Aziz Behich had fire in his eyes and a protest on his lips, remonstrating as if he hadn’t just needlessly upended Papu Gomez. The referee was hearing none of it – emotion gets you nowhere on this stage. The left-back had done it simply because he was pissed off, rankled by a shoulder charge from Lionel Messi that was every bit as legitimate as his subsequent move was not.
World Cup matches are decided by moments. By the angled head of Mitchell Duke and the cut inside of Mat Leckie. By a free-kick for Messi near the corner flag. And it had to be him. History will show tonight was all about Messi. About his 1,000th match and his first goal in the knockout stages of a World Cup. If Argentina go on to win the thing, Australia will be nothing more than a step in the right direction.
