Stage set for Messi, Argentina to shine
Two-time former champions face Saudi Arabia in their Group C opener, unsteady France up against Oz
DOHA: Lionel Messi begins his legacy-defining World Cup with a game against likely the weakest opponent the Argentina star will face in Qatar.
On a 36-match unbeaten run, Argentina open the group stage Tuesday against Saudi Arabia — the second lowest-ranked team at the tournament.
It seems like an ideal chance for Messi to push his international goals tally toward a century — he currently has 91 — in what’s surely a forlorn attempt to catch the leading men’s mark of 117, owned by great rival Cristiano Ronaldo.
How Argentina coach Lionel Scaloni treats Messi for this game in particular, being staged in the 80,000-seat Lusail Iconic Stadium, might be instructive given the captain’s fitness has been managed heading into the World Cup.
Messi trained individually on Friday and Saturday because of what the Argentina soccer federation described as “muscle overload.” That raises doubts over whether Messi will play the full 90 minutes against Saudi Arabia.
Not that he should be needed that long. The Saudis might have come through Asian qualifying relatively comfortably, but they tend to struggle on soccer’s highest stage, reaching the last 16 only once in their five appearances at the World Cup.
They started the 2018 tournament with a 5-0 loss to Russia, the host nation.
Then again, Argentina opened that World Cup with a disappointing 1-1 draw with tiny Iceland — in a match which saw Messi have a penalty saved — that immediately put pressure on the Albiceleste.
That’s something the team is eager to avoid again.
“I missed, we drew and then the mess came,” Messi recalled in a recent interview. “The first game is key because if you’re going to play Mexico with the three points from the Saudi Arabia game, it’s something else.”
It’s unlikely the Argentines will trip up this time. Copa America champions in 2021 for their first major title in 28 years, a national-record unbeaten run — one short of tying the world record set by Italy from 2018-21.
Scaloni, Argentina’s somewhat accidental coach, has turned his team into an extremely well-balanced unit and back to being a major force in world football. Where, many believe, it belongs.
Messi is obviously the star at the center of everything and is looking to finally win the World Cup to boost his standing as arguably football’s greatest ever player. By playing against Saudi Arabia, Messi will become the first Argentine player to play in five World Cups — one more than Diego Maradona and Javier Mascherano.
Scaloni has had to contend with injuries to midfielder Giovani Lo Celso and forwards Nicolas Gonzalez and Joaquin Correa in the lead-up to the World Cup.
Saudi Arabia is set to be wellbacked at the World Cup because it shares Qatar’s only land border to the outside world, and fans will drive across in their droves to attend the match taking place at the tournament’s biggest venue.
Under French coach Hervé Renard, the Saudis have been in preparation for several weeks after domestic competitions were paused so players could focus on the World Cup.
“We are ready for this fabulous tournament,” Renard said.
France aim to shake off Benzema absence
Nothing is going to disrupt
France in their opening World Cup game against Australia — not Karim Benzema’s absence, and especially not the ‘One Love’ armband row in Qatar, captain Hugo Lloris said on Monday.
The defending champions start their campaign in Group D on Tuesday, looking to beat the Socceroos just like they did to kick off their 2018 journey in Russia.
They have been hit by a series of injuries, which ruled key midfielders Ngolo Kante and Paul Pogba, and most recently Ballon d’Or winner Benzema, who left the squad in the early hours of Sunday after withdrawing with a thigh injury, and centre back Presnel Kimpembe.
“We still believe in our chances, in our squad. The last-minute withdrawals, especially Karim’s, did not help,” Lloris told a news conference.
“But I want to think that the team will move on.”
Several teams — England, Wales, Belgium, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Germany and Denmark — had planned to wear the One Love armband against any form but, in a joint statement, backed down hours before England’s opening game against Iran on Monday.
According to FIFA rules, team equipment must not have any political, religious or personal slogans, statements or images, and during FIFA Final Competitions, the captain of each team “must wear the captain’s armband provided by FIFA”.
France had not planned any action, staying clear from controversy.
“I want to say that FIFA organises the competition and it sets a frame, rules. Us players are here to play football and represent our country on a sporting level,” Lloris said. “On that level, the first game is always extremely important and as defending champions, the expectations are even higher for us.”
The defending champions have exited the World Cup at the end of the group phase in four of the last five editions.
Coach Didier Deschamps needs to reshuffle his attacking line in the absence of Benzema, with veteran Olivier Giroud likely to start as a lone forward.
The 36-year-old has long been underestimated as he does not have the brilliance of Kylian Mbappe or Benzema, but he has proved reliable and is only two shy of Thierry Henry’s all-time goal scoring record of 51 with Les Bleus.