Lionel Messi walked onto the pitch for his 30th World Cup match tonight, a record that stretches beyond mere statistics into the realm of the absurd....
Lionel Messi walked onto the pitch for his 30th World Cup match tonight, a record that stretches beyond mere statistics into the realm of the absurd. Yet here, against a Cape Verde side that refused to be cowed by the occasion, the little magician found himself in a genuine battle. Argentina 3, Cape Verde 2 after extra time. The scoreline flatters nobody but tells you everything about the relentless pressure cooker of knockout football.For the first 45 minutes, it looked like business as usual. Messi, starting alongside Lautaro Martinez in attack with Julian Alvarez on the bench, pulled the strings with that unhurried elegance only he possesses. But Cape Verde had not read the script. Sidny Lopes Cabral, back from suspension at left back, marshalled his flank with discipline while the midfield refused to sit in a low block. They came to play, not to park the bus. And when they took the lead against the run of play, the Estadio fell into a stunned silence.Argentina's response was typical of a side that knows what it means to wear the shirt. Martinez levelled with a poacher's finish from a set piece, and for a while the Albiceleste seemed to have control. But Cape Verde's transitional play was sharp, their counter attacks carrying genuine menace. They retook the lead through a clinical break that exposed the spaces behind Argentina's full backs. Squeaky bum time, as they say. And then, just when the clock was ticking towards full time, Messi produced a moment of pure sorcery to force extra time.The extra period was a war of attrition. Cape Verde, visibly tiring, dropped deeper. Argentina piled on the pressure, shifting from patient build up to direct balls into the mixer. It was a centre back, of all people, who stabbed home the winner from a corner after a goalmouth scramble. Cue scenes of unbridled relief from the bench. Cape Verde will feel they bottled a famous result, but Argentina showed the grit of champions. They did not dominate. They survived. And in knockout football, survival is the only currency that matters.
