Messi finally strikes
Argentina live to fight another day after scraping past Nigeria 2-1
Diego Maradona crossed his arms over his chest and pointed to the sky.
Lionel Messi had needed just three touches to score, but Argentina still took 86 minutes to defeat Nigeria.
Marcos Rojo was the unlikely match-winner, an emphatic finish of which even his captain would have been proud, to ensure Jorge Sampaoli’s disjointed, disorganised and, at times, desperate team are still alive at this World Cup.
But they have Messi. Despite Rojo’s heroics, when Argentina’s substitutes flooded the pitch at the full-time whistle, it was their number 10 they smothered.
When Javier Mascherano wanted to express his gratitude after conceding the penalty that for 35 second-half minutes looked like it might send Nigeria through, it was Messi he hugged.
The 31-year-old, in what may well be his final stab at leading Argentina to a World Cup crown, did his work in the 14th minute.
Ever Banega’s sumptuous pass was chipped into his path. Messi cushioned the ball with his left thigh and without let- ting it bounce, prodded it into space with his left foot. Six steps later, his right foot pinged the ball past Francis Uzoho and inside the far post.
Argentina needed only to win as long as Croatia, top of Group D and already through, did as expected and held off Iceland. They held up their side of the bargain, winning 2-1 and will face Denmark on Sunday.
Argentina have earned a go at France in Kazan on Saturday.
But victory was far from guaranteed after a tumultuous opening two games, for which Messi was certainly not blameless. His missed penalty in a stodgy draw against Iceland set the tone but his vacant performance against Croatia felt too incongruous to be a one-off.
Many felt it was the team’s structure that had failed their star player, leading to calls for Sampaoli to be sacked.
It was in this atmosphere that Messi arrived at the St Petersburg Stadium.
When he trotted out to warm up, the stadium, still half-full, made a din worthy of a full house, as Maradona in the stands danced with an unsuspecting Nigeria supporter.
An early run was halted by a clumsy tackle from John Obi Mikel before another ended with an under-hit cross.
But one moment was all it took and after Messi had fooled Kenneth Omeruo to dart clear and plant the ball into the net, he peeled away to the corner and fell on his knees.
For the next 20 minutes, he was purring. There was a deft flick behind his leg on the touchline to Banega. There was a defence-splitting pass for Gonzalo Higuain that Uzoho just managed to intercept.
But Argentina lost momentum towards the end of the first half and when Victor Moses slid home a penalty after the frantic Mascherano pulled down Leon Balogun, Messi lost his way too.
It seemed the game was up, but Rojo had the last word after Messi had the first. –