Argentina's World Cup dreams remain alive as Lionel Messi finds the supporting cast to once again believe

The South Americans saw off the Netherlands in the quarterfinals and will now face Croatia

Lionel Messi cannot fail, he can only be failed. Well, maybe 2010 was his fault with the superstar struggling to hit his usual heights. In other tournaments, the supporting cast of the Argentina national team has found a way to let him down in big moments. But after coming together to win Messi's first international tournament in the 2022 Copa America, could the team be developing enough grit to hold things together and support Messi to the promised land of a World Cup title? The Word Cup is the one thing missing from Messi's illustrious trophy cabinet but after defeating the Netherlands in a penalty shootout on Friday in the quarterfinals, Argentina are now two wins from reaching the goal. 

The team didn't make things easy dropping a 2-0 advantage to the Netherlands, conceding twice in the final minutes, but Messi did everything that he could in the match. His pass to assist Nahuel Molina on the opening goal was one of the best passes that I've seen. Mortals would've passed the ball back to exploit space on the left side of the Dutch defense but Messi has no issues delivering a splitting ball through four defenders to break a deadlock. 

Taking six shots and forcing two saves out of Andries Noppert while also creating three chances, Messi was everywhere in the match. After Marcos Acuna drew a penalty in the 71st minute, Messi was then able to convert from the spot to double the advantage. He even provided defensive help with a comical handball -- although his effort wasn't met with a yellow card like Cristian Romero's earlier in the match.