The 34-year-old midfielder is the epitome of the bronca, the spirit of defiance that so often propels Argentina, and a voice of reason in a chaotic campaign

Javier Mascherano has spent much of the past week looking beat up. He had a black eye as he gave a deeply necessary press conference last Saturday that helped stabilise Argentina, and finished Tuesday’s game against Nigeria with blood pouring from a cut eye and a scratched cheek. While his performance then had little to do with stability, his presence was still vital. If Mascherano was Argentina’s unacknowledged captain at the last World Cup, it has felt at times here that he has been their unacknowledged coach.

At times in St Petersburg there was something almost painful in watching Mascherano, at 34, look so off the pace. Every time a Nigerian ran at him, it seemed, he went past him. Again and again he gave the ball away. And yet at the same time, he was magnificent, constantly urging Argentina forward, organising and cajoling, his bloodied visage emblematic of the will that carried Argentina through to the last 16 despite themselves.

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Amid the panic, amid the fury, amid the hopelessly ambitious through-balls and dismal crosses, there was still that, the bronca, the spirit of defiance that so often fired Diego Maradona, that has in the past so often propelled Argentina. At least twice, Mascherano gave the ball away then charged back to reclaim it with a tackle. In his refusal to shirk responsibility, he was relentless.

In Brazil four years ago, as Lionel Messi wandered about in a fug of confusion and self-analysis, it was Mascherano who was the leader on the pitch, never happier, it seemed, than with a gaggle of players around him receiving instruction. At this tournament, as Jorge Sampaoli has drifted grey-faced from one crisis to another, looking always under pressure, never in command, Mascherano has been the voice of reason – off the pitch at least.

Two days after the 3-0 defeat to Croatia, with rumours circulating of an attempted coup by players against Sampaoli, as the coach gave a largely incoherent briefing, it was Mascherano who calmed nerves with an admirably pitched media appearance in which he both acknowledged fault and expressed resolve. It was a performance all the more remarkable for being delivered with a very obvious bruise, reportedly sustained after he had, to use the Argentinian idiom, gone to the pineapples with Cristian Pavón.

After giving away the penalty (and the corner that led to the penalty) that allowed Nigeria back into Tuesday’s game, Mascherano could easily have ended the group stage as the villain, as he was well aware. “I know I did not play the best, but I also know I gave everything I had,” he said. That clear-sightedness is precisely why he is so vital. As video emerged of Sampaoli seemingly asking – although he may simply have been telling; the intonation is unclear – Messi whether he should bring on Sergio Agüero, the need for a leader could not have been more obvious. (That said, Messi celebrated Marcos Rojo’s winner by slapping his coach’s hand; Sampaoli may be disregarded but he is not disliked).

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Mascherano was also the central presence in a delegation that went to Sampaoli after the Croatia game and persuaded him to adopt a back four and a more conservative approach against Nigeria. Gone was the attempt to press high as Sampaoli’s Chile used to, and in its place came a more realistic appraisal of Argentina’s lack of defensive pace. In the first half, with Éver Banega offering a source of creativity that relieved at least some of the burden on Messi, the change of tack worked; the loss of faith, the frenzy of desperation, set in only after the equalising penalty.

And yet Argentina still prevailed. For all the flaws, all the dependence on Messi, all the defensive errors, they still found a winner and way to progress to the last 16. Argentina have always been a mood team, capable of being derailed or inspired by external events. Others might have cursed their luck in facing France as early as the last 16, but not somebody as ruthlessly realistic as Mascherano. “We cannot ask for anything,” he said. “We did not have a good first phase and that has led us to play against France. It’s a very even World Cup so we will try to be competitive, play a great game and keep moving forward.”

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The task now is to do as the 1990 team did and from a humiliating defeat draw an energy that will carry them forward. “We hope that this is a psychic and football jerk for what is coming,” Mascherano said, “because we agree that it is not good to depend on miracles or something heroic. We have to be a balanced and competitive team.”

The mood has changed. Argentina celebrated progress with an asado – a South American barbecue – on Wednesday. Sampaoli, who has admitted he has not been sleeping, was relaxed enough to jokingly rule himself out of the running for the Germany job after their exit. Messi has revealed that against Nigeria he wore a red thread, a cabalistic charm given to him by the journalist Ramiro Pantorotto, beneath the sock on his left leg to ward off bad vibes.

But the red that really inspired Argentina was that on Mascherano’s cheek. There is a reason Barcelona offloaded him but, while Mascherano may have the legs of a Hebei China Fortune player, he has the heart and stomach of a champion, and more than that, an Argentinian one.