Has He Scored in the World Cup Final? Quiz

Answer:

Although some of the players that have scored a goal in the World Cup final have been on the losing side, that is an achievement that nobody can take away from them:

Kylian Mbappe became the second player in the history of the game to score a World Cup Final hattrick, achieving this in 2022 against Argentina (the first was by Geoff Hurst for England in 1966). His effort would prove to be futile, however, despite entering the history books, because his team would lose on penalties to the Argentinians. Mbappe had also scored in the 2018 WC final against Croatia, a game that France won to achieve their second title in 2018.

Lionel Messi led his country to its third World Cup in 2022 after defeating France in the final (1978 and 1986 were the first two). He scored two goals and converted his penalty during the shootout. He was also named player of the tournament.

Antoine Griezmann and Mario Mandzukic both scored in the 2018 WC final for France and Croatia respectively. Griezmann would open the scoring by converting a penalty, and Mandzukic would score both an own goal and an actual goal during the game.

Mario Gotze's goal in the 2014 WC final was the only difference between two stubborn teams on the day; it took extra time to separate Germany and Argentina in Brazil for the fourth German WC title. It was a similar night for Andres Iniesta, who scored his goal in extra time of his country's first ever World Cup final, facing the Netherlands and defeating them 1-0.

The 2006 WC Final was marred with controversy as Zidane, voted the best player of the tournament, was sent off in the final for a headbutt on Marco Materazzi. Ironically, these were also the two goal scorers for France and Italy, respectively - Zidane scored a penalty to take the lead and Materazzi equalized through a corner header later in the first half. Italy would go on to win the match on penalties.

The 2002 WC Final was a beautiful display of football by the dominant Brazilian team as their top goal scorer Ronaldo would net two in the Final past German superstar goalkeeper Oliver Kahn. It was not such a sweet finish for the Brazilians in 1998, when they lose the final 3-0 to a French team led by Zidane who scored two goals in the final in a masterful team performance that was capped off by Emmanuel Petit's goal late in the second half.

Paolo Rossi would score one of three second half Italian goals as his team beat West Germany 3-1 in the 1982 WC final. Mario Kempes was able to score two goals, one in regulation, and one in extra time as his Argentine team defeated the Dutch 3-1 in the 1978 WC Final. That was the second Dutch final defeat in row, following their 2-1 loss to West Germany the previous edition (1974) courtesy of a Gerd Muller winning goal.

Pele, widely regarded as one of the best players to ever play the game, scored three goals in two finals; once in the 1970 final, which Brazil won (4-1 vs. Italy), and two in the 1958 final which the Brazilians won as well (5-2 vs. Sweden).

Englishman Geoff Hurst was the first player to score a hat trick in the WC final when his team defeated West Germany 4-2, scoring one in regulation time and two in extra time.