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Argentine win made Mascherano it sourer for Brazil steps up

AFP, Rio de laneini
Brazil's World Cup nightmare worsened with Argentina reaching the final on Wednesday.
Still agonizing over their 7-1 semifinal defeat to Germany 24 hours earlier, Brazilians will now have to watch their bitter rivals Argentina play for the trophy at the legendary Maracana Stadium on Sunday.
Many Brazilians rooted for the Netherlands to beat Argentina in Wednesday’s semifinal. But Argentina beat the Dutch4-2 in a penalty shootout after a 0-0 draw.
"Seeing Argentina in the final in our home hurts, especially after the Selecao's worst ever defeat," said Marcio Carneiro da Silva, 36, a mailman drowning his sorrows with a beer on the terrace of a Rio de Janeiro restaurant.
His friend Cesar Augusto, 37, already picked a new team for Sunday.
" Now I'm German, ’ he said.
The Brazilian noted that the final will be in the same stadium where Brazil lost the decisive game of the 1950 tournament to Uruguay, a defeat that traumatized the country.
"The nightmare continues," wrote O Dia newspaper in its online edition.
" In addition to not being able to dream about a sixth title, Brazilians will have to live with the real possibility of one of its main rivals triumphing in the ultimate football temple," it said.
The sports daily Lance used a TWitter-like hashtag for its title, #SomosTodosAlemanha! (We AreAlll Germany).
Brazil and Argentina have battled forfootball supremacy in South America for decades.
Brazilians flaunt their record five World Cup titles at Argentines, whose team has won the trophy twice.
Throughout World Cup history, fans on both sides taunted each other. Argentine fans chanted in stadiums that football legend Diego Maradona was better than Brazilian great Pele.
But the competition goes beyond the pitch. Argentina was a leading emerging nation in the early 20th century but it was eclipsed by Brazil in economic and political might in recent decades.
At the official "Fan Fest" in Sao Paulo, some Brazilians wore the Dutch team's orange colors, applauding every time the Netherlands were close to scoring
Now they have to cope with the possibility of President Dilma Rousseff handing the trophy to Argentine captain and superstar Lionel Messi.
"1 can’t imagine Dilma giving the trophy to Argentina at the Maracana. This can't happen," said Marcos Raimondi, a 44-year-old economist wearing the official Dutch team jersey. "It's worse than what happened yesterday. It's a nightmare. Unbearable."
Amadeus Marques, a 27-year-old doctor also in Dutch regalia, was equally dumbstruck. Espnfc.com
What to make of Argentina? There was a clear narrative laid down for Alejandro Sabella's team and, quite frankly, they've been rather inconsiderate in not following the script
If they were to reach the final, it was to be Lionel Messi’s doing If they were to win the World Cup, it was to be Lionel Messi's World Cup. Everyone was comfortable with that. And then Javier Mascherano arrived at the party.
While Messi has failed to score in the knockout rounds, it's the wild-eyed, shavenheaded destroyer in the middle who continues to excel.
Wednesday's semifinal was the land of game that cries out for someone like Messi to dominate Even in the absence of domination, a moment of magic would be nice But here there was nothing.
Messi sent a free-kick straight at Jasper Cillessen in the 13th minute and then wasn’t seen again until his cooly taken penalty in the shoot-out. For all anyone knows, he could have been back in the dressing room, lazily leafing through a paperback for the rest of the night.
Hand a paperback to Mascherano and you suspect he'd slide tackle it into the advertising hoardings.
Mascherano wasn't supposed to be the face of this Argentina side, but he has come to represent all of its greatest strengths. He is
indefatigable, he is indomitable and there are rumours that he cannot be killed by conventional weapons.
You only have to look at how the Belgians reacted to his snarling presence to see the effect he has on other teams. Marc Wilmots' team decided that they'd rather bypass the middle and punt the ball long to their strikers than take the chance of crossing Mascherano's path.
He shouldn't even have been on the pitch on Wednesday after appearing to lose consciousness fol lowing a heavy blow to the head. Fortunately for Argentina, FIFA are yet to display any awareness of the dangers of concussion.
Mascherano, clearly still dazed, shook his head like a wet dog and wandered back into the fray, albeit perhaps with no idea what his name was, or what all of these people in orange shirts were doing in his house
There are two things in life you cannot choose: Your family and the heroes of a World Cup. The marketing men wanted Messi, but tough tackling and tight marking has diminished his contribution.
In his place stands Mascherano, ironically a man all too familiar with the concepts that have neutralised his teammate.
The temptation was to say that if Argentina are going to win the World Cup, they'd need Messi at his best. The truth, based on what we've seen so far, is that Mascherano is now their key player.