Magic Messi, Van Gaal's Notebook and football history came together in Qatar. The genius could with the laboratory in the midst of agony and with the help of the goalkeeper Emiliano Martínez to decide a match that now belongs forever to the caviar of the World Cups. Because Leo was on the verge of putting his team in the semifinals, making some teammates who are very tight. He took the bevel and the square and told Nahuel Molina to "put it in" and went inside. He took responsibility afterwards and scored a penalty. Architect and scorer. He no longer dribbles like before but walks as always and is wiser than ever to lead a team that swims in anguish but does not drown. He wades the river until he reaches the shore. Always dramatic, always maximalist, the Argentine fans went through the full range of emotions until they burst with joy.
Because in front of the least mechanical orange that is remembered stuck out its head. She did it with Van Gaal's Notebook. Because there are coaches who think that plan B is to improve plan A even at the risk of ending up losing. But there are others who reinvent themselves and leave purism for more buoyant times. Louis van Gaal has proven to be one of the latter. On his way to retirement on the bench, Van Gaal has been in charge of a rather limited group of footballers and he has not been averse to covering himself with a good blanket. And if you have to throw balls into the pot to balance the match, they throw themselves away. And if you have to put two tanks of all life in the area, they are put. And if you have to practice direct football, you practice it. The truth is that only with those decisions did the match against Argentina change. Now he doesn't care what they say. But no one will be able to take away from him that, with almost everything lost, his men put into practice an improbable move. The short kick from the edge of the area in the last breath of added time to force extra time has already entered the annals of history of soccer. That unpredictable, impressive and incredible action is to be seen repeated a thousand times. Like a penalty taken short. Like an individual box-to-box play. For the moment, but above all for being a rabbit out of the hat. It did not help them to be in the semifinals. Messi keeps advancing. Getting closer. what agony What magic. Soccer is also this.
