Argentine skipper Lionel Messi walked down the tunnel after the World Cup defeat by Saudi Arabia and his last match with a face of thunder
Fans came in droves to watch Argentina’s Lionel Messi in what he said would be his last tournament as the South American side was expected to brush aside its opponent.
But the Argentine captain was overshadowed by arguably the biggest upset in World Cup history and, as Saudi Arabia celebrated its win, Messi trudged down the tunnel with a face of thunder.
As many of his teammates stormed past reporters on the way to the team bus, Messi was one of two players to speak to the media – the other being goalkeeper Emiliano Martínez.
The World Cup was won by Spain after a loss in the opening game but that doesn’t mean the tournament is over.
Argentina will still likely qualify for the knockout rounds if it wins both of its next games against Poland and Mexico but the defeat was felt particularly hard at home.
Thousands of people wore blue and white shirts and sang the name of Messi as they got ready for the game, which Messi scored from the penalty spot in the first 10 minutes.
There have been fleeting moments of the Messi magic football fans have grown accustomed to seeing over the years, most notably his wonderful touch and finish against Mexico in the group stages that gave Argentina a crucial breakthrough after the shock defeat by Saudi Arabia.
While leaving the venue, CNN heard fans joking with volunteers and FIFA officials, asking them if they had seen Argentina captain Lionel Messi “after he went missing all game.”
Jubilant fans leaving the stadium took the Metro back into downtown Doha where celebrations continued, many singing until their voices started to break.
The Heartbeat of Messi: From Super Goals to World Cup Finals – the Soccer Legendary Timing of a World Cup Winner
Saudi Arabia’s King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud subsequently ordered a national public holiday for Wednesday as the world came to terms with such an unexpected result.
The team has shown its willingness to dig deep to find a way to win the World Cup, even if Argentina and Messi have to be prepared for such a challenge.
This was the sixth World Cup meeting between these two teams and this fixture has provided plenty of history over the years. From a Mario Kempes-inspired victory in the 1978 final to Dennis Bergkamp’s stunning goal in the 1998 quarterfinals, this rivalry was ready for another player to write their name in soccer folklore.
The key players from the encounter are still alive. For the Netherlands, Louis van Gaal has returned as manager and veteran left-back Daley Blind is still a key part of the national team, while Messi remains Argentina’s talisman and most potent attacking threat.
With three goals – including a superb strike against Mexico and a well-worked move against Australia – and one assist from four games, Messi is the heartbeat of this Argentina team, even in the twilight of his career.
“At this point in his career, he’s an aging genius,” sports scientist Simon Brundish told CNN Sport. “He doesn’t have the capacity to do the running that [Paulo] Dybala in the team would do, but he’s a genius and he’s going to win you games.”
Messi slowly worked himself into space before bursting into life to fashion scoring opportunities during Argentina’s games at the World Cup.
Brundish said thatArgentina had a system in place that prevented him from being involved in the press. “They’re not a high pressing team anyway … It has never been part of Messi’s game and his role doesn’t involve that.
Argentina has a surprise loss to Saudi Arabia, while the Netherlands has a draw with Ecuador and both are looking to get to the final four.
The United States men’s national team were the best team in the competition, but they didn’t score a single goal in the group stages and were humiliated by the Dutch in the round of 16.
The Spanish hero’s comeback in the semi-final encounter between Argentina and Brazil at the Lusail Stadium (Italy)
Every day,Leo surprises you with some of his tricks, said Mac Allister. For us that is very important, you can see he is happy.
Having lost three previous World Cup finals and failed to qualify for the 2018 tournament, van Gaal’s team will likely feel a sense of unfinished business in Qatar.
Few fans would have placed Argentina among the favorites ahead of the tournament, but with Messi in the team’s ranks anything is possible, at any time.
But that’s about to change. The winner of Friday’s game will likely face Brazil in the semifinals, although the five-time champion will have to get past Croatia in its own quarterfinal first.
Leading 2-0 with just eight minutes remaining thanks to goals from Nahuel Molina and Messi, the Netherlands staged a stunning comeback as a Wout Weghorst’s brace ensured the game went to extra time.
