By Onochie Anibeze, Doha

He is petit, very close to the ground. His legs are stamping on the ground and tapping on the ball the way the fingers punch the keys in a typewriter, producing a cacophony of sounds which, however, turn out to be words of drama, sensation and poetry. TYPEWRITER, that’s what Lionel Messi is.

Flash back to Argentina’s 3rd goal against Croatia in the Qatar 2022 semifinal match here in Doha and you may not agree less with the typewriter analogy. The keyboard of a computer does not exactly produce the sound of a typewriter.

Messi’s legs did Tuesday night. He scored the first goal in the 31st minute and set up Argentina’s last two in the 39th and 69th minutes, Julian Alvarez benefiting from his merciless mesmerizing moves that sent the stadium wild. The move will surely be one of promotions of the 2022 World Cup.

He did that ine one of the biggest attended football matches ever with more than 2 billion television views. 86,966 fans filled the amazing Lusail Stadium, more than half of that number cheered Argentina. A female radio journalist forgot she was in the media tribune. She celebrated every Messi move, shouting and placing her hands to her chest in ecstatic manner. She was a scene. Messi’s Argentina made her lose some media box decorum.

Argentina’s colours were everywhere and their songs electrifying. It reminded this reporter of their match with Nigeria’s Super Eagles at Port Alegro in the 2014 World Cup hosted in Brazil. Never saw a thing like that. The whole city turned white and blue.

The moving and singing fans on the streets, banners, posters, cars and even trees had Argentine flags hoisted on them. The stadium was unbelievable. Argentina was intimidating. It was not just football but a way of life, culture, religion and whatever one could imagine. One understood that Port Alegro is a border town with Brazil.

But what about Qatar? Does Doha border Brazil? What fans we on Tuesday was symply South American culture and that will even be more deafening on Sunday in the final. Peru had 30,000 fans in Qatar in their continental play off here in June.

Their government even declared public holiday for people to fly down to Qatar to ensure they qualified for the World Cup. This reporter saw them sing, drum and kept the stadium warm for 90 minutes before Australia stopped them in penalties, making fans wear long faces as they left the stadium. Brazil and other South American countries sleep and eat football. Argentina proved that on Tuesday.

Their fans were 45,000 in the stadium. They added to the typewriter sounds Messi’s legs were producing on the pitch. His legs produced a seeming orchestra that petrified Croatia who had eliminated Brazil and sent tongues wagging. After the first five minutes during which Argentina made some moves, Croatia stabilized the game. They looked more organized especially in the midfield. Luca Modric, Marcelo, Brozovic, Kovaci and Mario combined well in a passing game that earned them 61% possession as against 39 for Argentina in 60 minutes. But good as they looked in this, it ended in the middle as daring moves into vital areas of Argentina were lacking.

Argentina appeared to have improved in marking after their quarter final match against Holland where they led 2-0 but allowed some space the Dutch capitalised on to equalise. Penalties were their saving grace. Against Croatia, their defence did better and the attack led by the TYPEWRITER was deadly. Mac Alliter, Alverez, Paredes were all dancing to the tapping and stamping sounds of Messi’s legs.

Messi’s magical display here has got more now predicting that Argentina will win on Sunday and end up as the face of Qatar 2022 World Cup. Interestingly, Messi has announced that this will be his last World Cup. He is already Argentina’s all time World Cup top scorer with 11 goals. He is 35 and made his World Cup debut in 2006. He will be 39 at the next World Cup which will be a bridge too far for him.

“To end my World Cup playing in the final is amazing,” he said here, adding “I’m very happy to achieve this – to end my World Cup career, playing my last match in a final. Everything I experienced in this World Cup has been exciting, surely the final will be my last World Cup game.” Everybody rated him highly on the night but he gave credit to Alvarez: “Today, Julian stands out above the rest, he paved the way for us, he fought, he ran, he battled everyone. He created, he’s been so important in this World Cup and he deserves it.”

Messi’s humble submission impressed even as those who voted him man of the match felt he did all the work. Messi has proven to be a leader. The team suffered one of the greatest shocks in World Cup history when Saudi Arabia beat them 2-1 in their opening match. He led the team through the storm and now they are in the final where he will have the chance to lift the World Cup and cap his illustrious career that has seen him win world footballer of the year 8 times. The world awaits the TYPEWRITER on Sunday. That’s what I call him. That’s what he is to me.