AMONG Barcelona and Argentina supporters, a new word had quietly entered the mainstream over the last 15 years.
Messidependencia.
Coined during his time at Barcelona in La Liga, it highlighted how much the Catalan Club had become a one-man team. An overreliance on Messi. Messi and vibes. Maximum Messi.
After he left for PSG, it lived on thanks to Argentines who had adopted that word and tattooed it on their foreheads. The problem was that even their players started believing in it. Give it to Messi and watch him. Need a goal? Give it to him. Need somebody to come up with a moment of magic? Pass it to him? Down and out? Messi will find a way. Not much time remaining? Messi needs only a moment.
Against Switzerland in Kansas on Saturday night, Messi tried to be that guy. For over 110 minutes, he kept trying. It was so desperate he even started receiving passes off his centre-backs inside his own half. Nothing, though, seemed to break down the red wall in front of him.
Playing with 10 men since Breel Embolo's red card, Switzerland, organised and known for defensive discipline when playing with 11, had shut the door and buried the key. The 39-year-old, who had 101 touches off the ball, was so far away from the zone of influence he only had four inside the opposition box during the game.
This, then, had to be a night for one of the support cast.
And the most likely person stepped up. Julian Alvarez. As always, the move had started with Messi firing one at Gregor Kobel's goal from outside the box, but it was parried comfortably. When it was time to recycle possession, Jose Lopez, on the pitch for only two minutes, deviated from the script. He passed it to Alvarez, who had stationed himself away from goal left of centre.
The pass wasn't to feet, so the attacker had to re-adjust. But as soon as the Atletico Madrid forward took a touch with his right foot, two things happened simultaneously. Because he had a running start, he knew he could generate momentum if he had a crack at goal. Because the opposition was prioritising shape and structure over closing down, the over half-a-dozen Swiss defenders inside the box were happy for Alvarez to shoot. Remarkably, it was Argentina's only 11th shot on goal from open play in the entire game (a measure of how well Switzerland had cut the supply and won the battle in midfield).
But when it comes to players like Alvarez, a forward capable of moments of genius, all it takes is a second to change the entire complexion of the game. That running momentum and one touch to set himself was one of the few times an attacker in sky blue had found some space all game. Alvarez didn't need a second invitation to have a shot.
It came to pass as his shot from outside the box — travelling at over 80 kph according to FIFA's in-game graphics — hit the top corner on the inside. Kobel and his troops looked behind them in the hope that the ball would fly over, but they knew that the game was finally up. A heroic watch to drag this game to extra-time and, perhaps, penalties, had ended agonisingly.
As soon as the ball hit the net, the Argentina bench emptied as all of Alvarez's colleagues wanted a piece of him. He dodged a few of them, but on this night of nights, the 26-year-old was soon mobbed. Lautaro Martinez added a third on the break, but Saturday night belonged to the man long identified as Messi's successor in terms of inspiring the albiceleste.
At the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, the forward's energetic pressing, eye for goal and willingness to work had unshackled Messi. In the process, the man who was schooled by Pep Guardiola's Man City also profited; his four goals lifting Messi's burden. When the team had assembled in the US last month, it was expected that Alvarez would assume the lead role. However, he had picked up an ankle issue in May, just before the end of the European club season. The three-time champions will hope that he's ready and raring for the final two acts.
Even before the game finished, an unmistakable Argentina song from the terraces echoed around the Stadium. 'El que no salta es Ingles'. He who doesn't jump is an Englishman. On Wednesday afternoon in Atlanta, one of the competition's greatest and grandest fixtures, filled with history, animosity, rivalry and controversy, will play itself out.
