Thursday, 28 June 2018

‘It was win or die’: Argentina savour their great World Cup escape

Relief was the overriding emotion in the Argentina camp after the dramatic win over Nigeria ended a week of torment and set up a last-16 match with France

Javier Mascherano was bloodied but not beaten, the last to depart the stadium in St Petersburg where outside it would soon be getting light, a plaster over the cut on the side of his head. “You have to know how to suffer,” he said. He had suffered, all right; they all had.

Lionel Messi admitted he had never experienced anything like it – for the moment, what was at stake, everything Argentina had been through since the disastrous defeat by Croatia, the dramatic days they had lived. Asked if he had ever suffered so much, Jorge Sampaoli, the manager, simply said: “No.” But at the end Marcos Rojo appeared and scored the goal against Nigeria that took them through. “As if it was written,” in Gonzalo Higuaín’s words.

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from Football | The Guardian https://ift.tt/2yM6SeX

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