Lionel Messi rights a mind-boggling historical wrong in Argentina win
Argentina #Argentina
DOHA, Qatar – Lionel Messi scored his first-ever goal in the knockout round of the World Cup, which simultaneously pushed Argentina into the quarterfinals and also made everyone wonder how that statistic was ever possible.
Messi has been around for so long, and been so good, that it seemed inconceivable for him to have not hit the target at the business end of the tournament — not even during Argentina’s charge to the 2014 final.
But it was true, he’d never gotten on the scoresheet during an elimination game. Now he has, steering home the first in a 2-1 victory over Australia that turned out to be nowhere near as comfortable as expected.
Argentina’s Lionel Messi scores goal vs. Australia in 35′
The Australians, with the rather wonderful nickname of the Socceroos, had done tremendously well to reach this stage but initially seemed destined to be outclassed on a night when Messi came ready for action.
However, a late revival caused some nervous moments in the Argentina camp, before hanging on for victory in what was both Messi’s 1,000th career game and his 100th as national captain.
It has been a journey that will see him go down as one of the all-time greats. His record is packed with accolades of all description, and there remains one prize and one only that could boost his legacy further.
Winning the World Cup.
[Argentina vs. Australia highlights: Messi leads his team to quarterfinals]
There is some distance to go on that front and the Netherlands, conquerors of the United States earlier on Saturday, will surely have something to say about it.
But his impact completed another key step here, and that opening game upset defeat against Saudi Arabia is now long since forgotten.
After 35 minutes, he proved how dangerous he is. There was precious little space when he saw the ball land at his feet from Nicolas Otamendi’s touch, but it didn’t matter.
A little move, a shuffle of the feet, and a left-foot effort was spinning past Australia goalkeeper Mat Ryan and into the net. Just like that. Just like Messi.
At 57 minutes, Ryan should have done better, taken by surprise when Rodrigo de Paul kept running and forced him into a heavy touch. Julian Alvarez poached the ball from the goalkeeper, turned, and clipped in it to comprehensively finish things off.
Supposedly.
World Cup knockout games have a habit of refusing to go quietly, and after showing little for well over an hour, Australia came surging back into contention.
It took a slice of luck, but no matter. Craig Goodwin absolutely belted one from outside the box, it looked to be going way wide, but a huge deflection off defender Enzo Fernandez deflected it in for an own goal.
With 10 minutes left, Aziz Behich went on a remarkable run for Australia, weaving in and out of players, and nearly scoring what would have been a spectacular effort, only to be denied when Lisandro Martinez threw himself into a desperate block.
Messi had a couple of late chances as Australia’s search for an equalizer opened up space at the back, but it was not to be.
No more goals this time. More, he hopes, to follow.
Argentina vs. Australia Highlights
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Martin Rogers is a columnist for FOX Sports and the author of the FOX Sports Insider newsletter. Follow him on Twitter @MRogersFOX and subscribe to the daily newsletter.
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