Around 200,000 French fans have signed a petition to get the 2022 World Cup final replayed.
France fell to a dramatic penalty shootout defeat to Argentina in Qatar after a thrilling 3-3 draw in 120 minutes.
Argentina had surged into a 2-0 lead in the first half and looked set to ease their way to glory.
However, late in the second half, Kylian Mbappe produced two moments of magic to take us into extra time.
The first was from the penalty spot as he kept his nerve to beat Emiliano Martinez.
But the second was stunning as he played a one-two with Marcus Thuram before smashing a volley into the corner.
Argentina retook the lead in extra time through Messi before Mbappe completed his hat-trick in the final minutes of extra time.
And so onto penalties where misses from Kingsley Coman and Aurelien Tchouameni sealed France’s fate and left Argentina celebrating wildly.
The greatest World Cup final we’ve ever seen.
200,000 French fans sign petition to replay World Cup final
However, might the final have to be replayed?
Well, it would if 200,000 French fans got their way.
That’s because that many supporters have signed a petition to get the 2022 World Cup final replayed.
Why do they want it to be replayed?
Well, their case isn’t exactly a strong one.
They write: “The arbitration was totally sold, there was never a penalty + fault on MBAPPE on the 2nd goal!!!
“Sign and share en masse for the match to be replayed!”
Why do France want to replay the World Cup final?
So, they’re saying that they want the match to be replayed because they believe Argentina ‘bought’ the referee.
They also don’t believe Argentina should have been awarded a penalty as Angel Di Maria was brought down by Ousmane Dembele for the opening goal. They also claim Mbappe was fouled in the build-up to Argentina’s second goal.
As well 200,000 signatures, more than 80,000 comments have been made on the petition.
“We want to replay this match because the referee was for the Argentinians and he only whistled for French faults!” one wrote.
Another said: “Of course we will play again and we will win.”
Another wasn’t quite so confident and said: “Even if France lose again in this match, it must be done again by changing the referee.”
“There was cheating we have to replay the match,” another wrote.
While a fifth added: “I want to redo this match because the referee was paid it’s just unacceptable that the French lose because of a referee.”
Will the 2022 World Cup final be replayed?
In one word: No.
There’s absolutely no chance the final will be replayed.
While French fans may be upset with the refereeing from Polish Szymon Marciniak, we think his officiating in the final was actually pretty good.
Yes, it was a soft penalty on Di Maria for the first goal but you can’t really complain about the decision.
As for the apparent foul on Mbappe for the second goal… what foul?
Perhaps one complaint they could maybe have was the fact that some of Argentina’s bench was on the pitch when Messi scored in extra time.
As the laws state: “If, after a goal is scored, the referee realises before the resumption of the game that an additional person was on the field at the time the goal was scored: the referee must refuse the goal if the additional person was: a player, a substitute, a substitute, an excluded player or an official of the team that scored.”
But, as we explained, it would have been extremely harsh and made no difference to the outcome of Messi’s goal.
The sooner these French fans accept the World Cup final result, the better…
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