This might just be their World Cup after all. Lionel Messi has to contend with football’s rivals and the sands of time in equal measure, but he dismissed them with a flourish that, whatever happens to him and Argentina from here on, made a mockery of the fears to leave this stage quietly. His side was an escape from oblivion on an intense, pressured and mixed night where the potential consequences clearly suffocated everyone in sight. Messi was among that number until breaking through a limited Mexico, whose involvement now hangs in the balance, in thrilling style. It guarantees him at least one more dance at the top of a sport that has bent to his will.
Messi’s left-footed strike was aesthetically surpassed by a sumptuous final rout from Enzo Fernández, but only one of the goals has the potential to resonate through the ages. He silenced the sighs, minutes earlier, when he sent a whimsical pass down the left side. Argentina had barely created an opening with the second half near the midway point, but after Ángel Di María had cut out a deliberate ball from the opposite end, the tenor moved in forcefully.
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Di María had spotted some space 22 yards out, but Messi’s first touch, cushioning the ball to set up the shot, was simple yet masterful poetry. That meant he could aim before a jump shot that Héctor Herrera could block, taking a precise step to Guillermo Ochoa’s left and causing pandemonium. Argentina would have been sent home had they lost – there was no chance of that now and the latter stages brought reminders of how attractive this team can look when let loose. The memory of Messi’s desolation when bowing out to France in Kazan four years ago remains poignant; as he pirouetted halfway through and put another counterattack on the train with the task almost done, there was an entirely different sense of enjoyment.
What an occasion it turned out to be the first really big event of Qatar 2022. It’s hard to suspend the deep unease around the foundations on which this competition was built, but, on its own merits, the atmosphere inside this space open it was nothing less than electric. The host country could not have asked for a more vibrant audiovisual display to show its audience: the anthems of the galleries flowing with light blue echoed under the ceiling and almost matched in volume with the cacophony emitted by large pockets of Mexicans, overcome in number but with present insistence. , dressed in green.
Enzo Fernández celebrates Argentina’s second goal against Mexico. Photograph: Moisés Castillo/AP
Each of them knew the stake. So did those in the countryside and there was an obvious hunger to show it. Within seven minutes, Alexis Vega, the Mexico striker, had left Gonzalo Montiel writhing with a flung arm and sent Rodrigo De Paul in the back. Soon De Paul was the center of attention again, hitting Andres Guardado, and if Mexico lacked the edge in their attacking forays, they were happy to make up for it with spurts and grunts.
Néstor Araujo proved the point later, setting Marcos Acuña up with a challenge that took the ball and a big chunk of man. De Paul, surely feeling victimized by now, was crunched in behind by Vega and Argentina howled as Hector Moreno popped up to control Messi off the ball.
Enzo Fernandez
It’s a distillation of the rap score of the first period, and more or less of its action, although Argentina was far from the same angels. Right-back Montiel, one of five newcomers to Lionel Scaloni’s starting line-up, proved it before half-time when he sent Erick Gutiérrez, who had recently replaced the injured Guardado, into the air. But his biggest concern was finding some semblance of rhythm, and because of the breakup, he had eluded them.
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Had Scaloni changed too much? They have shown little cohesion despite a steadily improving proportion of territory, the decision to remove Leandro Paredes from midfield looking particularly suspect. Messi looked for oxygen, but found one of Mexico’s central three, usually Moreno, coming out to suffocate. He got an ambitious nod and forced Ochoa into an angled set piece; Lautaro Martínez showed his head, but the most striking moment came when Emiliano Martínez, perhaps eager to give the cameras a show away from the collage that surrounds him, dived to catch Vega’s free-kick.
The quality had to be better. Or maybe not, because the tension and aversion to defeat was clearly inhibiting all concerned. Four minutes after the restart, Argentina threatened with their best move yet when Alexis Mac Allister sent Messi into the box only for Gutierrez to go down illegally. Messi deflected the free kick to audible groans. Concern grew when Messi and Lautaro Martínez failed to read each other, the former only finding the billboards.
You of little faith. Messi quickly turned back the years and passed Fernández for the cherry on top. This troubled jamboree retains its most essential source of life.