Lionel Messi made a new record by winning four consecutive World Cup man of the matches marking his key role in the build-up of Argentina’s World Cup glory on Tuesday. He arrived late to receive his trophy but was in a jovial mood before admitting the sufferings.
“We suffered and suffered, all of us. We started to think it wasn’t going to happen. But at the end we had luck on our side and now we have to take advantage and move on, like everybody I was very nervous because we couldn’t score, we knew if we made a single mistake we would have been going home. We didn’t want it to go to penalties and wanted to finish it off,” said the Argentine captain and the man who paved the way for Angel di Maria with a driving run forward in the 118th minute of the match.
Switzerland coach Ottmar Hetzfeld challenged the mercurial forward before the game and announced to stop Messi from making an effect. Hetzfeld succeeded for 117 minutes but, what is a normal feature of the magician, Messi broke the Swiss resistance to land the killer blow.
For 67 minutes, Messi didn’t have a single shot on goal - the longest he has gone in this World Cup without a shy at goal. He eventually had two shots after 120 minutes - one off target and one saved by Diego Benaglio. However, it should also be mentioned that Messi took up a playmaker’s role and did not play as a striker.
The variation he brings in the game has been very clear as Messi played three different roles in the World Cup so far and single handedly drowned his opposition each time. Against Iran and Nigeria he played in a narrow system with two strikers in front while against Bosnia he featured as an out-an-out striker with Higuain and Aguero filling the wings. Argentina lined up in a 4-2-3-1 formation against the Swiss on Tuesday with Higuain the only forward and Di Maria, Messi and Ezequiel Lavezzi in support.
Though they were held for 117 grueling minutes on the pitch, Messi was still the focal point of the major threats caused by them. He flew in eight crosses from the wings with three of them being successful while apart from the deciding assist he also made eight take-on’s.
Moreover, the 5’7’’ Messi had to absorb the pain of numerous tackles and still go on as Argentina is more than depended upon the stereotypical dribbling he brings in the side. It was first time in this Word Cup he did not find the back of the net, but he did make sure to pave the way for Argentina. The 27-year-old has been the major talking point of being over burdened. If that is the case, I am afraid Argentina might be paying a heavy price in their coming fixture against the high-flying Belgians.