In the 65th minute, Lionel Messi started running through the Australian midfield triangle like a cheetah with the ball from the midfield. That run was so beautiful that it looked like the Australian players were giving way to Messi in salute. Then Julián Álvarez got into the opponent’s defense with the ball.
Although Messi’s solo run didn’t ultimately lead to a goal, the crowd did not fail to give a standing ovation to Messi’s magic. Messi is such a magician, he woke up in one run from Ahmed Bin Ali Stadium to Karwan Bazar in Dhaka.
Of course, Messi had already done the work. When Australia’s defense kept the entire Argentine defense including Messi in check, the Argentine captain took it upon himself to break the deadlock. Argentina took the lead in the 35th minute of the match with his goal. It was Messi’s first goal in the knockout stages of the World Cup. And this was the 1000th match of Messi’s career for both club and national team.
The other goal was a gift from the Australian goalkeeper after the Argentinian magician advanced. The gift that Julián Martinez took. However, Australia scared Argentina with a great goal at the end. However, the end was not saved. Socceroos run stopped in the second round. Argentina won the match 2–1.
Before the match on this day, Australia said not to be afraid of Argentina. There was that impression at the beginning of the match as well. They started the game by keeping their positions on the field without coming down like Poland. Argentina were trying to attack with pass after pass. But keeping focus, Australia was not giving much chance to Argentina.
Socceroos had an eye not only to stop Lionel Messi, but also to attack. They went up a few times and tested the Argentine defense. And because of Australia’s strategy, Argentina could not go all-out attack even if they wanted to.
In the first 30 minutes of the match, Argentina could not take more than one shot despite keeping 61 percent of the ball. That shot was not on target either. Messi was trying to break Australia’s defense by attacking from both wing and mid. But Australia’s backline was adamant.
Finally, in the 35th minute, Messi came forward and broke the Australian defense. His first attempt came back from Australia’s d-box, but in that attack, Messi put Argentina ahead with a great ground-biting shot from inside the d-box.
The desired goal was finally found. Lionel Messi scored a goal in the World Cup knockout for the first time. Argentina took the lead in the 35th minute of the match against Australia with the goal of the Argentine magician.
Earlier, Messi scored 8 goals in the World Cup, but none of them were in the knockout stages. All of them did in the group stage of the World Cup. However, he did not score a goal in the knockouts of the World Cup but assisted in 4. Argentina goes to the break with this 1 goal lead.
Even after the break, the fight continues. A trailing Australia continued their first-half tactics and tried to attack and create chances. Argentina also got the ball and was coming up. In between, Messi took another shot from inside the D-box, but it didn’t score.
After a while, Argentina’s defense almost lost a little more, and Australia almost brought back the parity. However, Emiliano Martinez saved the team in the end. Although Australia could not use the mistakes of Argentina’s defense, Argentina took the lead by using Australia’s mistakes correctly. The Australian goalkeeper failed to take control of the ball in the back pass, but Julián Alvarez got the ball into the net.
In the 77th minute, Craig Goodwin’s volley from outside the D-box bounced off Enzo Fernandez and into the net, reducing the gap for Australia. A moment later another great chance from Australia narrowly missed the net. Both teams had great chances towards the end. However, no one got a goal in Miss’s practice.
