BY DANIEL SCHMIDT
THE OBSERVER
AUBURN — In the lead-up to the friendly between Argentina and Iceland on June 9, the scene on Auburn University’s campus was all too familiar.
Tens of thousands of fans clad in jerseys milled around the concourse outside Jordan-Hare Stadium, a Golden Eagle swooped around before landing at midfield and a raucous crowd swag surfed in the bleachers.
However, those in attendance were clad not in navy blue and burnt orange, but rather sky blue and white, to witness a historic moment: the first-ever international soccer match hosted by the city of Auburn.
Include the fact it featured the reigning World Cup champions and Lionel Messi, one of the most talented players the world has ever seen, and it provided fans with a once-in-a-lifetime experience.
The defining moment came in the 71st minute, two minutes after the eight-time Ballon d’Or winner entered the field to a roar from the 88,043-strong crowd.
After playing a pinpoint accurate pass to a teammate who was fouled in the box, Messi coolly stepped to the spot, stutter-stepped and buried a powerful shot past a wrong-footed goalkeeper into the top right corner.
It was the high-water mark of a 3-0 Argentine win where the South Americans outshot the Europeans 15 to six, outpossessed them 63% to 37% and accumulated two yellow cards to Iceland’s six.
In a postgame interview, Messi said his team still possessed the necessary hunger nearly four years after winning their first World Cup title since 1986.
“We, as Argentinians, always keep the same hope, the same desire to keep achieving big things like the ones we’ve already achieved,” Messi said in Spanish. “It’s a group that doesn’t stop competing, it’s been showing that, whatever the match, the competition and wherever it is, it always competes, it always wants more.”
Under a picture-perfect sunset and humid conditions after a late-afternoon thunderstorm dumped 2.45 inches of rain, Argentina raced out to a 1-0 lead in the 8th minute after Valentin Barco delivered a moment of individual brilliance.
After a beautiful sequence of passes devolved into a mad scramble for the ball in the box, Barco delivered a left-footed finish that appeared to deflect off a teammate and skirt into the bottom left corner just past the Icelandic goalkeeper’s outstretched glove.
A restless crowd then spent much of the rest of the game performing the wave and clamoring for Argentina manager Lionel Scaloni to substitute Messi into the game.
By the time he made his way onto the field for the first time in the 69th minute to fans chanting his name in unison, what had been a tight and cagey affair immediately opened up.
The dagger finally came in the 87th minute, when Thiago Almada buried a simple tap-in finish.
With Argentina on the counterattack, Messi played an incisive pass that unlocked Iceland’s defense to Rodrigo De Paul, who played a simple ball across the face of the goal to Almada.
Last Tuesday’s game included several notable achievements.
With more than 88,000 fans in attendance, Jordan-Hare set the record for hosting the most spectators at a soccer match in Alabama.
The previous record was 83,183, set at Birmingham’s Legion Field, when the United States played Argentina in the 1996 Summer Olympics.
With his penalty kick goal, Messi also became the oldest male goalscorer in Argentine soccer history at 38 years and 11 months old.
Before then, Ángel Labruna held the record for 69 years, having scored against Brazil on July 7, 1957, at 38 years and 9 months old.
The goal was also the 911th of Messi’s career and his 117th for Argentina.
Those figures both trail Portuguese superstar Cristiano Ronaldo, who will also play in this year’s World Cup tournament, all-time globally.
