Abstract: This post on FIFA 2022 World Cup Final between Argentina and France (or, Lionel Messi and Kylian Mbappé, respectively) is a continuation of my curiosity on Pānini’s conflict resolution rule, Vipratisidhe Parama Kāryam, beyond Sanskrit grammar, contextualized through the adage, "Let the best one win." We now look forward to Hockey World Cup 2023, and welcome 2023, the International Year of Millets.
“Let the best one win,” is a powerful adage, a wishful one, as it may not always
turn out to be true. However, this adage seems to have been echoed by many football
lovers after the final match between Argentina and
France in the FIFA World Cup 2022 suggesting that in their view the best team
did indeed win.
In this post, in sync with the adage, I will touch upon the ups and downs
of that match through the lay
reading of Pānini’s celebrated conflict resolution rule “In conflict
the stronger (or, better) one prevails,” Vipratisidhe Parama Kāryam.
This draws from a recent post of mine wherein I had indicated that the lay reading
renders the rule for wider application beyond Sanskrit grammar. I had also indicated
there how the lay reading of the rule resonates with Mahatma Gandhi’s talisman, John Rawls’ veil in
an original
position, and Adam Smith’s impartial
spectator. In the spirit of that wider application, we now get back to that
final match.
Supporters of Argentina and France would have wanted their teams to win.
The fan following of Lionel
Messi and Kylian
Mbappé would have wanted their idols to be in the winning side. There,
however, was an undercurrent of support for Messi, as this would perhaps be his
last World Cup and that his caliber as a player has been borne out by the fact that
till that final match, he had been in the winning squad of all major football tournaments.
In the last four years, Mbappé has also created a fan following of his own
since his performance in the 2018 edition of the World Cup that France won, and
he has been going from strength-to-strength thereafter.
When the 2022 FIFA final match between Argentina and France began many,
so-called neutral supporters (perhaps talismanic, in a veil, and impartial
spectators), wanted Argentina to win so that Messi can be part of the winning
squad and will have in his repertoire the one Cup that is missing, and they
also wanted Mbappé to score at least a goal. It was very much possible that
Argentina would have won without Mbappé or his team scoring a goal, or for Argentina
to have lost. Given the two competing wishes, it is only after the match that
one could know which of these got fulfilled and who of the two teams was better and whether the better team won.
As the match progressed, Argentina and Messi were doing well. They were 2-0
up with Messi having scored one and assisted the other. But, Mbappé had not scored.
He fulfills the neutral supporters wish and around the 80th
minute scores a goal. Hold on, within another minute or so, he goes beyond that
and scores another goal. With Mbappé’s two back-to-back goals, France was level
with Argentina and by the end of regular time the score line read 2-2.
Now, with the match going into extra time, the neutral supporters wanted Messi
to show his magic and were all delighted when he does that by scoring another goal
with Argentina now leading again at 3-2. With this, our neutral supporters were
somewhere feeling a little let down for Mbappé but this does not last long as
he scores again, a hat-trick in a Wrold Cup final, and France levels the score
again with Argentina at 3-3 at the end of extra time. With no clear winners, the match goes to penalty kicks.
Mbappé and Messi score their respective penalty goals. France misses out
the second and third one with a good save by Damián Martínez
the Argentine goalkeeper, but scores their fourth, while Argentina players,
after Messi, score their subsequent three and go on to win the World Cup 2022 with
the penalty kicks score reading 4-2.
Some non-connoisseur's of the game would suggest what was this ado all about, they could have started with the penalty kicks and decided the match. No, that cannot be. The beauty of the game lies in the the laws of the game along with the ups and downs and the upheavals therein. If there is no decision after the regular time of 90 minutes then the match goes to extra time, and if there is still no decision after the extra time of 30 minutes then the match goes to penalty kicks.
The application of the laws of the game for determining the outcome of a match follows a sequence, which, in a convoluted sense, seems to support Vipratisidhe Param Kāryam. No decision at the end of a stage of the match (that is, end of regular or extra time) indicates that at the end of that stage the two teams continue to be of equal strength (vipratisidhe) and this requires that the progress of the match to the next or subsequent stage (param) be brought into action or invoked (kāryam). Further, as the match progresses to kicks from the penalty mark the penalty kicks can go on ad infinitum till a decision on the winner is reached.
To get back to our adage, the best team won, Argentina won the Cup in the penalty shoot out. But, our
neutral supporters got more, Messi gets the golden ball as the best player of the
championship including his goals and assists (see all goals
by Argentina in the World Cup), Mbappé gets the golden
boot as the maximum goal scorer in the tournament, and Martínez gets the golden
glove as the best goalkeeper of the competition.
There was no decision to be made by our neutral supporters, but in their
personal emotional space they felt vindicated and it is this that supports our
lay reading of Vipratisidhe Parama Kāryam beyond Sanskrit grammar. The feeling by our neutral supporters also seems to resonate Gandhi’s talisman, Rawls’ veil in an original position and Smith’s
impartial spectator. What more would they want. The laws of the game to decide a winner in a World Cup final match also seems to, in a convoluted sense, fall in line with Pānini’s conflict resolution rule. It has been a win-win for all.
Now, we look forward to the Hockey World Cup 2023 that is to take place in Bhubaneswar and Rourkela of Odisha, India in January 2023. Wishing you well-being and happiness for 2023, the International Year of Millets.
[I reiterate of having no knowledge of Sanskrit, as indicated in my pervious post. This is just a continuation of my curiosity of Pānini’s conflict resolution rule, in my lay understanding, beyond Sanskrit grammar. My apologies to Sanskrit grammarians and football aficionados.]
