Di Maria

For one hour, three minutes and 52 seconds, Di Maria was the best player in the world. That — and Messi — were enough to win the World Cup.

As for Di Maria, he was left trying to will his team on from the sideline. With no Di Maria to lob the ball to, he got caught in possession and France scored again to send the game to extra time. He dribbled to the left under heavy pressure and looked to release the ball up the wing. [Giovani Lo Celso](https://theathletic.com/football/player/giovani-lo-celso-EF2pD3m3emBkX7Nq/) was fit, he could run onto those balls while Di Maria stayed on the right. Fifteen minutes earlier, he probably would have looked for an outlet pass to Di Maria on the wing, but Acuna was hanging back at the halfway line, behind the ball. Only a sliding clearance by [Aurelien Tchouameni](https://theathletic.com/football/player/aurelien-tchouameni-3s27o6UtUPTcnWv5/) saved it from becoming a signature Messi goal. That freed Mac Allister behind him to mark [Antoine Griezmann](https://theathletic.com/football/player/antoine-griezmann-LNIx9qsJKyPzrxjt/), whose floating midfield role had been key to France’s success all tournament. Try to crowd Messi in the right half-space and Di Maria would slip in behind and beat you up the wing. In the 12th minute, when Messi dribbled to his left to look for a pass, he didn’t have to wait for his left-back to sprint up an empty wing. [France](https://theathletic.com/football/team/france/) couldn’t escape this thin, slippery electric eel of a man. [Kylian Mbappe](https://theathletic.com/football/player/kylian-mbappe-vqEQPtKAKLluodtc/), the outstanding player of the tournament, would score three goals after the 80th minute and leave not even a baguette crumb of doubt who will take over when Messi is gone. [Argentina](https://theathletic.com/football/team/argentina/)’s other ageing winger, not Messi, who drew the first penalty and scored the second goal, taking his team to a seemingly insurmountable 2-0 lead.