What a night it was! Absolutely breath-taking. Argentina and Brazil, in separate matches toward the same destination, to come across in the next step, one did it and the other couldn't. Almost eight hours, in front of the screen watching them playing, every moment was too crucial.
Lemme tell you something outside the heat of the stadium. In my country the Football WorldCup is complete madness, nope we are nowhere close to playing in the world cup anytime soon but the excitement for football could be at the top of the list. More than ninety percent of people are supporting either Argentina or Brazil and there are the rest in a minor percentage. These emotions are passed through generations, some are ignorant of the basic manners of how to handle this excitement, indifferent to constructive criticism, and mostly engaged in toxic trolling of one another which leads to chaos and unexpected situations. Already we have faced many such cases and the possibility of a semi-final between Argentina and Brazil was a matter of great concern, I was really hoping for it not to take place just because of the fact that it would have created havoc among the reckless supporters which are huge in numbers. So yeah, a final before the final with lots of dreams, expectations, excitement, and a heated situation was waiting ahead of us which is now scattered.
Yeap, we are not seeing Argentina vs Brazil semi-final(unofficially it was going to be the real final). To be honest, I was a little bit nervous against the Netherlands but was determined that Brazil would go through Croatia. But when the Croatian goalkeeper, Dominik Livakovic, was standing like a concrete wall everyone understood that it was going to be a tough one to go through him. Still, Neymar did that, a big match big man with an outstanding goal in the first half of extra time, but in the second half of extra time Croatia levelled it and when the match had gone to a penalty shootout everyone was like shaking as we have already seen wtf was Dominik doing, a solid wall, Allison is also good but he couldn't and Croatia moved on to semi-final eliminating Brazil. You know what, as a rival, I was somehow happy with the fact that brazil lost but the moment we saw how it does affect the stars for whom we are getting so much thrill and excitement really hurts, during Copa, we had beaten brazil where Leo came forward to Neymar to console him. This time, Leo wasn't here to console him, I was just remembering that scene. Will be missing Thiago Silva, if Neymar actually plays no more world cup then it's going to be really heartbreaking because we are already losing some other legends too on the list.
So after that unpredictable, breathtaking elimination of Brazil, here comes my very own team, which I have been supporting since childhood and now I do cherish even more, Argentina! This time, we went to the first half with a lead of one goal which was really amazing and satisfying, even the second half was fruitful for us as our Leo scored from a penalty which almost confirmed our tickets for the semi-final as we are at a lead of 2-0, soon one was backfired to us, still we were leading and an extra time of ten minutes which was completely ridiculous and at the last minute of added time, we had to go through another shock as we digested another goal from a free kick, panic seized me during that time, everything seemed like shattering down.
But the whole match was too controversial on how the referee officiated the match. Antonio Miguel Mateu Lahoz, I hate you man, I really hate you. He was all the way in to give yellow cards to whoever he desired, coach, and players on the bench, I think he was interested in the audience too. Chaos on the field took place too. And somehow after an extra time of a long 30 minutes, we were in the penalty shootout, just like the previous match of the night, more tense situation was waiting ahead of us.
Penalty Shootout? We believe in Emiliano Martinez. In 2014, it was Romero who became my hero after Messi, we missed him in 2018, and then we got Emi Martinez who showed his devotion to Messi in the last Copa and proved his worth. So yeah, we believe in Emi, and he saved us again. In the 2014 World Cup, we were in a penalty shootout against the same Netherlands, Romero saved two shots that led us to the finale, and this time, Emi saved two against the same opponent and we are in the semifinal.
Last night was totally insane, the hangover has not gone yet, and here I am writing this to keep a trace of this unforgettable night for the two giants in the history of football.
Semi Confirmed!
Just two more steps to go, not an easy path but the expectations are always at the peak.
Vamos Argentina 🇦🇷