World Cup “final-four”; The last hurdles are always the toughest
Despite his brilliant this summer, Argentina need to be so much more than just Lionel Messi if they are to have any chance at lifting the World Cup
"Team: Argentina (La Albiceleste) World Cup pedigree: 4-time finalist (’30, ’78, ’86, ’90), 2-time winner (’78, ’86) How they got to the semifinals: winners of Group F; defeating Switzerland and Belgium in the knockout stage Preferred formation: 4-3-3 (Romero; Rojo, Garay, Fernandez, Zabaleta; Mascherano, Gago; Di Maria; Aguero, Higuain, Messi) Key Players this tournament: Lionel Messi, Angel Di Maria, Ezequiel Garay, Javier Mascherano Key Absences for the semifinals and finals: Angel Di Maria (out for the remainder of the World Cup)"
What do they need to do to win it all?
As tempted as I am to say that all they need to do is give Messi the ball and let him produce magical moments, Argentine are so much more than the little man from Rosario, but they wouldn’t know it if you told them. Pre-World Cup, everyone was in awe of chance to see Messi, Aguero, Higuain and Di Maria line up in the same XI to blitz their opponents for a obscene amount of goals – that unfortunately has not been the case at all. Despite their impressive stats for possession, shots per match, passing percentage and the fact that Messi has arguably been player of the tournament thus far, they’ve struggled in the final third. Messi has four of their eight goals, while Aguero and Higuain only have one between them. Perhaps a more worrying stat, is that every single match they have played in has been decided by a one goal margin. Given the fact that Belgium was their first true test, one which only saw them win 1-0 in very unconvincing fashion on the whole, they’ll need to improve by leaps and bounds if they have any hope of lifting their third World Cup trophy. Relying on Messi is not a bad thing, but it’s the player of the other ten players that needs to improve drastically if they have any chance.
What is their biggest hurdle?
The injury suffered by Angel Di Maria, which now rules him out of the World Cup, is a massive loss for Argentina and puts a serious dent in their chances. Di Maria only has one goal in the tournament, but its been his creativity behind the Messi scene’s that made Argentina just that little extra bit of dangerous going forward in the final third. With Higuain not really playing as expected, Aguero not being fully fit and Ezequiel Lavezzi yet to put in a really good performance, this now means that Argentina will have to rely on Messi that much more. Further more, with Fernando Gago now their only creative midfielder, Argentina could struggle to find goals even more than they already have. Few, if any, are denying Messi’s abilities to win a match on his own, but will be be able to out-score the Netherlands, or Germany/Brazil in the final if they reach it?