West Ham legend Sir Geoff Hurst has sent a classy message to Kylian Mbappe but his World Cup final hat-trick remains undefeated.
When England crashed out of the World Cup to France many predicted they had lost to the champions in waiting.
West Ham fans were of course sad to see Declan Rice come home early.
But in many ways for some West Ham fans England’s exit was also bittersweet. Although many may not admit it, West Ham fans proudly cherish the fact their 1966 World Cup winning legacy remains unrivalled.
When Hammers supporters are goaded by rival fans over their lack of success with chants like ‘You’ve never won bleep all’ they chant back ‘We won the bleeping World Cup’.
It is the ace up the sleeve of West Ham fans and an immense source of pride all these years on.
England’s failure to win the World Cup means the legacy of West Ham’s holy trinity of Bobby Moore, Geoff Hurst and Martin Peters remains unrivalled – for another three and a half years at least.
But Sunday’s scintillating final between Argentina and France did see one particular record matched.
In one of the most exciting finals of all-time Argentina led 2-0 before being pegged back to 2-2 in two crazy minutes by goals from Kylian Mbappe.
That took the game into extra-time – just like England against West Germany in 1966.
Lionel Messi, who had scored a penalty to give Argentina the lead early on, then scored what looked like the winner only for Mbappe to equalise from the spot, completing his hat-trick and sending the match to a penalty shootout.
Messi finally got his hands on the World Cup trophy just as West Ham’s greatest son Moore did all those years ago.
But Mbappe did become the first player since Hurst to score a hat-trick in a World Cup final.
West Ham legend Sir Geoff Hurst sent a classy message to Kylian Mbappe but his World Cup final hat-trick remains undefeated.
“Many congratulations to Mbappe,” Sir Geoff said on Twitter.
“Whatever happens. I’ve had a great run!”
Hurst is being very gracious after 56 years basking in that glory on his own.
But his hat-trick will always trump Mbappe’s.
For a start two of Mbappe’s goals were penalties.
Then there is the fact that Hurst’s hat-trick helped his side to win the World Cup.
And the reason it will likely never be beaten is that it was the holy grail – the perfect hat-trick – as West Ham’s goalscoring legend scored with his head, right foot and left foot during that famous 4-2 win.
Hurst and West Ham’s legacy remains undefeated.
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