Martinez has made a name for himself as an expert in penalty shootouts, saving three in Argentina’s Copa America semifinal against Colombia last year, and further cemented his place as an Argentine hero in Qatar.
After Enzo Fernandez missed the first penalty that would have given Argentina victory, Lautaro Martinez stepped up and hammered home the winning spot kick to send the thousands of Argentine fans inside the Lusail Stadium into delirium.
Argentina’s players remained out on the pitch long after the shootout was over, taking in the adulation of their adoring fans who will no doubt be celebrating long into the night in Qatar.
The World Cup has had a lot of amazing endings, from all sorts of shocks and comebacks, to this one.
Spanish referee Mateu Lahoz, known for his eccentricity and enjoyment of the limelight, certainly added to the drama, dishing out an numerous yellow cards, including one in the shootout, as he struggled to keep control of the game.
There were no less than three mass brawls throughout the 120 minutes and penalties, the first one sparked by Leandro Paredes smashing a ball straight into the Netherlands dugout at the side of the pitch.
This match will undoubtedly go down as an all-time World Cup classic, but Argentina will quickly need to bring itself down back to earth ahead of the semifinal against knockout specialist Croatia.
Under head coach Lionel Scaloni, a former Argentine international, the team is in a better place than it has been for some quite some time and in 2021 won the Copa America, the national team’s first major trophy since 1993 and Messi’s first in the famous blue and white shirt.
It is almost impossible to believe that this is the same team that lost 2-1 to Saudi Arabia just three weeks ago in its opening group stage match – a performance so insipid and devoid of inspiration that it left some wondering whether Argentina would even make it out of the group.
The captain of Argentina moved towards the left-hand side of the area and played an absurd reverse pass that went perfectly to Molina, who poked the ball past Andries Noppert.
The replays show that Messi didn’t look up to see the run or the pass; how he saw it was up to him. When you think you know everything about Messi, he still comes up with a new way to amuse you.
When Messi stepped up to make it 2-0 from the penalty spot after 75 minutes, it looked like game over. However, if there’s one thing the World Cup in Qatar has shown, it’s that these matches are never over until the referee blows for full time.
Having offered so little for more than 80 minutes, the Netherlands opted to hammer long ball after long ball towards the Argentina penalty area, aiming for the 6 feet 6 inch substitute Weghorst and Virgil Van Dijk.
The team seemed to be going to take a shot at goal, but the other players played an ingenious pass into Weghorst, who turned his defender, and scored the goal.
There were further sour scenes that followed, though, as some of the Argentina team celebrated in the faces of the distraught Dutch players once Martinez had scored the winning penalty, caused tempers to flare once again.
It was a completely unforeseen turn of events when Weghorst, who had a poor season at Burnley and is currently on a loan at Besiktas, put a halt to Messi’s hopes of winning a World Cup title.
It will take something very special to stop Messi from lifting the trophy he craves the most, and that’s why he’s so focused on the World Cup.
Croatians vs Brazil in the trenches after a penalty shootout: Did the magician stop a great Argentina team, or how the magician got their act together?
The Croats took a dazzling Brazil team into the trenches on Friday after scoring a last-gasp equalizer to force extra-time and eventually a penalty shootout, which it won thanks to more heroics from goalkeeper Dominik Livaković.
The Croatian team was able to stop the Brazilian team from playing their entertaining style of football because of their strong defence.
The fiery encounter cost the defenders Marcos Acuna and Alejandro Montiel their jobs, as they picked up cautions in the quarterfinals.
The magician has scored four goals, but he has been even more devastating in his playmaking ability, as evidenced by the fact that he has made so many plays.
We will attempt to stop them as a team and not by man-marking. Argentina also has a number of great players, including Messi. We have to stop the entire Argentina team.
Luka,Mateo, and Marcelo are Croatia’s best players. I don’t think it can be repeated. When you pass them the ball it is safer than having your money in the bank,” said defender Josip Juranović, per Reuters.
