Tough Messi test awaits Belgium in quarterfinals
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FOUR-TIME footballer of the year Lionel Messi’s misfiring Argentina and Belgium completed the line-up for the World Cup quarterfinals and will face each other in a repeat of the 1986 World Cup semifinal.
Their qualification on Tuesday leaves the make-up of the quarterfinals evenly balanced with four Latin American sides and four Europeans, giving the ‘old continent’ a good chance of finally winning a World Cup hosted in the Americas.
Both Argentina and Belgium sealed their places with victories in extra-time against Switzerland and the United States, respectively, though, the South American giant’s performance left plenty question marks hanging over whether it can add to its two World Cup trophies.
The last one came in 1986, when like the present team, it relied on the genius of one player, in the volatile Diego Maradona, who all but single-handedly drove Argentina to victory.
This time around the Belgians will be hoping they cope better with the wizardry of Messi than their predecessors did with Maradona, whose double in the 0-2 defeat dashed their dreams of a first ever final appearance.
The Belgium-Argentina clash on Saturday in Brasilia is not the only one of the quarterfinals that evokes memories of a glorious past in terms of previous match-ups.
For tomorrow two European titans, Germany and France, face each other in the appropriately historic setting of the Maracana in Rio de Janeiro with the French bidding to erase memories of two semifinal defeats in the 1980’s at the hands of what was then West Germany.
However, it is the 1982 semifinal that still rankles with many in France, not only because they let a 3-1 lead slip in extra-time to go out on penalties, but also due to the infamous incident when German goalkeeper Harald Schumacher’s shoulder charge left Patrick Battison unconscious on the pitch.
The French camp like the German one is solely focused on the future and not the past as coach Didier Deschamps, who was 14 at the time of the 1982 match, explained.
“They (his players) weren’t even born then, what would I speak to them about?” he said.
“Joachim Loew (Germany coach) is completely right. Have respect for former players and what’s taken place but we’re not playing against old rivals.”
Belgian coach Marc Wilmots — who arrived on the international scene as a player after the 1986 World Cup — is also focused solely on beating the present crop of Argentinians.
There were signs of hope for the ‘Red Devils’ in Messi’s mood on Tuesday as the 27-year-old was stifled for the majority of the match by Swiss hardman Valon Behrami and took out his frustration at one point by shoving his opponent.
However, the down side for the Belgians was that almost the first time Messi escaped Behrami’s attentions he created the goal which killed off the Swiss. “Suffering, suffering that’s what I felt, but now we know we can go through times like this,” said Messi. “We were lucky, we had luck on our side and now we have to take advantage of it and move on.”
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