Erling Haaland on putting Norway on the World Cup map
Erling Haaland reflects on Norway’s unforgettable World Cup run and what it means to have put the nation on the global stage.
KANSAS CITY, MO — The book is out on Argentina. Three consecutive teams with little else in common have complicated life for the reigning champion: Cape Verde in the round of 32, Egypt in the round of 16 and, Saturday, Switzerland in the quarterfinals.
It may not matter.
After a 3-1 win in extra time, Argentina is into the World Cup semifinals.
The team keeps playing with fire, but time is running out for it to actually get burned. Its passage to the final four of the tournament means that the lofty standard for the defending champion is all but met.
“We’re not always going to play well, which is what we want, to play well, to attack. Winning every game 3-0 would be nicer, but sometimes you’ve got to suffer like we have in this World Cup,” attacker Thiago Almada said after the game. “The important thing is that we’re moving on.”
Yes, Argentina came to the U.S. hoping to win once again, to send their icon Lionel Messi out on a high, to remove all doubt about his standing among the best players ever with a second World Cup trophy and a fourth star over the Argentina badge. But even Diego Maradona couldn’t defend his 1986 trophy − with his team struggling mightily on the way to the 1990 final, needing a penalty shootout to get past Yugoslavia in the quarterfinals (Maradona missed his kick) and against Italy in the semis (he made that one), only to fall to West Germany in the final.
The pressure is off Argentina in a way it has never been in the Messi era.
“This group plays with the privilege and honor having won the last World Cup. We have the best player of all time. I think that makes us different,” forward José Manuel “Flaco” López said after the win.
This is a team that refuses to panic, that won’t modify its style. Argentina manager Lionel Scaloni didn’t even change his starting lineup after the scare from Egypt. There always is the peace that Messi may come to the rescue − though he didn’t stand out Saturday night and Argentina needed a Julian Alvarez curler to finally find a second and avoid a nervous penalty shootout.
There is the knowledge that the team has done it before. Why wouldn’t they do it again?
Still, it is clear that if Argentina is able to stay champion, it will be a flawed one. That’s, of course, if Argentina can defend its championship.
“We’re seeing in this World Cup the games are like this,” Alvarez said. “We’ve had some, other teams have too. A lot of extra time, lots of games like that, but we always fight to the end, give our all and we’re scoring the goals at the end. As long as we do that, it’s all positive.”
There is an uptick in quality from Switzerland to England, and of course Thomas Tuchel’s team looks far more likely to punish the Albiceleste’s deficiencies in the semifinal this week. But in each round Argentina finds a way to survive.
It looked like Saturday would be the team’s first walk in the park since the group stage. Despite an encouraging start for the Swiss, Alexis Mac Allister’s header in the 10th minute swung everything in Argentina’s favor. Yet, the Swiss response to the opener was positive. Argentina found its defense tested.
Switzerland attacked right back Nahuel Molina, consistently the weak link in the Argentina defense, and after an aggressive opening to the second half that had him as the player with the most touches in the box, Dan Ndoye finally got the best of Molina and then beat the previously resolute Argentina goalkeeper, Emiliano “Dibu” Martínez, who ended the night with four saves.
Yet, just when it seemed like the match’s momentum may have been shifting, Breel Embolo tried to draw a foul, made a meal of it and got a chunk of Leandro Paredes in the process, earning a second yellow card after a video review and meaning Switzerland would have to find a second goal down a man.
Argentina immediately took control of the game, but there was hardly a flurry of activity. It took 17 minutes from Embolo’s red card for the first shot attempt Argentina would make.
The South Americans’ lack of urgency is a feature rather than a bug. Up a man, they patiently moved the ball as Switzerland sat back and tried to extend things to a penalty shootout − or find a set piece goal like it nearly had in the 107th minute when Granit Xhaka whipped a free kick from the wing between the goalkeeper and the line but no Swiss teammate could put in the touch that would’ve truly tested Argentina’s patience.
Instead, it was Alvarez lashing his goal in, and Argentina finding another through Lautaro Martínez on a late counter-attack after picking the pocket of a Swiss team trying to find an equalizer.
A happy ending for the champions. A place in the last four. “All positive,” according to Alvarez. And the team is playing with some amount of house money.
Yet, between the lack of concentration leading to cheap goals, the issues at right back, the struggles in finding goals before the final moments of the match… Well, take it from Scaloni: “We have to improve. That’s evident.”
But there are only two more matches in which Argentina may be burned by the fire it’s playing with, by the risks it is running. So far, playing well or playing poorly, Argentina is winning. The weaknesses are clear. What isn’t is whether or not anyone will make them pay for those weaknesses and give the world a new winner.
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