French midfielder regrets nearly winning against Argentina

"We gave it all and were really disappointed," Varane said after the defeat at Lusail Stadium on December 18. "We faced a lot of obstacles along the way, but we didn't give up."

Yesterday, France was leading 0-2 from the first half and played weakly, not finishing a single time in the first 70 minutes. The turning point only came when Kolo Muani brought France a penalty in the 80th minute for Kylian Mbappe to shorten the gap. 97 seconds later, Mbappe completed a double with a superb throw to volley his right foot across the corner, bringing the game into extra time.

Here, Lionel Messi once again put Argentina ahead, but Mbappe completed his hat-trick to equalize 3-3. In the final minutes of extra time, Muani missed the opportunity to face goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez, and Mbappe could not take advantage when he had the ball in the penalty area. France then lost 2-4 in the penalty shootout.

"It is true that the team couldn't keep up with the pace in the first half, but when we equalized 2-2, we were stronger than the opponent. We started pressing and were very close to a reverse victory," said Varane. He regrets the number of good opportunities his teammates missed when France rose towards the end of the game.

The 29-year-old central defender is also proud of the mental strength and courage of the whole team. Varane sees it as "the impetus to get France into the final, although not enough to defend the title". He also affirmed that the whole team can leave the tournament with their heads held high, because they fought until the last minute.

Meanwhile, captain Hugo Lloris commented that the progress of the 2022 World Cup final was as intense as a boxing match. "Argentina started well, played decisively and were better in every way. We were a bit more passive," said the 35-year-old goalkeeper.

France's preparations for the final were affected. Varane, Ibrahima Konate, Adrien Rabiot, Dayot Upamecano, Kingsley Coman, Olivier Giroud were ill and only returned to training on December 17 - the day before the final. In addition, Aurelien Tchouameni (hip) and Theo Hernandez (knee) also had mild pain.

However, Lloris did not see this as the cause of France's defeat. "We're not going to make excuses, and in fact we've given our all," he added. "I have to congratulate the whole team for fighting to the very end."

Yesterday's victory helped Argentina win the World Cup for the third time, after 1978 and 1986, surpassing the achievement of France with two times of winning the Gold Cup in 1998 and 2018. The most successful teams are Italy (winning 1934. , 1938, 1982, 2006), Germany (1954, 1974, 1990, 2014) and Brazil (1958, 1962, 1970, 1994, 2002).