When you want to highlight the spirit of a footballer or a team, as in this case, you rely on unfavorable moments, in those sections in which a story that comes with a tailwind, with performance peaks hitherto not reached, such as happened with Argentina in the first 70 minutes of the game, with a Sublime Messi and more Maradona than everwith performances close to perfection by Acuña and Mac Allister, with Otamendi fully representing his two legendary predecessors who wore the 19 (Passarella in 78, Ruggeri in 86), with Enzo Fernandez explaining from his right foot that the surname of the central steering wheel has changed and that, from now on and forever, when you want to install “the memory team” It will be with him inside and with Julián Alvarez coming down from the canopy and getting into the mud to pull the car. But the changes of Scaloni arrived, those of Van Gaal and, the truth, those variants gave better results to the Netherlands than to Argentina.
That’s why, Argentina, like the 1978 National Team, had to go out to play an extra game with other people’s goal cries ringing in their heads. And for this reason, as in 1986, he imagined that he would have to support continuity in the rival onslaught, emboldened by having emerged, even temporarily, from a distressing situation. If the Netherlands found their way up, managing to win in that aerial dispute and managed to reach extra time with a stopped fight, why change?
But the one that had to recover and change was Argentina, as Menotti’s men did in 1978 and Bilardo’s men in 1986. Do like James Bond, rolling around on the ground in a tuxedo, get up, shake yourself a bit, and be spotless again, as if nothing had happened. The extraordinary thing is that he did it. Another huge figure of the night in Doha, Nahuel Molina, had to come out to give his place to Gonzalo Montiel, but what changed was the way. Although Argentina was without several of the best players from “its” best game, something changed in the head and in the heart. You never know exactly what changes when it comes to something as abstract as mind, spirit and emotion, what key to play to get out of a complex situation as quickly as possible. Right here we mention the habit of playing on the edge that this team acquired after the initial defeat against Saudi Arabia. However, this was one more brick in the construction of that solid mental wall that Messi’s team has for occasions like this. There was half an hour to go, very tired on an unusually cool night and, even so, Argentina came out ahead. He came out with certain football values that have Leo Messi as an unbreakable leader, and wise companions like Enzo Fernandez and Alexis Mac Allister. The three of them, from their heads and their hearts, led the rest forward. Emotions played an essential role in what happened in these Quarterfinals. The Netherlands did not resist so much resilience, so much courage, so much decision. Although they kept it 2-2, the feat of having achieved it as they did, mutated into a much smaller achievement, that of maintaining that tie and reaching penalties. Argentina once again reduced it to a timid and fearful expression, as in those first 70 minutes and it did so, basically, from the rebellion that caused it to have missed the chance to define a party that it had controlled, from the reconfiguration of an operation that was it had cracked up to the new conviction that things were going to take a little longer, but they were going to come.
Besides talent, Argentina is a team with burning hearts. He played when he had to play, he fought when he had to fight, he saved when he had to save and everyone’s heart beat stronger than ever when one of the icons of this cycle, Lautaro Martínez, converted the final penalty. The open arms of Kempes, the immensely happy run of Diego with the blue shirt bought in a Mexican mall, now Leo’s lonely hug for Dibu, are images that remain in history, related to the eternal glory that we are finding while we climb an imaginary staircase to football Eden. With burning hearts and lucid minds, Argentina reached very high in other times.
This team has those burning hearts and clear minds. They are the ones that brought us here and they still have us waiting for the next game.
Source: Ambito
I am Pierce Boyd, a driven and ambitious professional working in the news industry. I have been writing for 24 Hours Worlds for over five years, specializing in sports section coverage. During my tenure at the publication, I have built an impressive portfolio of articles that has earned me a reputation as an experienced journalist and content creator.
