The 35-year-old captain of ‘La Albiceleste’ ( Argentina National Football Team), Lionel Messi has confirmed that the FIFA 2022 Finale on Sunday, 18th December, 2022 will be his last match for Argentina. “I feel very happy to be able to achieve this, to finish my World Cup journey by playing my last game in a final”, Messi told the Argentine media outlet Diario Deportivo Ole.
“It’s many years for the next one and I don’t think I’ll be able to do it. And to finish like this, it’s is the best”, he added.
Crowned again as the best player of the match in the semi-final that Argentina won 3-0 against Croatia, Messi is now the top Argentine goal scorer at World Cups after his 11th goal against Croatia in the semis, surpassing Gabriel Batistuta’s previous record of 10. He also holds the record for being the oldest player to score 5 goals in a single edition of the World Cup and the most number of World Cup appearances as a team captain(18). Moreover,he is set to attain the record for the most aggregate World Cup appearances when he appears for the finals on Sunday,by surpassing Germany’s Lothar Matthaus’ record of 25.
Argentina’s journey in the 2022 FIFA World Cup kicked off with a major upset,as they lost their opening match against Saudi Arabia 2-1, breaking their 36-match win streak. In spite of this shocking defeat, they managed to bounce back with consecutive wins over Mexico and Poland to finish as the winners of Group C. Lionel Messi and Julian Alvarez scored in Argentina’s 2-1 victory over Australia in their Round of 16 tie, thus qualifying their team for the quarter-finals, in which they faced off against the Netherlands. Argentina won against Netherlands 4-3 on penalties and then proceeded to win their semis against Croatia 3-0,ergo making their way to the 2022 FIFA World Cup Finals.The two-time World Cup champions,Argentina will face off against either the 2018 WC champions France(Group D winners) or Morocco(Group F winners) in the Finale scheduled to be played on Sunday, the 18th of December, 2022 at Lusail Stadium in Lusail, Qatar. This will be Messi’s last chance to lift the World Cup before calling it quits.
