HOUSTON — Venezuela had a plan. It was a tactical approach, designed specifically to take Lionel Messi and the other dangerous Argentine attackers out of the game by applying forward pressure and forcing Argentina to make long, hopeful passes.
And it worked for about seven minutes.
But in the eighth minute, Messi conjured the kind of technical genius that compels most observers to call him the best soccer player in the world, artfully lifting a perfect pass about 15 yards in to Gonzalo Higuaín. With one striking touch, Higuaín converted it into a goal, the first in Argentina’s 4-1 victory on Saturday in a Copa América Centenario quarterfinal.