As a gesture of authority six days after the debut against Saudi Arabia, it was forceful. The resounding 5-0 victory over the United Arab Emirates put the Argentine National Team back on the agenda for the imminent World Cup in Qatar. If before it was looked at with respect, much more will be looked at from now on. The team led by Lionel Messi and directed by Lionel Scaloni reaches the highest level of competition much better than any of its predecessors in the last 20 years. But neither is it about exaggerated optimism, raising the price of Argentina’s possibilities or believing that Qatar will be a party. The real reality will begin to be known from next Tuesday.
In the first half, the National Team showed a very high volume of play. It generated football inside and out. He pushed to play as high as possible, recovered very quickly and with the ball at his side, he had variations and forcefulness. And individual performances at the height of what is to come. Marcos Acuna he went on the attack almost always. And he almost always solved well. He widened the field on the left and from a cross of his with effect came the first great goal from Angel Di Maria.
About the man from Rosario: the 45 minutes he was on the court were close to perfection. He scored two great goals (the first from a volley, the second after two dribbles in the Saudi box), accurately crossed several balls into the rival box and was unstoppable when he went inside and outside. There were no traces of the injury he had at Juventus and mentally and footballingly, Di MarÃa reaches ten points in the World Cup. De Paul, intense, unstoppable, sometimes confused by his desire to want to do everything, the same.
And all this without Messi being in a dazzling night: He scored a right-footed goal, returned a wall to Di MarÃa in the third goal and in the second half, more forward, he dedicated himself to playing rather than solving on his own. That is a very good indication of the state of the National Team: It no longer depends so much on the bursts of inspiration from the Rosario supercrack. If he goes a long time without touching the ball, the team doesn’t lose that much either: there are others who can do the homework for him, but not like him.
With the result already decided, Scaloni did the last rehearsal of his orchestra in the second half: He made four substitutions, set up a line of five with Pezzella as free, Foyth and Lisandro MartÃnez as stoppers and Montiel and Molina as raised wingers, gave JoaquÃn Correa and Enzo Fernández minutes for Messi to supply them and stopped the team further back. It would give the impression that in the World Cup, he will do the same thing he did in the last Copa América in Brazil. He will press high and hard and after taking the first lead, he will drop back a couple of steps, get strong in the background and try to resolve the counter attack.
Against rivals as weak as Bosnia, Honduras and Jamaica were in previous friendlies, Argentina had the luxury of attacking the entire match. Against the United Arab Emirates, which also turned out to be very little, he anticipated part of what could be his script in Qatar: “The World Cup is won by smart teams” Scaloni said at the pre-match press conference. That intelligence to manage the times and rhythms of the game is what will have to be exercised in the concentration of Doha. Everything else seems to be in place, waiting for the great debut on Tuesday.