How did you enjoy the game?

Posted on December 19, 2022 by henry tapper

The joys and trauma of being on the losing side in a world cup final are not known to those who support home country sides (unless you are a pensioner with a long memory).

Jo Cumbo took off to Paris to watch the match in a bar and her tweets before and during the game , capture the tension brilliantly

That feeling of foreboding mixed with hope, can best be experienced in countries with a history of getting to finals (and winning them)

After watching your team sit back on the ropes for 80 minutes, you find your first shot on target is an Mbappe penalty.


Your second shot on target is an Mbappe volley

Any sense of order is off the table as the elderly waiters (crocked messieurs) get stuck in

And Mbappe’s hat-trick is greeted with Gallic elation

It’s penalties – and the rest is silence.

While we can commiserate with our close neighbours, the scenes in Buenos Aires remind us on which country needed this victory most!

A fantastic match – fantastic winners!

If you weren’t French – or perhaps in France – then I hope you kept watching beyond the end of time. Extra time was extraordinary, so were the penalties.

But the touching moment, when Messi spontaneously kissed the cup as he was crowned player of the tournament, beat everything else.

Few will begrudge him his greatest triumph and it was apt that Mbappe, who is the only player on the planet who can match him as a source of excitement, picked up the golden boot, beating Messi whose seven goals would have won in other world cups.

Scanning the overnight posts to our linked in group, I came across this , from one of our recently joined members. It’s another female lens on a game that used to be so male.

Role on the woman’s world cup!

About henry tapper

Founder of the Pension PlayPen,, partner of Stella, father of Olly . I am the Pension Plowman
This entry was posted in pensions and tagged , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

Leave a Reply