Without a doubt, this match was intense. Australia were doing a lot better job than Poland. There was character, attitude, hunger, and fire, but then there was Lionel Messi. The man's legacy sounds like a fairytale; everything was impossible until he arrived. Beyond fantasy! inspiration to all humanity. How amazing he can be! Limitations is terrified to learn his address. The boy wonder is the man who is the legend today. Enjoy him while you can. A true entertainer.

🅢🅞🅤🅡🅒🅔

After starting their World Cup campaign on shaky footing, losing 2-1 to Saudi Arabia, Argentina have rounded nicely into form, registering back-to-back 2-0 wins against Mexico and Poland. Six points proved to be enough to win Group C, setting up a rare meeting with Australia in what was a landmark match for captain Lionel Messi—his 1,000th game for club and country!

#Qatar2022

🔝 Lionel #Messi llegó hoy al partido número mil de su carrera profesional. ¡Que sigan los récords, capitán! 👏

📝 https://t.co/13I7y45qvJ pic.twitter.com/s4gYDURFPU

— Selección Argentina 🇦🇷 (@Argentina) December 3, 2022

🅢🅞🅤🅡🅒🅔

Argentina made just one change from the XI that beat Poland 2-0 on Wednesday, with Gomez getting the start ahead of Di Maria.

ARGENTINA XI (4-3-3): Emiliano Martinez; Marcos Acuna, Nicolas Otamendi, Cristian Romero, Nahuel Molina; Alexis Mac Allister, Enzo Fernandez, Rodrigo De Paul; Julian Alvarez, Lionel Messi, Alejandro Gomez.

SUBS: Leandro Paredes, Exequiel Palacios, German Pezzella, Guido Rodriguez, Franco Armani, Lautaro Martinez, Angel Di Maria, Angel Correa, Lisandro Martinez, Paulo Dybala, Nicolas Tagliafico, Thiago Almada, Gonzalo Montiel, Geronimo Rulli, Juan Foyth.

#Qatar2022

⚽ @Argentina 🇦🇷 0 🆚 #Australia 🇦🇺 0

⏱ 10' PT pic.twitter.com/eC1oN3fPwY

— Selección Argentina 🇦🇷 (@Argentina) December 3, 2022

🅢🅞🅤🅡🅒🅔

Australia followed up a 4-1 loss to France in the first match of Group D in incredible fashion, stringing together a pair of 1-0 victories over Tunisia and Denmark. The two wins put Graham Arnold’s side into the last 16 of the World Cup for the second time in Socceroos history, after 2006, while a historic result against Argentina could have sent them into the quarter-finals for the first time ever.

🅢🅞🅤🅡🅒🅔

Australia made a single change from the side that beat Denmark 1-0 last time out, with Baccus replacing Goodwin on the left wing.

AUSTRALIA XI (4-4-2): Mat Ryan; Milos Degenek, Harry Souttar, Kye Rowles, Aziz Behich; Mathew Leckie, Aaron Mooy, Jackson Irvine, Keanu Baccus; Riley McGree, Mitchell Duke.

SUBS: Fran Karacic, Thomas Deng, Joel King, Marco Tilio, Andrew Redmayne, Ajdin Hrustic, Craig Goodwin, Awer Mabil, Jason Cummings, Bailey Wright, Garang Kuol, Nathaniel Atkinson, Jamie Maclaren, Cameron Devlin, Danny Vukovic.

STARTING XI 🗒️

Team news is IN. 👊#FIFAWorldCup #GiveIt100 #Socceroos pic.twitter.com/ZbEyKtNQ8f

— Socceroos (@Socceroos) December 3, 2022

🅢🅞🅤🅡🅒🅔

This was the first meeting between Argentina and Australia since a September 2007 friendly, won 1-0 by Argentina thanks to a goal from Martin Demichelis. It’s their first ever meeting at the World Cup.

Australia were comfortably out-possessed in all three of their World Cup matches thus far, with Arnold’s side more focused on work off the ball. It was a similar scenario today at the Ahmad Bin Ali Stadium, with Argentina’s midfield trio pulling the strings and controlling the tempo.

🅢🅞🅤🅡🅒🅔

Argentina spent the opening minutes circulating the ball from right to left, making sure everyone had a taste as they inch slowly toward the goal. Australia were pressing fiercely, defending their half with tremendous spirit—an attitude they needed to keep up for the remainder of the game.

🅢🅞🅤🅡🅒🅔

Australia were doing their thing. Everything was going fine until, out of nowhere, Messi appeared. Yes, you guessed it. The Socceroos were now fined. It's an unusual assist for Otamendi, who was first deployed high up the field to attack the Argentina set-piece. A GOAL FOR MESSI IN GAME NUMBER 1,000! 1-0 ARGENTINA! Messi’s initial free-kick into the six-yard box was repelled by Souttar, but the Albiceleste retrieved territory and sought to strike from a central position in the second phase. Mac Allister played a pass into Otamendi, whose first touch teed Messi up for a shot beautifully, and the captain met it with a sweet hit into the bottom-left corner to beat Ryan!

🇦🇷 🐐🐐
🐐
🐐 🐐🐐
🐐 🐐
🐐🐐🐐

🐐🐐
🐐 🐐
🐐 🐐
🐐 🐐
🐐🐐

🐐
🐐
🐐
🐐
🐐🐐🐐🇦🇷 pic.twitter.com/5WZnBr13Te

— Selección Argentina 🇦🇷 (@Argentina) December 3, 2022

🅢🅞🅤🅡🅒🅔

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭 𝐠𝐨𝐚𝐥 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐋𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐥 𝐌𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐢 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐖𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝 𝐂𝐮𝐩 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐜𝐤𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐠𝐞 𝐜𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐞, 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐧𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐚 𝐝𝐨𝐮𝐛𝐭. 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐚 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐠𝐞𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭! 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐚 𝐠𝐨𝐚𝐥 𝐭𝐨 𝐠𝐞𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭! 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐝, 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝 𝐜𝐮𝐩 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐡𝐢𝐦, 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭 𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝 𝐨𝐟 𝐬𝐢𝐱𝐭𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐜𝐥𝐨𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐚 𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭 𝐦𝐚𝐠𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝. 𝐒𝐜𝐨𝐜𝐜𝐞𝐫𝐲!

