Nothing this precious ever came easy. Two parts ecstasy to one part agony, Argentina qualified for the quarter-finals of the World Cup. They secured a two-goal lead thanks to Lionel Messi and Julián Álvarez, played some of their most free-flowing and fascinating football of the tournament and peppered the Australian goal with shots in a thrilling second half.
And yet, you expected Australia to sit back and accept its fate? This Australia, with its SPFL stalwarts, its honest officers, its plethora of boys with surnames for first names? Australia took the hard way to Qatar and they took the hard way, overcame but never, even stealing a late consolation goal and threatening a surprise shock.
They cannot be filled with familiar names. The best player in the world may have turned them around for an hour. But they left every piece of themselves on this ground and somehow you feel the game Down Under will never be the same.
The wild exuberance of Argentina’s full-time celebrations gave the game away. For all the opportunities they missed, they also knew they had been in a war. For all Messi’s influence, his first-half goal and mesmeric skill in the second, they were equally indebted to Lisandro and Emi Martínez for the miraculous block and heroic save that denied Australia a stunning equaliser. Ancient Argentina could have buckled. This group has hard edges, a hard will, a steel in the soul.
Not that any of this was particularly evident for half an hour. Long before the illegality of the second half came the holding pattern of the first, in which a sleepy-looking Argentina politely tried to break Australia, and Australia politely refused. They might have been outnumbered in the stands, where the Albiceleste armies wrapped a tight turnstile of noise around the pitch and were still pressing an hour after full-time. But on the pitch it was the golden shirts who seemed busier, busier, more numerous. They covered more ground, won most of the second balls, counter-attacked in decent numbers.
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At this point Dundee United’s Aziz Behich did something he will probably end up regretting. It was 10 minutes before the break and Messi was fighting for a ball near the right wing. Behich took it off, grabbed a piece of his shirt and gave Messi a sharp Melburnian sled whose contents will sadly be lost to history. Messi’s angry reaction was the first real human moment we’d seen from him all night.
Maybe he wanted to say something. Maybe he didn’t mean anything. All we know is that a few seconds later, Messi collected the ball on the right side, hit the ball to Alexis Mac Allister 30 meters out and charged into the penalty area.
With a speed and conviction not always seen from him at this tournament, he took the back pass through the touch of Nicolás Otamendi and slid the ball into the bottom corner as he had done for several hundreds sometimes, but never through the legs of Stoke City’s Harry Souttar. It was his first shot in the box all game.
Julián Álvarez takes the ball past Australian goalkeeper Mathew Ryan to double Argentina’s lead. Photograph: Tom Jenkins/The Guardian
Lionel Scaloni switched to three at the back in the second half, and as the game began to stretch, Argentina had a width and verticality to their liking. Now they played with more energy, more panache and arrogance, more defiance of the press. Messi made a couple of quick runs that evoked his electrifying peak. And when FC Copenhagen’s Maty Ryan received a routine back pass, Rodrigo De Paul raced towards him, closing his angles in killer fashion.
Ryan tried to dribble his way out of trouble. It was a moment of pure momentum, the kind of act where you can already hear the cheers from the crowd, maybe even glimpse your fleeting moment of viral fame.
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Unfortunately, in dodging De Paul, he forgot that Alvarez was hiding behind him. Álvarez bit the ball. Alvarez finished very well. Ryan blinked blankly. He could hear the cheers. He could glimpse viral fame. But it wasn’t how I had planned it.
But things didn’t go as planned for Argentina either. With 13 minutes remaining and Scaloni beginning to rest players for the quarter-final against the Netherlands, Adelaide United’s Craig Goodwin curled a wild shot from 30 yards. Enzo Fernández deviated. And somehow, a second later, the ball was looping into the top corner, with Emi Martínez completely baffled.
For a few minutes Australia’s players trembled in belief, their fans in disbelief. In the dying minutes, Behich was denied by Lisandro Martínez after a stimulating dribble. Next Garang Kuol found himself alone with Emi Martínez, who saved his shot with a flying left hand. Argentina breathed again, and now they are dreaming again.
What do they have left to give? From the start, this has been a campaign fueled by tears and drama, pure faith and pure desire.
Is it healthy to expend so much emotional energy so soon? If you’re emptying the tank against Australia, where do you go next? How long can an imperfect team ride the wave of desire? Fortunately, we’re excited to find out all the answers.