KANSAS CITY, United States (Special Envoy).- In 89 years of history, Jordan-Hare in Auburn, Alabama, had never hosted a football game. soccer. Temple of university American football and with capacity for 87,000 spectators -7,000 more than the city’s inhabitants-, The Auburn Tigers home dressed up to welcome the world championsin a historic day both for local sports and for the enormous Latin community that came from different parts of the southeastern United States with the hope of seeing Lionel Messi and the rest of the team’s figures up close.
The show included packed stands, music in Spanish in the preview, a light show and even the traditional release of a warrior eagle, one of the great symbols of the university. Although Lionel Scaloni had defined this commitment as “a stone” On the way to Tuesday’s World Cup debut against Algeria, the team’s performance and the fact that no player suffered new discomfort ended up putting a smile on the coach’s face.
The finishing touch was the return of the captain: the Rosario player entered with 20 minutes remaining and, in just a couple of interventions, made it clear that, despite the stoppage forced by the overload that conditioned his set-up, maintains the level he was showing at Inter Miami. On his first ball, he filtered a perfect assist for Lautaro Martínez, who was knocked down by the goalkeeper when he was preparing to define. From that infraction was born the penalty that Messi himself changed into a goal, to reach 117 goals with the national team and become, at 38 years, 11 months and 14 days, the the oldest player to score with the Argentine shirtabove Ángel Labruna.
The heavy pitch, a consequence of the intense storm that hit the city during the hours before the game, was the main obstacle that the team had to deal with. Perhaps that is why Scaloni chose to preserve the majority of the starters and bet on a formation very similar to the one that had defeated Honduras, although with an even greater rotation. Thus, footballers like Cristian Romero, Nicolás González -as a leading marker-, Gonzalo Montiel and Lionel Messi himself started on the bench and only entered in the final stretch to add minutes without subjecting themselves to excessive physical demands, a decision that paid off: No player ended up with discomfort or significant wear and tear..
But that was not the only positive aspect for Argentina, which once again showed high yields in all lines and achieved another victory to reinforce confidence heading into the final stretch before the World Cup. After a few days marked by concern about injuries, the team closed the night with most of the headdresses filming again and leaving positive signsboth from the collective and on the individual level.
With Exequiel Palacios again as the axis of the midfield, recovering and starting the game clearly; with Valentín Barco very aggressive both in duels – he saw yellow and played to the limit – and with the ball, in addition to contributing his share of goals; with neat work from full-backs Agustín Giay on the right and Facundo Medina on the left; with the flashes of Nicolás Paz and Giovani Lo Celso in the elaboration; the drive of Giuliano Simeone and a good version of José Manuel López, the team had passages of very good football for a good part of the first half, until the cooling break It took away the continuity of development.
Against a physical, intense opponent who at times abused rough play, although with good ball handling, Scaloni’s team responded in different facets: with the ball, with good associations through the center and sequences of more than 15 passes at high speed, a trademark of this cycle; and without him, with the steering wheels retracted, occupying the spaces well and leaving Iceland no room to grow or settle in the rival field.
In the second half, with the entry of the starting midfield -Rodrigo de Paul, Enzo Fernández and Alexis Mac Allister-, the team controlled the process better and reached the final meters with more fluidity and clarity: It had two shots on the woodworkone after a shot by Mac Allister and another by Lautaro Martínez, who, with Julián Álvarez still absent as a precaution, regretted that action and another counter-attack led by Nicolás Paz in which he did not manage to define, aware that a lot is at stake in the fight for a place among the starters.
With the 2-0, the business involved slowing down the pace of development and avoid the strong leg of the Icelandersa constant throughout the match, to the point that the referee, the American Rosendo Mendoza, had to intervene on more than one occasion to lower the decibels.
Argentina finished almost with its ideal 11 on the field and with one of those goals that so many times identified Scaloni’s team: precision in speed, Messi’s hierarchy and the midfielders arriving at the area to define. A scene that renews the hope after so many days of worry about injuries and that confirms the national team, more than ever, among the great candidates for the title.
