Belgium and Argentina entered this quarterfinal with some parallels to their 1986 matchup in the semifinals. Belgium were fielding one of their most talented lineups in a generation, and Argentina were relying primarily on the talents of their magical #10.
Almost immediately from kickoff, Argentina came out more aggressive, which has been a welcome change from the general lack of cohesion they have shown in midfield up to this point. A couple of early blocked shots in the Belgian box set the tone, and 8 minutes in, up stepped who else but Lionel Messi? A mazy run from deep in midfield created openings in the Belgian half, and a deflected pass later, the ball fell right to the feet of Gonzalo Higuain.
After 11+ months without an international goal, one might have forgiven Higuain for having a less-than-confident touch on the ball, but with zero hesitation, he stopped on a dime, let the deflected pass bounce, and quickly swiveled and fired the ball into the far post corner:
That was clearly not a strike from a forward lacking confidence in front of goal, and was definitely worthy of the occasion.
The first half played out fairly uneventfully, with a couple of off-target opportunities for either team, and both Courtois and Romero were relatively untested. The one remaining highlight from the first half was a freekick from about 20 yards out that Messi stepped up for:
Coming out for the second half, it was clear that Belgium needed to be less passive, and show a willingness to take the game to the Argentinians. Marc Wilmots benching Dries Mertens and going with Kevin Mirallas seemed like a strange decision, as Mertens had clearly been one of Belgium’s best players so far in the tournament, outshining the more-recognizable Eden Hazard.
Unfortunately for them, Belgium did not do more to press Argentina, and Higuain almost ended the match as a competition with a surging run in the 55th minute:
Oddly, the Belgian player most responsible for giving Higuain space was inspirational captain Vincent Kompany, who completely whiffed on a challenge right before the shot. Argentinian manager Alejandro Sabella provided one of the best moments of unintended comedy with his sideline reaction to the missed opportunity to go 2-up:
Wilmots eventually brought on Mertens and Romelo Lukaku for Mirallas and Origi. Together, de Bruyne and Lukaku tore apart the US defense during extra-time of their 2nd-round matchup, but today, they were simply unable to create more opportunities. In fact, it was the oft-criticized Marouane Fellaini who came closest to levelling matters with a set-piece header that finished just over the bar with Romero beaten.
Argentina settled back into a defensive posture to finish out the match, attempting to catch Belgium on occasional counters. This strategy seemed somewhat odd for a team with a shaky defense missing one of their best players via suspension, but with Belgium unable to make the key final ball count on their attacks, it worked, and Messi almost helped himself to a time added-on goal to put the result beyond doubt:
Final score, Argentina 1, Belgium 0. A fairly disappointing match, given the amount of talent available to each team. Argentina has shown flashes of brilliance, all of which boil down to Messi’s presence on the pitch, and Belgium still look like more of a collection of individuals than a strong team unit. Neither of them, however, has looked entirely convincing as a contender. By this stage of the tournament, fatigue will have begun to have set in, and with the high stakes of a semifinal position at stake, teams are unfortunately unlikely to throw caution to the wind and put on the type of show that fans will be looking forward to. With one quarterfinal remaining, we can all hope that the Dutch and Costa Ricans give fans more excitement than has been on display through the first 3 quarterfinals.
(GIF credits: @FlyByKnite, highlighthub.com)
Photo Credit: Matthias Hangst/Getty Images
