Okay, I’m late to the party.
But what a party it was.
Those who have been following soccer all along and are familiar with its nuances are rolling their eyes and muttering, ‘where have you been?’.
Well, I’m aboard now.
Better late than never.
And it’s not soccer.
It’s football.
And that’s how I’ll call it.
I’m talking, of course, about the just completed World Cup.
It was the ultimate drama on the biggest stage of world competition.
There is nothing like a sport that delivers when the spotlight is the brightest.
That is precisely the story of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar that saw Argentina defeat defending champion France 4-2 on penalty kicks to end an exhausting battle that featured everything you could ask for in a championship contest.
If you saw it happen, there’s no sense in my going deep into every detail.
If you didn’t see it happen, and care, ask one of your friends who did.
If you could care less, what’s the point?
But if you’re in the latter group, bear with me, and read on, to at least get a feeling of what those in the know say was the greatest World Cup final in history.
One for the ages.
International football is about two 45-minute halves.
The clock never stops, which is why extra time is added on when the clock reaches 45 minutes for each half.
Extra time is added when the ball is out of bounds, or there’s an injury, or a foul, setting up a free kick or a penalty kick.
In other words, when actual play is not in progress, the clock runs, but extra time is added on.
For most of the final, it appeared Argentina was the dominant team, leading 2-0, headed to a decisive triumph.
So, if you want sudden drama, it started in the 80th minute when France scored from the penalty mark.
Then, just 96 seconds later, tied the match on an improbable shot.
Regulation ended in a 2-2 tie, which forced a 15-minute extra time session.
It remained 2-2 when the second 15-minute extra time period began.
This is where another feature of a great battle either emerges or doesn’t.
In this World Cup final, the two stars representing each country performed to the highest degree.
The two best players on the pitch, as they call it, played that way.
The finest player in the sport, Lionel Messi, 5-foot-7, and 35 years old, playing in his last game, scored, to give Argentina, the lead in the second half of the second extra session.
It looked to be the clincher.
But the singular star of the French team, 23-year old sensation Kylian Mbappe (ed. note accent should be above final e ) scored on a penalty kick in the 118th minute.
This after a shot glanced off an elbow of an Argentine defender, creating the penalty shot. Game now tied 3-3.
Mbappe had scored the hat trick for his country.
He scored all three of their goals.
Messi scored two of the three Argentine tallies.
But now after 90-plus ministers of regulation, and two 15-minute extra periods, came the shootout.
Five penalty kicks for each side.
The team that would make the most would win the Cup.
Nothing stood between the kicker and the goaltender 12 yards away, defending the goal, 8 yards long, 8 feet from top to bottom.
Strategy.
The kicker would plan to which side he would aim.
Or right down the middle.
The goalie would have to anticipate.
The mind-games before the shot.
The two stars were the first to fire away.
Messi led off for Argentina.
He delayed his kick at the moment of truth, to see where the French goaltender was leaning. Messi went the other way and scored.
Mbappe was also with his attempt. 1-all.
Argentina’s next kick was good.
But France missed.
Ultimately, Argentina made all four of their tries.
France missed two.
Game over.
A classic.
World Cup to Argentina.
There is so much history to his sport.
For Lionel Messi, it was a storybook ending to an incredible career.
Naturally it didn’t end on the pitch.
In American football, the Super Bowl-winning city erupts.
In the world version, a nation erupts.
That’s what transpired in Argentina.
Americans are playing soccer so much more now.
There is unquestionably more interest in what was once purely an international endeavor.
More attention is paid to American teams, both men and women in world championship play.
I have a feeling there are hundreds of young Americans who saw that World Cup final, who want to be Lionel Messi some day.
And do for their country what Messi did for his.
This is our Christmas column, and one of things I think about at this time of year is a true Christmas miracle experienced by one of my former broadcasting partners.
Matt Millen and I formed Fox Sports’ number 2 NFL team when it all began for Fox in 1994.
For eight years we had a wonderful working relationship and our time was filled with plenty of humor.
It simply worked. On and off the air.
He left to become the President and CEO of the Detroit Lions fore 8 years, which proved to be the lowest point in his football career.
Millen , played for three teams, Oakland, San Francisco, and Washington in his 12 year career, and has a Super Bowl ring for each of those franchises.
He was a linebacker in college for Penn State, which has produced many outstanding players at that position.
He grew up and still lives in the Lehigh Valley in Pennsylvania.
In 2017 he was diagnosed with a rare disease, amyloidosis, which affects the heart and other organs.
His health declined to the point where he needed a life-saving heart transplant.
He had to wait for the right donor, and in 2018, at the age of 60, he spent nearly 100 days in a New Jersey hospital, waiting and waiting, with time running out.
He was told by his doctors that if one didn’t come along in a week or two, there would be nothing they could do to save him.
Then, on Christmas Eve, 2018, they found the right donor.
Matt finally, had his heart transplant.
Prior to entering the hospital, Matt was broadcasting Big Ten football and was forced to stop, virtually every 70 feet to catch his breath in getting to the announce booth.
We talked about a week ago, checking on each other and going over some laughs from the past.
He was headed to his workshop to cut some wood, telling me he was building a house in Florida.
He was doing all the work.
So, when the holiday season comes around, I don’t have to wonder about Christmas miracles.
I know of one for sure.
Matt Millen.
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all.