Many will remember that moment from the Qatar World Cup. The quarter-final between the Netherlands and Argentina had become a veritable ‘box office.’ There was a war of words before and after the match, and the players of the two teams also got into arguments on the pitch. That off-field tension spilled into the contest on the field too. After the match was level at 2-2, it went to a tiebreaker, where Argentina won. Virgil van Dijk missed the very first shot of that shootout. Argentina then went on to become world champions, ending a 36-year wait in Qatar.
This time too, they have made a brilliant start. The Albiceleste beat Algeria 3-0 on the back of a Lionel Messi hat-trick. Van Dijk, too, expressed his admiration at their performance: ‘I am watching all the matches. The way Argentina have started the World Cup shows they really do want to hold on to their title. No game is easy, but Argentina have made it look completely easy.’
Like Argentina, the Netherlands have also made a very good start to the World Cup. Although they drew 2-2 with Japan in their first match, in their second match they beat Sweden 5-1 on Saturday. Their final match, on June 26, is against Tunisia. On the other side, Argentina face Austria in their second match at 11 p.m. tomorrow. In their final group match, on June 28, they will play Jordan. They have once again sent a message of being favourites in their very first match of the tournament, and are also drawing praise from their opponents. How far they can go is now the thing to watch.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report