Night the real Argentina stood up

DOHA. — Argentina’s FIFA World Cup graph continues on an upward curve as Lionel Messi’s involvement in Qatar continues into the last 16 - but the story of a routine win barely touches the sides of the drama that unfolded at Stadium 974 on Wednesday night.

The basic facts state Argentina’s 2-0 win over Poland completed another stage of their rehabilitation from the shock of that opening loss to Saudi Arabia.

They now face Australia, while the Poles join them in the knockout stage on goal difference.

This was the night the real Argentina stood up, the fluid and competitive force that went 36 games unbeaten before the rug was pulled out from under them by Saudi Arabia, playing at full force to outclass Poland.

More of that later — because the closing stages here contained tension and drama that the match itself never gave us because Argentina were so vastly superior.

Argentina were 2-0 up and Poland were through on the flimsy basis they had fewer yellow cards than Mexico, five to seven, but knowing another goal conceded, or another for the Mexicans at Lusail Stadium, would send them out.

In the end, Saudi Arabia put Poland’s qualification beyond doubt with a goal of their own, the catalyst for wild Polish celebrations on the pitch and in the stands, complete with waving of red and white flags, as news filtered through they would play France.

In the background, Argentina took the acclaim from their magnificent supporters, who flooded Stadium 974 in their thousands and made it look and sound more like River Plate Stadium rather than this unique arena made from shipping containers. Argentina were in everyone’s conversation when potential World Cup winners were discussed but had slipped up badly against Saudi Arabia then needed a moment of Messi magic to kick them into gear when they won 2-0 against Mexico.

Here, they played at a higher tempo and intensity, with Messi dazzling with those mazy dribbles, even hearing his name chanted when he had a first-half penalty brilliantly saved by Wojciech Szczesny.

In reality, justice was done as it was an awful award after VAR, the result of a routine aerial challenge between Messi and Szczesny.

This was Messi’s 22nd World Cup appearance, overtaking the great Diego Maradona with the most outright appearance for Argentina in this tournament. Messi could not celebrate the landmark with a goal but it would have left a sour taste had he done so with that penalty given the highly dubious nature of the award, when VAR should have confirmed it was not a penalty rather having Dutch referee Danny Makkelie pointing to the spot. The only surprise was the breakthrough took 46 minutes before Brighton’s Alexis Mac Allister broke the deadlock, Manchester City striker Julian Alvarez completing the formalities with a fine second.