Leo Messi raise the flag of happiness of Argentina as he has been doing already a thousand gameswith a soft shot cwith the inside of his left boot whose inexorable fate in the bottom corner of the opponent’s goal. And with that arched shot, in a perfect parable, Ahmad bin Ali Stadium it mutates into La Bombonera, into El Monumental, like all those Qatari fields through which it passes, and then conquers the albiceleste tide for this World Cup that, for the moment only in passion, is already more his than anyone else’s.
The victim is this Saturday an Australia that has had enough to get here and with fighting for their survival until, literally, the last moment of execution. Before it was Mexico and Poland after that hook in the jaw delivered by Saudi Arabia at the dawn of the tournament. “It was good for us”, they insist from the Argentine dressing room and the facts prove them right, the two-time champion immersed in a positive dynamic of continuous growth, despite enjoying barely two days off for the round of 16 (they noticed), which they will have to put test now against the Netherlands in the quarterfinals.
A thousand times Messi, has had to wait until his fifth World Cup to finally score in a game without a net, an abnormal gap that he crosses out of his curriculum heading to the great desire to match up with Maradona with a World Cup in their hands. Three victories remain on the horizon to reach his last goal, with the advantage that he is now more covered than ever. On the field and in the stands.
Without Di Maria
Everything happened after a lukewarm start, in which Argentina missed the vertical spark of the Di Maria headdress to add treble to a passing harmony that soon faded into monotony. Papu Gómez, relief of ‘Fideo’, did not take the pulse of the game, De Paul again made almost everything he touched worse and Julián Álvarez could not finish finding a place on the right flank.
Australia, no surprise in this regard, took refuge in a rigid defensive structure, trusting that as the minutes went by, their chances of giving the big knock would increase. In those was the duel, boring and silly, when Messi agreed to break it. From a lateral free kick, he drew a wall with Mac Allister and after a slight touch from Otamendi the ’10’ picked up the ball again to do what he has already done 787 times in his carrer.
The goal, after half an hour, oxygenated Argentina, looser from then on. Without allowing himself too many joys or frivolities, but ruling the ball more lightly. This is how it has been after every goal he has scored in the last three games, always a positive stimulus and never an element of relaxation, the Scaloni players confident that the wind is blowing in their favor.
Ryan’s Gift
The advance of the minutes reinforced him in that conviction. On the verge of game time, Ryan, the ‘Aussie’ goalkeeper, received friendly fire at his foot and did not know what to do with the ball. De Paul (always outstanding in his effort) and Julián Álvarez smelled blood, went to bother him and In the end, the City striker managed to steal the ball to score in a goal abandoned to its fate.
By then, Scaloni had already retracted sails, Removing an unfortunate Papu from the field to enter Lisandro Martínez, thus composing a defense with five troops. And it cannot be said exactly that the alteration did not suit Argentina, too crushed in their half of the field when Australia seized control of the ball.
A fluke goal
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In those came a very dangerous accident for the Albiceleste. A hard and distant shot from Goodwin, which seemed to be heading for some indeterminate place between the lower stands and the stadium’s video scoreboard, hit Enzo Fernández in the back. What were the chances that the carambola ended up inside Emiliano Martínez’s goal? Mathematics would say that they were scarce, football said that one hundred percent.
Shortly after, Behich was close to breaking all the chronicles with a ‘messianic’ play that Lisandro saved. Messi himself, as if invoked by his unexpected oceanic imitator, then resumed the reins of the hot Doha night. “Balls to me”, seemed to shout the ’10’. He gave Lautaro an almost sung goal (he missed it) and then tried it himself, with less skill than usual. He gave the same. Now little more, just a scare from Kuol saved by Emiliano Martínez, was going to happen in the game and Argentina, declared the state of happiness, is already thinking about their quarterfinal duel against the Netherlands.