This round we will learn about how many colonies each country has had.
England 1 (65+) v. Argentina 2 (-1)
Holy moly. That was a game. I rarely watch games more than once, but this is one I will watch multiple times. Argentina never die, England may never get to the finals again.
As I showed yesterday, these two teams have a unique and long history in the world cup. They also have their history from the real world. Everyone knew that this game was going to be intense and a great watch, but I did not expect it to be so fiery and so physical. Both teams came out looking to fight one another. England looked angry. Argentina looked ready to cut everyone while the ref wasn’t looking. We got our first scrum within 3 minutes. The rest of the half was fouls and scrums with some soccer in between. It was not the best soccer we have seen, but it was intense and passionate. I will take those two things any day/every day. The end of the first half had a few half chances and even more fireworks. We got our first yellow cards of the game for well deserved reasons. The big stat of the first half was 12 fouls (that were called by the ref) committed by Argentina and 7 by England.
Then we went to the second half, and oh boy, was it a doozy. All the same intensity and passion but also an actual soccer game broke out. Argentina started the half with its best chance of the game so far, but then 5 mins into the half both center backs for Argentina had a yellow. This put Argentina on the back foot because England now knew they could run at Argentina and there defense was going to be more cautious than ever. 5 minutes later, (55 min) the English get the first goal of the game. It was a direct play that had bad marking in the box for a cross. But you could tell it was coming and England deserved it. The problem: Argentina is a cat with nine lives, and that cat seems to have at least a couple lives left.
Only a minute later, Argentina began to wake up and had what seemed like the chance they were waiting for. They broke England’s lines quickly on the counter and appeared to have a one-on-one with the goalie. However, it turns out that Djed Spence is fast, really really fast. [
It is not just the world class speed, it is the fact his only option was to slide tackle in the box and he absolutely nailed it. (If England would have won this would have been the play of the game)
After that, it was all Argentina. They had headers that were saved by nearly miraculous goal keeping, they had headers hit the post, they had shots hit the post, they smothered England, they lived in England’s half and peppered their box with cross and passes. It was crazy to watch because all of a sudden England looked like a shell of what they had been for the first hour of the game. England had looked physically dominant, they looked like they were going to run Argentina off the field, they attacked and defended with vigor. But by the 60th minute, England looked like they just were trying to hold on, but you knew that if/when Argentina got a goal, England was not going to be able to reestablish any attack and Argentina would likely get their second. Also, the English coach made some questionable subs that ended up taking away some of the attacking speed and power England were playing with. But even with all that, England held on. Time kept ticking and Argentina kept having a 0 next to their name. We got past the 70th minute, no Argentina goal. We got past the 80th minute, no Argentina goal.
Then we hit the 85th minute, and the cat found life again. Messi takes a corner short, get the ball back, sucks out the defense, passes it to Enzo Fernandez, and Enzo beautifully places it into the back of the net from 22 yards out. Argentina found their goal, they found their life, and England was now in a very bad spot.
Argentina didn’t let up the pressure after they scored. They kept England scared. They kept attacking wave after wave. And 7 minutes later (90+2) they found their second goal, the goal that would take them to the finals. Off of yet another shot that hit the post, Messi collected the ball, gathered speed, took on two players, crossed it, and Argentina headed it in. It was not anything particularly spectacular, but it was perfect.
Argentina just had to hold on for another 10 minutes and they did. It is absolutely incredible, unbelievable, amazing that Messi at age 39 is leading this team to another world cup finals. This Argentinian team is mind boggling. They should have lost three games in a row, but have pulled out miracles every time. Now, they have one more test, but Spain is unlike anything else they have faced.
One last thing, I know you all know #boycottfox and #teamtelemundo, but if you have not listened to Andrés Cantor’s call of the game, you should. He is fantastic. I wish every announcer had a fifth of the passion he has. Here are the highlights with his call.
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