India, June 19 -- It was a night for tears. Lionel Messi wept on the pitch, Lionel Scaloni off it. From mildly reproving Pablo Aimar for getting emotional in Qatar to not holding back after the final and in Kansas City, Scaloni is now at ease with being vulnerable in public. "Sometimes football takes over and reminds you that you are also just a human being," he said after the 3-0 win against Algeria.

"I was just proud, emotional and deeply grateful to be witnessing something like that so close," said Scaloni explaining the tears after Messi's first World Cup hattrick.

It was the first match Argentina won as defending champions in a World Cup. In 1982 they lost to Belgium and eight years later, to Cameroon. And that is one proof of what...