<p><em>Editor’s note: World Soccer Talk writer David Bronstein attended last night’s Argentina vs Croatia game at West Ham United’s stadium last night. Here’s his match report from the evening.</em></p>
<p>East London was treated to some South American flair Wednesday night as Argentina took on Croatia at West Ham’s Upton Park. The World Cup runners-up came back from a goal down to see off a solid Croatian side who had left out the likes of Mario Mandzukic, Ivan Rakitic, Luka Modric&nbsp;and Darijo Srna, to name a few.</p>
<p>Gerardo ‘Tata’ Martino, the Argentina manager, opted to play his strongest eleven. Captain Lionel Messi took center stage, and the crowd — largely West Ham devotees, of course &nbsp;— ooh-ed and ahh-ed at his every move.</p>
<p>Croatia started the more confident, producing a few saves from the Argentina goalkeeper Sergio Romero, and it was fair to say that if the Argentine back four had not had sufficient time to warm up, Croatia were giving them a lesson. But in having such a positive attitude, the inexperienced team were also leaving gaps. Thus,&nbsp;we were treated to end-to-end action&nbsp;in the opening ten minutes.</p>
<p>Ever Banega was instrumental in Argentina’s first real threat on goal -one on one with the keeper but referee Andre Marriner was quick to blow his whistle for offside. But then in the 11th minute, a well-worked move saw Croatia take the lead through Anas Sharbini’s rousing shot, and the small pocket of Croatian fans, unfortunately at the other end of the stadium, let out a huge cheer as much of Upton Park fell silent.</p>
<p>Martino had opted much like his time as coach of Barcelona to start Messi off on the right wing, out of the action in the middle he so craves. But the little man still worked hard to create the best chances for his team in the first half. The captain dribbled, swiveled and deceived a Croatian midfield, setting up numerous chances for Sergio Aguero. However, Aguero was guilty of squandering some of those. Though credit had to be given to Lovre Kalinic, the Croatian goalkeeper, who jumped high and dived to his left hand goal to save a shot from the Manchester City forward that had the equalizer written all over it.</p>
<p>Angel Di Maria was another key figure and worked well with Messi. They Ping-ponged the ball to each other with ease, with one chance having Messi running in on goal only to be challenged in the penalty box. He looked at Marriner and threw his arms up, but none of his teammates were appealing, and Marriner quite rightly waved the play on.</p>
<p>It was obvious that the match was devoid of charm and yet with so much talent on the field, it was hard to take your eyes off the action. But Croatia went in at half time in the lead.</p>
<p>Argentina, as expected, came out with all guns blazing, and leveled four minutes into the second half with a steering shot by defender Cristian Ansaldi, though the ball had taken a heavy deflection off Aguero’s arm on its way to goal.</p>
<p>At 1-1, the South Americans found an extra gear and assaulted the Croatian goal with wave after wave of attack. It seemed inevitable that they would get the next goal, and 8 minutes after coming from behind, they were awarded a penalty after a foul on Aguero. Messi, of course, stepped up to take it, perhaps with memories of his last penalty, a miss against Brazil. But he slotted home to the left of Kalinic and Argentina went ahead. By this time, cheers were ringing out in the famous stadium, but that was nothing compared to what would happen next when Carlos Tevez, introduced as a West Ham legend, took to the pitch, replacing the active Aguero just past the hour mark.</p>
<p>With Tevez on, Messi switched to a more familiar attacking midfield role and he supplied the Juventus hit man with some wonderful passes. And the former West Ham man made some darting runs and came close on a few occasions – the crowd almost willing him on to add a third goal. But it wasn’t to be.</p>
<p>To their credit, Croatia pressed for an equalizer up until the very end but the crowd got what they wanted — a Messi show, a Messi goal, Tevez and Mascherano back at Upton Park and, most importantly of course, an Argentina victory.</p>
<p><strong>Argentina 2</strong>&nbsp;(Ansaldi 49, Messi 57 [pen])</p>
<p><strong> Croatia 1</strong>&nbsp;(Sharbini 11)</p>
<p><strong>Argentina:</strong> Romero, Vergini, Ansaldi, Zabaleta, Mascherano, Perez, Fazio, Di Maria, Banega, Messi, Aguero</p>
<p><strong>Subs:</strong> Tevez for Aguero, Pererya for Banega, Lamela for Di Maria, Silva for Ansaldi</p>
<p><strong>Croatia:</strong> Kalinic, Vrsalijko, Leskovic, Jedvaj, Badelj, Cop, Milic, Antolic, Kovacic, Leovac, Sharbini</p>
<p><strong>Subs:</strong> Jajalo for Sharbini, Tomecak for Milic, Halilovic for Kovacic, Mitrovic for Leskovic, Rog for Cop, Vargic for Kalinic</p>
<p>Mobile app users, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-OQ6ulSI2LM" target="_blank" rel="noopener">watch the video highlights</a>.</p>
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Argentina and Messi Light Up London With Victory Over Croatia [VIDEO] - World Soccer Talk

Argentina and Messi Light Up London With Victory Over Croatia [VIDEO]

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Argentina and Messi Light Up London With Victory Over Croatia [VIDEO]