Made by Messi, finished by Alvarez. Argentina coasted past Croatia to the World Cup final with considerably less fuss than many were expecting.
Messi or Modric. Modric or Messi. Much of the talk prior to this match had concerned the near-last stands of these two fine players, but at the end of a surprisingly one-sided World Cup semi-final between Argentina and Croatia, the answer turned out to be Julian Alvarez. The young Manchester City striker has spent much of his time since arriving at The Etihad Stadium in the not-insubstantial shadow of Erling Haaland but on this particular evening, with a place in the World Cup at stake, Alvarez stepped out of the shadows to score two of Argentina’s three goals as they coasted past a Croatia team for whom this all rather looked like a game too many.
Lionel Messi and Luka Modric have considerable similarities and differences in terms of their roles on the pitch during these twilight years. Both are the engines through which their teams function, but this manifests itself in very different ways.
Modric remains a joy to watch. He can turn up literally anywhere on the pitch. One minute he’ll be out on the left-wing, the next he’ll be doing the centre-backs’ jobs for them. Look again and he’ll be up front, supporting the strikers. Messi on the other hand, plays the first half an hour at walking pace and then scores the opening goal of the game.
The penalty was the first of several pieces of Croatian defensive clumsiness that combined to give Argentina a 2-0 lead by half-time. For thirty minutes things had been going fairly well for them. They dominated possession and controlled the tempo of the game without too much apparent difficulty, albeit without creating anything that looked much like a chance. But then a simple pass from Enzo Ferdandez sent Alvarez through with the Croatian central defence nowhere to be seen. Dominik Livakovic clattered into him – it should be added that it could be that Alvarez clattered into him – and Messi did the rest, from twelve yards.
Quite suddenly Croatia looked very leggy and six minutes later Alvarez scored one of the more extraordinary goals in the history of the World Cup when, having been released down the centre, he assumed the gait of a Krypton Factor contestant, charging forward as Croatian defenders fell around him, eventually toe-poking the ball past Livakovic for a magnificently bad brilliant goal. Diego Maradona’s second goal against England from 1986,…
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