Kolkata: After a goalless first half and after numerous chances went abegging, Lionel Messi and Argentina finally gave the 100,000 fans at the Yuba Bharati Krirangan memories of a lifetime as they beat Venezuela 1-0 in a FIFA friendly here on Friday.
Even though Messi himself did not score the goal, he set up a beautiful ball for Nicolas Otamendi from a corner kick who headed into the Venezuelan goal in the 71st minute to end the agony for Argentina, who had till then done everything except find the back of the net. That was the only time the Venezuelan defence and goalie Rafael Romo, who otherwise stood like a rock between the Argentinians and the goalmouth, failed to protect their citadel.
It was a game that went from the sublime to the ordinary as Argentina looked brilliant in patches and at other times like Barcelon on a bad day. But the Kolkata crowd - even though surely seeking a result in favour of Argentina - cheered every move and even applauded the Venezuelans who were quick to counter-attack. Messi, undoubtedly, was the toast of the crowd and he obliged them playing the full 90 minutes. It was also his first with the captain's armband and for one who has often been unfairly accused of being a better player for Barcelona rather than Argentina, the win must have been a sweet one, even though the margin could have been a bigger one.
The first half was a story of oohs! and aahs! without the ball finding the back of the net even once even as Messi turned on his magic time and again to raptorous cheers and applause from the capacity crowd.
Argentina took early possession and when Messi was fouled in the fourth minute at the top of the box, it seemed that prayers of seeing him score a goal early were going to come true. However, Messi's shot from the set piece hit the Venezuelan wall. The Argentinians kept the pressure up and in the ninth minute were in with a second chance when Rosales slided in the box to send Messi's through ball wide. The Barcelona man nearly found Di Maria perfectly in the box but the defender did well to eliminate the threat.
The first 15 minutes surely belonged to the blue and white brigae, but then Venezuela almost drew first blood. Rondon, with a solid look in the box after a stellar pass from wide, failed to get a solid touch on the ball. Messi and Co. responded by upping the pressure as balls from the captain, Di Maria and Alvarez flew around the Venezuelan box three times in a span of five minutes.
While Di Maria's shot from the left side of the box went wide, Venezeulan keeper Romo came out of the box to knock the ball from Messi and Alvarez's shot off a rebound was stopped by the defence.
Minutes later, another shot from Messi from a corner set piece went by the post yet again. In the 35th minute, Feltscher nearly put Venezuela up with a solo effort from the right side of the box, but his shot passed the post. It surely would have beaten Romero had it been on goal.
From then on the momentum swung Venezuela's way as they decided to go full steam ahead with minutes to go to the half-time whistle. And in the 43rd minute, Argentina and all the fans would have had their hearts in their mouth as Fedor nearly found the net in front of the goal, but Demichelis did well to slide and save Romero. Immediately, Rondon drilled a shot in the outside net, nearly catching the goalkeeper out of position.
Venezuela had the first shy at the goal in the second half as well. Gonzalez hit a solid shot that just flew past the post in the 48th minute. The game became sloppy and as Messi sent the ball past the by-line, failing to connect with anyone in the 55th minute, it seemed that the Kolkata weather and the near misses had started to take a toll on both the teams, especially on Argentina.
Messi, playing with the captain's armband for the first time, was determined and it was him again in the 64th minute who set the pulse racing with a long free-kick that looked to have entered the post, but instead hit the pole holding the next. Many in the stadium thought it was a goal and soon a collective shout turned into a collective sigh.
Venezuela surely looked better than expected and made it quite clear through their sharp defending and quick counter-attacks that their fourth-place finish in the 2011 Copa America Championship was no fluke.
While Argentina looked tired, Messi upped the pressure as he chipped the ball to an on-running Higuain, who nealry knocked it in with an awkward volley in the 67th minute. Three minutes later, the Venezuelan goalie yet again brought about a great save, knocking yet another Messi shot wide of the goal.
And then came the moment the crowd had been waiting for. Messi took a quick corner kick as the ball sailed straight to Otamendi, the FC Porto player jumped up and headed it into the net to give his team the advantage.
Venezuela almost got the equaliser in the 76th minute, but the ball flew over the crossbar. With just eight minutes to go, Argentina went in search of the second goal and again all eyes were on Messi as he went down the left side with a solo effort. He sent it on goal instead of passing into the middle of the box and Romo sent it out for a corner.
Argentina got a final corner in the 90th minute, but the Venezuelan defence kept them out and following that the blue and white brigade were content to keep playing the ball around.
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