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Son of a coal worker, Angel Di Maria saw the hardships in life from the age of nine. In a moving tribute to family, life and football, Di Maria wrote on The Players' Tribune how he would carry bags of coal with his sister from the truck to the backyard of the house to help their father.

As a child, Di Maria was also restless, running around everywhere, driving his mother crazy.

Unable to deal with their hyperactive kid, they sent him to an amateur football club. The start wasn’t smooth, there was rejection, but the skinny young boy, backed by his mother, never gave up.

His mother would carry him on her bicycle every day for training, in the summers and in the biting cold winters.

Eventually, the hard work and perseverance of the Di Maria family paid off as he established himself as one of the brightest youngsters in the country.

Running into the spaces from the flanks was his strength, which he did with dancing feet and scorching speed, drawing the attention of Portuguese giants Benfica.

“They say that my father was an even better footballer than me, but he broke his knees when he was young, and his dream died. They say that my grandfather was even better than him, but he lost both of his legs in a train accident, and his dream died,” he wrote.

“My dream was close to dying so many times. But my father kept working under the tin roof … my mother kept pedaling … I kept running into space …”

That gift of running into spaces built the Di Maria legend. He became a champion player at Benfica, earning a move to Real Madrid where he teamed up with Cristiano Ronaldo for La Liga and Champions League glory.

For Argentina, he was devastating on the flanks. It was his goal in the final that earned them Olympic gold (2008) before suffering heartbreaks with the senior team in the World Cups and Copa Americas.

When Argentina finally turned their fortunes around in 2021 by clinching the Copa America title, their first major trophy since 1993, it was Di Maria who scored the only goal in the final against Brazil at the Maracana in Rio de Janeiro.

One year later, Di Maria’s explosive pace, dribbling and finishing skills put France to the sword in the final of the Qatar World Cup.

The French roared back, but Argentina survived to win on penalties as Di Maria could not stop the tears from rolling down his face.

The dazzling winger retired from international football after Argentina won the Copa America in 2024.

His departure was one of the biggest reasons behind Argentina’s recent struggles.

Until now, Argentina haven’t been able to replace him for a very simple reason — there is no replacement for Di Maria in world football. According to Tim Vickery, a South American football expert, Di Maria was the superstar without the ego of a superstar.

“In Real Madrid, he carried the piano for Cristiano Ronaldo and he carried the piano for Messi in Argentina,” the Brazil-based British football writer said on his YouTube channel. Di Maria did not have the piano, but he still had a bagful of tricks and endless spirit, making those runs and sending sumptuous crosses from the flanks.

Now that he is spending the twilight years of his career for his boyhood club in Rosario where the journey started, it’s the other boy from the same city, Lionel Messi, who stepped up and performed the Di Maria role.

After head coach Lionel Scaloni tried several players and failed to find a quality winger, he tweaked his system for a more central possession-based play.

But the lack of width continued to be a problem for Argentina.

Cape Verde exploited it in the round of 16 before Egypt came close to causing one of the biggest upsets in the history of the tournament.

With Argentina down 2-0 against the Africans, Messi drifted to the right side of the field as Egypt blocked the spaces in the middle and came close to knocking the three-time world champions out.

Messi found those crosses from the right, setting up the first goal before scoring the second to bring Argentina back from the dead.

He performed miracles again, this time against England in the semifinal after Argentina conceded a goal early in the second half.

Moving to the right side of the field, Messi became far more dangerous than Guillermo Simeone, the son of former Argentina midfielder Diego Simeone, whose gamesmanship famously led to David Beckham’s red card in the 1998 World Cup round-of-16 clash between the two bitter rivals.

On Wednesday night, with Beckham watching from the VIP Box, Guillermo Simeone was solid but not spectacular on the right flank, lacking the highest attacking quality to pose real problems to the English defence.

Sensing the danger of seeing the match slipping away from their grasp completely, Messi started to play on the right, taking control of the possession, waiting for moments to explode or send a pass or a cross.

Messi makes a move against England

With England defending deep and just five minutes of regulation time left, Messi was at it again, building a move from the right after a short corner kick, which found Enzo Fernandez just outside the box as the Chelsea midfielder scored the equaliser with a stunning long-range right-footer.

Now, with the game tied at 1-1, only one team was going for the kill, and it was not England.

It was the Messi-inspired Argentina as the 39-year-old was at the heart of every attack — most of which came from the right.

Then in the 92nd minute, after Alexis Mac Allister hit the post with a brilliant shot, Messi picked up the loose ball just outside the right side of the penalty box.

With dancing feet, Messi launched a Di Maria-esque run, sending an inch-perfect cross from his weaker right foot to Lautaro Martinez, who headed home a magnificent winner.

Lionel Messi and teammates celebrate after the match

As the players joined the fans in celebrations after the final whistle, it was not hard to imagine Di Maria's celebrations across the Atlantic in Rosario, seeing his old friend, who could do everything on a football field, play his role to keep the Argentine dream alive of becoming the first team since Brazil in 1962 to win back-to-back World Cup titles.

On Sunday against Spain, Messi is all set to become the second player in history after Brazilian icon Cafu to play three World Cup finals.

And it would not have been possible if he hadn’t become the new Di Maria, who never stopped running into space, lifting his family out of financial doldrums and bringing glory to his country.

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