A combative right back felled Aguero on the left.
Lionel Messi curled the ball to the far post. The free-kick brushed Aguero’s
head and descended to the left back’s feet and went past a desperately diving
goalkeeper for the most unfortunate goal of the games so far.
Argentina were duly unsettled by the pressure of the
settled European side who did well to look past the unlucky goal. They started
to depend on counter attacks and long-range shots as they failed to pick up the
second ball outside the penalty area. Despite the compact, composed and
concentrated defensive behaviour, they were too slow in attack.
Messi tried too hard and easily gave away the ball,
sometimes in dangerous areas as the defence doubled and sometimes tripled on
him. Bosnia seemed to enjoy the experience, showing no fear or respect for the
former champions. They closed all entry to their penalty area and kept Aguero
under lock and key. They grew careless towards half time as the decision-making
became poor in the final third. Few men were committed to attacking duties at
that point.
For an experienced side, Argentina began to be
sloppy and there were too many loose balls in midfield. Play became scrappier
as the minnows were guilty of losing concentration in attack, with too many
stray passes in midfield. The quality of their final ball was masked by a few
corner-kicks later in the half. Six players stayed on or before the penalty
spot and rushed to attack the ball as soon as it was in flight.
The beginning of the second half saw a panicking
Argentinian defence as the novices turned on the screw. They pressed up field just
outside the 18-yard area as they got committed to winning the ball early near
the Argentinian goal. They squandered a few fair chances. The forays upfront triggered
a reaction and spurred the South American attack.
The big moment came when the ball was won on the
right of the midfield where a short dance took place. Captain Messi took off in
full flight and exchanged passes at the D area with Higuin, waltzed past a few
challenges, keeping his balance and composure, and curled a low hard drive
around the sprawling goalkeeper. The ball hit the left upright and rolled
across over the line for a memorable goal by the Barcelona maestro. Henceforth,
Messi and company stamped their authority in the match and starte to dictate
the terms of operation with ease.
Bosnia still had some fight left and they refused to
throw in the towel. Their efforts drew a few fantastic saves from Romero, each
attack encouraging the next. Their rear became exposed badly as Messi produced
several trademark runs from midfield into the attacking third. Di Maria and
Aguero were a little extravagant as they wasted a few chances to stretch the
lead.
Bosnia Herzogovina were to be rewarded with their
maiden goal when they won the ball on their left, threaded a weighted pass into
the penalty area for Ibisevic to run to and drive it between Romero’s legs
which reduced its pace but the ball agonising trickled past the goal line for a
memorable goal.
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