Reserve striker pulls Argentina to the World Cup final: repeats Dziuba’s fate

Argentina defeated the Croatian national team and quietly reached the coveted final of the World Cup. One of the main heroes of the match was striker Julian Alvarez, who scored a double goal against Dominik Livakovic.

Alvarez has already scored four goals in the World Cup, although he went to Qatar as a substitute and did not hope to become one of the leaders of the Argentine offensive in the tournament.

Alvarez’s story in Qatar reminds us of a familiar story – Artem Dziuba’s performance at the World Championships in Russia. Four years ago, the striker started the World Cup as a backup. Stanislav Cherchesov hoped to make Fedor Smolov the main striker, but could not prove himself in the first round with Saudi Arabia.

Dziuba came as a substitute, scored a goal and provided an assist, and was then registered in the first team until the game against the Croats. Thus, Alvarez remained on the bench at the start of the World Cup. Lionel Scaloni saw main striker Lautaro Martinez free from the first minutes in his two starting matches in Qatar.

However, the Inter striker did not use some of his great scoring chances and went to the reserve for the match against Poland. At heart, he was replaced by Alvarez, who immediately scored a goal. Since then, Scaloni has consistently started Julián in the starting 11. After a doubles match against the Croats, there is no doubt that the coach will count on him again in the World Cup final.

The national team trusts Alvarez more than the club. During the summer, Julian moved to Manchester City, where he had yet to gain the trust of Josep Guardiola. The striker is only three times in the starting line-up of the “citizens” in the English championship, for the most part he is happy with the substitution.

It seems impossible to win the competition against Erling Holland, who broke all UK performance records, so Alvarez will have to try to adapt to Norway and play with him in pairs. Despite playing as a substitute, Julián has already scored seven goals for City and received much praise from Guardiola. In Manchester, the 22-year-old striker is compared to Kun Aguero. Their main similarities are small stature and incredible dexterity.

Alvarez’s agility was also appreciated by the Croatian defenders, who as the whole team could not stop Julian’s breakthrough halfway down the field before the Argentina national team’s second goal. With such passes, the striker scared off many of his home rivals and spoke for River Plate. Because of his agility, local fans nicknamed him “Spider”. Fans were seen controlling the ball with eight legs, not two.

He attracted the attention of European giants by performing at his home. Real Madrid first saw him in 2011. Then the sports director of the “creamy” Ramon Martinez, who participated in the children’s team “River Plate” match, came to Argentina. Even then, Alvarez was noticeably more technical than his peers, and Martinez wanted to attract Julian to Madrid academy. The striker, however, had to limit himself to a traineeship in Madrid.

The transition was blocked by new FIFA rules approved a few months before Martinez’s visit to Argentina. Clubs are prohibited from signing players under the age of 16. Transfers of players under this age can only take place if the player’s parents move to the country of the new club, but are not related to the team itself. If these rules had been applied earlier, for example, Lionel Messi would not have been in Barcelona in 2000. At the time of the transition to the academy of the Catalan club, Leo was only 13 years old.

Now it’s unlikely that Alvarez will regret interrupting the move to Real Madrid because a brilliant game for City has allowed him to fulfill his dream. The other day, Argentine fans found a ten-year-old video on the Web in which young Julián confesses that his dream is to play in the World Cup. It seems that the striker has more than fulfilled the plan by reaching the final.

In the same video, Julian names his favorite actor. Of course, it turned out to be Messi. It is unlikely that Alvarez would one day think that he will play alongside his idol in the World Cup final.