By: Carlos Salinas, Special Representative.
The Argentine team took an important step towards the World Cup after beating Australia 2-1 in the round of 16 of Qatar 2022, in a game that left the Copa América champions suffering.
Those led by Lionel Scaloni had to fight against a rival who managed to interrupt their associative game in the first half and isolate Lionel Messi from the rest of his teammates on several occasions.
The “socceroos”, which came as one of the surprises of the World Cup at this point, used their physical strength and even made it difficult for the gauchos with the ball.
However, when the potatoes burn, the numbers appear and in this case it was Messi’s turn as he scored the first goal of the game with his usual but exquisite left-footed shot at the far post on 35 minutes. A hallmark of the seven-time Ballon d’Or.
Despite Argentina’s goal advantage, Australia continued to cause problems for the ‘Albiceleste’, whose coach Lisandro Martínez sent on for ‘Papu’ Gómez to bolster the defence.
Still, the South American line-up waited for a mistake from the rivals and the opportunity came at 57′ when Julián Álvarez used a blooper from goalkeeper Mathew Ryan to steal the ball and make it 2-0.
With the calm of the result, the gauchos began to control the game and when it seemed Argentina were closer to scoring the third goal, the Oceanians surprised with 77′ by Craig Goodwin, whose shot collided with Enzo Fernández’s head and ended in the fence ‘Dibu’ Martinez.
Despite the discount, the “Albiceleste” set the pace in the final stages of the game and was able to celebrate entering the next round of the world’s most celebrated football competition.
Likewise, this duel had a special value for Messi, since he reached 1,000 games in his professional career, with a record of 788 goals, 345 assists and 41 titles.
“It was a difficult game, a difficult day. We had very little recovery time, were tired and didn’t recover well. It was a very physical match,” explained the “flea”.
Argentina are now gearing up for a tough clash against the Netherlands in the quarter-finals on Friday 9 December.
Messi defeated Maradona
After scoring in the win against Australia, Lionel Messi scored nine goals with Argentina at the World Cup, becoming the Albiceleste’s second-best goalscorer in the competition. The Flea surpassed historic Diego Armando Maradona’s eight points and is just one behind Gabriel Batistuta.
Argentina’s ’10’, who scored their first goal in a World Cup knockout phase, has a chance to catch up with ‘Batigol’ in the next clash against Netherlands in the quarterfinals.