As Lionel Messi zigzagged this manner and that at occasions it appeared Argentina’s No. 10 have to be electrical and maybe operated by distant management.
Though Brighton’s Alexis Mac Allister scored the essential breakthrough objective for Lionel Scaloni’s facet, it was Messi’s dedication to, in equal measure, bewitching his adoring crowd and baffling Poland that actually made the distinction.
Lengthy earlier than the tip, everybody had virtually forgotten {that a} participant who’s such a catalyst for his nation and who spent a lot of the sport slaloming previous usually helpless markers had missed a penalty within the first half.
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When the music stopped and the ultimate whistle blew, Manchester Metropolis’s Julián Álvarez had joined Mac Allister on the scoresheet, however miraculously, a totally overwhelmed Poland nonetheless adopted their tormentors into the knockout levels due to a superior objective distinction in opposition to Mexico.
Discuss rising by the pores and skin of your tooth. Had Lautaro Martínez not missed a late sitter for Argentina and Saudi Arabia not pulled a objective again in opposition to Mexico, his opponents would have boarded a flight to Warsaw at the moment on Thursday. As an alternative, Poland survives to face France on Sunday within the spherical of 16.
Whereas they might want to enhance considerably, it a minimum of means Robert Lewandowski can be combating one other day at a World Cup. The site visitors was far too one-way for Poland’s talisman to make the specified impression right here, however ‘Lewangoalski’ absolutely deserves a minimum of another second within the Doha solar.
Few would wager in opposition to its nonetheless highly effective December rays shining on Messi and Argentina – who face Australia on Saturday – for a while but. If Messi exists in anybody’s shadow, it’s the late Diego Maradona’s. Right here, making his twenty second World Cup look, he eclipsed his compatriot’s equal determine of 21 appearances.
Given that each different particular person pouring into Stadium 974 gave the impression to be carrying a lightweight blue and white No.10 shirt with both Maradona or Messi on the again, the latter bore some duty. Might Messi arrange Lewandowski, Poland’s report goalscorer and the striker who successfully changed him at Barcelona?
The excellent news for the adoring crowd was that the reply was a convincing sure. Tenaciously destabilizing Czeslaw Michniewicz’s defence, the Paris Saint-Germain ahead rapidly steered that Lionel Scaloni’s facet’s shock defeat to Saudi Arabia of their opening Group C match had been an aberration fairly than a symptom of a worrying new structural failure. Within the first quarter-hour alone, Messi pressured Wojciech Szczesny into a few saves after variously ducking and brushing apart varied Polish defenders.
To not be utterly eclipsed, Lewandowski sporadically seemed able to providing a masterclass within the No. 9 function however lacked the service to execute it correctly. A glimpse got here when, holding up the ball and maintaining out markers with equal aplomb, he conjured up a good opening for Krystian Bielik however the midfielder responded with a tepid shot straight on the underemployed Emiliano Martínez.
“What can I say,” Michniewicz stated after watching Lewandowski repeatedly find yourself in less-than-stellar isolation as his team-mates manned the barricades in opposition to an impressively fluid, pace-setting Argentina. “We did not assist Robert.”
In stark distinction, Messi acquired loads of assist from the likes of Scaloni’s left-back Marcos Acuña and their eye-catching switches triggered main issues for Poland’s right-back Matty Money. Not that the Aston Villa defender was the one certainly one of Michniewicz’s gamers to expertise elevated stress ranges.
The entire group was residing dangerously as, to call just some examples, Alvarez noticed a shot blocked, Acuña headed huge and Szczesny backpedaled desperately to pay money for Ángel Di María’s cross from underneath the bar.
It usually appeared as if the previous Arsenal goalkeeper was single-handedly resisting Scaloni’s blue-and-white tenure. Sometimes, Szczesny carried out minor wonders to disclaim Álvarez after Mac Allister’s good cross after which, extraordinarily harshly, discovered himself adjudged to have conceded a penalty after brushing Messi’s face with one hand after the ball had gone.
Precisely why the spot-kick was awarded following a VAR assessment stays a thriller however justice seemed to be accomplished when Szczesny dived fantastically to his left, prolonged a gloved hand and saved Messi’s penalty.
When Poland barely touched the ball in Argentina’s half, it was extraordinarily one-sided, however so long as Michniewicz’s centre-backs continued to clear a barrage of crosses, it was deadlocked.
Their luck ran out a minute into the second half when Nahuel Molina’s cross discovered Mac Allister and, regardless of failing to make the truest right-footed connection, his shot narrowly prevented Szczesny’s outstretched fingertips earlier than moving into off a submit on his method to the again. of the community. “I used to be so glad,” MacAllister stated. – It was so emotional for me and the entire group. We performed very well collectively. We managed to seek out that calm.”
After that Messi’s fast ft – is he actually 35? – and even quicker mind took over. When Álvarez met Enzo Fernández’s ball, took a controlling contact, swung seamlessly and lashed the ball into the roof of the online, it was throughout. And Scaloni’s verdict?: “Reassuring.”
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