Listen, mortals, the sacred cry. Freedom, freedom, freedom. Suddenly, there it was, there he was, and it was all let out. In a moment, a flash of that left boot, Lionel Messi was liberated and so were they, released with a single shot. All around this place, thousands of Argentinians absolutely lost it. Below them, so did Argentina’s captain, clinging hard to his last chance. He wasn’t going to let this end yet. Not just this game, not just this World Cup, but all of it.
It was too early for that, even as it started to feel late at Lusail, time slipping away. Perhaps the greatest career football has ever seen was drawing to a close, and like that. Quietly, sadly, no last dance, a failure to finish. Argentina knew that they needed to beat Mexico to continue and at times it felt like football needed them to win too, but an hour had gone and nothing had happened until it happened. The response, the bloody roar, felt like the world had willed it.
