Doha: One piece of unparalleled genius from the greatest player of all time, and a rare mistake from one of Australia’s most loyal servants. In a sport defined by razor-thin margins, sometimes, that’s just the way it goes.
The Socceroos’ World Cup campaign is over after a brave, thrilling, captivating 2-1 defeat in the round of 16, but there are worse ways to get knocked out of a World Cup than at the hands of Lionel Messi. Playing in his 1000th professional match, and with almost the entire human race willing him to victory, Argentina’s legendary talisman needed but a half a sniff to put Graham Arnold’s history-makers on the back foot.
Lionel Messi celebrates his goal against the Socceroos.Credit:Getty Images
Then, just as they were trying to push off it and mount a comeback, skipper Mat Ryan made the most glaring error of his international career. It stands out because there aren’t many of them to speak of, but coming as it did during the team’s biggest moment, it was as cruel as it gets.
Receiving a regulation back pass from Kye Rowles, Ryan’s heavy touch put him and Australia under immense and immediate pressure. With Rodrigo de Paul on his case, the 30-year-old lost control, and Julian Alvarez pounced to tap home into an empty net in the 57th minute.
Bent but not broken, substitute Craig Goodwin’s deflected shot 20 minutes later, recorded as an own goal via Enzo Fernandez, sparked a furious late rally – and Aziz Behich, who was earlier in a scrap with the seven-time Ballon d’Or winner that might have angered him into action, embodied Messi with a spectacular run cutting in from the left flank, dancing past three Argentinian defenders, which almost produced an equaliser. So did boy wonder Garang Kuol, who forced a strong save out of Emiliano Martinez in one of the last actions of the match.
But it was not to be. One day, the Socceroos will look back on their campaign in Qatar and proudly say they went toe-to-toe with the world’s third-best team and their legendary captain and gave them basically nothing, until he found something for them.
Messi tussles with Aziz Behich.Credit:Getty Images
Had you offered this outcome to them on the first day of camp, they’d have probably bitten your hand off. Instead, they’ll wonder what might have been if they were just a little sharper, a little more alert, and had a bit more skill to land some better punches on their world-class opponents, who were genuinely relieved when the final whistle blew. They knew they had been thoroughly tested.
Argentina will move onto a quarter-final showdown with the Netherlands. The Socceroos will pack their bags, but they won’t go home empty-handed – they’ve well and truly won back a nation that had long fallen out of love with them, and will look towards the future with renewed confidence about the role they can play at soccer’s top table.
Messi sits at the head of it, on a jewel-encrusted throne. But as promised, Australia offered him no deference. They made a calm, composed start to proceedings at the Ahmad bin Ali Stadium in Doha’s western outskirts, defending compactly as a unit, and at no stage in the first half did Argentina threaten to pull them open, despite dominating possession as expected.
Not once did they look overawed by Messi – and that was made abundantly clear by a crunching hip-and-shoulder by Keanu Baccus on him in the opening exchanges.
Craig Goodwin scores for the Socceroos.Credit:Getty
But about 10 minutes from the break, they appeared to poke the bear once too often, and the bear roared back. Messi, who was being repeatedly smothered by Baccus by this point, tangled with Behich on the byline and barged into the Dundee United left-back. Behich saw red and told him how he felt. Messi responded. Then moments later, Behich clattered into Papu Gomez, giving away a silly free kick on Argentina’s right flank.
Messi took it, the ball was cleared, but it came back to him. He passed to Alexis Mac Allister, who passed to de Paul, who let it bounce off him so Messi could swoop in and sweep his shot through Harry Souttar’s legs and into the bottom corner. Extraordinary. One-nil Argentina.
It was a mountain to climb, and Ryan’s silly mistake made it steeper yet. But in a situation when Socceroos teams of old would have gone into their shells, this lot kept coming. Arnold emptied his bench and it paid quick dividends, with Goodwin’s speculative strike offering them a glimmer of hope.
A series of half-chances and close shaves at either end made for a captivating finish, but an ultimately hollow one for the green and gold, who slumped to the ground in despair at the final whistle.
While Arnold and his players will be devastated, there is no shame in this exit. If there was ever a team they’d be happy to lose to, it was Messi’s Argentina. Fuelled by the unwavering belief Arnold instilled in them, they did what they always said they were going to do: shock the world.
