From Doha
In two games Lionel Scaloni used 19 of the 26 players on the squad. In the first game he made 4 changes and in the second, 5. Only 4 players were on the field full time: the historic Messi and Otamendi, De Paul and Dibu Martínez. Where was the team that came out of memory? The hubbub began with Lo Celso’s injury, greatly missed in general and especially at times when the ball circulated between defenders and attackers.
The blow of the goals from Saudi Arabia in the debut less thinking finished erasing the idea of a consolidated team at least in names. The coach’s swerves made it possible to reach a good destination in the second game. Some will say that he had the necessary audacity and courage. Perhaps the same ones who could have said that he did not respect the original names if things went wrong.
The truth is that Argentina settled in the table and the numbers say that if they beat Poland they could end up in first place in the group depending on the result of Saudi Arabia and Mexico, a match in which the Asians undoubtedly have better chances.
What did not accommodate is the game. The team improved in the second half when the Mexicans began to fall in love from zero to zero, but they fared very badly in a first half that must have been one of the worst in the championship, along with Mexico-Poland. Those of Tata Martino even handled the ball for those in the middle of Argentina.
The game in general took us back to other times of the National Team in the last World Cups, with Messi trying to do everything like Patoruzú, with Di María trapped in the mark, with none of the game that had brought us here full of illusions. Like against Iran or Bosnia and Herzegovina in 2014 or like against Nigeria in 2018, Messi unlocked everything, with a cross shot of those that he got tired of putting in Barcelona.
This game was so key that it did not make too many demands or black palates, who can blame Scaloni for putting a line of five with the 1 to 0 against a Selection that shoots with cebita bullets? In other circumstances the thing gives for the controversy. In this game it was necessary to ensure and in fact, even with five in the background, Enzo Fernández put the finishing touch. It was enough for the fans to stay for half an hour celebrating, it was enough to decompress and raise the spirits of the squad, perhaps it will achieve a similar performance to move on to the second phase, but without football, without a game, if we have to depend only on Messi the thing is going to get complicated.
