You can pinpoint the moment Messi decided he was going to send Argentina to the World Cup final | OneFootball

Most observers point to one defining moment: Thomas Tuchel withdrawing Anthony Gordon for Ezri Konsa, moving to a back five and inviting relentless Argentina pressure.

Tuchel has been pilloried on social media for the manner of England‘s World Cup elimination, and it’s hard to disagree.

But real ball knowers will tell you Argentina had it wrapped up well before Tuchel’s tactical switch.

Forget the switch to a back five, the lack of counter-attacking outlets, the low block, the passive press, the territory, the field tilt, the momentum graphs, or the rest defence.

All of that pales into insignificance against a little nod of the head from Lionel Messi early on.

In fact, forget the football altogether – there was precious little of it in the opening 45 minutes. This was a pure scrap, completely devoid of goalmouth action but no less absorbing for the needle.

Amidst the many fouls and constant stoppages, Messi and Jude Bellingham had a bit of a tete-a-tete. We’re yet to see any amateur lipreaders attempt to guess what they were discussing, whether in English (probably not) or Spanish, but it doesn’t really matter.

You can see from Bellingham’s smile and body language that he’s enjoying it. Pitting himself against the greatest of all time, revelling in winding him up.

But Bellingham forgets the golden rule of football: Never make Messi angry.

Messi’s expression says it all.

“It’s like that, is it? Right then. OK. Have it your way. Let’s see.”

The moment recalls a great anecdote from Thierry Henry, told in the Take The Ball, Pass The Ball documentary:

“Regardless of the fact that he’s Messi, in training, he wants to win. He’ll get annoyed if he doesn’t get the ball… and angry if he’s fouled. And that tells you a lot about a champion like him.

“In training, if the boss doesn’t call a foul or whatever, he used to go and ask, ‘It’s not a foul? OK.’

“He used to go and get the ball, run past everyone, score.

“Now you get the ball, you try to go, he runs after you, gets the ball back, scores, until he gets in a normal state again and he relaxes.

“Next thing you know you’re 3-1 down.”

Messi actually had a relatively quiet first half, by his own exceptional standards. He miscontrolled the ball three times, although he still mustered one exceptional mazy dribble to evade two challenges, eventually get sandwiched, and draw a booking for Elliot Anderson.

But he grew into it, completed nine(!) dribbles in the end. Six of those dribbles came after Gordon’s opener, five more than every other player on the pitch combined.

The eight-time Ballon d’Or winner also claimed the assists for both goals as Argentina came from behind to win 2-1, including a superb cross for Lautaro Martinez’s injury-time winner.

Messi was always going to have a decisive impact on the match. It was written from the moment Bellingham p*ssed him off.