Messi heads long list of World Cup farewells
Lionel Messi left the World Cup stage for the final time in the most dramatic way possible on Sunday, headlining a lengthy list of global giants bidding farewell to football's biggest tournament.
Messi dazzled in Doha as Argentina beat France 4-2 on penalties at the Lusail Stadium after one of the greatest finals in history finished 3-3, with the diminutive forward scoring twice.
The 35-year-old picked up the Golden Ball for the best player of the FIFA World Cup 2022, finishing one goal behind Kylian Mbappe in the race for the Golden Boot.
It was a radically different story in Qatar for Cristiano Ronaldo, who has dominated football for a generation alongside Messi.
The 37-year-old, currently clubless, learned with a jolt that despite his pedigree he is no longer an automatic starter for Portugal, a team he has captained for so long.
Ronaldo headed down the tunnel with tears streaming down his face after the team's shock 1-0 defeat by Morocco in the quarter-finals, knowing his final chance to win the trophy had gone.
"In the five World Cups I played, always alongside great players and supported by millions of Portuguese, I gave it my all," he said in an Instagram post.
"I left everything on the field. I never turned my back on the fight and I never gave up on this dream."
Neymar was also overcome with emotion after Brazil's quarter-final exit at the hands of Croatia, saying he was "psychologically destroyed" and hinting that he could may have played his last match for his country.
The forward missed two games in Qatar with an injury but returned to equal Pele's record goalscoring haul of 77 goals for the Selecao.
Neymar, at 30, is significantly younger than Paris Saint-Germain teammate Messi so if he wants to continue, there is every chance he could play at the next World Cup in North America and Mexico.
Pele himself has urged Neymar to "keep inspiring us".
Luka Modric, who won the Ballon d'Or in 2018, has surely played his final World Cup match at the age of 37.
The Real Madrid midfield schemer is still the man who makes Croatia tick and inspired them to the semi-finals in Qatar, four years after they reached the final against France in Russia.
Following the third-place play-off against Morocco, which Croatia won, he said he would extend his international career into 2023 in an attempt to win the Nations League.
Poland's Robert Lewandowski, 34, finally scored the first World Cup goal of his career, netting in his team's group-stage win against Saudi Arabia.
But the Barcelona forward was equivocal over whether he would be back at another World Cup after his team were knocked out by France in the last 16.
"Physically I'm not afraid of this but we have so many different things outside of football, whether your happiness is still there and what's going on around so it's tough to say now," Lewandowski said.
Luis Suarez and Edinson Cavani, who have led Uruguay's attack for a generation, finished goalless in Qatar but did not go quietly.
Suarez, 35, tweeted angrily after their group-stage exit, alleging that Uruguay were not given the respect they were owed while Cavani angrily knocked over the VAR monitor.
Germany's former World Cup winner Thomas Mueller, 33, failed to score and suffered the bitter disappointment of a second straight group-stage exit.
Belgium star Eden Hazard will definitely not be back after announcing his retirement from international football after the team exited at the group stage.
The Real Madrid forward was the standard-bearer of Belgium's much-vaunted "golden generation", which reached the semi-finals at the 2018 World Cup in Russia but flopped in Qatar.
Gareth Bale, 33, barely made an impact in Qatar, despite playing a key role in Wales' qualification campaign. A single penalty against the United States was his only major impact.
He said he wants to "keep going as long as I can" for Wales but is unlikely to play another World Cup.
Current Ballon d'Or holder Karim Benzema did not even get the chance to say goodbye, suffering an injury before the tournament started.
The Real Madrid star has played in just one World Cup, in 2014. At the age of 34 his chance of another may have gone forever.
-
NYT mini crossword answers for August 29Trump accused U.S. soldiers of stealing? He's not wrong.Belgium arrests 12 terror suspects that may have been planning attack on soccer fans.Kind RA fulfills student's birthday dream of hearing a bedtime storyNew Grok response directs users to Vote.gov for election questionsNobody is joining Twitter, so let's just blame TrumpGoogle rolls out its Trusted Contacts tracking feature to iOSHackers stole $85 million in Ether to save it from *the real crooks21 Lost and Lonely Cemeteries灾后重建新村 雅安旅游新亮点
下一篇:How much will PCB's Champions Cup mentors be paid?
- ·Top 10 Tech Pranks
- ·Amazon has quietly introduced a cool delivery feature
- ·冲高销量后更要保证质量
- ·Hackers stole $85 million in Ether to save it from *the real crooks
- ·Pressure boost squeezes out more hydrogen from artificial leaves
- ·Inauguration singer and her trans sister would like to talk to President Trump
- ·People would rather get peed on than support Trump? Pretty much.
- ·Nobody is joining Twitter, so let's just blame Trump
- ·Carbon neutrality law violates basic rights: Constitutional Court
- ·Jony Ive based the design of Apple AirPods on Star Wars Stormtroopers
- ·What Amazon got right about smart speakers that Facebook won't
- ·What Amazon got right about smart speakers that Facebook won't
- ·25 Years Later: A Brief Analysis of GPU Processing Efficiency
- ·Justin Timberlake and Ryan Gosling recreated their 'Mickey Mouse Club' days at the Oscars
- ·The media keeps misfiring when it writes about guns.
- ·Mixed messages as sports world backs US protesters
- ·24 Museums Dedicated to Black History
- ·Facebook announces $399 Oculus Quest standalone VR headset
- ·New undersea energy storage system harnesses the power of buoyancy
- ·The Georgian port city of Poti wants to be a tourist destination.
- ·Sinkhole swallows up car, injuring 2 in Seoul
- ·Jony Ive based the design of Apple AirPods on Star Wars Stormtroopers
- ·What Amazon got right about smart speakers that Facebook won't
- ·Kind RA fulfills student's birthday dream of hearing a bedtime story
- ·South Korean lawmakers brace for US election as Harris, Trump diverge on North Korea
- ·Mixed messages as sports world backs US protesters
- ·Yes, big spiders are spreading in the U.S. No, they're not flying.
- ·'Game of Thrones' to open filming locations as tourist attractions
- ·South Korea asks North Korea to explain fire at Kaesong industrial complex: ministry
- ·#BootBae shows us the real function of high heel boots
- ·Game Plan
- ·Google rolls out its Trusted Contacts tracking feature to iOS
- ·移动检验监测车开进广州白云,将为水产养殖提供快检服务
- ·广西宁明投入粤桂协作资金50万元,助推水稻全产业链发展
- ·Bernie Sanders’ DNC speech sounded like everyone else’s. That’s astonishing.
- ·People are freaking out that Meghan Markle closed her own damn door