Messi missed a penalty, but Argentina have advanced to the Round of 16

Argentina beat Poland
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Argentina have secured their place in the round of 16 despite losing the first match against Saudi Arabia. The Albiceleste responded immediately and won the remaining two games. Last night, Argentina faced Poland in a must-win game, where the Albiceleste outplayed Poland to win the match at Stadium 974.

However, Argentine captain Lionel Messi missed a crucial penalty, but Argentina’s youngsters stepped forward to save the team. Alexis Mac Allister and Julian Alverez hit the net to beat Poland by a 2-0 margin.

As it happened

To face Poland, Argentine boss Lionel Scaloni made several changes to the squad. The manager dropped Montiel, Lisandro Martinez, Guido Rodriguez, and Lautaro Martinez and deployed Nahuel Molina, Christian Romero, Enzo Fernandez, and Julian Alvarez.

Lionel Scaloni set up team formation with 4-3-3. Besides, Poland’s manager played his team in a 4-4-2 formation, where Robert Lewandowski led the attack with Swiderski.

However, Poland made two layers in defense to protect the goalposts. Rather than scoring a goal, they focused on defense. On the other hand, Argentina kept pressing highly to find the net. But due to Poland’s compact defense, Argentina couldn’t find the net in the first half.

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Anyway, Argentina got a chance to take the lead in the 38th minute as Poland’s goalkeeper fouled Lionel Messi inside the box. Messi himself stepped forward to take the kick. But Poland’s goalkeeper saved Messi’s penalty kick to keep the scoreline o-o.

Returning from the break, Argentina took the lead immediately as Mac Allister found the net with the help of Nahuel Molina. After that, the Albiceleste took full control and pushed for another goal. Finally, Argentina doubled their lead in the 67th minute as Julian Alvarez scored a stunning goal with the help of Enzo Fernandez.

However, both team couldn’t score more in the remaining minutes. As a result, Argentina won the game by a 2-0 margin and qualified for the round of 16 as the group champion of Group C. Therefore, the Albiceleste will face Australia in the knockout round.