La Albiceleste had lost its opener to Saudi Arabia and failed to produce any great scoring chances in the first half against Mexico.
The importance of this goal cannot be overstated in the grand scheme of Argentina’s dream World Cup run. La Albiceleste had lost its opener to Saudi Arabia and failed to produce any great scoring chances in the first half against Mexico. Enter Messi, who showed he still only needs a sliver of space to pull off something magical. The strike itself was inch-perfect. Perhaps more important was the cascade of momentum that it created that never seemed to leave Argentina for the rest of the tournament.