LUSAIL, Qatar — A swivel of the hips, just enough to force the defender off balance. There was the glimmer, the sliver of space required. One touch to roll the ball to the right spot, and another to send it arcing and sweeping past Guillermo Ochoa’s outstretched arm.
In the stands above, the Argentine flags twirled in the air. On the field, Argentina’s players raced over in jubilation. They were chasing after the player who had settled their nerves, who had ensured that their World Cup ambitions would go into a second week, who had kept everything alive for now. Leading the charge was Lionel Messi. The object of his affection, the scorer of the goal, was Enzo Fernández.
This game was about Messi. Of course it was. Everything to do with Argentina is about Messi. It is a team that has been constructed around him for the better part of two decades. This version is a side that has been engineered to allow him to express himself even as the limbs are a little weary, the luster just ever so slightly faded.
And it was Messi who, eventually, transformed the game, too, grabbing a match that had started off staccato, descended into scruffiness and then plunged into downright cynicism. For one brief moment, Mexico’s immovable defensive wall offered him a crack of light, and he pried it open, picking his spot from 20 yards and placing a shot past Ochoa.
Even then, though, Argentina’s lead felt fragile. Mexico, stung into life, started to attack, feverishly aware that its own World Cup ambitions now hung by a thread. A tie would have offered Mexico a chance to qualify by beating Saudi Arabia in its final game; defeat would leave it needing a favor from Poland against the Argentines.
It was only when the 21-year-old Fernández, picked out on the edge of the box, shimmied and shot that the thousands upon thousands of Argentine fans in Lusail could celebrate with any certainty, with any glee. This game, this tournament, is about Messi, but it cannot always be him. Even he knows that. When he caught Fernández, he wrapped him in his arms, a beaming smile on his face. Messi would have appreciated the goal. He has scored plenty like it. He will have been glad, though, that this time he did not have to do so.
The post Lionel Messi saved Argentina’s World Cup, and a soccer nation has hope again. appeared first on New York Times.
