Lionel Messi had it all on Sunday night. His greatest longing perhaps, ever since he made his World Cup debut in 2006, was to lay his hands on the ultimate trophy of the most popular global sport. Messi had his eternal dream fulfilled, and Argentina relived the 1986 moment. Messi's and Argentina's great feat had to come in one of the greatest games played ever. This is where Hugo Lloris' France chipped in, with Kylian Mbappé putting in a stellar show that could envy even the victors of the tournament. A witness to this great game was the jam-packed Lusail Iconic Stadium of Qatar. Apart from Messi and Argentina, football triumphed in Qatar. It was in the last ten minutes of the originally scheduled time that Golden Boot awardee Kylian Mbappé turned the one-sided game into a competition that will be remembered for eternity. The 97 seconds during which he capitalized on a penalty and scored a magnificent goal in a flash of brilliance, turned the entire trajectory of the game. Kylian's unprecedented hat-trick in a World Cup final pumped life into the game and kept Messi's Argentina on the edge till the very last moment. His third and equalizing goal came in the form of a penalty, after Lionel Messi, through his touch of perfection, managed to score a goal in the last minutes of extra time by a margin of millimetres. That narrow goal had almost secured the fate of Argentina, but more drama was to follow as Gonzalo Montiel reflexively handled the ball, giving Mbappé a chance to score — taking the game to a penalty shootout. In the last minutes of the game, and in the penalty shootout, it was Argentina's goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez who, through his typical character and confidence, ensured that Argentina had the marginal upper hand that mattered. One cannot afford to skip the mention of Angel Di Maria's clinical goal that set the momentum for Argentina in the first half itself. It is difficult to remember when one saw so many ups and downs in a World Cup final! Be it the 2006 final clash between Italy and France, in which the former won in a penalty shootout, or the 2010 clash between Spain and Netherlands, in which Andres Iniesta of Spain scored a last-minute goal to avoid a penalty shootout — the Qatar final trumps them all. In fact, the thrill of this game is being compared to the 1966 final between England and West Germany which was decided in a somewhat similar manner, in favour of England, through a penalty shootout. Such is the nature of the game that for one to emerge as a victor, the other has to go through an upset. The World Cup final result must be a disappointment for Kylian Mbappé who barely made any mistakes, and did all that it takes to be a champion. Neither the Golden Boot award nor the consoling words whispered by his President Emanuel Macron could fill the vacuum within him. One thing is for sure, the genius has a bright future ahead. In fact, the ups and downs and upsets of the Qatar World Cup final characterized the entire tournament where football was at its best. Qatar needs to be thanked wholeheartedly for organizing colourful and eventful sporting events. FIFA World Cup 2022 saw the wall of pre-dominance being collapsed — leading to a level playing field for emerging footballing nations hailing from under-represented regions of the world. It saw the democratization of the sport in the true sense of the term, where 'smaller' teams made life miserable for larger teams. The biggest upset, perhaps, was the unanticipated ouster of Ronaldo's Portugal in the quarter-finals. Before being knocked out in the semi-finals, Morocco showed that its improved performance was not a one-off thing, but rather had an element of consistency. The same goes for Japan which, after beating Germany in its opener and Spain in the last game of the group matches, made it to the round of 16. In fact, on the third day of the competition itself, Saudi Arabia, with a winning chance of a mere 4 per cent, handed a handsome defeat to hot favourites Argentina. Contrary to the perception of being "a mistake" which was "made 12 years ago by 22 men of FIFA's executive committee", Qatar has emerged as a hope — a hope that the game of football will become more competitive and live up to the reputation of being the most popular global sport, literally. Western countries sent their teams rather reluctantly to the tournament with a 'painful' heart but weren't the experience at par with any other World Cup, or even better? The exploitation of migrant workers, subjugation of women's rights, negligence of the LGBTQ+ community etc. are serious issues and must be addressed at any cost but should they be used to deny a sporting nation its rightful chance to host the tournament? A line has to be drawn that separates sports from politics. One saw an important team like Iran suffer due to politics. An irony unfolded as the countrymen celebrated the elimination of their national team at the hands of political rivals — the United States. No sport unites the world as efficiently as football does. The 2022 World Cup is a classic example where divisive forces withered away once the game came into action. The game of football has its own set of parameters and disciplines; it needs not to toe the political lines. The beauty of the game shall prevail forever as it did in Qatar. At the same time, political solutions need to be found to the larger social and political problems.