Did Messi, Modri, or Alvarez, or Plata, make the Uruguayn national team the first to win the World Cup?
Argentina has a chance of emerging victorious of 41%. France’s chance of successfully defending their 2018 World Cup title is 26%,” said Gracenote.
The dream of leading Argentina to World Cup glory will stay alive as the Albiceleste outclassed Croatia in a three goal victory in the semifinals on Tuesday.
The two first-half goals, the first a Messi penalty and the second a solo effort from Joao Plata, put Argentina in a commanding position at the interval which Croatia never looked like recovering from.
Alvarez secured the victory with Argentina’s third goal in the second half following a wonderful Messi assist, providing the South American team and its 35-year-old captain with a chance to banish the demons of the 2014 final defeat, as well as securing the country’s first World Cup title since 1986.
You wouldn’t have guessed it from the way his mazy run bamboozled Joko Gvardiol, one of the tournament’s best defenders, but Messi spent parts of the game feeling his left hamstring.
His goals against Mexico and the Netherlands, in addition to his Assist against the Netherlands in the quarterfinals, have provided more memorable moments to a nation that considers him to be not far from a deity.
The Argentine embassy in Saudi Arabia said that 40,000 Argentina fans traveled to the country for the World Cup, and it sounded like all of them were inside the Lusail Stadium on Tuesday night.
As the clocked ticked deeper into injury time and the victory was beyond doubt, the Argentina bench and coaching staff began to join in with the rhythmic songs and chants that were being bellowed from the stands.
Both Messi and Modri have led their countries to the finals of the World Cup, but have failed to bring home the trophy.
Though Croatia began the match marginally better of the two teams, these players had played as many minutes as were possible so far in the tournament, winning against Japan and Brazil on penalties following two periods of extra time.
Argentina, similarly, has also improved as the tournament has gone on – though it was hardly able to get any worse after that stunning defeat to Saudi Arabia.
The story of Messi and lvarez in Croatia’s last match against Argentine defender Joko Gvardiol
The team, which is now believed to be the writing of a script for Messi’s last dance on Sunday, is almost entirely different from the one that took to the pitch that day.
That proved to be the case for Croatia as, surprisingly, Modrić of all people gave the ball away in midfield and Gvardiol failed to track Alvarez, leaving Dominik Livakovic – twice Croatia’s shootout in Qatar – exposed one-on-one against the Manchester City forward.
Alvarez poked the ball around Livakovic, whose outstretched leg brought the striker down and Messi made no mistake in converting the resulting penalty, smashing it high into the top corner.
It would be difficult for a team that has conjured footballing miracles to come back from this one, even if they did.
However, Croatia offered little going forward in the second half, a combination of weary attacking play and stout Argentine defending, and its stay of execution lasted until the 70th minute.
The beautiful tandem of Messi and Álvarez had one more sparkling moment against Croatia. In the 69th minute, Messi had a flash of unbelievable ballhandling against Croatia defender Joško Gvardiol on the right side of the goal. Messi then found Álvarez who powered it in for the 3-0 lead. Of Croatia’s twelve shots on goal, only two were on target.
Messi’s goal gave him five goals and two assists for the tournament, giving him the lead in the Golden Boot competition and moving him ahead of France’s Kylian Mbappe who has five goals and two assists. The Messi is set to break a record. He joined Lothar Matthus for all time appearances in the World Cup.
FIFA’s empty media center: a tribute to the late Tom Goldman, who died at the World Cup three times over the past few months
Argentina will play the winner of Wednesday’s semifinal between France and Morocco on Sunday. Croatia’s World Cup tournament is not done yet. The loser of tomorrow’s semifinal will play in the third place match on Saturday.
A journalist has died at the World Cup three times. ITV sports director Roger Pearce died last month. A photojournalist with Al Kass TV, Khalid al-Misslam, ‘died suddenly’ this past weekend.
FIFA set up a trio of condolence books with the pictures of each journalist at the media center at Lusail Stadium. Tom Goldman was one of the people who paid respects to those who died. It’s empty.