A Wee Bit Messi - But, They Won

LIONEL Messi has had a tough season. Barcelona are apparently on the wane, all the kickings he has endured over the years are beginning to take their toll, and he missed a chunk of last season through injury.

 

He needs, therefore, a good World Cup; he has to inspire Argentina in a manner which no player has managed since the implosion of Diego Maradona. Messi, like El Diego, is a very-special player, but, it might be argued, he is not surrounded with the quality of lesser player who supported Maradona.

 

Certainly, the likes of Aguero and Macherano are still fine players, but, particularly at the back, Argentina are not what they were and Messi is being asked to operate from a place of relative weakness, when compared to the hand with which Maradon had to play.

 

So, given the pressure he was under, the wee magician, I feel, put on a good show last night. OK, as ever, his performance was a wee bit over-rated by the TV critics; he was well-handled by the Bosnians, but, in a genuine show of class, he scored with the best, maybe the only, chance he got, and, having previously weighed-in with an assist for the opener, his was a good captain's performance.

 

But, the rest of the men in blue and white stripes, will have to get closer to their skipper's standards, if they are to figure at the sharp end of the tournament.

 

 

 

THE other big talking-point from Sunday's games was the French goal, the first in World Cup history, to be awarded by the new goal-line technology. Maybe, if FIFA had explained pre-tournament, how the technology would work when it came to public consumption, the kerfuffle between the referee getting the "goal" signal and awarding the strike, might have been averted. Hopefully, they will get it more-correct the next time.

 

A mention too, for the Brazilian referee in the France v Honduras match. I refer to his great good sense in booking Pogba and his Honduran sparring partner after their coming together in the first half.

 

A lot of referees would, perhaps, have booked the Honduran, then sent-off the Frenchman for his retaliation, but, Senor Ricci used his common sense to book both and calm things down. Sadly, the Honduran defender didn't learn, had another go at the big Juventus man, conceded a penalty and copped a second yellow and then a red card - silly boy.

 

I hoped, in vain, that wee Neil Lennon would chip in when it came to discussing Izzy's yellow card. After all, had he commited that foul in a Celtic strip, in a SPFL game, he would, had he been unlucky, sustained, at worse, a stern talking-to.

 

 

 

MIND you, the refereeing decision of the night was the sadvantage which the referee allowed for Switzerland to score that late, late, winner. Very good officiating indeed.