THEY FUCKING DID IT. Wow. Finally. We can talk about the match, but this one was for history. This Argentina side is cemented as the group that got the monkey off the country's back. Hopefully it's a sign of a future run of success, but they finished off the job against a more talented Brazil team.
Going into the match, the big question for Argentina was whether to stick with the conservative approach or come out and challenge Brazil. The Peru match made it pretty clear, but when you're the boss making that risky call it's much much harder. Well, much to my delight and surprise, Scaloni went aggressive by starting Acuna over Taglia, Di Maria over Gonzalez, and Paredes over Rodriguez. Di Maria dribbled at defenders all match and was a threat. This drew lots of attention and relieved pressure. Obviously the goal was sublime, as the touch to setup the chip was just as good if not better than the chip itself--which was also frame-worthy. There was clearly something the coaches saw with Lodi because it was clear from the whistle that they were trying to get behind him. Paredes had 2 long balls before the one that connected. One was intercepted by the CB and I don't recall exactly what happened on the second but it got my attention right away.
The MF deserves a ton of credit for being physical and winning the middle third overall. De Paul deservedly gets the ink because he went the distance, had the assist, and was making big plays on both ends until the final whistle, but I thought GLC showed his combativeness, Paredes played well defensively in addition to spraying the ball around, and Rodriguez came on and did a pretty good job as a destroyer against a Brazil team attacking with everything for the final 30 minutes.
The defense that had been shaky all tournament showed up BIG today. I've shat on Otamendi for 2-3 years going now, but he had a throwback game where he was the leader of the defense. He made a couple of key blocks in the final 10-15 minutes that snuffed out some of Brazil's best chances. Romero getting the green light was also a game changer as his speed was immense in keeping up with Brazil's attack. Not sure if it was injury, fatigue, or something else, but when Pezzella came on for Romero he also made a key sliding block in the box covering for Montiel to snuff out a high quality chance. Both Montiel and Molina had awful games at RB against Colombia in the semis, but Montiel was a beast for the full 90 against Brazil. What a turnaround. Acuna was his energetic and combative self on the left side, and the whole defense deserves a ton of credit.
Messi and Lautaro had surprisingly quiet games. Messi's failed dribble at the 88th minute almost killed me.
Scaloni and the staff had a goddamn masterpiece for this final. Started very aggressive, scouted a weakness they were able to exploit, had a defensive plan that didn't sacrifice too much balance once they had the lead, and then made a series of ballsy subs that all hit jackpot. It took a perfect game plan and perfect execution for Argentina to win this cup. And they did it!
I'm not sure what Brazil's plan was from the opening whistle, but Argentina were clearly set on not letting Neymar receive the ball in the attacking third. That opened a ton of space for Richarlison and for most of the match it kind of felt like that was Tite's plan. The Argentina defense deserve a ton of credit for shutting down Brazil but Richarlison also had a howler. I thought Brazil improved immensely once Bobby Firmino came on as he forced the CBs to sag off and gave the Brazil MF more space to work. Neymar did an excellent job of dropping deep and carrying the ball into the final third, but that also took him out as a potential finisher where he was needed most. With all of Brazil's talent it's pretty shocking they don't have any central MF to play ahead of Casemiro and stir the drink for that star-studded attack line.