THERE was an air of expectation around Nizhny Novgorod that this will be Lionel Messi’s night. Argentina fans had packed the venue, making it a cauldron of noise for their match against Croatia. They had sung all the way from the train station to the Nizhny Novgorod Stadium hoping that Messi and Argentina will kick-start their World Cup campaign in Russia.

Argentina’s 1-1 draw in their Group ‘D’ opener against Iceland hadn’t dampened their spirits.

At the end, though, all that noise, that enthusiasm was gone; their hopes of seeing Messi lift the World Cup trophy went down drastically. Instead it was a section of Croatian fans whose voice echoed around the stadium. Even if they win their last match against Nigeria, it wouldn’t be enough for Argentina.

On a night when Messi failed to turn up, a massive howler by goalkeeper Willy Caballero early in the second half potentially sealed Argentina’s fate. A sensational solo goal from Luka Modric and another from Ivan Rakitic saw Croatia stun Argentina 3-0 and seal their place in the last-16.

Messi and Argentina now need to rely on other results to go through. This was a debilitating, humiliating defeat for Argentina. How they recover from this remains to be seen.

Jorge Sampaoli had rung the changes following the Iceland stalemate and Argentina were set up to press Croatia high. But the lack of quality players at the back meant they would’ve been exposed on the counter and they were in the fifth minute; goalkeeper Willy Caballero’s fingertip save denying Ivan Perisic from opening the scoring after the Croat winger was given both space and time to run in from the left.

On the other end, Sampaoli’s high press was working. Argentina were nicking the ball off Croatia, who had won 2-0 against Nigeria in their opening match, in good spaces. Messi almost had his moment 12 minutes in, his outstretched leg missing a delightful lob from Enzo Perez by inches. A minute later, Croatian Dejan Lovren had to be alert to block Eduardo Salvio’s shot after Argentina had opened up Croatia again.

The opening exchanges had set the tone for a open contest. Croatia’s midfield trio of Luka Modric, Ivan Rakitic and Marcelo Brozovic began exerting control. Croatia’s buildup was neat, Argentina were still looking for Messi to do something but Sampaoli would’ve been encouraged to see that Salvio, Marcos Acuna and Maximiliano Meza were taking some burden off Messi with some incisive running.

An attack from the left almost saw them take the lead on the half hour mark. Croatia’s defence was all over the place when Salvio cut the ball back for Perez.

With the goal at his mercy, Croatian goalkeeper Daniel Subasic not even in his line of sight, he shot wide.

It was a chance that stung Croatia into action and two minutes later, Sime Vrsaljko curled in a tantalising cross at the far post for Mario Mandzukic, who headed wide with just Caballero to beat.

It was such an absorbing encounter that even halftime couldn’t break the tempo.

Published in Dawn, June 22nd, 2018