Messi keeps Argentina Alive
Dreams appear when you are asleep, usually. They are random and they are more often than not the trick of a mind that yearns. But then the evening at the Lusail stadium was nothing like it. It wasn't eep, it wasn't random, the mind was a willful participant. It was a playground of dreams of more than 40 million Argentinians and also uncountable fans of the Football republic of "Messiland"
It needed him and him alone to keep it alive. Lionel Messi, the universal citizen, was yet again carrying the weights of these daydreams.
After Saudi Arabia had jolted them out of their senses, Argentina had to respond, which is always read as "Messi had to respond." After a nervous, brittle team performance for more than an hour, he did it. Not with his usual trickery around the box, but a more direct, flat, and precise drive which left the unflappable Ochoa in the goal, on the ground with the ball bulging the net. He ran off, arms wide, relief more than joy on his face. The team mobbed him, more animated than the man himself. They knew he had done it again. Just like that day in 2014 at Mineirao Stadium, when a curling injury time strike from the magician had given hope.
The crowd had gone hoarse, the blue and white flags danced deliriously in the desert air as a nation's collective soul came back for the moment from the brink of departure. It had been a match with very little action, listless football at most times, but then this was not about the football being dished out, but about keeping the flickering hopes from being extinguished.
With 3 minutes on the clock, 21-year-old Fernandez, on as a substitute, collected the ball at the edge of the box, drove in, shifted his weight to the left and the ball to his right, and curled it home. The dream was now truly alive as the foundations of the new stadium were tested for strength by the roar that rose.
Argentina, a perennial favorite at the World Cup, has managed to keep itself in the hunt. It is going to be a tough ride as some of the other biggies like Brazil and France seem to be strong and ticking well.
They have a young team, which needs to show more than it has shown to date.
For the nation, the game, and more than anything else for the gem that sparkles in their midst.
Sudhir Bhattathiripad
Be A Sport