Argentina are through to the quarter finals of the FIFA World Cup following a 2-1 win over Australia thanks to goals from Lionel Messi and Julian Alvarez.
Playing in his 1000th career game, Lionel Messi opened the scoring five minutes after the half hour mark. The PSG forward whipped in a free-kick from the right but the ball was returned to him after a clearance.
Messi returned the ball to Alexis McAllister in the midfield and the later feeds Nicolas Otamendi, who touches it into Messi’s path for a cool and calm finish, which skipped past two defenders before beating the Goalkeeper, Mathew Ryan.
The goal was his first ever in a FIFA World Cup knockout round while he also surpasses Diego Maradona’s total of eight goals in World Cup finals with his ninth, now one behind Gabriel Batistuta as Argentina’s all-time top scorer in the tournament.
Argentina went into the half time break with a 1-0 lead as Australia never looked like giving up on the match.
Three minutes before the hour mark, Julian Alvarez doubles Argentina’s lead following a good pressing work, which forced Ryan to succumb and surrender possession to the Manchester City striker, who fired home for 2-0 Argentina.
Substitute, Craig Goodwin unleashed a powerful shot from 25 yards, it took a wicked deflection off Enzo Fernandez in the 77th minute to halve the deficit for the Oceanian side.
Australia had a couple of chances to level matters but would not take them and Argentina went on to set a quarter final date with The Netherlands, who beat The USA earlier to reach the last eight.
Author: Kehinde Hassan Afolabi
