Mac Allister starts, Argentina win, coincidence? Absolutely not

A theme is fast developing at this World Cup. Nations are beginning to realise that if you want to win games, you have to use your Brighton players. The latest example being Argentina and Alexis Mac Allister.

Having suffered a shock 2-1 defeat to Saudi Arabia in their opening game of the tournament with Mac Allister sat on the bench as an unused substitute, Argentina gave the Albion’s number 10 a start in their second match against Mexico.

Defeat for Lionel Scaloni’s side would have seen them eliminated from the competition. With Mac Allister in their XI, it finished Argentina 2-0 Mexico.

La Albiceleste live to fight another day, which is good news for all of us whose Christmas present budget is relying on a big PayPal Casinos win or Betfair paying out on Argetinalifting the World Cup come December 18th

Lusail Stadium was home to the most intense atmosphere we have seen at the World Cup so far. The pressure was on and the noise levels through the roof; which made me think of the time that Graham Potter said it was unhelpful for the Amex crowd to shout SHOOT at the Albion.

What complete nonsense from Glow Up. As if a player like Mac Allister could not handle the people of Brighton telling them to SHOOT, whilst at the same time being able to give a virtuoso performance in a must-win World Cup tie played in a febrile cauldron of South American noise with 88,966 people watching.

Mac Allister was excellent, especially in light of the fact that Scaloni deployed him almost as a left winger. He cannot have played that position many times in his career and certainly never for the Albion.

To be pitched into a new and unfamiliar role on such a stage and thrive is an indicator of just what a special talent Mac Allister is.

Like Kaoru Mitoma, Tariq Lamptey and Pervis Estupinan so far at this World Cup, Mac Allister topped the BBC Player Ratings.

Mitoma and Lamptey achieved the feat after coming off the bench; the former turning a 1-0 deficit into a 2-1 win for Japan over Germany. The latter helping Ghana get close to a famous comeback against Cristiano Ronaldo and Portugal.

Mac Allister had a pass completion rate against Mexico of 89 percent. In what was a nervy, cagey affair for the first hour at least, he was one of the few Argentine players able to get his foot on the ball and find a blue and white shirt.

That was despite Mexico doing their best to kick, foul and slow the game down as much as possible. On the rare occasions a game of football looked like it might break out, Mac Allister was at the heart of Argentina’s most promising moves.

In the first half, he hit a glorious aerial switch of play for one side to the other, opening up the pitch when Argentina were pegged back.

He played three passes in a nice sweeping bit of play which nearly opened up Mexico. Five minutes after the restart and fast footwork followed by a slicing pass resulted in a certain Lionel Messi being fouled, earning a free kick in a very dangerous position.

Brighton fans know what Mac Allister can do from such situations, evidenced by that glorious strike when Leicester City were beaten 5-2 at the Amex back in September.

With Messi in the ranks, Mac Allister is not trusted with taking duties for Argentina. Which is a shame as Messi put the ball wastefully over the bar.

The Argentina captain did make up for that when opening the scoring on 64 minutes. Messi received a pass, produced a brilliant piece of control to create space and drilled past Mexico keeper Guillermo Ochoa from outside the box.

Mac Allister and Angel Di Maria were taken off four minutes after Messi’s moment of magic. It was unfortunate timing as with Mexico now chasing a goal, they dropped their attritional approach. Mac Allister would have had far more time on the ball in which to showcase his skills.

Enzo Fernandez added a fine second with three minutes remaining to secure the three points for Argentina. They now know that victory over Poland in their final game will secure a place in the round of 16 and move Messi one step closer to winning the one trophy missing from his glittering CV.

And as the victory over Mexico showed, they stand a much better chance of doing so with Mac Allister in the team.