Messi matches on but Mikel sees another roadblock

Treadingnews.com

Jun 27, 2018 1:00 PM

On a night where Nigeria had several top quality chances to put away the Argentina burden for good, the Super Eagles failed to take advantage and bid the 2018 FIFA World Cup goodbye in St Petersburg.

After their first meeting in 13 years ago at the FIFA U-20 World Cup, once again Lionel Messi triumphed over John Obi Mikel in circumstances that were at times similar to their encounter in The Netherlands.

Both men exchanged familiar handshakes at the start of the game. One was coming from a victory and had the confidence that his team had their best opportunity to finally cast off their losing streak like a sleeping giant that had dozed for too long. The other both venerated and vilified by his countrymen for failing to rise to the occasion thus far after picking just one point from two matches.

Either way, they both knew that only one of them would be able to continue in the competition and that the other could be playing his final game at the World Cup. They would both be 35 years-old by the next tournament.

It was Messi that took the game by the scruff of the neck early on as he struck home after receiving an Ever Banega pass before beating Kenneth Omeruo for speed and putting it past young goalkeeper Francis Uzoho.

He went on his knees with hands pointed to the sky in appreciation and what looked like great relief as his teammates jumped on him in celebration of the goal. Suddenly, the Argentina belief grew and they could finally see themselves crossing the line.

For Mikel, it was a tough task to rally his team after falling behind to an early goal. The Eagles had become used to having poor first halves in the recent past. This goal meant they needed to react quicker. They survived another scary moment later as a fully stretched Uzoho put the tiniest bit of touch to deflect Messi’s freekick against the upright.  The 19-year-old proved to be a revelation for the Nigeria side in Russia after shutting out Iceland in their 2-0 victory.

Nigeria needed their attackers to contribute to the game but the duo of Ahmed Musa, conqueror of the Vikings in Volgograd, and Kelechi Iheanacho did not find a good connection. The latter striker found himself in some space at one time but failed to make a quick decision until he was dispossessed.

At halftime, Nigeria coach Gernot Rohr sent in Odion Ighalo in place of Iheanacho and injected a bit more pace and power into their attack. They won a corner kick and in the ensuing melee, Javier Mascherano pulled down Leon Balogun for a penalty. As the Argentina crowd whistled and their players heckled, Victor Moses placed the penalty slightly off the middle as goalkeeper Armani Franco dived the other way.

Now 1-1, Mikel and his crew celebrated and could see the possibilities ahead of them.

Should they have gotten a second penalty after Nicolas Otamendi headed the ball against his hand? This would have been the perfect mirror of that 2005 final when Messi won and converted two penalties in the final to leave Nigeria with a second U-20 final defeat. But the referee decided that is was not a foul despite the protests of the Eagles.

Better still, Ighalo’s inability to convert the opportunity handed to him twice meant that the Nigerians failed to bury the game. If they had, Mikel and his crew would be in seventh heaven by now.

The late pressure by the Argentina players meant that the Eagles tired out and in a rare moment of lack of concentration, defender Marcos Rojo swept home a Mercado cross with Moses arriving late to the party.

Another battle between Messi and Mikel ended in a now familiar victory for the Argentines while Nigeria are

left to ask how it all went wrong, again.

It is expected that Mikel will try to lead this young team to qualify for the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations in Cameroon before calling time on his international career. For Messi, his World Cup looked to have finally taken on new life. There could be no greater contrast between both players’ fates.

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