Lionel Messi was awarded the Golden Ball, the honour given to the best player of a FIFA World Cup, after a thrilling final at Lusail which saw the legendary striker's World Cup dreams turn into reality following a 4-2 win over France in penalties.
The final was billed as Lionel Messi vs Kylian Mbappe, teammates at Paris St Germain, and the talismans for their respective national teams, and it did turn into Messi vs Mbappe.
The end result may make it seem like one way traffic in favour of France but it wasn't always so during the game. Piotr Zielinski had a great chance to give Poland the lead when the score was 0-0
The image published by the French newspaper shows seven bearded men with "Qatar" emblazoned across their shirts above large numerals. They appear to be playing football through the dunes, armed with machetes, rifles, and rocket launchers.
Some truths are hurtful. It is human nature to ignore them and pretend they do not exist. In India's case, despite being a progressive nation that is rapidly becoming an economic superpower, there are geopolitical, demographical, social and historical realities that keep holding us back