THE QUARTERFINAL BETWEEN MESSI AND THE NETHERLANDS WILL FOCUS ON HIS WORLD CUP AMBITIONS

THE QUARTERFINAL BETWEEN MESSI AND THE NETHERLANDS WILL FOCUS ON HIS WORLD CUP AMBITIONS

By Rashmi Goel

Argentina's hopes of reaching the final of the World Cup will be tested by the tactical scheming of veteran coach Louis van Gaal as Argentina take on the Netherlands in the quarterfinal on Friday (Dec 9) in Lusail. The 35-year-old Messi, one of Argentina's most prolific players, will look to crown an extraordinary career that has seen him win seven Ballon d'Or awards, as well as multiple club titles, but only one Copa America as a result of his efforts with him. There is little to no sympathy that Messi can expect from the 71-year-old Van Gaal, who is determined to win the Dutch their first World Cup title after finishing runners-up in 1974, 1978, and 2010.

It is likely that Van Gaal will be focusing a lot of his efforts on keeping Messi in check, as well as catching Argentina on the break, as he thumbs his nose at his critics by playing a style of football that is at odds with his usual direct attacking approach. It is the tactical plan that can make the difference between the Dutch winning on Friday and Argentina winning in a shootout as they try to get revenge for their semi-final defeat in 2014 when Argentina beat them in a shootout. In terms of our plan, we are capable of surprising teams. During that particular match, we were also the better team and Messi did not see much of the ball, according to the coach this past week. Aside from this, he can also point out that the Dutch have gone 19 games without a defeat since he returned to the hot seat for a third time 15 months ago, a period in which they have gone 19 games without defeat.

As Argentina made its way into the round of 16 of the World Cup, Messi spoke briefly about the Dutch threat following Argentina's 2-1 win over Australia, where he scored and was named Man of the Match for marking his 1,000th career appearance. I have another difficult one coming up," he said. Argentine supporters are set to outnumber their orange-clad Dutch counterparts in Qatar, so Messi can expect vocal support from the majority of the Argentine fans. As Argentina lost the 2014 World Cup final to Germany, where Argentina failed to add to its World Cup triumphs of 1978 and 1986, Messi expressed his gratitude for the support he received from fans all over the world. There are no words to describe how incredible these moments are. It is a pleasure to be here today and we would like to thank everyone who is here. Argentina as a whole would love to be here," he said in response to the question.