TV View: With no one left to root against, surely we are all rooting for Messi?

FINAL-BOUND: Argentina's Lionel Messi (second left) and Rodrigo De Paul celebrate after the FIFA World Cup semi-final at the Lusail Stadium in Lusail, Qatar. Pic: Nick Potts/PA Wire

And so, three nights on from Saturday’s high drama in the Al Bayt, we pick ourselves up, dust ourselves down, lament what might have been (i.e. two more opportunities to cheer for England’s opponents) and face the last three matches with our hearts not quite in it any more.

The tournament is no longer the same. It has become sorely diminished. 'They' are gone.

So who do the Irish nation have to root against now? Nobody.

Who do we have to root for? Messi, surely.

He and Argentina enter the arena fresh from the extravaganza of yahooism that was their quarter-final versus Holland. Eighteen yellow cards, one red card and more snideness than a Fine Gael/Sinn Fein squabble in the Dáil. Erik Lamela would have been in his element.

Not that this should be construed as a complaint. Every World Cup needs at least one match where civility is thrown out the window, at least one match to impel the TV pundits onto their high horses with outraged neighs of 'that’s the kind of thing that nobody likes to see in football' - whereas in truth Argentina/the Netherlands was precisely the kind of thing that, deep down, we love to see in football.

But Tuesday night’s fare ought to be more elevated and Tony O’Donoghue opens RTÉ’s coverage with a humdinger of a quote. “A man of genius makes no mistakes. His errors are volitional and are the portals of discovery.” Hmm, quite. Jason McAteer, right? Oddly, no; actually it’s James Joyce, the Johan Cruyff of the written word, the game-changing, orange-shirted number 14 of modernist literature.

A game changer in his own day, Liam Brady doesn’t mind who wins, Messi or Modric. Joanne Cantwell observes that we’ve adopted Alexis Mac Allister as one of our own. (“He looks like one of us.”) Darragh Maloney, on commentary in the Lusail Stadium with Ronnie Whelan, refers to Josko Gvardiol and "his Hannibal mask”. No doubt the Argentina forwards will be giving him a wide berth lest they go the way of the census enumerator.

Nothing much happens for the opening half an hour. Then, out of nowhere, Julian Alvarez is put through and, unfazed by the presence of Gvardiol, is brought down for a penalty. The captain roofs it. “A messy goal!” Darragh proclaims.

Er, what..?

Oh, sorry. “A Messi goal!” Ah. That’s more like it.

Seven minutes later a Croatian corner-kick routine goes horribly wrong and Alvarez discovers a portal from midfield, gets lucky with no fewer than three bounces and makes it 2-0. You wouldn’t see it in local junior soccer. Okay, you would see it in local junior soccer.

That should be that and, according to Damien Duff at half-time, it will be.

Argentina may have squandered a two-goal lead the other night but lightning won’t strike twice, he insists. “Don’t ever underestimate the pressure they’re under, especially after letting two goals slip against Holland… That ain’t happening.” Was it really a penalty? Liam believes it was. “I think he sticks his leg out.” Shay Given, in the least surprising mouthful of the evening, begs to differ. “I’m not saying it’s the wrong decision. But you do feel for the goalie a little.” Well, he would say that, wouldn’t he?

Midway through the second half two becomes three. Alvarez is the scorer but really it’s a Messi masterpiece. The great man makes a commendable fist of recreating Maradona’s famous (as opposed to infamous) goal in the Azteca in 1986, the difference being that after he turns poor Gvardiol inside out – that mask really isn’t having the effect Darragh expected – he squares it for Alvarez to tap in.

Different class, as a predecessor of Darragh’s might have put it. DIFFERENT CLASS!

“Absolutely ridiculous,” swoons Darragh, who adds that we’ll “be watching it for days and days and never get tired”. He even finds time to sympathise with Alvarez. “Nobody will remember who scored it!” One imagines the Manchester City man, with two goals in a World Cup semi-final, will probably cope.

All Argentina need to do now is to get to the final whistle without taking the head off someone or having three men sent off. You wouldn’t put it past them, would you? But they manage. Somehow.

Afterwards Liam reckons that Croatia “looked tired” while Damien offers a considered verdict on the man of the moment.

“The best ever? Yes. The best version of him ever? No, that was ten years ago.” 

No matter. A man of genius, making no mistakes, all volition, ever discovering. The Tony O’Donoghue of the international game.