Argentina almost let their anger at the referee and their opponents beat them in a shaky quarter-final win over the Netherlands
Even though Lionel Messi has let himself go in celebration, he is not going to let it go. The Argentina captain angrily challenged members of the Dutch side after his confrontation with Louis van Gaal, shouting: “What are you looking at, you idiot? Go on, you fool."
Messi then continued on his own.
"Van Gaal said that they played good football but what he did was put people high and hit long balls," he said. "I was so angry when they equalised, it didn't seem fair," he added later. the referee was like that the whole game.”
Many might dispute that interpretation, especially as Messi was fortunate not to be sent off during Argentina's dramatic win over the Netherlands, and it seemed referee Mateu Lahoz had completely lost control of the game. He was another element that caused him to crackle with an energy and emotion rarely seen even in a World Cup quarter-final. However, what is interesting is how Argentina continues like that. Even Messi, in this mood, cuts a figure we rarely see.
It was all the more surprising as the losing side seemed all too willing to calm him down. The Netherlands could be at a disadvantage but many of their players have been generous with Argentina, and even admire the level they have tried and won at.
They seem to realize that only the World Cup can make that happen.
"This is football," said Memphis Depay in the mixed zone. "You play with heart. It's more than a game.”
"That shows how much they want to win the game," said Nathan Ake in the mixed zone. “We want the same thing. That's where the emotion comes in and the fight comes in. That's only part of it. We understand and I think, after the game, it's all over."
At least that's what the Dutch think.
It's not over for Argentina, because they keep talking about it. Wonders why, especially considering they won. It's impossible not to feel about how they won, and how they lost the lead, but how they got through it again. Argentina seems almost completely driven by a wild emotional momentum. That is at once their greatest strength and real weakness. It forces them through moments of defiance but leaves them vulnerable in moments of doubt, high and low.
How else to explain how they were able to go from challenging challenges and headers in the box to simply hitting it mindlessly? This gives them excellent game winning abilities but means they lack basic game management.
However, this goes far beyond wasting time and littering. It's chaos. Chances are that it will catch up with them at some point. It is also possible that they are always in the front.
It always feels that aggression, manic intensity, is a kind of compensation; the security blanket itself. Sometimes it feels like if they stop thinking about what's going on in a game, they'll lose all momentum; they will realize their fragility.
It can go both ways in a campaign as strong as the World Cup. That could take them on a wave, as happened with Argentina themselves in 2014; or it can lead to destruction, as happened with Brazil in 2014.
The upside is that their semi-final opponents Croatia will not be Germany in 2014. They will be looking to close out the game rather than open up Argentina. That could make it another aggressive match, another game played on the rocks.
Argentina is unlikely to get it any other way. That already marked their way into the semifinals. This article was written by EDUKASI CAMPUS.