Soccer

Argentina move on to last four as Belgium bow out

Gonzalo Higuain’s eighth minute goal enough to book place in World Cup semi-finals

Gonzalo Higuain of Argentina (second right) celebrates scoring against Belgium with Angel di Maria (left), Lionel Messi (second left) and Lucas Biglia at Estadio Nacional in Brasilia. Photograph: Matthias Hangst / Getty Images
Sat Jul 05 2014 - 19:01

Argentina 1 Belgium 0

Argentina made the semi-finals of the World Cup this afternoon thanks to a 1-0 win over Belgium in Brasilia.

Gonzalo Higuain’s eighth minute opportunist’s strike proved the decisive contribution of the game, in which Lionel Messi and co threatened to live up to their billing, at times, but never quite achieved it.

Gonzalo Higuain (left) of Argentina scores past Belgian goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois at the Estadio Nacional in Brasilia. Photograph: Shawn Thew / EPA

Belgium, on the other hand, never came close to living up to the hype and, a late desperate flurry aside, they bowed out with a whimper.

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It’s the first time Argentina have made it to the last four since Diego Maradona’s day in 1990 when they finished runners-up.

Higuain for once outshone Messi, but Maradona’s spiritual heir also provided a constant threat that kept Marc Wilmot’s Belgium side on the back foot.

Messi started off playing deep, seeing plenty of the ball and creating some good positions for his team-mates. One such move put Ezequiel Lavezzi clear on the right and only Vincent Kompany’s alert intervention prevented a goal.

It took less than eight minutes however for Argentina to take a huge step towards the semi-final and it was Messi, twisting and turning in midfield, who was the architect. His incisive pass to Angel di Maria was diverted to Higuain, taking a nick off a defender which caused the ball to bounce up for the Napoli striker to swivel and thump a first-time shot low into the corner from 25 yards out.

Belgium attempted to make some headway but Argentina immediately dropped back into two banks of four whenever they lost possession, and when the Red Devils did get into good positions they failed to make use of it.

Jan Vertonghen put in a stunning cross but not a single red shirt tried to reached it and Argentina cleared it unchallenged.

De Bruyne nearly surprised Sergio Romero with a shot with a short back-lift and the rebound from the save only just eluded Origi.

A dream of a pass from Messi sliced through the Belgian ranks for Di Maria but Kompany did brilliantly to get back to block him — and the Real Madrid winger injured himself while taking the shot and had to be replaced by Enzo Perez.

Messi was crudely halted when close to dribbling through a pack of red shirts on the edge of the Belgium area, and then fizzed the free-kick over the top.

Belgium’s best chance of the first half came just before the break when another Vertonghen cross this time found De Bruyne but his diving header bounced wide.

The second half was strangely muted given what was at stake, with Argentina happy to keep things tight and Belgium failing to make much impression.

Higuain cut in and drilled in a low effort that deflected off Daniel van Buyten and past the near-post with Courtois stranded, then the Lazio striker sped into the Belgium half, nutmegged Kompany while at full speed, and fairly belted a shot that smacked the top of the bar.

Marouane Fellaini, who had spent most of the match being bypassed by Messi, failed to make up for it when another Vertonghen cross picked him out, the Manchester United player heading over.

Eden Hazard was equally disappointing, his main contribution being booked for going in high on Lucas Biglia — on another day it could have been red — and he was soon replaced by Nacer Chadli.

In a mirror image of Higuain’s deflected miss, De Bruyne had a slow shot deflected just wide.

In the closing minutes Wilmots went for broke by pushing his tallest players, Fellaini and Van Buyten, up front as extra strikers and Belgium threw everything they had at Argentina but the South Americans held out against the aerial bombardment, with substitute Romelu Lukaku and Axel Witsel coming closest.

There was time too for Messi to break clear and sprint at Courtois, but his attempted finish was brilliantly blocked by the Belgium goalkeeper, though it made little difference in the end.

ARGENTINA: 1 Sergio Romero; 4 Pablo Zabaleta, 15 Martin Demichelis, 2 Ezequiel Garay, 23 Jose Basanta; 6 Lucas Biglia (yc),14 Javier Mascherano; 22 Ezequiel Lavezzi (18 Rodrigo Palacio, 71 mins), 10 Lionel Messi, 7 Angel Di Maria (8 Enzo Perez, 33 mins); 9 Gonzalo Higuain (5 Fernando Gago, 81 mins). Yellow card: Biglia

BELGIUM: 1 Thibaut Courtois; 2 Toby Alderweireld, 15 Daniel Van Buyten, 4 Vincent Kompany, 5 Jan Vertonghen; 6 Axel Witsel, 7 Kevin De Bruyne, 8 Marouane Fellaini; 11 Kevin Mirallas (14 Dries Mertens, 60 mins), 17 Divock Origi (9 Romelu Lukaku, 59 mins), 10 Eden Hazard (22 Nacer Chadli, 75 mins). Yellow cards: Alderweireld, Hazard.