ARGENTINA WON WITHOUT playing well tonight.
They have not looked like a cohesive team throughout the tournament.
This evening, they stumbled over the line in chaotic fashion.
Jorge Sampaoli’s side dominated the ball with 66% possession, yet it was a very close game — according to the BBC’s stats, Argentina had one less shot and one more shot on target than their opponents.
It could easily have been so different had the referee interpreted Marcos Rojo’s handball as deliberate or had a late Nigeria free kick gone the right side of the post instead of the side netting.
Nevertheless, Marcos Rojo’s brilliant volley ultimately got the South Americans into the knockout stages in a game that they seldom looked like winning after Victor Moses’ equaliser early in the second half set alarm bells ringing.
There was a palpable panic in Argentina’s play — from just after the goal, they practically reverted to playing a 4-2-4.
By the end, it was somewhat reminiscent of the Dutch’s famous 1-0 loss to Ireland at Lansdowne Road in 2001 as attackers kept coming off the bench in an attempt to salvage an increasingly desperate situation.
By the end, they basically had four players up front — Sergio Aguero, Gonzalo Higuain, Lionel Messi and Cristian Pavón.
And with all these out-and-out attacking options, it was ironic that a centre-back-cum-striker — Manchester United’s Marcos Rojo — produced the clinical finish to get them into the last 16, brilliantly hammering home Gabriel Mercado’s inch-perfect cross.
It is not the first time this Argentina side have found themselves in great difficulty — they barely got to Russia. They needed a come-from-behind 3-1 victory away to Ecuador, with the irrepressible Messi hitting a hat-trick, in their final World Cup qualifier. It was just their seventh win from 18 matches in CONEMBOL, as they limped home in third place.
Nigeria 0-1 Argentina - Did you ever doubt him? Lionel Messi puts Argentina in front with a wonderful goal. #rtesoccer #WorldCup #NGA #ARG pic.twitter.com/rrXjOLTHt2
— RTÉ Soccer (@RTEsoccer) June 26, 2018
Time and again, Argentina have demonstrated a tendency to shoot themselves in the foot. With the game in the balance against Croatia, Willy Caballero’s atrocious error gifted their opponents a lead that they never looked like relinquishing thereafter.
This evening, Javier Mascherano, who had an error-ridden game and looks his age at 34, conceded a needless penalty, after rashly grabbing hold of Oghenekaro Etebo as a corner was played into the box.
Rojo’s exquisite finish was the latest in a series of lifelines for Sampaoli’s men. They had to rely on other results simply to stay alive in this competition (Iceland could have qualified with a draw and a win following Argentina’s defeat by the Croats).
The madness on the field tonight has — if reports are to be believed — been reflected by off-field turmoil in the Argentina camp.
Sampaoli cut a lonely, isolated figure at times on the touchline even after his team’s miraculous escape, which will only add fuel to intensive speculation about in-fighting within the dressing room.
And while Argentina still don’t look like a team — or at least a properly functioning one where everyone has a clear idea of their respective roles — what they do have is a number of talented individuals capable of match-winning moments, and it is largely what got them over the line against a dogged Nigeria side.
An undoubtedly relieved Messi, for all his millions and inevitable status as one of the game’s all-time greats, expressed a childlike joy in his reaction at the final whistle.
It is hard to begrudge the Barcelona star a stay of execution in the competition for now. For so long in Russia, he had looked like a player with hopes of a nation on his shoulders, but tonight his footballing genius shone through regularly, particularly in the first half, with his sublime touch for the goal, his incisive through pass for an out-of-sorts Gonzalo Higuain and his near miss from a free kick that hit the woodwork threatening to finish the match as a contest before the break.
With 65 international goals in 127 appearances, Messi is his country’s all-time leading scorer. Without him, Argentina have a far inferior record and he was conspicuous by his absence in the country’s pre-tournament 6-1 defeat by Spain.
The 31-year-old dragged the team to the World Cup final in 2014, winning the Golden Ball, as well as guiding them to the Copa America finals in 2007, 2015 and 2016. His phenomenal goal tonight made him the only player to score at the World Cup in his teens, 20s and 30s. And yet still, naysayers unreasonably suggest he must lift the illustrious trophy to demonstrate some sort of extra level of greatness.
What may work in Messi’s advantage is the fact that as the competition progresses, he is more likely to have extra space to exploit — the elite sides won’t play like Iceland and stick 11 men behind the ball.
But regardless of that factor, it’s hard to see Argentina going much further — France will be deserved favourites for their upcoming last-16 clash.
The South Americans are simply too error-prone in defence, while their midfield struggles to offer the backline ample protection. Players such as Cristian Pavón are promising but far from the finished article, some of the more experienced players look past their best and Sampaoli’s struggles to accommodate top-class stars such as Paulo Dybala and Sergio Aguero in attack further complicates matters.
For all his peerless talent, there is surely only so many times that Argentina can rely on the individual brilliance of Lionel Messi, and to a much lesser extent, Marcos Rojo, to get them out of jail.
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