In Saint-Denis, north of Paris, there is an exciting football atmosphere in the afternoon of the World Cup final.
But not exactly what you expected.
No flags on the houses and no sirens in the streets.
Just playing football.
Dozens of soccer fields are full of amateur teams, children's teams and girls' teams.
I almost rubbed my eyes.
About an hour before the start of the World Cup final, the referee blew his whistle to start a childhood game.
"Each half is only 20 minutes, we'll get home a little after the start of the game," said one of the fathers.
French indifference was almost the spirit of the commander.
Footballer of the year in the world, Karim Benzema, tweeted that he does not care what happens in Qatar.
The world famous sports newspaper, "L'Equipe", shared the front page without a hint of patriotism between Messi and Mbappe.
Although it should be noted: maybe not patriotism, but good journalistic senses.
He doesn't care what happens in Qatar.
Benzema, photo: Reuters
The viewing event for local fans failed.
"Poor advertising," says one usher.
"You can't just start with the final," explains another functionary.
All that remains is to check whether the apathy infected the team, or the team infected the public.
0:2 to Argentina in the first set.
Winner or Loser
But right then the plot takes an unusual emotional turn.
On the TV broadcast you saw the French exchanges that brought about the change, but here they noticed something different.
Five players who came off the bench were from Paris - Koeman, Moani, Konata, Dissy and Popana - and for the spectators at St. Denis, these are people who grew up within a radius of no more than 5-6 kilometers from here - people who look, talk and feel like them.
Second France in every possible sense: almost all the spectators here come from the African continent.
The northern one, or the one south of the Sahara.
Mbapa
Disappointed, photo: AP
And they changed the game.
And before our eyes the legend of Mbapa grew.
He equaled Pele, Zidane, and Oh and Breitner as scorer in two finals.
He equaled Pele, equaled England's Hearst as a hat-trick scorer.
And then passed all the footballers who ever lived in the number of goals in the World Cup final.
I didn't see Raimondo Orsi's wonderful goal for Italy in the 1934 final, but from what was on TV, Mbappe's 2:2 goal is probably the most beautiful goal scored in the final.
And he will soon be 24 years old.
What has died in the meantime are the assumptions of soccer fans that a soccer player needs to win this way or that way to be a winner or a loser.
Any player - Argentinian or French - who was on the field, can walk down the street for the rest of his days and say he played in the 2022 World Cup final. Messi shows why he is one of the greatest in history.
Mbappe illustrates again why he will be too.
The second act, ending 3:3, is the important one and is the moral.
Viva France, Viva Argentina!
Viva football!
Mbappe and Messi.
Winner or Loser?, Photo: AFP
Loss on penalties
in the third set France loses on penalties.
The crowd folds its flags.
France is no longer the soccer world champion, but it gained something big from a trophy.
the love of the people
He will not be indifferent to his wonderful team again.
were we wrong
We will fix it!
If you found an error in the article, we would appreciate it if you shared it with us
/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/prisa/S7UVDTX7DREC7DXVCZN6MEKGBY.jpg)
