Argentina (World Cup Winners)

Possibly the best thing that could have happened for Argentina in this tournament was losing to Saudi Arabia in their first match, one of the biggest upsets in World Cup history. The humiliating defeat broke a 36-match win streak, woke up Argentina and lit a spark in them. And now, Lionel Messi has finally won a World Cup, the trophy that has eluded him for so long. As expected, Messi was the king. He led the team in both goals and assists. But Argentina’s other savior was goalkeeper Emi Martinez. Martinez made crucial saves in penalty shootouts against Netherlands and France, but he will be remembered for his save on Kolo Muani at the end of extra-time that kept Argentina’s hopes alive and sent  the World Cup final to a penalty shootout. As I expected in my preview, there were vulnerabilities in Argentina’s defense. They blew 2-0 leads against the Netherlands and France, both in the span of 10 minutes. Still, their defense held strong under pressure for the most part — and even when it did fall apart, Messi was there to save the day.