Heart-breaking loss for Argentina. That shanked shot from Higuain at the 21st minute will haunt my dreams for years. He had a clear breakaway, and shanked the shot with his foot. Then Messi with the glorious chance, but he shot the ball wide of the net.
As a huge Rangers/Argentina fan, this year has been murder for me. Watching 2 teams I have such a passion for make the finals, only to lose, has been crushing. The similarities between the Rangers and Argentina this year have been pretty striking.
-Argentina: Best player in the world (Messi) seeking to cement his legacy with a world cup title. Comes up short in the final.
-Rangers: Best goalie in the world seeking to cement his legacy with a cup. Comes up short in the final.
-Argentina: Many said "the worst team to reach the finals in years" and "they got lucky to make it that far".
-Rangers: Same as above.
I think the loss of Di Maria, who is Argentina's 2nd best player behind Messi, was HUGE in why Argentina lost. Di Maria was the heart and soul of Argentina's offense. After he went down vs. Belgium, Argentina would not score another goal the rest of tournament. They managed to hang on vs. Belgium, and then squeaked by Holland, but they just couldn't hang on against Germany for the shootout.
If today's match went to a shootout, I think Argentina would have won it. Romero has been amazing this year for Argentina in net, especially in shootouts.
I'm gutted. My 2 teams, in one year, have lost in the finals. It's a weird feeling. It's great that my 2 teams made it so far, but at the same time, heart-breaking that neither one of them could come away with the championship.
In a way, this is almost tougher than the Rangers losing. Because we have to wait four LONG YEARS to have another crack at it. Argentina's offense just didn't step up enough. The other teams were triple teaming Messi, and no one else on the team stepped up with that huge goal when we needed it most.