A time when the entire world was watching Germany battle it out with Portugal in their first Euro 2012 game, a group of 81,994 fans decided to take a break from their TV sets and watch Argentina play Brazil at the MetLife Stadium in New Jersey, USA.
The two teams had everything to show for as swarms of Blue and Yellow scattered to their seats all across the stadium.
Argentina V/s. Brazil is the best of rivalries in the footballing community when it comes to internationals.
The two had played each other a total of 92 times prior to this game, with both sharing the number of winning games at 34. The most recent matchup being at Belem, Brazil where the hosts had won it by two goals in the 2011 Superclásico de las Américas – an annual event between the two nations.
The rivalry between the players did not go unnoticed either. At first it was Maradona versus Pele, followed by Alfredo di Stefano versus Garrincha and then Gabriel Batistuta (Batigol) against Romario. Today the talk has been that of Messi against Neymar.
They had performed well for their clubs, notching brilliant goals and mesmerizing the fans all over with lovely touches of the ball. Additionally, both had been consistently praised by their exclusive God’s (Maradona & Pele), while occasionally criticizing each other. All eyes were on these two today.
As expected, the game had produced a superlative display from both the South American teams. Leads by the respective teams were changed at three occasions. And what’s a South American game if there are no red cards issued? Not one, but two.
As you should have known by now, Argentina had won this bout 4 – 3 with a spectacular performance from Lionel Messi who had notched a hat trick.
This win basically puts Argentina one up in terms of the number of games won.
In terms of Messi and Neymar, this match-up was considered as “another” opportunity to show who was the superior player. Neymar did his bit with some great intentional one-twos and through passes. But without any doubt, the one who led the team wearing the stripes of blue and white came up on the top this time. This being his second hat trick for the national side, displayed the existing notion of why he is considered as one of the best players in the world and why he was selected as the FIFA player of the year.
At the end of the day, the fixture delivered what was asked of it. Despite the enmity between the two, we were rest assured that it all comes down to the love for the game. Take a look at the pictures here. First set. Second set.
Will conclude with a comic video of Maradona adorning the Brazilian jersey in an ad for a Brazilian soft drink company. It’s in Portuguese but the translation provided by few of the viewers should explain it 🙂
