Argentina’s Ángel di María breaks Switzerland’s hearts at the death
If, after two hours of doggedly repetitive effort, you don’t succeed: try, try again. On the evidence of this gruelling and occasionally claustrophobic World Cup last-16 tie, if you’ve got a nimble-footed creative genius of a No10 in your team, the chances are it’s going to come off in the end.
With Argentina and Switzerland still goalless after 117 minutes in São Paulo, Lionel Messi picked the ball up, as he had many times already, in a central position 40 yards from the Swiss goal. This time there was a genuine pocket of space in front of him and Messi spotted the moment, as he has with uncanny timing at thisWorld Cup.
Accelerating towards goal with those familiar little bunny-hopping steps, Messi skipped past Fabian Schär, delayed enough to suck Ricardo Rodríguez infield and slipped the ball behind him into the empty space at the corner of the penalty area. Ángel di María had had a slightly wild match to that point, giving the ball away more than 50 times in all, but showing great heart and spirit in coming back for more. This time Di María shot low and hard first time into the corner.
There was time still for Blerim Dzemaili to hit the post with a header from a corner and then see the rebound deflect wide off his shin, but it just was not to be for the Swiss at the end of a match that saw Ottmar Hitzfeld, one of the modern managerial greats, confirm his retirement.
At the final whistle Argentina’s fans dissolved into a frenzy of bare-chested, flag-waving joy. This disjointed team of talents, with their flat-footed midfield, creaky defence and high-grade attacking individuals, continue to edge through the rounds at Brazil 2014. Argentina have some obvious flaws, like all the remaining teams, but they also have one thrillingly relentless point of strength and they will take some stopping.
For all the clamour of the game’s final moments, the noise inside the Arena Corinthians before kick-off was mild after the choral din of Argentina’s previous matches, a consequence perhaps of the sheer mountainous scale of this huge open-sided stadium.
With locals and blue-and-white-shirted Argentinians mixing happily enough in the stands there was a lassitude to the opening minutes as Argentina kicked off in the lunchtime sunshine, the most intriguing aspect the shift in their starting shape, another rejig of the pieces around Alejandro Sabella’s No10, captain and assistant selector.
Having already switched between 5-3-2 and 4-3-3, Sabella rummaged in his tactical suitcase and came up with something perhaps honed during his time at Sheffield United, a classic 4-4-2, with Ezequiel Lavezzi on the right wing and Messi in a familiar deep No10 role behind Gonzalo Higuaín.
Before this match Hitzfeld was asked how he hoped to stop Messi. “Wait until tomorrow, you will see,” was his answer, and here the Swiss resumed their customary high-speed pressing game, hustling nicely and launching the odd early attack, as Xherdan Shaqiri twice twisted and turned with purpose down Argentina’s right flank.
That four-man midfield did Argentina few favours going forward here with Javier Mascherano and Fernando Gago providing little drive or dynamism in those central areas, even as the game congealed in the last hour into a neck-cricking affair of slow-burn, one-way Argentinian pressure.
Two or three times Messi received the ball and was confronted by three or four defenders shoulder to shoulder like rugby forwards, required to produce yet another moment of wriggling genius from his hat. When Plan A (give it to Messi) stalls, and Plan B (also give it to Messi) is blunted, Argentina have one alternative left: keep giving it to Messi. The great shame in all this is that Messi can never give it to Messi.
In a scratchy first half it took 25 minutes for Argentina to create a chance, Higuaín heading over from Messi’s whipped free-kick, but it was the Swiss who had the better opening two minutes later, Granit Xhaka shooting low but straight at Sergio Romero from a Shaqiri cutback.
And with 33 minutes gone it was Shaqiri, resembling in his square-shouldered red shirt a kind of footballing Mr Strong, who had the locals on their feet with a lovely little display of keep-ball trickery by the touchline – a rare moment of old-school Brazilian football in these parts – for which he was duly bundled to theground.
After the break the Messi of the Alps continued to look the liveliest player on the pitch, scuttling into space down the left land cutting the ball back for Josip Drmic to shovel a shot over the bar. Shaqiri is a rare talent but at times in this Switzerland team he does resemble a visiting Bayern Munich player on a coaching course with some promising hopefuls.
As the hour mark passed Argentina were having their best spell, with Lavezzi and Di María leaving their flanks and foraging through the middle. The chances came in a steady drip-drip. With 12 minutes left Messi, again breaking from a deep central position, beat two players and shot low and hard only to see Benaglio make a scrabbling save.
And that was pretty much that as extra time arrived. For a while, with penalties looming and both teams visibly tiring, it was Switzerland who had the locals on their feet shouting “olé” in taunting fashion as Shaqiri produced some entertaining nutmegs. Until that is that clinching intervention at the last from Argentina’s relentless No10, capped by Di María’s fine finish.
