The World Cup Final against Saudi Arabia on Friday night: Argentina’s triumphant triumph over Spain in the first tournament of the tournament he played with
The South American side was expected to brush aside its opponent, ranked 48 places below them in the world standings, and fans had come in droves to watch Messi put on a masterclass in what he says will be his last tournament.
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 team-mates went past reporters on their way to the bus, Messi was one of two who spoke to the media.
In the grand scheme of the tournament, a loss in the opening match isn’t necessarily the end of the world – after all, Spain won the 2010 World Cup after losing its opening match of the tournament to Switzerland.
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 in blue and white shirts sang Messi’s name as they made their way to the game and continued to celebrate their hero as he graced Qatar 2022 with a penalty in the opening 10 minutes.
For parts of Messi’s Argentina career, particularly in some of the earlier years, there was a lingering narrative that Argentine fans were indifferent towards their star player, perhaps even cold, amid accusations that he never gave his all for the famous blue and white shirt, or even that he felt more Catalan than Argentine after moving to Barcelona at such a young age.
When the stadium announced the name of Messi, there were a lot of people who didn’t like it. The stadium was rocking, even more so when the stadium announced the name of Carlos Tevez, who was more well-liked than Messi.
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Jubilant fans leaving the stadium took the Metro back into downtown Doha where celebrations continued, many singing until their voices started to break.
The world came to terms with King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud ordering a national public holiday on Wednesday.
Lionel Messi and Argentina will face their biggest test of the World Cup so far when they play the Netherlands in the semifinals.
In 2002, they met in the semifinals, a goalless game that Argentina eventually won on penalties, and in 1998, they met in the knockout stages, with Dennis Bergkamp scoring the winning goal in the 1978 World Cup final.
Several key protagonists remain from the 2014 encounter. 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.
After winning the Copa América in Argentina, Messi came out of retirement and experienced glory. It is difficult to overstate the magnitude of the victory, both for Messi and the country.
“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.”
Brundish explained that if you watch explicitly, you would see Messi standing in space when the opposition has the ball.
Brundish said that Argentina set up their system around him not being involved in the press. “They’re not a high pressing team anyway … It’s never been part of Messi’s game and his role doesn’t involve that.”
The Netherlands and Argentina both had their fair share of ups and downs at the tournament, but are hoping to get past the quarter-finals for the first time in three years.
The Netherlands has been impressive going forward this World Cup, and two of them are Memphis Depay andCody Gakpo.
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The Holland team will feel a sense of unfinished business after losing three previous World Cup finals and failing to qualify for the upcoming tournament.
Although Argentina is the favorite in the quarterfinals, neither side has had the opportunity to play a match against one of the tournament’s top teams.
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.
The dream of Lionel Messi of guiding Argentina to World Cup glory will remain alive until the final day of the event in Qatar in four years.
Two first-half goals, the first of a Messi Penalty and the second of a solo effort from Joao Plata, put Argentina in a commanding position, and they never looked like relenting.
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.
Messi spent parts of the game feeling his left hamstring, though you wouldn’t have guessed he was in any discomfort by the way his mazy, twisting run bamboozled Joško Gvardiol, one of this tournament’s best defenders, to create Argentina’s third goal.
His goal against Mexico in the group stages, the assist against the Netherlands in the quarterfinals and his overall performance in Tuesday’s semfinal have provided yet more memorable moments to a nation of 45 million people that consider him to be not far from a deity.
The World Cup Finale of Croatia greeted with a triumphant display by the Croatian national team in the Lusail Stadium
As many as 40,000 Argentina fans are estimated to have traveled to Qatar for this World Cup, according to the Argentine embassy in Qatar, 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.
After the final whistle, the Argentina’s players stood in front of the huge wall of blue and white shirts and took in the adulation of their adoring fans.
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.
Messi and Modri have both led their countries to lose in the finals of the World Cup, and this is their last chance to win it.
The players for Japan and Brazil played exactly the same amount of minutes as the Croatians, but won on penalties after two long spells of extra time.
Modrić, Croatia’s star player and a living legend in the small Balkan nation, is battle-hardened in the biggest matches and, alongside Mateo Kovacic and Marcelo Brozovic, has been part of arguably the best midfield in Qatar.
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 team, which now seems to believe the script is written for Messi’s last dance to end in glory on Sunday, is almost unrecognizable from the one that took to the pitch that day.
Modri gave away the ball in the middle and Gvardiol failed to keep a check on Alvarez, leaving Livakovic with one-on-one against the Manchester City forward.
Messi converted the penalty when Livakovic, whose leg was outstretched, brought the strikers down, and he smashed it into the top corner.
Only a stunning reflex save from Livakovic prevented the score getting any worse for Croatia before half time, but it would take something extra special, even for a team that is used to conjuring footballing miracles, to come back from this one.
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.
Lionel Messi and Erling Haaland: Two heavyweights in a mouth-watering final after a disappointing World Cup
After a month of unpredictable results, we are left with two World Cup heavyweights going head-to-head in a mouthwatering final as reigning champion France faces two-time champion Argentina Sunday.
Lionel Messi has been great for Argentina as he has won seven Ballon d’Or awards. Erling Haaland, who failed toqualify for the tournament with Norway, but who promised to challenge the player of the year, is one of the players we don’t forget.
“I’ve seen lots of images of people back home watching the semifinal and celebrating, it makes us very emotional,” Argentina coach Lionel Scaloni told reporters.
