3rd possible title
Argentina superstar Lionel Messi is just one win away from his long-awaited first world title. The six-time world (Site notre bureau spécialisé)er led his team to a clear 3-0 victory over Croatia in the first semi-final of this World Cup on Tuesday evening. Messi scored the first goal himself in the 34th minute from the penalty spot, the 35-year-old put it 2-0 and 3-0 over his attacking partner Julian Álvarez (39/69).
In front of 88,966 spectators at Lusail Stadium, the Croatians could only match the individual class of the two Argentine forwards in the early stages. They also missed their second consecutive appearance in the final because it was precisely this nervous team that made crucial defensive mistakes. Argentina now awaits its opponent in the final on Wednesday evening: defending champion France or the big surprise of the World Cup, Morocco. The South Americans won the title in 1978 and 1986. However, Messi himself has never advanced further in his previous four World Cup appearances than the 2014 final, which he lost 1-0 against Germany. On Tuesday evening, he confirmed once again that his fifth World Cup is by far his best.
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The game against 2018 finalists Croatia also started with the Paris Saint-Germain striker equaling a 24-year-old World Cup record set by Lothar Matthäus. Both have now been used 25 times at a World Cup. Messi is still five goals shy of first place in the all-time World Cup goalscoring list. Miroslav Klose occupies it with 16 goals. Otherwise, at least at the beginning, nothing went as planned for the Argentinian number 10. After just a few minutes, Messi grabbed the back of his left thigh several times and stretched his muscles. He was initially cut from the game for the most part because the Croats were already blocking the passing paths towards the superstar and the support from their own teammates was pretty clear. As in the quarter-final against the Netherlands, coach Lionel Scaloni sacrificed the third attacking player in favor of a more defensive formation.
And so the favorite was helped by something that has happened only very rarely in this World Cup and the previous one: a complete loss of Croatian control. Before the 1-0, the ball slipped under the sole of Real Madrid star Luka Modric in midfield. Argentina’s Enzo Fernández sent a clean pass to striker Álvarez, who was fouled in the penalty area by goalkeeper Dominik Livakovic – and Messi converted the penalty into the top right corner of the goal. The 2-0 just five minutes later even came after a Croatian corner and a series of even more serious errors. This time Messi played the ball to Álvarez – and two Croatian defenders passed him in the penalty area. Their much-loved tenacity and stability let the Croatians down in the crucial minutes of a World Cup semi-final. Shortly before and shortly after the break, they were lucky not to concede a third goal very quickly. Alexis Mac Allister (43rd) and Messi (58th) both fell short due to Livakovic’s strong reaction.
The Croats then put into play almost all their bench had in attacking power: Mislav Orsic, Nikola Vlasic and Bruno Petkovic, the late scorer in the game against Brazil, came on until the 50th minute. However, that didn’t make the 2018 World Cup runner-up any more dangerous. Croatia remained completely inoffensive and unimaginative after a convincing first 20 minutes. Mario Mandzukic, the assistant coach responsible for attackers in the workforce, is no longer able to help either: the former Bayern striker saw the red card for protesting on the bench (35th).
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