Argentina beat Nigeria 2-1 in the final World Cup Group D game in what was a tense encounter at the St Petersburg Stadium on Tuesday night. The result sees them qualify for the knockout stages in second place in the group behind Croatia. Lionel Messi opened the scoring in the first half before Victor Moses converted a penalty in the second half to equalise. At this stage, Nigeria were going through while Argentina were going home but Marcos Rojo popped up in the box to score the winner in the 86th minute to eliminate the African side.
1 Contrasting formations make for an intriguing tactical battle
As soon as the lineups were announced, there must have been a collective sigh of relief when Argentina fans saw the teamsheet. Jorge Sampaoli had decided to scrap the three-man defence and had opted to go back to a back-four.
Nicolas Otamendi and Marcos Rojo started at centre-back in a 4-3-3 with Javier Mascherano, Ever Banega and Enzo Perez in midfield. Gonzalo Higuain started up front with Lionel Messi and Angel Di Maria on either side.
2 Lionel Messi is finally liberated
The change in formation worked almost immediately with Gonzalo Higuain dropping deep to attract the central defenders, allowing Messi to make the run and score a fantastic goal in the 14th minute from an equally delightful Ever Banega lob over the defence.
He stayed onside, made a perfect run, controlled the ball (as it comes in from behind him) first with his left thigh and then with his left foot before firing it home with his right foot.
3 Nigeria play without a clear game plan… Until the penalty
Nigeria looked promising in the early stages of the match with a couple of forays forward when they sniffed a chance. Iheanacho and Musa always looked to get forward while Oghenekaro Etebo even managed to get a couple of shots off.
But Messi’s goal seemed to deflate them and they suddenly looked nervy in possession. Even when Javier Mascherano lost the ball in a deep position, they failed to take advantage, hanging on to the ball for too long and allowing the Argentine midfielder to make the tackle and make up for his error.
4 Ever Banega’s creativity shows what Argentina missed
One look at the Argentina squad and two things are apparent in La Albiceleste‘s attack. They are top-heavy and Ever Banega was their best midfielder. And yet, he did not start the first two games.
This time, Banega started the game and he was dominating the game in midfield. The Nigerians had no answer to his movement and passing and he threatened to open them up time and again.