“Probably, if you ask them, they will tell you that Messi will never reach that because they feel like Messi was never probably as close to the people as Maradona was, they never got to see Messi on a pitch playing every weekend in Argentina, for example.
“Because I feel that what he has achieved so far at this World Cup, basically doing what his fiercest critics have been demanding from him for so long, to finally become that man who can solve every single game for Argentina, who can appear at the toughest moments and always, always deliver.
France will look to Mbappé to light the spark on Sunday after a less-than-ideal build-up to the game. Several players, including the central defensive pair Ibrahima Konaté and Raphal Varane, as well as the mid-fileder Adrian Rabiot, have been affected by a bug that struck the French camp.
They did not train on Friday, and the coach said there was no word on their availability for the game.
Mbappé stormed onto the scene at the last World Cup, becoming the first teenager to score in a World Cup final since the competition’s greatest ever player, Pelé.
The 23-year-old has gone up a notch at this tournament, already scoring five goals – one more than he did in 2018 – and adding a couple more assists to that mix.
His influence has been felt even though he has not scored in the last two games. Despite not scoring a goal, his presence was key in both France goals.
Both Messi and Mbappé have scored five goals this World Cup and across the last two tournaments have both scored or assisted eleven goals each, more than anyone else.
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The last time the two teams played was at the 2018 World Cup. They played the best game in the tournament so far, with France coming out on top with a 4-3 win.
Both teams are more comfortable playing defense than they are playing offense. In the semifinals, the two finals had less possession than their opposition.
Les Bleus looks at its best when playing direct, counter-attacking football. The French can dominate the defense on the transition thanks to their strength and speed.
Argentina is slower in moving the ball from defense to offense, but they prefer to keep the opposition at arm’s length than try to control the game with the ball.
What is more likely is that both teams will dominate the ball for periods of the game, while being very happy to cede control of the ball at other times.
Instead the questions will center more around those individuals. Can Argentina keep Mbappé away from the ball? Can France stop Messi receiving the ball around its own box?
But, with this being Messi’s final World Cup, former France international and current Bordeaux coach Rio Mavuba says this tournament has seen the baton of greatness passed onto Mbappé.
While Mbappé’s physical attributes are undeniable, it’s his ability to cope with such intense pressure that separates him from the others, according to former Paris Saint-Germain captain Didier Domi.
His life began in Bondy, a suburb of Paris 11 kilometers away from the city center, where he grew up, and has been in the French capital his entire life.
His spell at Monaco, where he won his first league title, caught the world’s attention and the teenage sensation moved to PSG in 2017, initially on loan for the first year.
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“For sure, he’s got a lot of speed but I think the best skill is he can do a lot of things. He can run fast, he can dribble, he can score, this is why it’s very difficult to catch him,” he said.
Domi, who played over 100 games for PSG and who now works for the club’s academy in Qatar, says Mbappé holds the weight of a nation on his shoulders but it seems his value reaches beyond just his performances on the pitch, and into the political arena.
The young star at Paris Saint-Germain was subject to a transfer saga involving Spanish giants Real Madrid.
While Mbappé has likely over a decade left to play at the top level, Qatar 2022 also marks the end of arguably the greatest rivalry in football history – with it being the last time we see Ronaldo and Messi play at a World Cup.
Mavuba says achieving glory with the national team is more important than anything else, despite being still waiting for his first Ballon d’Or.
In truth, he has a long way to go before he matches the legacies of Ronaldo and Messi but already, at such a young age, he’s done things that those other superstars have so far failed to do.
What is often overlooked in those discussions, however, are the players’ intangible achievements – how they make fans feel and the emotions they stir up when they take to the pitch.
“It is gratitude for a such a great moment of joy that you have given to so many people and I hope you take these words to heart because I believe that is more important than winning a World Cup.”
Three defeats in major finals in the space of just three years – the 2014 World Cup and 2015 and 2016 Copa Américas – unsurprisingly wounded Messi, causing him to announce his retirement from international football.
“The key word I think here is minority,” Bauzá says. There was a time in Argentina when a group of people felt that Messi wasn’t good enough to wear the national team shirt because they thought he wasn’t Argentine enough.
“If I had to pinpoint a specific moment in which that feeling was probably most prevalent, it was the 2011 Copa America, which was held in Argentina. There were a lot of hopes for that team and specifically for Messi, who had just come off winning the Champions League in emphatic fashion for Barcelona – and in the quarterfinals they were playing in his province in Santa Fe.
Fans organized marches and demonstrations in the streets, train and road signs were changed to plead with him to return and even then-president Mauricio Macri personally phoned Messi to try and get him to change his mind.
“At this point he owes nothing to no one,” Bauzá adds. “He even broke that 28-year drought with Argentina when they won the Copa America, which already has cemented him at a very important place in the country’s history by helping, being crucial towards winning finally an international title with the national team.
“But by winning the World Cup, that would put him on another level … that would mean he would complete his career at that point. It’s the one trophy that he has always been looking for.
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Former Argentina player Ossie Ardiles, who was part of the 1978 World Cup winning team, says these comparisons are unavoidable.
“I feel like if you ask someone younger, someone who didn’t quite get to see Maradona play but lived through the entire Messi era they will tell you that, yeah, he deserves that comparison, that he can stand right there beside Maradona.
He says Maradona was a cultural phenomenon and was a magnificent, magnificent player. “Maradona was such a huge personality off the pitch as well and was so outspoken, so emotional, so close to his own people, so controversial as well, that for the people who actually lived through that era, watched alll his career, he left an indelible mark on them.