Argentina scored two goals — one by Enzo Fernandez, the other by Lautaro Martinez. Messi’s name is not on the scorers’ list. Yet everyone knows the hero of Argentina’s semifinal win over England was Lionel Messi.
Until the 55th minute, England had almost shackled him. What happened afterwards was the story of one player rewriting the whole script of the match.
Thomas Tuchel’s side may have seen the scoreline read 2-1 at the final whistle, but on the pitch they actually lost to Messi alone.
Messi had never faced England before in his career. On the one occasion Argentina met England after his debut (in 2005), he was off the pitch through a red-card suspension. Now, in their first sight of the 39-year-old Messi, the English had an experience they will surely want to forget.
In the first half, England kept Messi shackled in midfield. When he got the ball he showed a few fine touches, but his influence on the match was not noticeable. England, too, were playing to plan, and even went ahead through Anthony Gordon’s goal in the 55th minute. It was after that the current of the match began to turn.
Having conceded, the Argentina coach had no choice but to change tactics, and there was risk in that plan. Lionel Scaloni moved Messi to the right side of the pitch. That single decision by Scaloni broke England’s entire defensive plan. After the match, Emiliano Martinez admitted: “Bringing Messi out to the wing was the turning point for us.”
England coach Tuchel, meanwhile, began sending on defenders to tighten the defence further, aiming to protect the lead. But that backfired. England gradually retreated into their own half, and Argentina’s possession grew.
So much so that between the 55th and 92nd minutes, 88 percent of the ball was in Argentina’s possession. Within that, from the 66th to the 84th minute — an 18-minute spell — England managed only two accurate passes. Both were return passes between goalkeeper Jordan Pickford and centre-back John Stones.
It was essentially during this period that Messi took the strings of the match into his own hands. Whenever he got the ball he drew one, two, sometimes three England players towards himself. From the right he sometimes cut inside, sometimes came to the front of the box to create space, and sometimes played passes that threw the entire English defence into disarray.
The statistics show just how helpless England were. Messi completed nine successful dribbles in the match; the whole England team managed just seven. In other words, he beat more defenders on his own than the entire England side.
Messi had seven touches in England’s box, equal to the whole England team. He created four chances, also equal to the entire English side. The most crosses in the match — nine — also came from his feet.
Most important of all, his direct contribution lay behind both of Argentina’s goals. In the 85th minute, Enzo levelled with a long-range shot from Messi’s corner. Then, in the second minute of stoppage time, Lautaro Martinez headed home the winner from his cross.
England’s former defender Micah Richards put it this way: “He walks around the pitch, but the moment the ball comes to his feet he lights up. That’s his genius. And it often makes the difference in a match.”
Talk of Messi’s ‘walking around’ is nothing new. As he walks, he reads the opposition’s positions, conserves his energy, and then strikes at the right moment. Against England, that was seen once again.
England’s former goalkeeper Joe Hart offered a similar analysis: “We wanted to lock down our defence the way we did against Mexico and Norway. But that left Messi completely free. And the key to that lock was in his hands. In the last 15 minutes he controlled the match by himself.”
England captain Harry Kane also admitted that his team was knocked out of the match in the second half because of Messi: “We contained him well for a long time. But with the world’s most dangerous players, what happens is that the moment they get the ball they can create something new. He didn’t become one of the greatest players in history for nothing.”
Perhaps that is Messi’s biggest identity of all.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report