By Victor Kanayo
Lionel Messi scored on his 1,000th career appearance as two-time champions Argentina beat Australia 2-1 to reach the quarter-final of the ongoing 2022 World Cup in Qatar on Saturday.
Messi’s 789th goal in his career appearance, first in the knockout rounds of the World Cup, helped set up a last-eight clash with the unbeaten Netherlands.
The first half was a slow affair with both sides struggling to get on the ball and create any concrete chances.
Argentina lacked urgency and intensity, just as Australia lacked creativity in attacking areas.
But a moment of magic from Messi sparked the game into life on 35 minutes.
He played a cute give-and-go before finding a yard of space to stroke a trademark low finish into the bottom corner.
The goal from Messi was the only shot on target for either side in what was a lacklustre first half of football.
Argentina had barely threatened in the first half but Paris St-Germain’s Messi stroked in a delightful low finish to spark wild celebrations from their fans.
The South American supporters had been on their feet singing all game and they had further delight when Julian Alvarez punished Mat Ryan’s mistake to double their advantage.
Australia had offered very little but surprisingly pulled one back with 13 minutes remaining when substitute Craig Goodwin’s strike took a huge deflection off Enzo Fernandez.
They could have levelled shortly after through Aziz Behich, whose incredible solo run took him past four players, but his shot was superbly blocked by Lisandro Martinez’s sliding challenge as Argentina edged through.
Argentina, two-time champions were the victim of arguably the biggest shock in Qatar when they went down 2-1 to Saudi Arabia in their opening group match.
