Argentina look to Messi to tame Belgium's young stars

The quarter-final showdown in Brasilia between Argentina and Belgium is a rematch of the semi-final 28 years ago that helped make Mexico 86 be forever remembered as Diego Maradona’s Word Cup. He scored after skipping past what seemed like half the Belgian team to prove that his famous goal against England in the previous round had been no fluke.

This time Argentina are again led by a player hailed as the greatest of his generation: Lionel Messi. Similarly, it is Messi who has made the difference in a team that has struggled against defensive opponents, scoring crucial goals in all the group games and setting up Ángel Di María’s late, late strike against Switzerland in the last round.

Alejandro Sabella has struggled to fit all his attacking talents together effectively in the same line-up and the team have frequently looked less than the sum of their parts. The center-forward Gonzalo Higuaín is yet to score and Manchester City’s Sergio Agüero is now injured. Sabella, though, has reacted with irritation to suggestions that his side are over-dependent on Messi.

“Four years ago Messi was criticised for not contributing enough, and now people say we depend too greatly upon him,” Sabella told reporters. “It’s not easy. Any team who has a player like Messi in their ranks – he’s the best player in the world – will greatly depend upon him, as a player. But there’s a group of players who support Messi, who make him stronger and make him feel well. I believe that the fact he’s done what he has here is down to the work the team puts in.” For Sabella, the immense expectation on his side – any Argentina side – is unrealistic but a fact of life.

Argentina’s travails have been most pronounced against teams such as Iran and Switzerland who set out to do little more than defend. Belgium, with their youthful attack, should present a different challenge. Kevin De Bruyne is showing the sort of poise and guile that he never displayed – or never got the chance to display – at Chelsea, while Eden Hazard has so far only offered glimpses of his outstanding club form.

Up front Romelu Lukaku was initially disappointing but, having been dropped from the starting line-up against the USA, he made a barnstorming substitute appearance, setting up one goal and scoring Belgium’s winner. He benefited from the American defence having been tormented for 90 minutes by the 19-year-old Divock Origi, who has been one of the revelations of this World Cup. The Ostend-born son of a Kenyan international has taken fearlessly to the big stage, scoring the only goal of the game against Russia, and the Lille striker’s performances have attracted the interest of Liverpool, Arsenal and Tottenham, among others.

Origi’s immigrant background is not uncommon in this diverse Belgian team. The unflappable captain Vincent Kompany describes himself as “100% Congolese, 100% Belgian”, Marouane Fellaini has Moroccan roots and Kevin Mirallas and Adnan Januzaj can trace their ancestry to Spain and Kosovo respectively. For a country in real danger of splitting on linguistic lines between Flemish and French speakers, the squad is a powerful symbol of unity that has brought the country to a standstill on match days at this tournament.

In Argentina, though, they will face their toughest challenge yet. If they can recapture the scintillating form they demonstrated in qualification, rather than the more tentative style they have shown in Brazil, they could shock the twice world champions. If Messi is on song, a repeat of Argentina’s victory 28 years ago will be hard to stop.