‘Don’t blame Messi on penalty miss’
More than the embarrassment of being held to a 1-1 draw by World Cup newcomer Iceland on Saturday, Argentina’s ability to claim football’s biggest prize for the first time since 1986 is being questioned. Coach Jorge Sampaoli refused to blame Lionel Messi for missing a penalty in the second half of the Iceland match, backing his star man to deliver.
MOSCOW— For anyone who has ever missed a penalty at any level, there was some consolation on Saturday.
Lionel Messi can miss them, too.
With the world, including cigar-puffing Diego Maradona, watching him in a World Cup opener against Iceland at Spartak Stadium, the normally brilliant Messi struck a weak spot kick that was saved, leaving Argentina with a disappointing 1-1 draw in Group D.
Messi’s failure was all the more bitter given his long-time rival for current world’s best—Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo—easily converted a penalty the day before.
On a remarkable day of four penalties during Saturday’s matches, Peru’s Christian Cueva then repeated Messi’s failure, arguably even upstaging it by skying his penalty high over the bar in a game Denmark went on to win, 1-0.
Messi left the field looking daggers, Cueva in tears.
Before them, France and Australia showed in Saturday’s early game how to do it, each comfortably converting a spot kick in a match the Europeans won, 2-1.
The four penalties on Saturday have only been surpassed on one World Cup day in more than four decades, when six were given in France on June 24, 1998.
Argentina coach Jorge Sampaoli refused to blame Messi, backing his star man to deliver.
It was a major embarrassment for the two-time world champion and raises questions about the team’s ability to claim football’s biggest prize for the first time since 1986.
Messi is yet to win a major international tournament and time is running out with his 31st birthday looming.
But Sampaoli said Argentina would regroup, beginning with its next match against Croatia in Nizhny Novgorod on Thursday, and move on from the Iceland disappointment.
“Evaluating Leo’s performance is very difficult because they played almost the whole game in their own half,” he said. “I know he’s committed to helping us get into the next round.”
While the result was not on the scale of the win Iceland produced to eliminate England at Euro 2016, it was a major boost for the tiny nation, which retains hopes of advancing from a group that also includes Nigeria and Croatia.
The island nation of 330,000 is the smallest country ever to qualify for the finals but emphatically showed it can mix it with the heavyweights of the game.
“We were playing against one of the best teams in the world, who had the best player in the world,” said goalkeeper Hannes Halldorsson.
“It’s especially important for us because it helped us get a point, which is important for us to reach our goal to get out of the group.”
Iceland’s next opponent is Nigeria in Volgograd on Friday.
Croatia midfielder Luka Modric suggested that his team’s 2-0 victory over Nigeria on Saturday had turned up the heat on Argentina.
“They (Argentina) have quality but this win will boost our confidence and I hope we can play well against them,” said Modric, who scored a second-half penalty to secure the win after Croatia went ahead through a first half own goal by Nigeria midfielder Oghenekaro Etebo.
“It is going to be a difficult match... but they will have to play for a win”