Argentinians, who came to Qatar with a serious desire to win the World Cup, defeated Croatia in the semi-finals and are in the first stage of that brilliant victory. Magic Messi’s lightning speed, tact and strategy helped Alvarez score 2 amazing goals as Argentina beat Croatia 3-0 to advance to the World Cup final.
Those who watched Diego Maradona in 1986 will not have failed to see the spirit of Diego Maradona permeate Messi’s performance in this semi-final. As usual, Messi scored the opening goal in the 34th minute. But the reason is because of Alvarez’s amazing run.
A superb pass brought the ball close to the Croatia goal and as he was about to score Croatia goalkeeper Livakovic prevented Alvarez from trying to block the ball, forcing him to commit a foul inside the penalty area and a penalty kick awarded. Messi blasted the ball into the net with a thunderous shot. Argentina lead 1-0.
Croatia’s midfield magic, which it gave against Brazil, did not give out today. This is because Argentina has a full back of 4, 2 in front and 4 in the middle, giving Messi a lot of room to strategize. He came to the ring freely. The first goal moved him to the top spot for Argentina’s most World Cup goals with 11 World Cup goals. Also, with his 5th goal of this World Cup, he is level with Kylian Mbappe for the Golden Boot award.
Couldn’t stop Messi. Couldn’t handle it. It must be said that he overwhelmed Croatia. His pace made it hard to believe that he was 35 years old. It is imperative to mention some of Messi’s stats here. This is Messi’s 25th World Cup appearance, equaling Germany’s Lothar Matthaus’ record of 25 appearances. Scored a record 11th goal for Argentina. The number of assists Alvarez has made to score a goal has risen to 8 in World Cups alone. Diego Maradona has also given 8 assists.
Messi has won 11 league titles, 4 Champions League titles, Copa America and won the prestigious Ballons d’Or 7 times in his lifetime. He scored 791 goals in his career, 96 of which were for Argentina. The title of World Cup champion has only eluded him so far in his football career. Argentina lost to Germany in 2014. Now is another chance. Have to meet France or Morocco.
Croatia made it to the semi-finals with some hard work and they are not a spectacular team. They reached the semi-finals after beating Japan and Brazil fortunately. But this time, Messi and Alvarez have thwarted their chances of going to the finals like 2018, disappointing Croatia with a population of 3.9 lakhs, but it should be left as a blessing to have come this far.
Instead, this is Argentina’s 6th World Cup semi-final. Still not defeated. Argentina bounced back to set off alarm bells after losing their first match to Saudi Arabia. The same way they advanced to the final after losing to Cameroon.
Messi’s assist, Alvarez’s unhindered run: In the 34th minute, Argentina’s Enzo Fernandez pounced on a loose ball from Croatia star Modric, pounced on Alvarez’s free space and got close to the Croatia goal.
But Lovren tried to block his shot. But in between, Croatia goalkeeper Livakovic tried to meet Alvarez with his body instead of trying to block the ball. A penalty kick was awarded as it was in the penalty area and Messi thundered himself in.
In between Croatia asked the referee for a corner. Croatia appealed that Ivan Perisic’s shot went over the Argentinian. A penalty was awarded by the referee who did not give it and the Croatia bench stormed, prompting Croatia’s assistant coach Mandzukic to be shown a red card and sent off.
While coming from 0-1 down was no problem for Croatia, going 2-0 down stifled Croatia’s chances. The reason was Alvarez’s amazing goal. Messi cleared the ball before Croatian midfielder Marcelo Prozovic got to the ball as he cleared Croatia’s corner.
Alvarez ran 50 meters with the ball with the speed of a tiger chasing a deer to pass the ball in midfield where Messi nearly planted it to Alvarez, Croatia only managed to run behind. He took on 2-3 Croatian players and brought the ball close to the goal. Croatia’s Borna Sosa tried to block Alvarez’s shot and the ball crashed into the goal. 2-0. Croatia’s fate ended in the 39th minute. It almost made it 3-0 in the 45th minute but Argentine Alistair’s header was saved by the Croatian goalkeeper.
It was only in the 69th minute after the break that Messi’s magic happened on the right. Lionel Messi, who received the ball on the touch line, was carrying the ball at lightning speed and Croatia’s best defender in the world, Guardiola, came to stop him. Messi has to watch if he plays a game with Guardiola. The height of wonder.
With various turns and magic of the feet, Guardiola made the world’s best defender look like a child, at one point dribbling effortlessly with his back to goal. Messi had a nonchalant confidence that had no intention of the ball leaving his foot. Álvarez scores the 3rd goal by finishing the play to Guardiola and passing the ball to Álvarez, but it’s Messi’s goal! It is considered to be the best assist of the 2022 World Cup.
3-0 saw Croatia’s morale drop and Argentina celebrated in the ensuing game without their usual Croatian aggression. The nervousness of scoring against Brazil that day cost them a loss, but today Argentina played with determination as if victory was on their side which made the difference.