Going into this game, Argentina had only conceded once in their past eight matches.
Now, almost all of those were friendly matches and some against low-level opposition, though that stat reflects how watertight they are — it’s on track to be one goal against in nine games with a 1-0 lead on 69 minutes.
Rightly, a lot of the focus is about their fluid attacking and how well they set up chances for Messi. However, those rock-solid defensive foundations matter even more to go deep (again) in major tournaments.
The centre-back pairing of Lisandro Martinez and Cristian Romero is something Scaloni has built this team upon.
