24 Year Drought... Don't Make It 28

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The 24 year drought is over for Argentina! They have made it into the semi-finals ! Now they believe they can win. Things started off rather quickly, with Messi dragging two defenders towards him, laying it off to Di Maria, his deflected pass falling to Higuain, who smashed it past Courtois on the half-volley. From then on Argentina played it smart, letting Belgium have possession, defending magisterially  whenever  they got into dangerous areas. On the counter- attack, they wouldn't blaze forward like they normally would, rather slowing the game down and save their energy for the next round.

However, things soured for Argentina, as Messi played a brilliant pass into Di Maria, who was one on one versus Kompany. Di Maria cut in, and took a shot, which was deflected. However as he took the shot, he hurt his quadriceps, and as he limped off, the whole nation sent prayers to the heavens that he would be fit for the semi-final with the Netherlands . However, if rumors are true, Di Maria will miss the remainder of the World Cup. The rest of the game was played out by Argentina, trying to gain as many fouls as possible in the last 20 minutes or so.

They now face Netherlands, a team that edged out Costa Rica in their quarterfinal match on penalties. Argentina are one step away, a feat which they haven't achieved since 1990. They will have to play really well against the Netherlands, but I believe that Argentina can win.

This match also happened to have Lionel  Messi showing shades of Maradona.


See the similarity? They are both against Belgium in the knockout stages, they both dragged half the team towards them, and they both went past them all. In the image, Maradona looks more impressive, but Messi's picture doesn't tell the whole story. It doesn't show Messi's amazing chest control before the move, and Maradona's doesn't show that the Belgian defense was set up for a free kick. Nevertheless, both went past all the defenders and showed a huge similarity. Last time Maradona faced Belgium, he won the World Cup. Last time Maradona played a full World Cup and made it into the semi-finals, he won the World Cup. Messi has done both of these things.

It is almost like it is written in the stars.

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