🅢🅞🅤🅡🅒🅔

𝚃𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚠𝚊𝚜 𝙰𝚞𝚜𝚝𝚛𝚊𝚕𝚒𝚊’𝚜 𝚏𝚒𝚏𝚝𝚑 𝚆𝚘𝚛𝚕𝚍 𝙲𝚞𝚙 𝚖𝚊𝚝𝚌𝚑 𝚊𝚐𝚊𝚒𝚗𝚜𝚝 𝚊 𝚂𝚘𝚞𝚝𝚑 𝙰𝚖𝚎𝚛𝚒𝚌𝚊𝚗 𝚘𝚙𝚙𝚘𝚗𝚎𝚗𝚝, 𝚠𝚒𝚝𝚑 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚂𝚘𝚌𝚌𝚎𝚛𝚘𝚘𝚜 𝚠𝚒𝚗𝚕𝚎𝚜𝚜 𝚒𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚙𝚛𝚎𝚟𝚒𝚘𝚞𝚜 𝚏𝚘𝚞𝚛 (𝙳𝟷 𝙻𝟹).

🅢🅞🅤🅡🅒🅔

The wait for the triumph was prolonged. It wasn't arriving today. ALVAREZ DOUBLED ARGENTINA’S LEAD! 2-0! Argentina’s pressing paid dividends, with the midfield moving up instantly to attempt and win the ball back following Ryan’s throw. A sloppy ball back from Rowles put the goalie under pressure inside his area and enabled Alvarez to steal it back and slot it into an empty net!

🇦🇷 🕷🕷
🕷
🕷 🕷🕷
🕷 🕷
🕷🕷🕷

🕷🕷
🕷 🕷
🕷 🕷
🕷 🕷
🕷🕷

🕷
🕷
🕷
🕷
🕷🕷🕷🇦🇷 pic.twitter.com/C4s28ZMe3F

— Selección Argentina 🇦🇷 (@Argentina) December 3, 2022

🅢🅞🅤🅡🅒🅔

Australia saw even less of the ball in the second half than they did in the first, with Argentina doing a good job of controlling the tempo and denying their opponents any momentum at all. Australia went for 30 minutes without attempting a shot of any kind, with Emiliano Martinez not forced into a save in the entirety of the match.

It’s a goal out of absolutely nowhere. Australia got one back! 2-1! GAME ON! with Goodwin’s effort from 25 yards out, following a repelled cross, taking a touch off Fernandez’s face, and wrong-footing the goalkeeper! It went down as an own goal for the Benfica midfielder, giving the Socceroos a chance with 13 minutes left!

🅢🅞🅤🅡🅒🅔

In the dying moments, Australia almost equalized! A cross to the far post was controlled inside the penalty area with a lovely touch by Kuol, who immediately found himself in enough space to turn. The substitute fired a low shot that Emiliano Martinez saved superbly, to the relief of all Argentina!

🅢🅞🅤🅡🅒🅔

𝗔𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗹𝗶𝗮’𝘀 𝗼𝗻𝗹𝘆 𝘄𝗶𝗻 𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝗔𝗿𝗴𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗮 𝗶𝗻 𝘀𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗻 𝗽𝗮𝘀𝘁 𝗺𝗲𝗲𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘀 (𝗗𝟭 𝗟𝟱) 𝘄𝗮𝘀 𝗯𝗮𝗰𝗸 𝗶𝗻 𝗝𝘂𝗹𝘆 𝟭𝟵𝟴𝟴 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗔𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗹𝗶𝗮 𝗕𝗶𝗰𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗻𝗮𝗿𝘆 𝗚𝗼𝗹𝗱 𝗖𝘂𝗽, 𝘄𝗶𝗻𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝟰-𝟭 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗴𝗼𝗮𝗹𝘀 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝗣𝗮𝘂𝗹 𝗪𝗮𝗱𝗲, 𝗖𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗹𝗶𝗲 𝗬𝗮𝗻𝗸𝗼𝘀 (𝘁𝘄𝗶𝗰𝗲), 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗩𝗹𝗮𝗱𝗼 𝗕𝗼𝘇𝗶𝗻𝗼𝘀𝗸𝗶. 𝗖𝘂𝗿𝗿𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗰𝗼𝗮𝗰𝗵 𝗔𝗿𝗻𝗼𝗹𝗱 𝗮𝗹𝘀𝗼 𝗽𝗹𝗮𝘆𝗲𝗱 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗰𝗵 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗦𝗼𝗰𝗰𝗲𝗿𝗼𝗼𝘀. 𝗕𝘂𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝗶𝘀 𝗻𝗼 𝗴𝗹𝗼𝗿𝘆 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗵𝗶𝗺 𝘁𝗼𝗱𝗮𝘆.

𝐀𝐫𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐚 𝐚𝐝𝐯𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐍𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐪𝐮𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐞𝐫-𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐬 𝐨𝐧 𝐅𝐫𝐢𝐝𝐚𝐲, 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐞 𝐀𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐚’𝐬 𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐧𝐚𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐚𝐧 𝐞𝐧𝐝.

🅷🅰🆅🅴  🅰  🅽🅸🅲🅴  🅳🅰🆈 ❗   🅰🅳🅸🅾🆂 ❗

---