Argentina Advances to Quarterfinals with 2-1 Victory over Australia

Clash with the Netherlands who defeated the USA... Messi plays his 23rd World Cup match, tied for 3rd place

On the afternoon of the 3rd (local time), at the Ahmad Bin Ali Stadium in Al Rayyan, Qatar, during the Round of 16 match of the 2022 Qatar World Cup between Argentina and Australia, Argentina's Messi is attempting a forward pass.
[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Seomideum] Fueled by Lionel Messi's (Paris Saint-Germain) opening goal, Argentina defeated Australia to advance to the quarterfinals of the 2022 Qatar World Cup. It is their first time reaching this stage in 8 years since finishing as runners-up in the 2014 Brazil tournament.

On the 4th (Korean time), Argentina won 2-1 against Australia in the round of 16 held at Ahmad Bin Ali Stadium in Al Rayyan, Qatar. Messi's opening goal in the first half and Juli?n ?lvarez's (Manchester City) winning goal in the second half brought Australia to its knees.

In the tournament, Messi scored his first goal in the World Cup knockout stage (after the round of 16) this time. Since the 2006 Germany tournament, all of Messi's World Cup goals had come in the group stage. Messi is challenging for his first championship in his fifth World Cup appearance.

Argentina lined up in a 4-3-3 formation with Messi leading the attack, Papu G?mez (Sevilla) on the left, and ?lvarez on the right as forwards.

Australia responded with a 4-4-2 formation, deploying Mitchell Duke (Okayama) and Riley McGree (Middlesbrough) as two strikers, supported by a solid midfield and defense behind them.

In the early first half, Argentina controlled the midfield but struggled to create good scoring chances due to Australia's organized defense.

Then Messi broke the deadlock. In the 35th minute of the first half, Nicol?s Otamendi (Benfica) passed the ball back, and Messi finished with a left-footed low shot from the center of the penalty area to score the opening goal.

Three Australian players rushed to block Messi's shot, but the ball passed between their legs and went into the lower left corner of the goal.

With his third goal of the tournament, Messi rose to joint top scorer alongside Kylian Mbapp? (France), ?nner Valencia (Ecuador), ?lvaro Morata (Spain), Marcus Rashford (England), and Cody Gakpo (Netherlands).

Australia launched a massive counterattack but conceded an additional goal due to goalkeeper Mathew Ryan's (Copenhagen) mistake. In the 12th minute of the second half, Ryan failed to properly handle a back pass from a defender, lost the ball to ?lvarez, who immediately shot to make it 2-0.

Desperate, Australia pulled one back in the 32nd minute of the second half with an own goal. Craig Goodwin (Adelaide) struck a powerful left-footed shot from the left side of the penalty arc, which deflected off Argentina's Enzo Fern?ndez (Benfica) and went into the goal.

In the 35th minute of the second half, Aziz Behich (Dundee) dribbled past four defenders from the left and broke into the penalty area, but his shot hit a defender's foot and missed the goal, leaving a moment of regret.