Debate Arises Over Messi's 2022 World Cup Victory

The 2022 World Cup was an iconic event, with more than 4 billion people watching the suspense of the final. It was one of the most significant sporting events ever. I watched the matches at any opportunity, even during breaks at school. I remember watching the World Cup final on a call with my friends during winter break. The dramatic comeback France almost completed was an experience any viewer who experienced the spectacle that day will never forget. 

The World Cup was a fantastic sporting event, no doubt about that. But what about behind the scenes? What other forces were at play? The World Cup was riddled with controversy; it was Messi's ideal tournament—but was it too perfect? Many fans proposed the theory that FIFA rigged the World Cup to let Messi get his fairytale run and bring in millions of dollars from his picture-perfect victory. It's easy to see the merit behind this theory, with referees giving a historic amount of penalties to Argentina in 2022—the most penalties given to any team since 1966, according to The Athletic.

This controversy is part of the long and heated debate of Lionel Messi versus Cristiano Ronaldo. Many people I've talked to believe that whatever side of the debate you're on determines your opinion on whether the World Cup was rigged or not. Personally, I think that only applies to more casual fans. However, in the end, the Messi versus Ronaldo debate still dramatically contributes to why this is a commonly talked about subject with many different opinions.

I think there is merit to both sides: the World Cup was undoubtedly a spectacular feat for Messi and his team, but many questionable calls are hard to explain. I do not think that this World Cup was scripted. I think it's unlikely that each match had a predetermined winner. But in moments that are "close calls" or hard to tell, I think the referees were biased in Argentina's favor.

According to GOAL, After his loss during the quarter-finals, Louis Van Gaal, the coach of the Netherlands team that Argentina defeated, was similarly skeptical of the match's outcome: "I don't really want to say much about it. When you see how Argentina gets the goals and how we get the goals, and how some Argentina players overstepped the mark and were not punished, then I think it was a premeditated game."

While it is impossible to tell the whole truth about whether the tournament was rigged, it's easy to see why FIFA would rig the World Cup. Not only is it excellent for publicity to have one of the greatest players of all time go on a perfect run at what is considered an older age for the sport, but it also made them millions of dollars in merchandising sales. Along with this, factoring in that there were many questionable calls throughout the World Cup, such as the handballs in the France and Netherlands games as well as the penalty against Poland. All of which were against Argentina, such controversial decisions to the point where coaches and analysts publicly spoke out about them.