Lionel Messi’s last chance to win the World Cup is alive and well after Argentina beat Australia 2-1 in the first knockout game to settle a quarter-final tie with the Netherlands at 2pm ET on Friday. Lionel Scaloni’s team beat the Socceroos with a convincing performance, despite some wobbles later on against one of the tournament’s previous upsets. Starting the game wasn’t as easy as one might have imagined. Argentina and Australia were both defensive and careful not to concede the opening goal. It was Leo Messi’s magical left foot that was needed to open the scoring in a game like this and it happened after 35 minutes when the Argentinian star scored with the game’s first shot.
Incredibly, this was Leo Messi’s first goal in a World Cup knockout game, in the 1000th game of his career. With that goal, his ninth in the overall World Cup, he surpassed Diego Maradona’s eighth as Argentina’s World Cup top scorer and is only behind Gabriel Batistuta (10). The second half began with an unexpected change minutes after the restart when Argentina coach Scaloni replaced striker Alejandro ‘Papu’ Gomez with defender Lisandro Martinez. Argentina started with a three-man defense and definitely played better football in the second half, giving them a lot more chances.
It was Julian Alvarez who scored the second goal of the game after Australia goalkeeper Mathew Ryan’s incredible error that lost possession thanks to pressing from Rodrigo de Paul and Julian Alvarez. The Manchester City forward scored his second goal of the competition. Australia managed to come back in the final minutes of the game with Craig Goodwin’s goal (his shot was deflected by Enzo Fernandez and later officially ruled an own goal) but that wasn’t enough as Argentina managed to retain the advantage and win off advance to the round of 16. The Albiceleste will be back on Friday and will play against the Netherlands for a place in the top four of the 2022 World Cup. Messi’s dream is more alive than ever.