It was barely past 9am and Argentinians everywhere were emerging from being glued to their TV screens, squinting into the bright morning sun, many wondering out loud if they had just woken up from a nightmare. In fact, it was their dream of winning the World Cup that had just been given a merciless reality check.
“We lost the match because of our own mistakes, especially in the second half,” a visibly shaken but remarkably composed Lautaro Martínez told the cameras pitch-side immediately after the final whistle.
