La Albiceleste have come within touching distance of achieving their dreams as they trounced Croatia in the first semifinal of the 2022 World Cup thanks to excellent performances from the legendary Leo Messi and Manchester City youngster Julian Alvarez.
Alvarez scored a brace after the maestro put the Albiceleste ahead with a thumping conversion from the spot. The penalty, although coming from a contentious decision, was calmly smashed past Dominik Livakovic by Messi, who tantalized the Croatian defence with his superb dribbling, and brilliant passing play.
The Croatian midfield was outnumbered by Argentina. Lionel Scaloni opted for a four-man midfield, with Leandro Paredes replacing Lisandro Martinez. Paredes joined Enzo Fernandez, Rodrigo de Paul and Alexis Mac Allister.
Scaloni’s plan appeared to backfire after the opening ten minutes when Mateo Kovacic, Marcelo Brozovic, and Luka Modric had a lengthy period while they efficiently passed the ball around in midfield. However, the Argentinian formation forced the exchanges to take place within the Croatian half, with the occasional run forward from Kovacic being stopped in its tracks.
The Europeans’ control of the ball ended with the play that resulted in a penalty to the Albiceleste. Alvarez appeared clean through and should have finished off the chance before Livakovic brought him to the ground and the referee pointed to the spot.
Messi converted the penalty in the 34th minute. Shortly after, Alvarez earned a second clear path at goal barely a couple of minutes later. The Man City forward doubled his side’s lead six minutes before half-time at Lusail Iconic Stadium.
Argentina, from this point, had complete control while Zlatko Dalic made a couple of attacking substitutions, with veteran Ivan Perisic dropping to left back, as Nikola Vlasic and Mislav Orsic were introduced. Three at the back suited Argentina and gave them some much-needed stability even as the prospect of another botched lead loomed large.
However, Messi’s unbelievable run as he weaved through the Croatian defence beating five defenders, including making a mockery of Josko Gvardiol to set up Alvarezs’ second goal of the game. A 3-0 lead with 20 minutes left to play slightly eased the Argentine nerves despite Bruno Petkovic getting into a potential scoring position. Scaloni then introduced Juan Foyth and Paulo Dybala, who had not taken any part in the tournament thus far, along with the towering Ezequiel Palacios.
The clock ran down fairly quickly with not much tension. Modric was taken off to a rousing applause from the entire crowd, as the midfield maestro played what was likely one of his last games for his country. The final whistle confirmed that the Albiceleste would play in the final on Sunday against the winners of Wednesday’s semifinal encounter between France and Morocco.
