Doha: Argentina's World Cup tour continues. Lionel Messi's final World Cup saw Argentina qualify for the pre-quarterfinals. Poland also went to the last 16 from Group-C with them. Argentina attacked from the start against Robert Lewandowski. Poland dominated the defense early on. In the first half of the match, Argentina attacked Poland's box one after another. However, Messi could not open the goal. Argentina was trying to get a quick goal in the death match. But the Polish goalkeeper was manning their fortress with responsibility. The first half of the Poland-Argentina match ended goalless. In the first half, Poland got several great saves from Cejny. Including Leo Messi's penalty save. Read match report on Next World Cup.
Polish goalkeeper Wojciech Szejny threatened Messi before this match. He said that he read Messi. As a result, Sezney studied well to block his penalty. In today's match, that confidence was dripping in Sejni's eyes. Argentina got a penalty after 37 minutes of the match. Messi took the shot. Sejani blocked that shot in a great way. Messi looked a little stressed when he took that shot. Szejny was staring blankly at Messi to save the penalty. And the ball sent by Messi stuck in his glove. A confident Cesni proved what he said about Messi, right.
Messi started the second half where Argentina ended the first half. After the start of the second half, Argentina took the lead in the 46th minute from Nahel Molina's pass through Alexis McAllister's goal. He was repeatedly getting into trouble for encroaching on land. Argentina exploits that. Mac Alistair's goal was a set shot. After that, at the end of the 67th minute of the match, Argentina took a 2-0 lead with Julian Alvarez's goal from Enzo Fernandez's pass. Both teams did not get any goals until the end. But Argentina could have won by a bigger margin against Poland, had it not been for a couple of great saves from Cezany.
Leo Messi did not see a goal today against Poland. However, LM Ten set a record by playing in the last match of the group stage of the World Cup in Qatar. Argentina legend Diego Maradona played a total of 21 World Cup matches in the country's jersey. Messi broke that record in 974 stadiums in Qatar today. Messi has played a total of 22 matches in the World Cup.
In the other match of Group-C, Mexico did not go to the last 16 despite winning 2-1 against Saudi Arabia. Mexico took the lead in the 47th minute of the match with Henry Martin's goal. Lewis increased the goal difference in the 52nd minute. Salem scored a goal for Saudi in added time. As a result, Mexico was eliminated from the group stage. Poland, who went down against Argentina as table toppers, was once in danger of being knocked out of the World Cup for Mexico. However, Mexico did not get a big win against Saudi Arabia until the end. As a result, despite their equal 4 points, Robert Lewandowski's team entered the last-16 ahead of the goal difference.
