Лионель Мессигээр удирдуулсан Аргентины шигшээ баг нэмэлт цагт хоёр гоол оруулснаар Швейцарыг 3:1-ээр хожиж, хагас шигшээд шалгарсан чухал ялалтыг байгууллаа.
Канзас-Сити хотноо болсон тоглолтын 72 дахь минутад Швейцарын тоглогч Брел Эмболо улаан хуудас авч талбайгаас хөөгдсөн нь тоглолтын эргэлтийн цэг болсон юм. Үүнээс өмнө Алексис Мак Аллистер Лионель Мессигийн дамжуулалтаар тооны харьцааг нээсэн ч Дан Ндойе хариу гоол оруулж тооны харьцааг тэнцүүлээд байв. Тоглолтын үндсэн цаг тэнцээгээр өндөрлөсний дараа нэмэлт цагийн 112 дахь минутад Хулиан Альварес хол зайгаас гоолдож Аргентиныг тэргүүлүүлсэн бол тоглолтын төгсгөлд Лаутаро Мартинес ялалтыг баталгаажуулсан гурав дахь гоолыг орууллаа.
Тоглолтын дараа Аргентины дасгалжуулагч Лионель Скалони багийнхаа тоглолтод сэтгэл дундуур байгаагаа илэрхийлж, тэднийг хүнд нөхцөл байдалд оруулсан өрсөлдөгчөө хүлээн зөвшөөрөв. Лионель Месси өөрийн цахим хуудсаараа дамжуулан багийнхан нь хүнд хэцүү тулгарсан ч итгэл найдвараа алдаагүй гэдгийг онцолсон байна. Швейцарын тал шүүгчийн шийдвэрт бухимдалтай байгаагаа илэрхийлж, ялангуяа улаан хуудасны шийдвэрийг хатуу шүүмжилжээ.
Аргентины хувьд энэ удаагийн тоглолт тийм ч оновчтой байсангүй ч Лионель Мессигийн талбай дээрх тайван байдал, тоглолтыг удирдах чадвар багийг аварч үлдлээ. 39 настай ахлагч нь тоглолтын туршид бүх хөдөлгөөнөө хэмнэлттэй гүйцэтгэж, багийнхаа довтолгооны гол цөм байв. Аргентин ирэх мягмар гарагт Атланта хотноо болох хагас шигшээд Английн эсрэг хүч үзэхээр боллоо.
Дэлгэрэнгүй эх сурвалжийг харах
Эх сурвалжийг нээх ↓
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — In celebration, Lionel Messi was the first to rip off his jersey, the old man turning back into a jubilant kid. It wasn’t a night for him to be the hero. It was a night to stay alive, and boy oh boy does Argentina know all about surviving.
They did it again Saturday night, outlasting Switzerland 3-1 in a quarterfinal match that was still tied in the 112th of 120 minutes, capturing a third straight knockout-round victory that could have easily ended in defeat. They don’t get pushed to the brink; they willingly go there.
A team this accomplished shouldn’t make every game so stressful that fingernails become a delicacy. But these Argentines are bad at being good. At the same time, they’re great at being great. They meander. They fall behind or concede leads when they shouldn’t. They lack flow and drift into randomness. But in the 10 minutes that count the most, they remember that they’re the team that has Messi. Despite their befuddling performances, that has been enough.
“Today, we suffered,” Argentina coach Lionel Scaloni said afterward. “We knew it was a difficult team, and they put us in real difficulty. We weren’t able to get out of certain situations. The truth is luck was on our side today. That’s the reality.”
One team’s luck is another’s grievance. Similar to Egypt after its collapse earlier in the week, Switzerland exited fussing about the officiating. They focused on the 72nd minute, when Breel Embolo was booted from the game. With the aid of Video Assistant Referee, he received a second yellow card for diving, a decision that Swiss midfielder Remo Freuler later called “a disaster.” Five minutes earlier, Switzerland had drawn even on Dan Ndoye’s goal. Now, they had to play a man down against the defending World Cup champions.
Still, Argentina struggled to close the deal.
“Once again, we had to suffer,” Messi wrote on Instagram less than an hour after the game ended. “But this team never stops believing.”
Lionel Messi (10) and his teammates celebrate with Argentina’s fans after the 3-1 victory at Kansas City Stadium. (Carl Recine / Getty Images)
You learn as much about Messi watching him survive as you do when he’s soaring. Argentina couldn’t breathe until Julián Alvarez fired a long-range shot that curled past goalkeeper Gregor Kobel in the 112th minute. They couldn’t fully relax until a few minutes later, when Lautaro Martínez cleaned up the rebound in stoppage time and made it 3-1.
Before then, it seemed Messi was the only one keeping a wobbly team stable. His historic nine-match World Cup scoring streak ended Saturday, but he was solid for the entire 120 minutes. His deft corner-kick assist allowed Alexis Mac Allister to score the game’s opening goal. During tense moments, Messi was Argentina’s release valve, always cool and opportunistic.
Most of the time, you couldn’t tell if Messi was playing in the biggest tournament on earth or going to get the mail. He sauntered. He fake-jogged. He stood as world-class athletes sprinted past him. For long stretches, the best player alive made the World Cup seem like his bus stop. Then the ball would find him, as if it had a tracker on Messi, and he would show that he controls the game at all times.
At 39, the genius of Messi isn’t evident in the way he moves. It’s in his stillness. He economizes motion as only a master can, so still he borders on invisibility even though all eyes are on him. Lose him for the briefest period, the tiniest fraction of a second, and that stillness breaks to produce an assist, a half-yard of space, an unguardable angle, a shot that arrives before you realize it’s coming. His skills wow like magic tricks. His slower pace now makes it all the more mesmerizing.
Before that corner kick to Mac Allister, Messi walked so casually that you would’ve figured he was headed down the driveway to get the morning newspaper. (Yes, he’s old enough to remember the custom.) Then, all of a sudden, he changed the game’s energy. Whether scoring or not, he is in constant command. It’s like when Michael Jordan traded his aerial theatrics for a fadeaway jumper. It’s an inspiring sight.
“We will do everything to make sure Messi wins the World Cup again,” Alvarez said.
The players yelled as much to their captain, and they hugged and bounced together following the triumph. But if this is indeed Messi’s final World Cup, they won’t be giving him a retirement gift as much as accepting one last blessing from a superstar.
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This is an ordinary team, until Messi conjures the extraordinary. His fingerprints are all over Argentina’s spacing, the pressure they can apply, the exhausted panic he puts into a defense by simply deciding where to position himself. His gravity doesn’t just draw the opponent; the deficiencies of his own team get absorbed too.
Messi is the main attraction, and for large portions of the game, he is the spectator with the best seat in the house. Sometimes it feels like he’s watching with us, but the thing is, he sees a different game. And he still has the greatness to take advantage of that vision.
He is unhurried, unconcerned, refusing to do anything unnecessary. Time is not a concern, and suffering is not an impediment. Messi seems determined to walk at his own pace. You can only assume that also applies to his World Cup exit.
His team isn’t winning style points. Nevertheless, Argentina will meet England in the semifinal on Tuesday. The Argentines have had the least impressive run of the final four teams. They stumble and swear they’re walking straight.
But it doesn’t matter. They’re still Argentina. Most of all, Messi is still Messi. So they will head to Atlanta to play England, toting their mayhem and their good fortune with them. They’re hoping to win another one for Messi, or to delight in Messi winning one for them. They won’t nitpick survival because, at some point, all the drama doesn’t complicate the mission. It is the mission.
