Messi magic guides relieved Argentina past Mexico
Argentina ............. 2 Mexico .................. 0 IYADH - Sublime strikes by Lionel Messi and Enzo Fernandez earned Argentina a 2-0 win over feisty Mexico in a pulsating atmosphere at the Lusail Stadium last night and got the South American favourites’ World Cup campaign up and running.
Messi’s brilliant low strike from outside the box sparked a win to take them second in Group C, just as their hopes of victory were starting to fade and fear was setting in. Argentina’s captain was anonymous in the first-half, his sole contribution of note a header that ballooned over the bar, as his team failed to carve out a single decent chance.
But picked out by Angel Di Maria just outside the Mexico box in the 64th minute, Messi made no mistake, arrowing a low shot through a crowd of defenders into the corner. Fernandez doubled the lead in the 87th with a wonderful curling effort. The win took Argentina up to second place on three points, one
Rbehind leaders Poland, who they play in their last group match. Saudi Arabia are third, level on points with Argentina but with an inferior goal difference.
The seven-time Ballon d’Or-winning forward pulled level with Maradona on eight World Cup goals and a record 21 appearances at the tournament for his country yesterday.
Argentina’s talisman is two goals short of their World Cup top-scorer Gabriel Batistuta’s tally of 10 goals, but his winner should bring more opportunities to overtake ‘Batigol’ in Qatar. The real dream is emulating Maradona’s 1986 World Cup win, but Messi can content himself for now by levelling Maradona’s World Cup appearance record and goal haul, two years and a day after ‘El Pelusa’ passed away.