A sudden spell of magic produced by none other than the mercurial Lionel Messi was enough to bring down the fortress of Bosnia Herzegovina as Argentina kicked off their Fifa World Cup campaign with a far from convincing 2-1 victory at the Maracana Stadium at Rio de Janeiro on Sunday.
The Argentine captain’s brilliant solo second half strike proved to be the ultimate difference when the fearsome attacking force comprising Sergio Aguero and Angel de Maria looked blunt in front of a spirited Bosnian defense.
Overall, it was not a performance that would have pleased Argentine mentor Alejandro Sabella as Argentina looked rusty in the first half with their 5-3-2 formation. The insertion of Gonzalo Higuain in place of Maxi Rodriguez in the second half saw Messi coming behind the Aguero-Higuain duo upfront which worked wonderfully for los albicelestes. As a result, it was a much better display from Argentian although the Balkans exerted their last drop of energy to restrict their opponents who enjoyed the formidable support of their loyal fans who constituted about ninety percent of the 74,837 official presence.
The match began on a dramatic note when Bosnian defender Kolasinac scored an own goal when the clock read two minutes eight seconds, beating the previous unwanted record set by Paraguay’s Carlos Gamarra against England in 2006 who scored after 38 seconds.
Messi was in the thick of things when he supplied the left wing free-kick which was flicked on by left-back Rojo before the ball came off defender Kolasinac and went into his own net before the defender could react. While ever vocal Argentine supporters continued to cheer for their team, it failed to disrupt the Bosnian defence in the first half who recovered well from that early set back and settled in well into the match.
Bosnia’s patient play meant they could produce a save in the 40th minute out of long-serving and Sabella’s trusted custodian Sergio Romero who spent the recently concluded season on the bench for Monaco. Romero saved Argentina with a superb reflex save in the 40th minute diving fully to his left to parry a Senad Lulic head to safety. Bosnia had another half-chance in the 13th when a Pjanic through ball found Izet Hajrovic slipping through Argentina’s five-man defense but couldn’t beat goalkeeper Romero who rushed forward and dived in to clear the ball out of danger.
In the 52nd minute Senad Lulic cut through the left to lay the ball off to Izet Hajrovic who shot straight at Romero.
But the magical moment arrived in the 65th minute when the Maracana erupted like a volcano. The Argentine genius produced the magic he is famous for as he made a diagonal run from about 25 yards, played a lovely little one-two with Higuain before his composure, momentum and pace helped him to evade two Bosnia defenders easily on the way to rifling in an 18-yard sliding left-footed drive past the diving Begovic as the ball ricocheted off the inside of the post before landing into the net.
It was Messi’s first goal in the finals since scoring in Argentina’s 6-0 win over Serbia & Montenegro in 2006. However, Bosnia caused a late anxiety for Argentina when Lulic slipped a pass through for Vedad Ibisevic to hit an innocuous looking low shot through Romero’s legs with six minutes left, but Sabella’s side held on to get their World Cup mission underway with a win.