Gonzalo Higuaín in the World Cup: The matches, the goals, the drama | OneFootball

Gonzalo Higuaín will play in his third World Cup for Argentina, and will look to change fans’ perception of him after missing a huge chance to win the World Cup in Brazil.

The current Juventus striker made his debut for the national team after Diego Maradona called him up. It was nothing less than the historic 2-1 win over Peru on October 10, 2009, the penultimate date of the World Cup Qualifiers. That night in the Monumental will be remembered for a last-gasp goal by Martín Palermo. Few will recall that Pepita scored on his debut early in the second half.

With the exception of the triumph against Greece, in which they played mostly substitutes, Higuaín was a regular in South Africa, sharing the attack with Lionel Messi and Carlos Tevez. In the second match of the group stage, Argentina thrashed South Korea 4-1. The then-attacker of Real Madrid scored a hat-trick, while in the second round, he scored the second goal in Argentina’s 3-1 victory against Mexico.

The 2014 World Cup was, without doubt, the most traumatic tournament for Higuaín. After not being able to score in the group stage or the round of 16, Pipita showed his quality against Belgium, scoring the goal that put Argentina in the semi-finals of a World Cup for the first time in 24 years.

However, the final would be the saddest moment of Pepita’s life. 21 minutes into the match against Germany, the German defence allowed Higuaín in on a breakaway, only to be stopped by Manuel Neuer. To make matters worse, in that game they canceled, correctly, a goal for offside and they did not call a clear penalty against the German goalkeeper. A fateful night for the scorer.

In total, Higuaín has played 11 matches in World Cups, of which he started in ten, completing a total of 912 minutes.