Even Argentina could not have imagined that the first half of the World Cup final would go quite that well.
Argentina has a 2-0 lead and appears on the cusp of its first World Cup championship in more than a generation after a first half that ticked pretty much every box.
Lionel Messi scored the opening goal, after Ángel Di María won what was admittedly an extremely soft penalty, and then set in motion another — a flowing attack finished by Di María that will go down as a bona fide classic World Cup goal.
Argentina has kept Kylian Mbappé not just quiet but essentially silent.