Category: Mexico

Lionel Messi headed one way, put the brakes on and with a turn of the ankle and a dip of the shoulder set off in the other direction, defender desperately chasing. Robert Lewandowski was the man there, following him and then fouling him. The Argentinian didn’t look pleased; the Pole didn’t either, but there was no way he was going to complain; doing so could cost his country a place in the World Cup, he knew.

It was the 94th minute and it was the first time Lewandowski had got anywhere near Messi, and this wasn’t the way he had imagined it. In every other way, he had been miles off.

So much for that. The big clash was no contest. Lewandowski and Messi have 1,449 goals between them, but there were none here.

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Instead, they were scored by Julián Álvarez, and the son of a former footballer who played with Diego Maradona and ended up in parliament, eventually forming part of Macri’s government. Alexis Mac Allister is his name – the hair is red, the roots Scottish and Irish – and he got his first international goal to finally rid Argentina of any nerves they might have had. Instead there was a missed penalty from Messi and then … well, this.

Whatever this was. Poland, and their captain, were in a very strange place now, the tension tearing at them, doubts creeping into every move, every second. Lewandowski had not mustered a shot and had barely seen the ball all night. If this had been a head-to-head, he had lost it. Just not enough to actually get knocked out, not yet. So now he was defending with the rest of them. But how do you defend for your lives while trying not to make a tackle? How do you waste time if you can’t foul and dive and start fights? That was the doubt Poland had to address now.

They knew they were beaten, but they were weren’t out. Somehow, they were still standing and on the flimsiest of platforms. At this stage they were two goals down but two yellow cards up, going through on fair play, which was a funny name for a rule that as the final minutes slipped away here felt anything but fair.

Poland’s fate was in the balance and in many hands, most of them not their own. Mexico were winning 2-0 at Lusail, they were losing 2-0 at the 974 Stadium and just about anything could nudge them into the abyss. A goal here, a goal there, or two more yellow cards.

There must be better ways than this. A shootout somewhere between the two teams perhaps, high noon for a place in the last 16. It would be great viewing. Instead, they just tried to get to the end without getting themselves into a mess. The problem was that Argentina had started to enjoy this for the first time, and kept coming at them, if a little less insistently now. And when Lautaro Martínez had a clear chance headed off the line in the last minute, it almost fell apart.

Then Danny Makkelie – what power to shape destinies he had in those last 15 minutes – blew the final whistle. Poland were through now, but had to wait in case something happened in the other game. Remarkably, it did.

But, like so much else on a night when they had been taken to pieces, it fell their way. Messi and Lewandowski were embracing, the Argentinian whispering something in the Pole’s ear, when the news came through that Saudi Arabia had scored. Maybe Messi was the one that told him; unlikely but it’s nice to imagine it.

Ultimately, both ended the night celebrating. Argentina’s fans were still there singing way after the whistle. The Poles had gone, slipping away silently. Which felt right somehow.

For Argentina, this had been a test more of the mind than anything else.

When Messi had been given a penalty late in the first half and see it saved, Wojciech Szczesny shooting up a strong arm, it might have been different.

Messi has been here before, never more so than in the shootout at the end of the 2016 Copa America final, completing a run of three finals in three years: none of them lost in 90 minutes, but all of them lost. That day, he walked away, depressed, the towel thrown in.

Now, he’s back, a Copa America winner in 2021 and chasing his last chance at the World Cup. “The feeling was ‘we’re never going to win anything, we won’t win, we won’t win, we won’t win’, and what we said was: ‘The sun will come up tomorrow, win or lose,’” Scaloni had said.

Here, that was tested, the fault lines risking opening, the mind wavering. But ultimately they stood strong. The second goal had come early enough, and Poland had slipped into protection mode early enough that it played out without nerves, just a bit of a pantomime.

Or maybe it was more simple: maybe they were just much too good, a feeling returning that said: maybe Argentina can do something at this World Cup after all.

The draw has been kind and this was more like it: this was good, and so was Messi. When it came to the battle of the talismen, it ran thus: 0 shots to 7, 18 passes to 70; Argentina’s 23 shots to Poland’s four told the story, but the foul count became the stat that mattered.

