Five minutes into the second half, Messi’s moment finally sprang to life. The Argentina captain picked up a through ball and danced his way towards the Mexican defense, only to be hacked down by Erick Gutierrez right outside the penalty area – otherwise known as “Messi’s moment territory.”
The subsequent free-kick, however,
summed up Messi’s game so far as the Paris Saint-Germain forward fired his effort well over the crossbar.
Though Argentina had been underwhelming, Mexico deserved plenty of credit for stifling its opponent’s attack and Messi’s moment in particular.
But such is the Messi quality, even a split-second loss of concentration can prove fatal and the Argentine struck a crucial blow just after the hour mark.
Angel Di Maria, who had been one of Argentina’s least effective performers on the night, found Messi completely unmarked on the edge of the penalty area.
It was the first time all evening he had found himself with any space at all and the captain needed only one chance, controlling the ball and firing a pinpoint shot into the bottom corner.
For all of Argentina’s deficiencies,
Mexico never looked likely to get back into the match.
With Mexico Messi’s moment chasing the game, Argentina began to look threatening on the break and one counterattack led to a short corner that Mexico failed to deal with.
The ball found its way to substitute Fernandez. Whose lovely stepover past Gutierrez allowed him enough space to curl the ball past Guillermo Ochoa.
In a match that was sorely lacking in quality. Two moments of individual brilliance were enough to kickstart Argentina’s World Cup bid in Qatar.
There is certainly still much to work on. But Scaloni will relieved his side goes into the final group. Game against Poland with its fate in its own hands.