Messi chases one more goal
Maradona’s Cup victory shadows Argentine great
MOSCOW — No matter what Lionel Messi does at the World Cup, Diego Maradona will be watching.
With FIFA’s in-stadium cameras cutting to Maradona’s every outsize reaction and the antics of Argentina’s biggest World Cup hero generating breathless media attention, Maradona is an inescapable part of what could be Messi’s final World Cup. He’s sure to be emotional in the stands again on Saturday when Argentina begins the round of 16 against a talented France squad.
Messi’s club career has far eclipsed Maradona’s. He’s a five-time FIFA Player of the Year, has led Barcelona to three Champions League titles and holds a long list of scoring records, including the most goals in a club season — 73 in 2011-12.
But Maradona led Argentina to its last World Cup title, in 1986, and Messi has a reputation — fairly earned or not — for failing to come through for his national team in the biggest moments.
Only a championship would allow Messi to fully escape Maradona’s shadow. At 31, an age when many players begin to decline, the pressure on him is immense. And it showed when he missed a penalty kick in Argentina’s opening draw against Iceland. He got his first goal of the tournament in the 2-1 win over Nigeria that put Argentina into the second round.
“I don’t remember ever having suffered as much, with the situation, with what was in play,” Messi said after the victory.
This year’s Argentina team has shown signs of dysfunction and an outsize dependence on Messi, who even appeared to be giving embattled coach Jorge Sampaoli advice about ingame substitutions. Argentina allowed at least one goal in all of its matches, including a dispiriting 3-0 loss to Croatia. Now it must find a way to stifle France, which has a greater variety of attacking talent.
France has its own problems.
The team has lacked cohesion and the offensive stars have yet to shine. Its victories against Australia and Peru were far from decisive. Then France and Denmark kicked the ball around disinterestedly in a mutually beneficial 0-0 draw that allowed both teams to advance.
France has never lost in the World Cup round of 16, making it through in 1986, 1998 (when it won the title), 2006 and 2014.
Messi’s longtime rival, Cristiano Ronaldo, has not been shy about embracing what could be his final World Cup, scoring four goals and carrying his team to victories in its first two matches. And Messi’s Barcelona teammate, Uruguay’s Luis Suarez — who bit an opponent at the 2014 World Cup — has shined in Russia while keeping his teeth to himself.
Uruguay’s defense might be a bigger problem for Ronaldo and Portugal when the teams meet in Sochi.
La Celeste have yet to allow a goal, their back line anchored by captain Diego Godin and his Atletico Madrid teammate Jose Maria Gimenez, who missed the squad’s final group game against Russia with a thigh injury. Gimenez has returned to training and could be available to play against Portugal and his familiar Real Madrid adversary.
“We know that in 2018 they haven’t lost any of their six games and didn’t concede any goals,” Portugal right back Cedric Soares said. “That is something to pay attention. It’s a team that has quality.”
The last time Uruguay allowed a goal was in a 4-2 victory over Bolivia in World Cup qualifying last October.
Unlike Messi, Ronaldo has led Portugal to an international title, the 2016 European Championship, and at 33 the fanatically wellconditioned player still appears to have the physical gifts of his youth.
Whether he can break through against Uruguay will determine Ronaldo’s World Cup legacy. But history weighs less heavily on him than on Messi, the benefit of playing for a smaller nation that’s never reached a World Cup final.
Fair play will get review:
FIFA plans to review the “fair play” tiebreaker rule that resulted in Senegal being eliminated from the World Cup because it had more yellow cards than Japan, but is unlikely to remove the measure.
“We will review after this World Cup, we will see what the feedback and the situation is,” FIFA’s competition director Colin Smith said Friday, “but as it currently stands we don’t see any need to change.”
The rule, in use for the first time at the World Cup, caused a stir when the last games in Group H were being played simultaneously and it became obvious it would be needed as a tiebreaker between two teams finishing equal in every other way.
Japan barely attacked in the end of its 1-0 loss to Poland because it was due to qualify on its disciplinary record ahead of Senegal. At the time, Senegal was losing 1-0 to Colombia.
Previously the situation would have been resolved with the drawing of lots, which would have meant that during the game, no team would have been assured of going through in the same circumstances.
“What we want to avoid is the drawing of lots. We believe that teams should go forward on their performance and what happens on the pitch, not in a draw bowl,” Smith said.