| Argentina 3 | |
|---|---|
| Mexico 1 |
Argentina joined Germany in winning handsomely with a little help from a contentious line-call, and the two World Cup heavyweights will meet in a quarter-final in Cape Town on Saturday. Fifa will be praying, after an opening goal for Argentina that looked suspiciously offside and a Mexican attempt that may have been cleared from behind the line, that no further fuel is added to the fire already started by the campaign for video replays.
When the dust had settled on an eventful encounter, the clear winners even without the aid of dodgy refereeing decisions were Argentina, who proved they do not need to rely on Lionel Messi to bamboozle opponents. Messi nearly broke his duck in stoppage time but with two goals, Carlos Tevez was just as important here. With a wealth of talent left untapped on the bench, Diego Maradona's men are going to take some stopping.The latest team-by-team news, features and more
• Follow the Guardian's World Cup team on Twitter• Sign up to play our daily Fantasy Football game• Stats centre: Get the lowdown on every player•
Messi's first run, a typical carry to the edge of the area for a shot that was blocked, seemed to concentrate Mexican minds and prompt then to remember they were likely to need goals of their own. With two attempts in quick succession they twice went close to scoring in the first 10 minutes. First Carlos Salcido rattled Sergio Romero's bar with a thunderous shot from 30 yards out, one the goalkeeper did not know too much about and had in fact missed by the time it slapped against the woodwork behind him. Then Andrés Guardado came forward and played a neat one two with Giovani dos Santos, collecting the return and sending a shot narrowly wide of Romero's upright.
Both sides became more cautious after that, with Argentina passing the ball from flank to flank and Mexico happy to let them, until the game exploded into controversy midway through the first half. Messi jinked through the middle to set up a chance for Tevez, and when the Manchester City striker's shot was blocked by Oscar Pérez's dive, the rebound came out to Messi and he sent the ball goalwards. Tevez was now standing in an offside position in front of Messi, which would not have been too bad had he not stopped to nudge the ball over the line with his head. That made him active, and the referee, who may initially have missed the last contact, was immediately besieged by Mexican protests when he awarded the goal.
A long chat with his linesman followed, after which the goal was allowed to stand, much to the evident disgust of Javier Aguirre and his players. Tevez may have got lucky because two Mexican defenders had just about overtaken him by the time he headed the ball, meaning that even though he was goalside of Pérez he still may have been onside at the point of contact after all. If that was the case it was an excellent decision involving incredibly fine judgment, though Roberto Rossetti could not have been surprised to be waylaid by an angry Mexican deputation as he made his way off at half-time.
At least, as with England earlier in the day, any sense of injustice was overtaken by subsequent developments before it had a chance to rankle. There was nothing remotely controversial about Argentian's second goal, after a hideous slip by Ricardo Osorio invited Gonzalo Higuaín to steam in and round Pérez to score. The goal was Higuaín's fourth of the tournament and takes him one above David Villa in the scoring list, though he could never have imagined scoring a World Cup goal would be so easy.
Higuaín had another chance just before the interval, only to miss the target with a header. Javier Hernández could not get on the end of a promising cross moments later, though he did make full contact with Gabriel Heinze just before the whistle went, and was lucky to get away with blatantly pushing his opponent off his feet and over the touchline.
Both the first-half controversy and Mexico's World Cup ambitions were consigned to history by the authority of Argentina's third strike, and absolute screamer of a goal from Tevez that most have had both City and United fans rubbing their eyes in disbelief. Not much looked on when Tevez took a wrong turn into two Mexican defenders, until the ball rebounded kindly from the unfortunate Osorio and Tevez promptly took a snap shot from 25 yards that fairly flew past Perez. If Higuaín will never score a simpler goal, Tevez may never hit a sweeter one.
Pablo Barrera looked quite sharp when he came on, on one run beating both Nicolás Otamendi and Maxi Rodríguez before flicking a shot into the side-netting, but after Tevez's second goal Mexico were clearly only playing for pride. They won a certain amount back when Manchester United's Javier Hernández elegantly turned Martín Demichelis to score a wonderful solo consolation goal, though going out to Argentina once more was scant consolation for resigned Mexican supporters. Hernández's sparkling finish probably caused more excitement in Manchester.
Mexico put up a better show against Argentina in the last World Cup, and at no time in this game did they look like a team that believed they had a chance of winning. Germany can always provide an obstacle to World Cup progress, but Argentina look as if they believe they can go all the way.
No comments:
Post a Comment