No Excuse For Losing World Cup Title – Hugo Lloris
- French Captain sets record straight after losing to Argentina on penalties

France’s inspirational captain and goalkeeper, Hugo Lloris says France will not use a pre-match virus in their camp as an excuse for suffering the 2022 World Cup final heartache against Argentina.
Before the pulsating final encounter against the Lionel Messi-led Argentines in Qatar, several members of Didier Deschamps’ squad were left feeling under the weather. But Les Bleus had to dig deep in pursuit of back-to-back global crowns, as a Kylian Mbappe hat-trick saw them respond to falling behind in the first half and extra-time of the game.
However, the Frenchmen did not have quite enough in the tank as two failures from 12 yards delivered penalty shootout heartache saw them losing the crown to a well-oiled Argentina who are the current Copa American champions.
Commenting on whether illness had played a part in France’s undoing during the final match, the national team captain Lloris said; “The virus? We’re not going to look for excuses. We gave it our all, we did not cheat. We must congratulate the guys because, until the end, we will not have given up.”
Lloris said it was indeed heartbreaking coming so close to savouring another World Cup win, only for an unfortunate stumble to cost France the defeat. “It’s a painful story. In any case, that ends in a painful way. It’s true that we missed the first half, with a lot of technical waste. We don’t win the duels, they put us in difficulty.
“Logically they took the lead. In the middle of the second half, we had the burst of pride and the talent of Kylian to come back to 2-2. It was like a boxing match, blow for blow. Argentina had a successful start to the game, being aggressive, and using all aspects of the game. We were a bit reactive all evening.”
On his part, France and Manchester United centre-back, Raphael Varane still has pride in his team despite losing the World Cup final to Argentina on penalties.
Varane correctly noted that France were absent from the match for an hour as Argentina dominated proceedings, leading 2-0 up until the 80th minute when Kylian Mbappe showed up impressively to score two goals in as many minutes.
Lionel Messi scored a close-range effort in extra time to put his side 3-2 but France fought back yet again, with Mbappe making it 3-3 all before Les Blues went on to lose 4-2 on penalties to the Argentines.
“We are very disappointed of course, we gave everything. We had to face a lot of obstacles during the competition, we gave up nothing. For an hour, we weren’t in the match. We could have won too, I’m very proud of this group and of being French. We keep our heads up”, Varane told reporters after the match.
“We came back into this match when it was complicated, was played very quickly, then physically we were better. We pushed and we believed until the end. We almost overturned the match, which started badly. The course was winding but there was mental strength in this group, a lot of heart. This allowed us to come back in this match. We are disappointed but also proud.”
It was a match that France had the opportunity to become the first team to retain the World Cup since Brazil did the magic in 1962 but were ultimately beaten by Messi and co. Argentina are now World Cup champions, having lifted the trophy for the first time since Diego Maradona did in 1986.
Amid their painful loss to the South American giants, Kylian Mbappe became the first man to net a hat-trick in a World Cup final since Geoff Hurst for England in 1966, while the Paris Saint-Germain superstar also claimed the Golden Boot at the tournament.
For now, the Frenchmen will be looking forward to rebuilding on and off the field before gracing FIFA’s flagship event again in 2026.