“Was weak and disappointing”
Experts find tough words for Argentina
11/27/2022 9:02 am
Lionel Messi keeps Argentina’s hopes of reaching the round of 16 at the World Cup in Qatar alive with a magical moment. After the shock at the start against Saudi Arabia, the title favorite against Mexico trembles for a long time. The experts are disappointed.
With a 2-0 (0-0) win against Mexico, Argentina regained hope of reaching the round of 16 at the World Cup in Qatar. After the embarrassing opening performance, which ended with a 1-2 draw against Saudi Arabia, there was a great fear of the ultimate disgrace for the title favorites. And the worry that Maradona’s heir will have to leave the World Cup stage with a great deal of humiliation: Lionel Messi, the superstar, out in the preliminary round at his fifth and last World Cup? An absurd, a terrible idea. Against Mexico, Messi personally made sure that the fear was reduced a little. There is even something like euphoria again, even if the two-time world champions in the group final against Robert Lewandowski’s Poland absolutely have to score in order to progress.
In Argentina, they breathe a sigh of relief after beating Mexico 2-0, but the experts were somewhat shocked by the performance of the Albiceleste: “They are relieved and won the game, but it was weak and disappointing. It was playful and pace-wise Nothing, that was zero point zero. You have to thank Messi again,” said Sami Khedira afterwards on ARD. “It was world class in the stands today. Unfortunately not on the pitch.” For 63 minutes, both teams worked hard without creating any great moments.
“Thats so bad”
Messi also failed to add any class to the game in front of almost 90,000 spectators at the Lausail Stadium. He flicked a free kick from a promising position meters wide over the goal. Only in the 64th minute did he cause ecstasy in the light blue and white superiority among the fans with a big moment: Once he got rid of his guard Héctor Herrera with a quick movement and used the small space advantage for a well-placed shot into the far corner and straight to the heart of Mexico. It was one of only five shots on goal that the team managed – at least one more than the defeated Mexicans, who can only mathematically avert the end due to the defeat.
Only after the 1-0 did Argentina come into play a little better. But “there was no movement until it was 1-0. It felt like a bit of a circus, everyone wanted to have the ball in their foot, nobody invested and that means you don’t have a chance. In terms of content, it was nothing, nothing at all,” complained Khedira . Manchester United legend Roy Keane even saw the Argentines as second-rate: “It’s so bad. It’s like watching a team from the Championship,” said Keane at half-time on “ITV Football”, horrified by Argentina’s performance. Bastian Schweinsteiger found “the game really, really bad,” he said on ARD. “From Argentina’s point of view, it was unimaginative. At the end of the day, a magic moment decided everything. It’s the big players who can score a goal out of nowhere and decide a game.”
Messi himself even agreed with the experts: “It was a very difficult game, we got in very hard. In the first half we didn’t play the way we should play,” said the 35-year-old, pushing an explanation for the shaky one , after his team’s static performance: “We’re still a bit nervous about the first game. A lot of the boys are at the World Cup for the first time.” Now his Argentinians face Poland on Wednesday (8 p.m. / ARD, MagentaTV and in the live ticker on ntv.de), a defeat would mean the end despite the hard-earned success against Mexico. But Messi is sure: “We will deliver. We will not back down and we will not make any mistakes.” For the former national player Thomas Hitzlsperger, however, Argentina is “far from being the favorite for the title”.