Sometimes, to win, you don’t need to play so well: you need Messi, being smart and having a little luck

an apparition of Lionel Messi. An unexpected company. A bow shot. A goal. This is how Argentina paved the way to advance to the quarterfinals.

Sometimes to win you don’t have to play well like against Poland. Sometimes you just need to have Messi on your side in Messi mode to win.

High pressure from a fantastic De Paul to lead the opponent to a mistake. The mistake arrives and Julián Álvarez, grazed by a stick, scores the goal that seemed to settle everything. In the end, it was the goal that gave the victory to be among the eight best of the World Cup in Qatar 2022.

Sometimes to win you don’t have to play well like against Poland. To win, usually you have to be smarter and pragmatic than your opponent. And Scaleneta is an intelligent and pragmatic team.

The culture of resistance. A masterful closing by Licha Martínez. A championship cover of Dibu Martínez. Useless suffering against an inferior rival who left everything in the field.

Sometimes to win you don’t have to play well like against Poland. To win, you usually have to get lucky.. And the Scalenetas were lucky again this Saturday at the Ahmad Bin Ali stadium in Al Rayyan.

Scaloni’s idea was not to change. For this reason, given Di María’s injury, he bet on Papu Gómez to maintain that 4-4-3 that had given him so many good results against Poland. But the problem is that Australia was not Poland.

He pressed higher up and occupied spaces, while the national team, logically due to the little rest he had had, lacked the intensity he showed at stadium 974 to seal the pass for the round of 16.

It was 15 minutes of stupid holding, without going deep and without finding holes to hurt. There were no shots on target until Papu Gómez tried, but the ball went the distance.

Another game begins because Australia, seeing that Argentina is not suffering, rejoices and begins to approach timidly. The Argentinian players ran after the ball.

Until the click came. And he was from the bank. In a corner for Australia, Walter Samuel started gesturing angrily. Scaloni Order: Papu Gómez on the right. But no longer as a winger, but as a midfielder. From 4-3-3 we move on to 4-4-2 and the national team regains partnerships. I had to change. The DT was good with reflexes.

From those clubs came Messi’s goal that unlocked the game. Another genius of the Argentine captain, who in his thousand professional matches has unlocked another one trauma: For the first time it became a kill-kill match in a World Cup. There are 23 appearances and 9 shouts at the World Cup.

In the second fraction, worried about some problems at the start, Scaloni once again had a hand in it. Out Papu Gómez, in Licha Martínez. And another drawing. Five, three, two. Five in the background, with the two full-backs open and outgoing, three in the center (De Paul, Enzo and Mac Allister) and Messi and Julián loose at the top. Change to improve.

The variant allowed midfielders to bite higher up. And that’s how Julian’s goal arrived. One hundred percent thanks to the pressure of a tireless De Paul.

Finally, with the game broken, Australia went all out. He found the goal from the rebound and then tried with his limits. worried. But the Martinezes appeared from the background. Licha clasp and Dibu hood. Attention, Argentina could have beaten even if Lautaro Martínez had taken advantage of everything an imperial Messi needed.

The national team is already among the top eight in Qatar 2022. Holland is coming. Most importantly: there are six days off. Most importantly, second part: Messi is here, the team is intelligent and luck, fortunately, is still on this side.

Al Rayyan, Qatar. Special delivery.