Messi celebrates Argentina’s first goal.KIRILL KUDRYAVTSEV (AFP)
Ten games and 791 minutes saw Lionel Messi debut as a goalscorer in a World Cup qualifier. In his previous appearances (2006, 2010, 2014 and 2018) he had only managed four assists in these rounds. Throughout that time there has been no shortage of people to remind him of that every time Argentina packed his bags at home. Having to jump over the wall though, La Pulga didn’t make a bad choice: the night he added his 1,000th game in senior football (778 with Barcelona, 53 with PSG and 169 with the national team), almost nothing helped him to surpass Diego Armando Maradona’s eight World Cup goals. Playful even in the dying breath of Australia’s Arreón, he was eventually acclaimed by the crowds.
In the middle of a wasteland, Alexis Mac Allister filtered a pass into the area after half an hour of the clash, Otamendi handed it to him just before 10 and he slotted it between a crowd of legs to Mathew Ryan’s right post. the former of the Royal Society. A classic in his repertoire and a form of self-adoration, he debuted for his country in a similar cut in a 2006 friendly against Croatia.
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Until then, it’s best to look at the grandstands in the Ahmed Bin Ali Stadium, at the Albiceleste party pure enthusiasm, because down below only time flies. Lionel Scaloni’s windshield football and army of Australian defenders caused yawns. The goal not only broke Messi’s personal barrier, but also left other historical links: surpassing El Pelusa, ahead of him in the table of Argentina’s top scorers at the World Cup is only Gabriel Batistuta (10). This was his 94th goal and his third in Qatar.
The night nourished the Albiceleste hopes that Messi was doing well, very loose on the field against the Australians, trying his old slaloms, comfortable in the dressing room and without major outside interference beyond the general fear felt after the initial skid against Saudi -Arabia was unleashed. “The union that exists must always be in the national team,” he claimed in the press room, where he appeared as Man of the Match.
Scaloni’s caution
The goal came practically out of nowhere (and what happened after) confirmed one of Scaloni’s programmatic pillars on a day when he feared his rival’s physical strength and his team’s resistance: caution. Before packing his bags for golf, the Pujato coach had insisted that “world championships are won by cautious teams, by those who know when to attack and when to defend”. Argentina did some of that when, as might be expected from the Polish experience, they first found an opponent who made no secret of their sole intention of protecting themselves for as long as the result would allow. With no more football this time from the start than 10’s nuclear button, his players put in with the utmost care, like someone stepping on an egg field, even bored, persistent and waiting for Messi to do his thing.
If proof was lacking that without a spark of caution, Scaloni removed an attacker (Papu Gómez, gray again) and took out a central defender (Lisandro Martínez) early in the second half. The disappearance of the sticky and panicky atmosphere that surrounded the Albicelestes after the Arabic trigger also had a positive effect on them in this game scenario.
With an advantage and another centre-back, all that was left was to wait for Australia to shoot themselves in the foot. Goalkeeper Ryan did it when he was pressured by De Paul. Julián Álvarez, also a goalscorer, scored his second goal of the tournament. The 2-0 lead ahead of Argentina received the final signal to continue prudence: the Australian goal came from a rebound from Enzo Fernández and two fairly clear finishing chances that almost resulted in an amazing draw.
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