But seriously, although Lionel Messi did not score and had been criticized in the past for his international play, the 2010 South Africa World Cup Messi was the same as Barcelona Messi - that is until he played Germany. He was taking on two and three defenders at a time, cutting in and out and wreaking all kinds of havoc firing shots that would ricochet off posts or force keepers into difficult saves with rebounds, many of which were then finished of by his teammates.
A few things happened against Germany:
A. The German defense was well-organized with Bastian Schweinsteiger really breaking up virtually everything Argentina wanted to do through the middle.
B. Argentina's defense, which had been a question mark coming into the tournament, was finally exposed against a top flight attacking team. Nigeria, South Korea, and Greece were really not much of a challenge in group play, and Mexico was forced to go all out when a bogus goal followed by another quick strike put them 2-0 in the first half.
C. Maradona did not give his team the right substitutions. One thing Argentina was not short on this tournament was offensive firepower. Sergio Aguero, Diego Milito, Juan Sebastian Veron - all these guys were forgotten about in the second half with Argentina down a goal, then down two goals, then done down three and four goals. I thought Maradona was a bozo going through 70-plus players in qualification barely helping his country to qualify, and although his team was good through four games they were really superior to their opposition in those games. When Maradona had to make tough decisions against a team of equal talent, he failed to come through with good tactics or adjustments or good substitutions.
D. Here's a fun fact Argentina have never come back to win a game that they were down at halftime in the World Cup and as I discussed this earlier, South American teams can fold up shop when put under pressure and down goals. Brazil did so yesterday when Felipe Melo completely let down his team earning a red card for stamping on Arjen Robben. Argentina did so today not being patient enough to trust their own abilities down just one goal, they allowed the Germans to do what they do best, score goals off the counter attack.
Argentina
Best Moment: I'd have to say Carlos Tevez's missile against Mexico. It was one of the goal's of the tournament, a strike most people just dream about, nearly ripping a hole in the back of the net and for intents and purposes putting Mexico out of their misery with a 3-0 lead.
Worst Moment: Conceding Thomas Muller's third minute goal. We U.S. fans all saw the pressure of what early goals conceded can do to our team, it puts you under a tremendous amount of stress, and the U.S. did not have to face a team with talent and ability of a Germany. Argentina tried to press too much after that early goal and the German defense held before finally they were able to put away Argentina.
Best Result: The win over Mexico, 3-1. It put them in the quarterfinals and it had commentators and analysts thinking this team should be labeled favorites to win the whole thing, but you know the truth.
Worst Result: I'll give you three guesses. Wait for it wait for it. OK yea the 4-0 loss to Germany, they went out today, badly in a blowout, only loss of the tournament.
Final Tally: 4 wins, 1 loss, 10 goals scored, 6 goals conceded
Best Player: I'm going to say a tie between Messi and Mascherano. Neither was very good against Germany - Mascherano was vastly outplayed by Schweinsteiger and Messi just did not have any impact. But Messi was the best offensive player on Argentina through four games and they led the tournament with 10 goals in that time frame. Argentina also only conceded two goals in the first four games and Mascherano was the most influential person tracking back and providing plenty of cover for a suspect defense.
Worst Player: Nicolas Otamendi. He had a really awful last game, so maybe I'm being a little harsh. But Otamendi conceded the foul on Lukas Podolski and then in the same sequence allowed Muller to break in front of him on Schweinsteiger's cross for the opening goal. At other points in the game Otamendi looked flat footed as players just blazed by him before he had to be subbed off in the 70th minute.
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