Brighton will have a player in a World Cup semi final
The Albion history books keep getting rewritten at this World Cup. Having become the first ever Brighton player to play in a World Cup quarter final, Alexis Mac Allister is now into the semi finals at Qatar 2022 after a tense penalty shootout win over the Netherlands.
An extraordinary game finished 2-2 in normal time and provided the watching planet with Lionel Messi magic, 18 yellow cards, one red, a brilliant free kick from the Dutch, a mass brawl and plenty of shithousery from both sides.
Messi appeared to have done enough to take Argentina into the final four himself, inspiring them to take a 2-0 lead with 75 minutes played.
The opening goal was a thing of absolute beauty. Messi spotted a gap through the Dutch defence no other player in the world would find, threading through a perfectly weighted reverse pass to Nahuel Molina who applied the finish.
It is no exaggeration to say it was one of the best passes ever played in football history. Somewhere, Piers Morgan was sat in a corner turning more and more scarlet at the prospect of Messi leaving the world agog whilst Cristiano Ronaldo has been dropped by Portugal.
Messi added the second himself from the penalty spot after Denzel Dumfries fouled Marcos Acuna. That should have been that, but Dutch boss Louis van Gaal had other ideas and went for broke by throwing two giants up front for the final 15 minutes.
One of those was Luuk de Jong. The other was Wout Weghorst. His name will be familiar to Brighton fans as before his heroics in almost sending the Netherlands into an unlikely World Cup semi final, he was the star of the show when Burnley secured their first away win of the 2021-22 season when winning 3-0 at the Amex back in February.
Just as he did on that dismal day in Sussex, Weghorst scored twice. Most of us had previously assumed that the Albion were embarrassed by Burnley because we were shit; turns out the Clarets actually had the best player in the world up front.
Weghost pulled one back for the Netherlands with seven minutes remaining. Argentina’s timewasting tactics – something else seen first hand at the Amex when Emiliano Martinez kept goal for Aston Villa last month – resulted in 12 minutes of stoppage time.
In the 11th of those, Weghorst found an equaliser. The Dutch conjured up a ridiculously cool and clever free kick routine, playing a pass just out of reach of the Argentina wall to Weghorst who collected and finished.
That silenced the Argentina players, one of whom had earlier sparked a huge fight between both teams and their respective benches.
Leandro Paredes had fouled Manchester City defender Nathan Ake and then proceeded to boot the ball as hard as possible into the Dutch dugout.
Some would say it was disgraceful; others would say it was a bloody fantastic example of pure and simple bastard behaviour.
Dutch substitutes poured onto the pitch and Virgil van Dijk came charging out of nowhere to deliver a shoulder barge which sent Paredes flying.
It was absolute chaos and made the Netherlands equaliser which arrived seven minutes of normal time and 11 minutes of added time later even sweeter.
In amongst all this craziness, Mac Allister enjoyed a calm and controlled game. He was tidy in possession, kept the ball moving and underlined the status he has gained through this tournament of being an important cog in La Albiceleste’s midfield since being left on the bench for the shock opening defeat to Saudi Arabia.
Mac Allister does not have that mean streak so many Argentinians do and so never really lost his mind or got swept up in all the anger and tension.
The closest Mac Allister came to causing a scene was when he joined his Argentina teammates in goading the Netherlands after the Martinez had saved the final Dutch penalty before running off to celebrate with the Villa goalkeeper.
Although he is now the Albion’s designated penalty taker, Mac Allister was not needed by Argentina. That was just as well; most of us could predict what would happen if a Brighton player ended up taking the spot kick which decided whether or not his nation progress to a World Cup semi final.
Argentina’s progression to the final four combined with Brazil being eliminated has seen them become the new bookies’ favourites to win the tournament.
If they are to reach the final, they will have to overcome a Croatia side who have become specialists in World Cup knockout games over the past two competitions.
Mac Allister has already written a lot of Brighton history in this tournament. Who would bet against him creating even more in the next week?
