of three judges, Julieta Makintach, resigned after video surfaced showing her being interviewed by a camera crew in the corridors of the courthouse and in her office as part of a documentary, in breach of judicial rules.
The retrial will require both prosecutors and defense lawyers to reassess their strategies after the first trial aired photographs, videos, audio recordings and forensic evidence. Many witnesses, including Maradona’s children and his former wife, Claudia Villafane, have already testified.
Prosecutors argued in the initial trial that medical professionals broke treatment protocols and that the home where Maradona was recovering from surgery amounted to a “theatre of horror,” where necessary care was not provided.
The defense countered that his death was inevitable given his longstanding health problems. Maradona struggled for decades with cocaine and alcohol addiction.
The negligence charges emerged in 2021 after prosecutors appointed a medical board to investigate Maradona’s death. The panel concluded his medical team acted in an “inappropriate, deficient and reckless” manner.
-Reuters
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Aliou Cisse has been named coach of the Angola national team, the country’s football federation (FAF) announced on Thursday, 24 hours after the Senegalese left his post in Libya.
The 50-year-old coach, who led Senegal to their maiden Africa Cup of Nations title in 2022, ended his short stint with the Libyan national team on Wednesday, after taking charge in March 2025.
“Welcome, Aliou Cisse, head coach of the Angola national team,” the FAF said on Facebook. Angola, which failed to reach this year’s World Cup, will start their 2027 AFCON qualifying campaign in September.
-Reuters
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