What a manic and heartbreaking evening for Mexico who finally came alive at a vibrant Lusail Stadium yet narrowly failed to pull off a Houdini act of escapology into the last 16.

Going into added time their higher yellow card count of seven to Poland’s five had them going out and though Salem al-Dawsari then scored, one more Mexico strike would still have put them through.

Gerardo Martino’s team had previously scored no goals at this World Cup yet 52 minutes in were 2-0 up and with the seconds ticking away had one last chance: Luis Chávez swept a free-kick into Saudi Arabia’s area and César Montes met it but no third goal followed and that was game over and time up on Mexico’s valiant effort.

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Towards the end Edson Álvarez had also crashed a shot towards Mohammed al-Owais’s goal but it hit a Saudi back. A 20-yard dart by the lively Hirving Lozano claimed a free-kick on the edge of Saudi Arabia’s area but Chávez belted it into the wall. Then, Uriel Antuna did find the Saudi net but this was ruled offside and Poland staggered through.

Mexico had begun with Alexis Vega racing on to a through-pass and only the frame of Owais stopped an opener when the No 10 pulled the trigger.

The save from the Saudi keeper drew an ear-splitting cheer from the reported 60,000 Green Falcons fans inside and they soon sighed in collective relief. Jesús Gallardo’s cross from the left caused a mix-up as Owais flapped and Henry Martin – who scored Mexico’s first – went down when Hassan al-Tambakti challenged him.

If Michael Oliver was not interested in a penalty Mexico were bombarding those in white so raucous cheers greeted any offering of positive Saudi play. Those who had flooded in from the neighbouring nation to be at the match or in its vicinity – the count was around 150,000 – did this when Saud Abdulhamid raced through before being scythed down near Mexico’s D. Dawsari stood over the dead ball but Mohamed Kanno took charge and blazed high.

This was a precious chance wasted because from here Mexico pummelled the Saudis, who found the life squeezed out of them continually in their defensive third.

Mexico’s next threat came from a diving Orbelín Pineda header – he seemed to have slipped the ball beyond Owais but this proved an illusion and Saudi Arabia had escaped.

The pertinent question was how long they could keep Mexico out. Via Lozano on the right or Gallardo on the left, El Tri were in constant ready-to-receive mode from Héctor Moreno or Chávez and the Saudis’ only answer was to chase and scramble or spoil – Saleh al-Shehri and Ali al-Hassan each having their name written in Oliver’s book for fouls.

Mexico’s fair impersonation of a potent team made the observer wonder why they had been so poor in their previous two outings in which they managed a solitary point.

A further opening arrived when Gallardo was allowed a free volley from a corner. He hoofed it over but the Mexican wave kept crashing over Saudi Arabia, Pineda seeing a deflection take his effort out for another corner.

The possession percentage count of 70-30 in Mexico’s favour illustrated their near-total dominance but a Firas al-Buraikan dash that sprung their defence, followed by a flying Hassan header, reminded them to remain watchful.

Where this Mexico had previously been was a mystery, though after five halves of play they still remained goalless and the unpopular Martino was, surely, 45 minutes from his unhappy tenure being ended.

“Tata’s” standing was evidenced in the boos that greeted his name going up on the big screens before kick-off. The coach’s crime was to oversee a toothless proposition that still seemed to be certainly heading for failure to reach the last 16.

A Chávez curving attempt beaten away by Owais at the start of the second half, though, suggested no let-up and, at last, Mexico struck. Their first goal of these championships was simple: Chávez this time directed a corner in from the left, Montes flicked on and Martín finished.

With Argentina beating Poland in the other game, goal difference was still stacked against Mexico progressing. But, next, Chávez thumbed a nose at the odds by sweeping home the sweetest free-kick from 30 yards that beat Owais to his left, the ball always bending away.

This had the Mexico replacements joining the celebrations and drew their team closer to the seemingly impossible. In a madcap passage Lozano scored what would have been their third and the one that would take them above Poland on goals scored but offside ruled it out.

When Argentina went 2-0 up against Poland this meant the Mexicans and Poles were tied on all criteria but fair play put the Europeans through.

Mexico continued to pepper Saudi Arabia but could not get over the line and claim a memorable victory. In the final analysis Martino has to answer why this performance only came this evening. He might also pay for it with his job.