Lionel Messi – Argentina
Games played: 5
Distance travelled: 41.1km
Top speed: 29.6km/h
Dribbles: 29
Passes: 453
Chances created: 19
Assists: 1
Shots: 18
Goals: 4
Share of total goals: 62.5%
The Barcelona man’s stats look slightly kinder than his opponents. Having made an alarmingly larger number os passes the the Dutchman, he has managed to bag himself one more goal and a few more chances for his teammate to score (even though they are on the same level of assists).
Unlike the Dutch, though, Argentina rely heavily on Messi to do their hard work for them, and when in a jam, will feed him the ball and watch as he struggles to do it all on his own. Against lesser nations he can get away with carrying the side, but that won’t be possible against an astute and well organised Dutch.
However, saying that implies that Argentina are a poor side, which they are not, but they will need to rely on each other rather than just one man if they hope to make their way into the final.
Furthermore, Messi is in exceptional form himself. He responded to criticism of a poor first half against Bosnia by scoring a peach in the second and has since gone on to provide inspiration for their progression to the latter stages of the tournament. On the numbers side, though, the man from Argentina edges it.
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