December 9 will remain the happiest day in soccer Argentina in a long time. Waiting for what might happen in the next nine days until the final is played on Sunday the 18th, the countrymen of Gardel, Evita and Che Guevara are full of hope and overjoyed. It is not for less. It doesn't usually happen many times that, in a matter of hours, Argentina reaches the semifinals of a World Cup while Brazil goes home early. Both after winning and seeing how they were tied. Both on penalties, with agony. unrepeatable. It happened and it will be celebrated as the occasion deserves. Argentina is two steps away from the most beautiful and even more desired cup, paraphrasing the genius.
Once again hooked on Messi, the architect of a millimeter assist after gaining a place with Aké covering him as if he were Brehme and Rummenigge putting pressure on Maradona before Burruchaga's goal in the final. Author of a goal from eleven meters that equals Batistuta's 10 in the World Cups – no Argentine has more. And that later he also scored the first penalty of the shootout to give peace of mind and put his country ahead.
Nobody celebrated the classification more than Leo. While other players seemed to want to get into a brawl after Lautaro's final launch, the captain raised his clenched fist towards his fans. Oblivious to the piques, he enjoyed it. And Álvarez, Paredes and Romero immediately went looking for him to hug him and lift him up. Everyone loves and adore him. They all follow him. They were a thousand and one nights of great passion. “We are very excited and looking forward to it. We needed a joy like that. We are enjoying the people and going game by game, taking out the games”, said a happy Messi as soon as the game was over.
The captain always highlights the mentality of the team. Where quality does not arrive, you have to have character. “It was not for us to go to extra time and penalties. We have suffered because it is a World Cup quarterfinal. But this team understands the moments of the game. When he has to play, he does. When he has to defend, too, ”he pointed out.
The entire Albiceleste team was quite angry with the performance of Mateu Lahoz, especially due to the lack of Pezzella with which the tie came to two. “I don't want to talk about the referee because they penalize you if you're honest. They cannot put a referee so that he is not up to it ”, he said about the Valencian referee.
It is assumed that Johan Cruyff and Diego Armando Maradona had to meet in the afterlife to watch the game, comfortable and without earthly pressure. An old video ran through the networks in which Pelusa went down the stairs of the Camp Nou and someone touched him on the shoulder. It was Skinny, who wanted to greet him. They shook hands and gave each other two kisses. The Dutch number 14 and the Argentine number 10 knew a lot about football, they are in the Olympus of football, but it was impossible for them to anticipate a match film like the one at the Lusail stadium. For the albiceleste he scored the right side and the left side caused a penalty that became 0-2. The clockwork orange clung to two towers in the final phase of regulation time and tied with two goals from a 1.97-meter striker. The booklet is the least of it when there is a notebook and a blackboard in between. "Van Gaal sells that they play soccer very well and only hit balls," Messi summed up as if he wanted to avenge Riquelme for his run-in with the coach at Barça.
