RIO DE JANEIRO // Even among the phalanx of phenomenal talent set to grace the Maracana on Sunday, one player is in the spotlight.
Sunday, when his side meet Germany in the World Cup final, Lionel Messi will walk on to the pitch knowing he is 90 minutes away from adding the ultimate achievement to his CV and writing his name permanently among Diego Maradona, Pele and the game's greatest players.
While Germany have been lauded as a complete team, Messi has been much more of a figurehead for Argentina.
During the past month, he has scored late goals from distance, dribbled through opposition defences and claimed an assist in the 118th minute of a quarter-final.
“Regardless of whether he scores goals or not, his influence is decisive,” Argentina manager Alejandro Sabella said of Messi after the quarter-final.
“A game has many aspects, apart from goals. When you have a player such as Messi, who never, or almost never, loses the ball, it’s water in the desert – and not just when he scores.”
Teams have often put two players on Messi during the tournament, but Germany are not going to fall into the trap of focusing on one man.
“This team is not just Messi and if you think that then you would be making a mistake,” manager Joachim Loew told reporters yesterday.
“They have other attacking powers like Sergio Aguero and Angel Di Maria.
“This team does not live solely on Messi.
“Sure, Messi can be decisive, but it is a much better organised team nowadays and it will be a tight final with unbelievable battles.”
Even so, Germany have taken note of how Louis van Gaal’s Netherlands team kept Messi quiet in their semi-final, with his first touch inside the box being the penalty he converted in the shoot-out.
“We saw how the Dutch managed to keep him out, but we, too, have a special plan for him – although I won’t give that away,” said Hansi Flick, Germany’s assistant coach.
Loew said he expects Argentina to play counter-attacking football, citing the speed at which they switch play.
He knows that his team, which humiliated Brazil 7-1 in their semi-final on Tuesday, has the capability to triumph and become the first European side to win a World Cup in South America.
“We know their potential and respect them but we are confident that if we play our game then we can do it,” said Loew, who is likely to rely on Toni Kroos, Bastien Schweinsteiger and Sami Khedira in midfield with Khedira tasked with keeping Messi quiet.
“Wherever a final takes place, the aim is to win it and bring the cup home.
“But we can indeed make history here on a continent where South American teams have dominated and that is an additional joy.”
Sergio Romero, Argentina’s heroic goalkeeper from the penalty-shoot-out victory over Holland in the semi-final, is expected to be a lot busier against Germany, who are the tournament’s top scorers.
Against the Dutch, Romero had only one shot to save in 120 minutes.
While Aguero said Germany are favourites, Romero said the most important thing is that “our team and our country provide the best image in the eyes of the world, that the world will speak well of Argentina”.
The teams have met twice in the final.
Argentina beat Germany in the 1986 final in Mexico while Germany won the 1990 final in Italy.
Yet for all the parallels to those finals, the last World Cup meeting between the two nations may be more relevant – Germany’s 4-0 romp in the 2010 quarter-finals.
Seventeen players involved in that Cape Town match featured in this week’s semi-finals, 10 for Germany and seven for Argentina.
Tonight, Romero will come face to face with some of those Germany players but he said: “This is not revenge.
“We had played well in that World Cup until that game.
“We want to do things right this time.”
Germany also knocked Argentina out of the 2006 tournament, on penalties.
Maxi Rodriguez is the only holdover from the 2006 team and he, unlike Romero, is desperate to avenge those defeats.
“Since they knocked us out on the last two occasions, I can’t deny that I’m out for payback,” Rodriguez said.
“The first time was more painful because it was on penalties. In South Africa it was different, because we hardly got into the game. But now it is a final, the most important match we are going to play.
“Of course I want revenge.”
gmeenaghan@thenational.ae
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