Argentina are the 2022 World Cup champions. Led by Lionel Messi, Argentina defeated France 4-2 on penalties on Sunday in Qatar. The win snaps a 36-year drought between World Cup titles for the South American powerhouse.
Joining Spain in 2010, Argentina is just the second country to lose its first game in a World Cup and go on to win the title, according to ESPN Stats & Information research.
The last time Argentina, then led by Diego Maradona, hoisted the golden trophy was 1986, and there were a few similarities. An all-time great megastar wearing the captain's armband? Check. Maverick roaming the skies in the year's biggest movie? Check.
While both the 2022 and 1986 World Cups had controversies, the 1986 tournament controversies were largely confined to the field. The most notable, or notorious, depending on the rooting interests, was Maradona's "Hand of God" goal against England in the quarterfinals. He illegally touched a ball which went into the English goal, but the referee missed the hand ball. Maradona later added his second goal, dubbed the "Goal of the Century" by a vote on FIFA's website. Argentina would go on to beat Belgium in the semifinals and West Germany in the final.
While Argentina and the "Top Gun" franchise have somehow ruled the world twice, the rest of the world was quite different the last time around. Here's a look at what the world was like in 1986.
The wave finds its first global audience
Love it or loathe it, it might seem like the wave is ubiquitous at sporting events and has been there since spectators first had seats to sit in. Not so.
Two Americans claim to have invented the wave in the early 1980s, according to the BBC. However, their claims are hard to confirm. Historians, however, agree that the celebration came to global prominence during the 1986 World Cup when it was seen on TV at the matches. It has come to also be known as the "Mexican Wave" since Mexico was the host country of the World Cup that year.
Sir Alex takes control
Another titanic move happened in international football. After success with clubs in his native Scotland, and several job offers from English clubs, Alex Ferguson was named manager of Manchester United in 1986.
In 26 seasons with Man U, he won the Premier League 13 times. He also had five FA Cup wins and two UEFA Champions League titles. He also managed some all-time greats, including David Beckham, Cristiano Ronaldo and Wayne Rooney.
Oh, and he was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 1999 and has a phrase ("squeaky-bum time") listed in the Oxford English Dictionary.
Ferris takes the day
While "Top Gun" ruled the worldwide box office, and "Platoon" won Best Picture at the 1986 Academy Awards, "Ferris Bueller's Day Off," lives on in pop culture as well.
It's simple. Three high schoolers, led by the philosophical, yet sly Ferris, skip school. Their day off just happened to include fine dining, an expensive sports car, meditating on the subjects of Georges Seurat's "A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte," a Chicago Cubs game and a parade.
On this date in 1985, Ferris Bueller cut class and caught a foul ball during a Cubs game at Wrigley Field
— Baseball Quotes (@BaseballQuotes1) June 5, 2021
pic.twitter.com/fcLp5Zl2YZ
Since then, the movie has inspired internet sleuths to figure out the Cubs games that were included in the film. A ticket from one of the games, a Sept. 24, 1985 game against the Montreal Expos, has even been sold at auction.
The Knight gets dark again
If you've wondered why every Batman movie is darker and grittier than the last with off-the-charts level of brooding, it traces back to 1986. In that year, author Frank Miller's seminal comic book series "The Dark Knight Returns" was published.
Miller's book, and his "Batman: Year One," which came out the following year, have subsequently been cited as influences by Joel Schumacher, Christopher Nolan, Todd Snyder and Matt Reeves for their Caped Crusader films.
A rarely seen event
Halley's Comet made its last trip to our solar system in 1986. The comet has been tracked by astronomers since 240 B.C.E. and, in 1705, England's Edmund Halley discovered that the comet's reappearances were the same comet. The comet's travels were documented in the astronomer's work, "A Synopsis of the Astronomy of Comets."
Since its orbit takes around 75 years, people on Earth won't see the comet again until approximately 2061.
Argentina fans did not have to wait that long for their own heavenly event. They're lucky. New York Mets fans, who last saw a World Series title in 1986, are still waiting.
Who missed it?
Argentina's win came on June 29, 1986 at the legendary Estadio Azteca in Mexico City. Not yet around to see it were Olympians Usain Bolt and Sean White; footballers: DeSean Jackson, Jimmy Graham and Olivier Giroud who just lost in this World Cup final; "Game of Thrones'" Daenerys Targaryen (Emilia Clarke), Jon Snow (Kit Harrington) and Theon Greyjoy (Alfie Allen). All of them were born after the 1986 final. Messi was born almost a year to the day after Argentina's win (June 24, 1987).