Lionel Messi reached the final – Sport – Kommersant
[ad_1]
The first finalist of the World Cup in Qatar was the Argentina national team. She defeated the silver medalists of the previous championship – the Croats – surprisingly easily, with a score of 3: 0, having achieved success thanks to the strange mistakes of her opponents and the genius of her leader Lionel Messi.
This match turned out to be one of those that, like a book, it is better not to judge by the cover and the preface. The preface transparently hinted at the fact that he could well climb into his beloved Croatian territory, which, however, is well known to the Argentines: after all, they also overcame the quarterfinal round not with regular time. Caution reigned on the field of the Lusail stadium, the desire to probe an unpleasant opponent for as long as possible, or maybe limit it to probing.
The game was ideally described by the fact that for the first time after the introduction of the teams and the performance of the anthems, the television cameramen had an opportunity to show Lionel Messi in close-up almost a quarter of an hour after it started. The leader of the Argentina national team fell near the corner of the penalty area and asked the referee to punish the Croatian for a foul.
Soon, apparently, a lot of Argentine fans began to curse coach Lionel Scaloni, who for some reason does not want to throw this scheme with Messi in the role of one of the two forwards put forward. Well, this position is not his – especially if the middle line is not too energetic, and the terrible Croatian watchdog Joshko Guardiol is nearby all the time. And some popular resources like the BBC, trying to explain Messi’s problems, suddenly noticed that he stopped and grabbed his leg. And then he stopped again. And even, it seems, he limped … Spasms? Injury?!
But five minutes later, the experts breathed a sigh of relief. Lionel Messi moved, ran in and, moving back in search of the ball, began to adjust Scaloni’s strategy, which, however, did not fundamentally change anything. Football remained viscous, like superglue. That is, rather convenient for the Croats, whose element is, as you know, just such a viscous struggle. And spit on sharpness with beauty.
It was absolutely impossible to imagine what would happen very soon. The Croats were so accustomed to the fact that they do not allow gross mistakes that it seemed that it was not they who were reacting to the long Argentine throw on Julian Alvarez, but they were unknown as clones who had found themselves on the field, who had not yet been properly trained. The situation was one of those that the Croatian defense usually clicks like nuts with a thin shell. But instead of stopping Alvarez, who was not going to dodge, she let him go straight to Dominik Livakovich. The forward threw the ball past the goalkeeper and, crashing into him, fell. Referee Daniele Orsato did not hesitate to award a penalty. And the revived Lionel Messi punched him so that Livakovich, who has proven himself to be a specialist in penalties, could not even jump – it still won’t help.
And it would be okay if it was a single failure. But the second one immediately followed. Now the Croats seem to have forgotten the rule familiar to great football players that any corner at the other’s goal is also a potential moment for their own. After the cut, Alvarez rushed forward again, and again he did not have to invent anything extraordinary to break through the barriers that had arisen on the way. Josip Juranovic and Borna Sosa did everything for him, who were struck by a sudden bout of awkwardness that prevented them from kicking away the ball, which had almost been lost by the opponent. So the Argentine national team, whose fans have already tuned in for one and a half, or even two-odd hours of continuous suffering, has created a huge reserve.
And the Croats were terribly lucky that the two-goal difference remained at the break, because they once again had time to goof off. The Argentines took a corner and the ball went over them and landed on the head of Alexis Mac Allister. He fired at point-blank range, almost from the goalkeeper’s line, but the Croatian national team was rescued by Livakovic with his long arms.
It was not difficult to imagine with what personnel decisions the Croatian national team coach Zlakto Dalic would try to get out of a critical situation: of course, after the rest, Nikola Vlašić, Mislav Oršić, Bruno Petković entered the field – all who added fire in the quarterfinals against the Brazilians. In the semi-final against the Argentines, they added a tiny spark that the opponents didn’t really feel.
The fire – real, hot – was given by the one from whom it was expected in the first place. Before this episode, in the middle of the second half, Yoshko Guardiol looked like the same genius of destruction as Lionel Messi is in creation. They, each in their role, were quoted approximately equally. But what happened proved, of course, that there is only one genius in this pair.
Lionel Messi received the ball near the right edge of the center line. This is about the same point from which he started in the 1986 World Cup, before fooling half the players in the English team to score his “goal of the century”, his great compatriot, great predecessor Diego Maradona. Messi in the course of his raid was opposed by the only footballer, but what. After all, Guardiol has so far convinced that he is already in something, and in a one-on-one game he is absolutely invulnerable.
In the duel against Messi, he appeared as an unfortunate victim, who is mocked as they like. Are you reaching for the ball? And we will cover it with a body. Decided to hustle? Well, push, you won’t fall anyway. Do you think that I slowed down at the penalty area to give up, to wait for help, that you already got the upper hand? Boy, you haven’t seen the main one yet! How do you like such a turn, such a breakthrough? Ay! Where are you?
This episode, from which diamond splashes of exceptional talent were whipped in all directions, ended with a pass of Guardiola Messi, who threw himself off, under a lethal, uninterrupted blow from Alvarez. And the match itself ended with such an easy victory for the Argentines that it was not even believed in. She suffered more with Australians and Mexicans.
In Sunday’s final, Argentina will face the winner of the second semi-final. On Wednesday, the French and Moroccans will play in it.
[ad_2]
Source link