‘They are a working-class team’: Wayne Rooney analyses why Lionel Messi-led Argentina can win FIFA World Cup 2022 final

Argentina were in stunning form as they sealed a 3-0 win vs Croatia in their FIFA World Cup 2022 semi-final match, to book a berth in the final, where they face France. Majority of the credit of the victory goes to captain Lionel Messi, who dismantled Croatia with one of the best performances of the tournament. The Argentine genius first put his side ahead with a penalty in the 34th-minute after Julian Alvarez was brought down by the opposition goalkeeper. Then his pass in the 39th-minute to Alvarez, saw the Manchester City attacker scamper forward and surge past the Croatian defence to make it 2-0.

In the second-half, with Croatia looking for a comeback, Messi produced a mesmerising moment in the 69th-minute. Receiving the ball in the middle, Messi danced past Gvardiol on the right with ease, before cutting it back for Alvarez, who slotted from close range to make it 3-0. In doing so, Messi also became the first player to score and assist in three different matches in a single edition of a World Cup since 1966.

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Writing in his Sunday Times column, former England and Manchester United star Wayne Rooney explained why he thinks Argentina could edge past France in the final. Rooney had played against Messi in some occasions, including two UEFA Champions League finals, which Barcelona won.

“They are almost a working-class team, in the sense they’re stubborn, hard to beat, and they’ll fight — fight for Messi, fight to stay in a game knowing that if they do, their captain will win it for them. They are a team of scrappers who just don’t know how to give in”, he wrote.

Comparing Messi to the late Diego Maradona, Rooney added, “He has what Diego Maradona had in terms of the ability to go past players and then execute the full range of skills — pass, shoot, cross — and he has everything in terms of vision. You saw it with the goal he set up for Julián Álvarez against Croatia. As a defender in the situation where Messi took possession you are supposed to show him the outside, and that’s what Josko Gvardiol did — so Messi just went down the line, turned Gvardiol this way and that, then went inside him anyway before producing the perfect cutback for Álvarez to score the third goal.”