“There’s no pressure,” Lautaro Martínez said, but no one was buying that. Dozens of cameras pointed his way and the question had been direct. Sure, it started, this team lifted Argentina’s first trophy in 28 years, winning the Copa América at the Maracanã, but go out of the tournament on Saturday night and it would be the worst catastrophe in World Cup history. Had they discussed that, his interrogator wanted to know. “No, no, that’s not been talked about,” the striker replied, and why would they? It’s the kind of thought probably best kept to yourself.
Which doesn’t make it go away. It’s some statement – the worst catastrophe in their World Cup history – and it may sound absurd, as well as still being avoidable of course, but it may not be so far off. Just framing it like that said something of the fear; what’s at stake. Since they won their first title in 1978, Argentina have been knocked out of the group stage once in 11 World Cups. That was in 2002, when they finished below England and Sweden. Now they have lost to Saudi Arabia, falling a single step away from a joint-record 37th game unbeaten. Mexico, their opponents on Saturday, and Poland do not offer an easy way out.
Little wonder so much of the focus was on Argentina’s emotional state, their capacity to get up again. “The sun will come up tomorrow,” is the message Argentina’s coach, Lionel Scaloni, has repeated to his players often over the past four years. An attempt to release the pressure, to see them through the traumas they had been through, the failure four years ago – losing in the last 16 – and inspired among other things by his experience at West Ham, it is a message that will be tested now, taking on ever greater significance.
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Significance is the word too: elimination is bad enough but there is more. This is a last chance at the tournament that is a last chance for Lionel Messi, made more profound by many of the men who have won the World Cup – Mario Kempes, Ricardo Villa, Jorge Burruchaga and Jorge Valdano among them – gathering in Doha on the second anniversary of Diego Maradona’s death.
Mexico’s Argentinian coach, Tata Martino, described Maradona’s absence as a “permanent sadness”. “This afternoon our thoughts turned to him,” he said. “We all know exactly where we were when it happened.” It is not just that Martino is Argentinian. He was there when Scaloni, aged 16, reached the first team at Newell’s Old Boys.
“I would be telling you a big lie if I said I remembered him,” Martino said; Scaloni though does remember it. Martino, he says, is an idol for Newell’s fans such as him. Such as Messi’s father, Jorge, too. Martino was also Messi’s manager at Barcelona, referring to him here as “the best player there has been … for the last 15 years at least”.
Those layers ensured that Martino was asked here how he would feel about knocking out his country, about bringing Messi’s last World Cup to a premature, sad end. In asking, responsibility was loaded on to Martino, as if football would not forgive him, let alone his country. “And if you were me, what would you do?” he replied. “I know where I was born, I can tell you which hospital I was born in, what my town is like, but I work for Mexico and I have to do everything I can for Mexico to win.”
There had already been a moment in the news conference when he said: “I don’t think our needs are so different.” It was a timely reminder, if probably offered in vain. All the attention has inevitably turned on Argentina but Mexico, having drawn with Poland in their first game, probably need to win too. “I put it in a footballing context and I am not unaware of the importance of this game for Mexico and Argentina, that the future of both depends on what happens tomorrow. When we were drawn in the group with them, we never imagined a scenario like this.”
No one did. In truth, few contemplate this scenario from a Mexican perspective and their position is not so dramatic: neither the expectations nor the potential impact are as great and, fundamentally, a defeat would not end it yet. They do not stand on the edge like Argentina. The key now is to not look down and not look back either.
“We had our mourning; now we’re thinking solely about Mexico,” Martínez said. “We believe in our work, we trust in that, in the coaching staff and ourselves. We’re very calm. I am convinced that we’ll go out and represent Argentina like we should.”
Despite the defeat, there has been support – earned during these past four years where Scaloni’s side have gone from failure to Copa América winners, finalissima champions against Italy, unbeaten in 36 games and among the favourites coming into Qatar. There has been a shift in ideas, in environment. Messi said he had never enjoyed the national team like this. It has been three years since they lost, a strength built that must now withstand a new scenario. Doubts, though, are inevitable. The pressure is too.
“This group stands out for its unity and strength; this is the moment to show we are genuinely strong,” Messi said after the Saudi Arabia game. “It has been a long time since we found ourselves in a situation like this, where we were obliged [to win].” Scaloni admitted there were some doubts about his team: the injury of Gio Lo Celso, a player he considered irreplaceable, meant they were already there. But he insisted the overall style – that evolved from a counterattacking game to one in which they sought possession and control, to “good feet”, as he called it – would not change.
He also insisted Messi would be fit, saying: “I don’t know where the story that he didn’t train yesterday came from: there are even pictures.” The focus though was more psychological than technical. “The first blow is a shock, but it’s how you get up,” Scaloni said. “There’s no other option. You have to be ready for the fall. It was all the colour of roses, everything was happiness. It can happen, it’s football. The weird thing would have been for a run of 30 games or more to keep going on. We’ll play for our lives, as if it was the last game, and then what has to happen will happen – which I hope is to win the game.”
Asked what was in play, Scaloni replied: “A football match, with all the responsibility that brings, knowing we have a whole country behind us.” He added: “We will give everything, every last bead of sweat, to turn this around. I would like people to know what this group has given and will continue to give the people. We’re fine: we know that we have an important game tomorrow. Luckily, it depends on us. One trip cannot in any way damage the path we have travelled.
“Today is a sad day for all of us and we hope that tomorrow we can make Diego happy, looking down on us from heaven. It still doesn’t seem real that he’s not here and we want to win and dedicate it to him.”