Leo Messi and Javier Mascherano\u2019s Argentina kicked off their World Cup bid this Sunday evening at the legendary Maracan\u00e3, against Bosnia Herzegovina. The Argentinians, with the two FC Barcelona players in the starting line-up, secured the three points thanks to an own goal from Kolasinac and a brilliant strike from Messi (2-1).<\/p>\n
Manager Alejandro Sabella surprised when he sent his team out in a 5-3-2 formation. Despite the ostensibly defensive approach, Argentina took the early lead. Leo Messi executed a free kick close to Bosnia Herzegovina\u2019s area and Marcos Rojo managed to connect with the cross. The ball was sent it into the path of Kolasinac who mistakenly knocked it into the back of his own net. The goal was scored on minute 2, fastest own goal in World Cup history. <\/p>\n
Bosnia Herzegovina, a team that averaged three goals per game during qualifiers, reacted immediately. Even though chances were sparse, the likes of Dzeko, Pjanic, and Lulic threatened\u00a0 Romero\u2019s goal on more than one occasion. Argentina\u2019s defence stood strong, however, and the teams went to the break with 1-0 on the scoreboard.<\/p>\n
Majestic Messi<\/p>\n
Sabella returned to his preferred formation in the second half with the additions of Gonzalo Higua\u00edn and Fernando Gago. The Boca Juniors player brought fluidity to Argentina\u2019s midfield and a regular supply of forward passes for Messi, Ag\u00fcero, Di Mar\u00eda and Higua\u00edn. Bosnia Herzegovina were undeterred, however, and continued to threaten an equaliser. <\/p>\n
But on the 65th minute, the Albiceleste doubled their lead. Messi, after beating two defenders, brilliantly rifled the ball into the back of the net from outside the area. With Argentina\u2019s lead doubled, the Europeans desperately tired to claw their way back into the match and they were rewarded for their efforts five minutes from full time. Ibisevic ran on to a through ball and beat Romero with a subtle shot that saw the ball squeak through the keeper\u2019s legs. <\/p>\n
Both teams enjoyed chances in the final five minutes, but more goals weren\u2019t on the cards. Argentina secured the three points thanks to Leo Messi\u2019s winner.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Leo Messi and Javier Mascherano\u2019s Argentina kicked off their World Cup bid this Sunday evening at the legendar<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2810669,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[785161],"tags":[133793,96667,23370],"class_list":{"0":"post-2810668","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-argentina","8":"tag-argentina","9":"tag-text","10":"tag-23370"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/wakoka.com\/@news\/116380643448156892","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wacoca.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2810668","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wacoca.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wacoca.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wacoca.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wacoca.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2810668"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.wacoca.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2810668\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wacoca.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2810669"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wacoca.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2810668"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wacoca.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2810668"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wacoca.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2810668"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}