Lionel Messi was at the focus and thrust of Argentina as he wrote himself into World Cup record books in their 2-0 win over Austria – as excellent Enzo Fernandez shows what Chelsea could soon be missing, writes IAN HERBERT
The Argentinians had been arriving here since Sunday, processing like a blue and white sea through the streets of Dallas, singing their song about ‘La Cuarta Estrella’ – ‘The Fourth Star’ which they hope will adorn the team’s jerseys months from now, marking them as four-time winners.
It was when a group of them paused for photographs at the corner of Elm and North Houston Streets, where two crosses on the pavement mark the spot where the bullets hit John F Kennedy, that you saw the enormity of Lionel Messi’s burden. Every one of the jerseys bore his name and number.
Brilliant Messi, history man
No one is immune to the burden of a messianic following. We knew this from four years ago, when in the weeks before Argentina lit up the world, Messi missed a spot kick in a group stage game against Poland. Wojciech Szczesny’s sharp save was a mitigating factor that day. He managed to miss a penalty by himself on this occasion.
There was a strange kind of silence, rather than a collective gasp, in this vast place, as his spot kick dribbled wide of the right post he had kicked it towards. A reminder of sport’s beautiful uncertainty as Messi just stood alone, holding his head in his hands. History will be made in its own good time.
Yet even then, there was a realisation that those who predicted a subsidiary role at this World Cup for the man who turns 39 on Wednesday – perhaps even a substitute’s seat – had been so very wrong. He was at the focus and thrust of all the best in Argentina from the start of the night he wrote himself into the records.
It was his ball – the possession of it demanded by him, before he eased it out to the left – which began the thrust that brought the penalty. Xaver Schlager placed a clumsy challenge on the advancing Lautaro Martinez.
And when Messi, whose run up was slow and connection weak – had put the penalty wide of Alexander Schlager’s post, he became the chief architect again. Shimmying through the central channel and sizing up his angles before David Alaba stabbed the ball onto his own goalkeeper’s shins and away. Spinning the crispest ball in for Enzo Fernandez, whose route to goal was also blocked by red shirts.
Lionel Messi made history with two goals against Austria as he broke, and extended, Miroslav Klose’s World Cup goals record
The match started in inauspicious circumstances as the 39-year-old missed a penalty
Teammates working for Messi
Others worked for Messi. When Paul Wanner muscled him out of possession as the first half wore on, he did not chase.
And others moved for him. His historic 38th-minute opening goal – taking him past Miroslav Klose as scorer of the most goals in World Cup history – was a shot of sweet, clean precision. But it presented itself because Thiago Almada dummied to let the ball run through, intuiting his presence. Messi lurked silently in that moment, awaiting his moment, concluding a move which he had started in the first place.
The numbers reveal an extraordinary consistency. It’s 18 goals in 28 World Cup appearances for him, now. He becomes the third player in World Cup history to score in six consecutive games – after France’s Just Fontaine in 1958 and Brazil’s Jairzinho in 1970.
The Argentina team, and indeed the fans, have come to rely on Messi as a saviour figure
We learned what a force Enzo Fernandez – Messi’s sidekick in so many ways – really is and what a player Chelsea might have had on their hands if they had only been able to manage him better.
Fernandez’s thumping, arced ball which sent Messi racing through beyond the hour mark will not even be a footnote in the record of this game. The captain had drifted fractionally offside. But it was testament to Fernandez’s vision from the deep. And there was threat from higher up, too. Fernandez took a ball from Rodrigo de Paul, travelled inside and hammered a shot which Kevin Danso blocked.
Fernandez also helped deal with an Austrian team who pressed hard. They had a manager, in Ralf Rangnick, who many Germans see as the godfather of gegenpressing, and at times there was something of the night about the world champions as they wrestled possession back. A vicious little kick by Lautaro Martinez at Konrad Laimer.
Enzo Fernandez, Messi’s sidekick, showed Chelsea the quality he has when managed well
Austrians fail where it matters
The Austrians could not land blows of their own because they lacked effective enough offensive players and the decisive pass through the defensive lines. Marcel Sabitzer swung at a shot and missed and when Rangnick’s players did threaten in the wide areas, there were no numbers in the box.
Sabitzer brought a save from Emi Martinez as the game approached the hour mark but there was no guile or shape on the kick. The set-pieces were poor. The Argentinian central defence was strong. Cristian Romero was a particularly immovable force, always aware, before being removed for Nicolas Otamendi having seemed to pick up an injury.
There were times during a game in which Argentina were never threatened when football seemed to be a sideshow. They took to beaming images of Shakira and others on the vast screens above the pitch, to universal acclaim.
The self-absorbed Cristiano Ronaldo will be desperate to live up to Messi’s remarkable feats
Now match that, Cristiano
It is the intuitive understanding of those team-mates around him which is the defining difference between Messi and the self-absorbed Cristiano Ronaldo. For the second time at this tournament, the so-called ‘CR7’ finds himself trying to live up to his nemesis’s extraordinary feats as he seeks to make up for Portugal’s dismal start.
There was something incredibly fitting about the way Messi wrapped things up, with another goal at the death. Powering down the right to set up Julian Alvarez and when his teammate’s shot was blocked, stealing back into the box and taking on a ball which he rammed into the net at the second attempt.
The chant of ‘Messi’ sounded around this vast place, then, deep, long and low. He flashed an exhausted smile. There is a lot more to come from the man whose name was carried on that blue and white tide.
