The clock was ticking towards 1am local time at Lusail Stadium when Argentina’s vast hordes of support burst into their second round of wild celebrations as a chaotic, dramatic and sometimes unsavoury World Cup quarter-final against the Netherlands was finally won.
Argentina’s sense of destiny here in Qatar is acquiring several layers, the first being that Lionel Messi is on a mission to win the one elite trophy that has always eluded his grasp.
And it was sharpened before the game when the songs that have provided the soundtrack to Argentina’s World Cup campaign filled the surroundings of this futuristic arena as Brazil, those bitter historic rivals, went out on penalties to Croatia.
Argentina’s players and fans celebrated twice, they also effectively had to win this quarter-final twice, squandering a 2-0 lead in the 11th minute of stoppage time before prevailing 4-3 on penalties to meet the World Cup’s very own mentality monsters of Croatia in the semi-final on Tuesday.
The Argentine masses who made up the vast majority of the 88,235 crowd, providing a wall of sound and a splash of colour, were silenced momentarily when the unlikely figure of Wout Weghorst, on loan at Besiktas from Burnley and on as a substitute, scored two late goals to send the game into extra time.
It came as a huge shock to Argentina’s system after 35-year-old Messi, in what is surely his last World Cup, looked to be inspiring them into the semi-finals with something to spare after brilliantly creating Nahuel Molina’s opener before the break, then making it 2-0 from the spot in the 73rd minute.
Aston Villa’s keeper Emi Martinez was Argentina’s hero in the penalties, saving the first two Netherlands spot-kicks from Virgil van Dijk and Steven Berghuis as the eventual victory margin was 4-3.
