Kolkata: Lionel Messi celebrated his debut as Argentina’s regular captain by setting up the winner from a setpiece to enable his side get past fellow Latin Americans Venezuela 1-0 in the first ever FIFA Official International Friendly in India here on Friday.
Nicolas Otamendi scored with a drop header following Messi’s measured flag kick as Argentina registered their 18th straight win over Venezuela since 1965 to kick off their campaign for the 2014 World Cup – as new coach Alejandro Sabella said – on a bright note, despite losing several chances.
The world’s highest rated player, Messi showed his class from the outset, as he spearheaded the moves exhibiting brilliant distribution, much to the joy of the 80,000-odd spectators at the globe’s second biggest stadium by capacity.
Though about a third of the sprawling stadium, capable of sitting 1.20 lakh spectators, remained empty, the crowd in India’s soccer capital came mainly to watch the magician Messi and they did not go back disappointed.
Messi, who repeatedly tried to break the Venezuelan defence with his measured passes, let lose a searing left footer in the 66th minute which was deflected for a corner by goalkeeper Rafael Romo.
The 24-year-old striker himself rushed to take a measured corner from the left, and Otamendi lost no time in letting go a bouncing header that went in, triggering celebrations in the gallery.
It required no rocket science to judge the dominant team on the turf, but the Venezuelan defence soldiered on till midway into the second half, not allowing empty spaces to the star Argentine forwards.
The Latin Americans played lot of passes, though their unfamiliarity on the artificial turf showed at times, while their poor finishing could leave Sabella a worried man.
The most high-profile soccer match on Indian soil saw Argentina seizing the initiative and within the first 10 minutes, they came close to scoring with Messi essaying a through to Angel di Maria but Oswaldo Vizcarnondo came out with a timely tackle to save the situation.
As Argentina pressed on, the match was concentrated in the Venezuelan half. But the Venezuelans managed a fast counter with a cross from the right finding Jose Salomon Rondon unmarked but Martin Demichelis blocked the move. Di Maria was twice fed by Messi in the 18th and 24th minutes, but both efforts proved fruitless. While in the first case, the shot crashed against the side netting, Romo prevented his side’s debacle six minutes later.
At the stroke of the half hour, Messi outwitted four defenders but then shot straight to the goalkeeper.
Crossing over, Argentina intensified the pressure, but the action happened on the other side of the turf with Venezuela’s Cesar Gonzalez letting lose a long ranger which was blocked by the Argentine goalkeeper.
As time wore on, the Argentines upped the ante, and finally tested success, which is likely to instil more confidence in Sabella’s boys before they meet Venzuela for the World cup qualifiers Oct 14.
Earlier, both young and old in the Salt Lake Stadium sported the number 10 jersey of Messi in the sky blue and white colours of Argentina in large numbers as they thronged the venue.
From the moment one came to the vicinity of the stadium, it was clear who was the city’s man of the moment.
Animated discussions on the Argentine striker’s past heroics, frequent chants of ‘Messi, Messi’, and placards were testimony to the player’s popularity in India’s soccer capital.
The teams:
Argentina: Sergio Romero, Pablo Zabaleta, Martin Demichelis, Nicolas Otamendi, Marcos Rojo, Luis Gonzalez (Jose Sosa, 69th), Javier Mascherano, Ricardo Alvarez (Javier Pastore, 61st), Lionel Messi, Gonzalo Higuain (Sergio Aguero 73rd), Angel Di Maria.
Venezuela: Rafael Romo, F Amorebieta (Andres Tunez 85th), R Rosales, Oswaldo Vizcarrondo, Gabriel Chicero, Cesar Gonzalez, Tomas Rincon, Angel Flores, Frank Feltscher (Yohandry Orozco, 70th), Nicolas Fedor, Jose Salomon Rondon. (Agencies)