The arrival of the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) system in football was welcomed by the right people as a sign that the sport was finally getting its act together. Too many games on too many big stages were ruined by dodgy calls and obvious mistakes, a problem that has gotten exponentially worse as TV coverage has increased. A slow-motion replay from three different angles will show an offside was on, a goal was a save and a fall was a push before the ball is back in play, yet the incorrect decision will stand.

The failure of VAR is that instead of being a panopticon, keeping the game in check, it’s subordinate to the refereeing team that’s on the pitch. And even then, that itself isn’t what’s wrong with VAR. The referee only has two eyes to monitor 22 men and a ball and so mistakes will happen; it’s when the referee sees something happen and then loses their nerve that the whole idea of authority in the game becomes a joke, which is what happened with Argentina throughout this match.

France started the game well and ten minutes in Kylian Mbappe caught a loose ball on the edge of the French box and suddenly remembered that he had nitro installed in his boots. Quick on the turn and with almost the whole pitch empty ahead of him, Mbappe sprinted like Usain Bolt and, just on the verge of replicating Michael Owen 20 years later, Marcus Rojo bundled him to the ground outside-then-inside the box. The rules around obstructing a clear goalscoring opportunity are (intentionally) vague, as is the talk of the “double jeopardy” punishment, but when a striker has nothing between him and the goalkeeper, and a defender grapples then tackles then forcefully pushes the striker to the ground inside the box to prevent that, a yellow card is simply not enough, and that’s what Rojo got.

To prevent the situation being a real injustice, Antoine Griezmann converted the penalty with a cool tap down the middle after giving Armani the eyes. 1-0 down before 15 minutes have passed and aware they would have to go all studs to get a red card, Argentina instantly crumbled into 9 testy men, the goalkeeper and Lionel Messi, doing very little, as usual. Repeatedly slicing the ankles of Mbappe and Paul Pogba produced nothing besides squandered free kicks and as half-time approached, it seemed like only a matter of time before France figured out how to get through the chaos and turn the scoreline into that of a cricket match.

However, in the 41st minute, Angel Di Maria scored a fantastic goal. France, now assuming Argentina will be toothless in front of goal, leave Di Maria with the ball allowing him to play it like an in-play free kick. France were rattled, but held it together, sending It into the break at an undeserving 1-1 and, when the second half began, Jorge Sampaoli must have known Rojo was a second yellow waiting to happen because he was replaced with Federico Fazio but everything else was exactly as it was in the 45th minute – specifically that France were still rattled.

To defend a free kick, they sent too many men into the box so when the rebound landed at Messi’s feet, he knew where everyone was and carved the ball through the middle. It wasn’t particularly powerful and would have been saved had it not bounced off Gabriel Mercado. The game was on its head: the team who had the best and most decisive chances had one, the opponent who went in elbows first to everything had two.

And then it happened. It finally happened. France started playing like the team they should be. Maybe Didier Deschamps set his men up to go behind against Argentina in an Ozymandias-esque plan to unite his men or maybe they realized that this was actually the World Cup so there was no time for messing around, or maybe it was something else. Either way, it worked. Instead of losing their head – which they had every right to do, especially after Armani grabbed Griezmann in lieu of trying to make a save making it close to one million penalties that France should have had but didn’t get – they bring the whole team into the game.

Blaise Matuidi sent a cross in from the left with far too much power. It missed everyone it should have found, landing at the feet of right-back Benjamin Pavard who displayed the kind of skill Messi would have shown were he actually playing. The ball came at a strange angle and he matched it in kind, sending it curling off his right foot in a perfect arc and into the top corner, making it 2-2 in the 57th minute. The replay shows the ball spinning back against itself all the way, giving it the exact drag needed to make the curve. Leonardo da Vinci never produced anything quite so beautiful.

France didn’t rest. They had no intention of being the first team to go to extra time. Less than 10 minutes later, Matuidi shot and the deflection landed in front of Mbappe who got his first with ease. If La Albiceste weren’t fouling people, they weren’t defending either and now Mbappe had his range, he couldn’t be stopped. Ten minutes later, Mbappe got his second with a goal that looked even easier than the first as he took a perfectly weighted Olivier Giroud pass in his strike and smashed it in the bottom corner, practically in a straight line.

Javier Mascherano, with nothing to play for, spent the final 20 minutes of the game trying to get a red card and Deschamps replaced Matuidi and Mbappe with Corentin Tolisso and Florian Thauvin for the sake of their health and to burn some time. 4-2 isn’t known for being the most dangerous lead but the wild celebrations after Mbappe’s double felt excessive, like calling time when there was actually still plenty of time remaining. When Sergio Aguero scored in the third of the four extra minutes, it felt like fate had been tempted.

In the dying embers of the game, a reckless foul on Pogba by Mercado turned the match into a fight. With seconds left to find an equalizer and force extra time, Argentina thought it best to start brawling. Nicolas Otamendi got booked, so did Olivier Giroud, but both teams ended the match with all men on the pitch, making a mockery of the rule book. When the final whistle blew, France were overjoyed and Argentina were devastated, and in the middle was Lionel Messi, staring into space, well aware that his World Cup 2018 journey had begun in embarrassment and only got worse.