Argentina's opening match loss to Saudi Arabia was arguably the most stunning on-field development of the 2022 World Cup, but it apparently made the soccer powerhouse stronger ahead of a run to the final.
"Internally we were confident that we would make it because we know what we are capable of as a squad," Lionel Messi said after propelling his team to a 3-0 victory over Croatia in Tuesday's semifinal match, per James Olley of ESPN. "We lost in the first match due to fine details but it helped us to be stronger."
Messi went on to call the entire situation "an acid test" for the team considering it essentially had to win out from there to clinch a spot in the knockout stage.