Football leadership and magic, for the best Messi in the world

It’s already Messi’s World Cup. The best World Cup of him. Beyond the records and brands, unnecessary suffering, the giant Dibu Martínez. Regardless of how the story ends. His football leadership no longer offers any discussion and the team is in the top four led by his magic. Even if the ending was incredibly difficult to explain.

Proof that it’s his best World Cup, every game. The confrontation with Holland was closed, almost scientific. Messi took a few minutes to analyze it, to find out where it could be unlocked. Chess on a football field usually happens. So Messi becomes Kasparov to think and Messi to activate. He moves piece by piece, goes from the king to the bishop, goes to the right because he knows that there he can open a crack that only he can guess. He invites Molina to participate, receives the ball and points diagonally, he doesn’t need to look at her to know where the right full-back will emerge, only in front of the goalkeeper. That piece was also moved by Leo.

He has opened the can, as Scaloni defined after the match against Mexico. Again, who but Messi. Because in the first half that was the game: a mental game. A chessboard between the most veteran coaches of this World Cup (Louis van Gaal) and the youngest (Lionel Scaloni). The teams are almost mirror images, with five in the background each but with flexibility so that there are three or four depending on the movements of the rival. The Argentine coach surprised, while the Dutch adapted to his system.

Scaloni bet for the first time since the beginning of the match on a back five, but the tie had a trap. The difference was freeing Nahuel Molina and containing Marcos Acuña, more concerned about Denzel Drumfies’ famous climbs than attacking. At least at the beginning, because in the second half Dumfires himself committed a penalty against Acuña. The national team has sometimes defended with four: Cuti Romero, Nicolás Otamendi, Lisandro Martínez and Acuña. Molina was almost a right winger, that’s the trap. When necessary, he returned to his natural place.

It was a tactical success of Scaloni, because Molina was the first to break the balance of pairs and Messi ended up upsetting the whole orange defense, widening De Jong, Aké and Blind and also removing Virgil van Dijk from his place, who after trying to cut Leo arrived late at the crossroads with the Atlético de Madrid team. A tactical success that Messi blessed with a heavenly assist.

Then it was another game. Leo put the arc to his bestial performance with a penalty executed with beauty and skill. It seemed that the 2-0 was untouchable, but stripped of the script, the Netherlands burned all the cards and started adding inches and centers to their attack. He headed in and equalized after the tenth minute. Extra time showed Messi’s rebellion against an unfair draw. He executed a penalty again with great class. He ended up celebrating Argentina’s long-suffering victory with the team and the fans. One more, in Messi’s best World Cup.

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