The best player in the world, Lionel Messi, celebrated the 1000th match of his career in the best possible way. He opened the way in the 35th minute in Argentina with a goal against Australia, and in the 57th minute Alvarez gave Albiceleste a lead in qualifying for the 2022 World Cup quarter-finals.

With a final score of 2:1, the team of Lionel Scaloni confirmed the title of favorite against the “kangaroos”, entered the “8” tournament, where on Friday (12.09, 21:00) they will play with the Netherlands, against the backdrop of a “ticket” to the tetrad.

The final, however, was a thriller with Argentina missing one opportunity after another and it almost cost them, but goalkeeper Martinez prevented a 2-2 score!

The first official meeting between the two teams (they met in a friendly match in 2007 when Argentina won 1-0) was decided by the class of Lionel Messi and the tragic mistake of Australian goalkeeper Ryan. After the second goal, things went on as usual, and the Argentines have every reason to continue dreaming … about the cup.

It will be the first meeting between the two teams since the 2007 friendly, when Argentina won 1-0 thanks to a goal from Demichelis. The two teams have never met at the World Championships.

With one substitution out of their eleven, they lined up with Argentina’s and Australia’s Ahmed bin Ali in relation to their most recent group stage matches against Poland and Denmark, respectively. The Albiceleste started with Papo Gomez instead of the injured Angel Di Maria, while the Kangaroos started with Keanu Backus instead of Craig Goodwin.

The match in the first part turned out to be quite tense, the Australians showed themselves excellently in the tactical part. With a double zone of protection, they closed all the corridors for the Scaloni players, who, with a patient pass, tried to open the well-organized defense of the opponent, but to no avail.

In such cases, the only ones who can change the course of such a game are the players who matter. One of these is at least Lionel Messi, who in the 35th minute found as much space as he needed in the penalty area to send the ball… with a left kick into Ryan’s right corner.

1-0 was a fact for Argentina, which until this moment did not create even the suspicion of a possibility. However, Messi found a way to put Argentina ahead by scoring his 3rd goal in Qatar, 9th in a World Cup final, and the first of his career, as odd as it sounds in a World Cup playoff.

Australia, with a score against them, had to take more risks in the second half to equalize. Otamendi’s wrong turn towards Martinez in the 53rd minute almost created a dangerous situation for the Argentine goalkeeper, who came out just in time to clear the ball in front of Duke.

However, she did not threaten at all, and although Albicelesta changed the system to 5-3-2, she still had absolute control in the match. Scaloni’s team did not “look” for the second goal, but found it after Ryan’s terrible mistake in the 57th minute. The Kangaroo goalkeeper tried to beat De Paul in his small area, but Alvarez, who was nearby, intercepted the ball and “signed” 2:0 into an empty net.

However, the match did not end there, as Australia managed to return to it thanks to a very well-placed goal scored by Goodwin in the 77th minute with the assistant … Enzo Fernandez. About 20 minutes into the game, Goodwin caught a hard shot from outside the box and, while the ball was flying, hit Fernandez’s body, changed course and hit Martinez’s goal (2-1).

In high spirits, the Aussies gave it their all and almost equalized in the 81st minute, but at the last minute Otamendi stepped in and blocked a shot from Behic, who was very close to goal. individual effort.

In the 89th minute, Lautaro Martinez, after a goal … half a goal by Lionel Messi, could not “fix” the qualification, as in the 93rd minute, De Paul, again from a “flea” pass, was beaten by Ryan. And since Argentina did not finish the match with a bunch of chances that they missed in the last minutes, in the 7th minute of stoppage time it almost paid off, but Martinez interfered heavily instead of Cuol.

Source: RES-IPE