Messi is Messi and there’s not much you can do about that

Football can be a heartbreaking game. During its game against Argentina on Saturday, Iran defended superbly, frustrating Argentina and even threatening to snatch an unexpected winner when, in the first minute of injury time, Lionel Messi received the ball 25 yards out, just to the right of goal. He took one touch to his left, creating space to bend the ball around Reza Ghoochannejhad, then bent an inch-perfect shot around the dive of Alireza Haghighi and just inside the post. It was a brilliant goal, delivered at the perfect moment—and a hint that this might just be Messi’s World Cup.

It was desperately cruel on Iran, who had defended magnificently and had looked set for their second successive clean sheet. For long spells, Argentina had been frustrated, running into the twin red wall again and again. They looked bereft of ideas and devoid of imagination; it had begun to seem they would never score. But sometimes genius cannot be confined. Iran could have done no more. If they can add a little more attacking thrust, there is no reason they should not consider the possibility of beating Bosnia and perhaps making it to the last 16.

Having successfully thwarted Nigeria, Iran made just one change for their second group game, Khosro Heydari being omitted for Masou Shojaei. The shape essentially remaining the same, Shojaei taking Heydari’s place on the right in a 4-4-1-1 in possession and a 4-1-4-1 out of it. The other slight chance was Ashkan Dejagah moving to the left with Ehsan Hajsafi shifting into the center. The approach was similar as well: deny the opposition space between the lines and look to squeeze the life out of the match.

In the first half, Iran completed just 53 passes—fewer than any team in the World Cup since records first began to be compiled in1966, and fewer than Javier Mascherano. At one time, such an approach would have been frowned up, but modern football has become reconciled to teams playing without possession. In his controversial biography, Diego Torres explained the code Jose Mourinho came up with at Real Madrid for handling games against high-class teams, particularly away from home: “1. The game is won by the team who commits fewer errors. 2. Football favors whoever provokes more errors in the opposition. 3. Away from home, instead of trying to be superior to the opposition, it’s better to encourage their mistakes. 4. Whoever has the ball is more likely to make a mistake. 5. Whoever renounces possession reduces the possibility of making a mistake. 6. Whoever has the ball has fear. 7. Whoever does not have it is thereby stronger.”

That was Iran’s approach: keep it right and wait for the error to come. The first real chance came after 21 minutes, Gonzalo Higuain laying the ball off for Sergio Aguero, whose effort curled just wide. Even that, though, could hardly be described as a failure of the Iranian system: everybody was tight to their man and the Argentinians were forced to work in constricted spaces. No defensive approach can ever hope to shut out the opposition, particularly opposition as gifted as Argentina, entirely: all a defending team can do is look to restrict their opponents as much as possible, minimizing the number of chances conceded.

Iran did that well. They were fortunate, perhaps, that Higuain and Angel Di Maria took heavy touches when seemingly well-placed, but to an extent such things are self-perpetuating. Deny the opponent space and time and when a chance does occur, he’s more likely to be anxious and snatch at it.

Marcos Rojo and Federico Fernandez both went close with headers from corners in the first half and, as Argentina lost their heads in the second, a set-play seemed their most likely source of a goal. Frustrated, Argentina began to lose a little defensive discipline and Iran had chances. From a cross from the right from Pejman Montazeri, Ghoochannejhad’s header forced Sergio Romero into an uncomfortable scrambling save, while Iran probably should have had a penalty as Dejagah was bundled over by Zabaleta. A couple of corners provoked chaos. Another Montazeri cross found Dejagah, whose header was brilliantly tipped over by Romero. And with four minutes to go, Ghoochannejhad got in behind the Argentinian defence, only for his effort to be saved diving to his left by Romero. At that point, it was fair to say that Romero had been Argentina’s best player, even if Iran had only had 23 percent of possession.

Argentina had abandoned the 5-3-2 they used in their opening game against Bosnia-Herzegovina, turning instead to the 4-3-3 they used in the second half of that game and that they had used through qualifying.  The idea is that it provides a solid base of seven players, with Di Maria breaking forward to link midfield and attack, with Sergio Aguero and Higuain pulling wide to generate space for Lionel Messi, moving from deep. It was that dynamic that brought Argentina their second goal against Bosnia, and it did create one decent chance just after the hour; on this occasion, though, Messi arced his shot just wide. That, perhaps, was a warning, although it would be half an hour before it came to anything.

When a second chance came his way, Messi didn’t miss. Was there anything more Iran could have done to close him down? Perhaps Ghoochannejhad could have got slightly tighter, but to blame him would be absurd after what had been generally an almost immaculate defensive display. The replay showed just how precise Messi’s shot had been, how small the gap that took it to Ghoochannejhad’s right, past Mehrdad Pooladi and beyond the arms of Haghighi and inside the post.

There are times when genius simply has to be admired, when it trumps even the strictest defensive organization, and this was one of them. Iran was superb, disciplined and resilient while still offering, in the second half, an attacking threat. But Messi is Messi and there’s not much you can do about that.