Rodriguez screamer seals thriller
Rodriguez screamer seals thriller
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Saturday, 24, Jun 2006 10:55
A wonder goal from Maxi Rodriguez sealed an extra-time 2-1 win for Argentina over Mexico, after Jared Borgetti's own goal had put the South Americans back in it despite conceding an early goal to Rafael Marquez.
It took one of the World Cup's best ever goals to seal one of its most exciting games, with Maxi Rodriguez volleying from an impossible angle in the 10th minute of extra-time as Mexican hearts were broken after a thrilling 120 minutes of attacking football.
Both Jose Pekerman and Mexico's Argentine-born Ricardo La Volpe made changes to their teams that played the final group games, with strike duo Hernan Crespo and Javier Saviola returning for the South Americans, while Borgetti successfully shook off the injury that kept him out of the final two matches.
Despite Argentina being the clear favourites prior to the game, Mexico started playing as if their lives depended on it, denying their South American rivals the time and space on the ball so gratefully ceded to them by Serbia and Montenegro earlier in the tournament.
The frantic start hinted at an early goal and within five minutes the Mexicans were ahead, as inspirational captain Rafael Marquez poked a right-wing free-kick from Pavel Pardo past Roberto Abbondanzieri after slipping away from his marker Gabriel Heinze.
But just as it appeared that that Argentina were unable to deal with Mexico's constant pressing, Pekerman's men equalised within five minutes, Borgetti unfortunately heading in at the wrong end under pressure from Hernan Crespo following a Juan Roman Riquelme corner.
The game's relentless pace could not last but the excitement remained consistent as Roberto Ayala was forced to make a last-ditch tackle as Borgetti wriggled free in the area.
Mexico looked an entirely revitalised team after failing to beat Angola and Portugal in their group games, but Argentina still threatened them with some trademark crystal clear passing, Crespo unlucky to be ruled offside after being set free by a decisive through ball from Esteban Cambiasso.
The Chelsea striker was put through on goal shortly after from a pass by the same player, but he lifted the ball wide of Osvaldo Sanchez's goal.
Argentina were lucky to go in with 11 men at half-time as the rusty-looking Heinze inexplicably failed to control a routine pass from Abbondanzieri, crudely hauling down Francisco Fonseca as the forward raced into the space beyond him.
But surprisingly the Swiss referee only issued a yellow card despite the Manchester United man appearing to be the last defender.
The second-half could not quite match the heights of the first, but Mexico continued their assault on the Argentine goal, with Borgetti seemingly on the end of every move they could dig out.
Just as the Bolton forward appeared to have created some space in the Argentine box however, captain Juan Pablo Sorin managed to do enough to put him off.
Riquelme, so often Argentina's attacking lynchpin, had had a quiet game up to this point, but as the minutes wore on he became increasingly influential, although Mexico's well-organised rearguard, including the defiant Ricardo Osorio, were proving a tough-nut to crack.
With an energy-sapping 30 minutes of extra-time and the dreaded penalty shootout approaching, both coaches went for the win, with Pekerman able to replace the tiring Crespo and Javier Saviola with wonderkids Carlos Tevez and Lionel Messi.
Even as the Mexicans appeared to be shading the closing stages the Argentines were denied what appeared to be a perfectly legitimate goal by the linesman's flag, despite neither substitute Pablo Aimar or Messi, who had put the ball in the back of the net, appearing offside.
When the final whistle blew with the scores still level there was very little that was final about it, with La Volpe and Pekerman both having made their three changes, whoever was going to win this was going to have to dig deep.
To their credit both sides went for the one goal that would probably be enough for a place in the quarter-finals, and it came ten minutes into the first period – and was yet another contender for goal of the tournament.
Maxi Rodriguez, whose two goals against Serbia and Montenegro had been all about poaching instincts, brought a diagonal ball down on his chest on the right-hand side of the area and volleyed an unstoppable shot into the top left-corner.
The goal shocked Mexico to the core, and despite heroics in defence and in attack from Osorio, they never looked like getting the goal they needed.
Argentina continued to threaten, with the linkup play between Messi and Tevez simply breathtaking at times.
When the absolute final whistle went the South Americans managed to high their exhaustion and celebrate as if they had won the final itself. But although they had been victorious, equal plaudits must go to the Mexicans, whose cavalier approach was not only easy on the eye, but matched with defensive resilience as well.
La Volpe can feel hard-done by in meeting his native Argentina so early in the knockout stages, as on tonight's evidence, his side could have gone further.
But despite taking part in what was probably the game of the tournament so far, the result is all that matters to the Albiceleste, and the new favourites to win the World Cup will now look forward to next Friday's quarter-final against Germany.