Photo: Maximiliano Luna
The Argentine team recovered its performance to qualify for the round of 16 by clearly beating Poland 2-0, winning Group C of the Qatar 2022 World Cup in a party atmosphere at the 974 Stadium in Doha.
The goals of the current champion of America were achieved by Alexis Mac Allister and Julián Álvarez in the second half (1m. and 22m.), after captain Lionel Messi missed a penalty at 38 minutes of the first part.
The Rosario star, who today broke the record for World Cup appearances in the national team (22 games), was applauded by the more than 40,000 “Albiceleste” fans who celebrated the team’s continuity in the competition.
Argentina will play in the round of 16 with Australia, second in Group D and 38th. of the FIFA ranking, in a match to be played next Saturday at 4:00 p.m. (Qatar 22) at the Ahmad Bin Ali stadium, with capacity for 45,032 spectators.
Photo: Maximiliano Luna
The team led by Lionel Scaloni finished in first place in their area with 6 units and Poland was second with 4, the same as Mexico, but favored by the fair play criteria after equalizing in points, goal difference, goals scored and result with each other.
Robert Lewandowski’s team, “absent” tonight in Doha, will play defending champions France on Sunday at 12:00 in Al Thumama.
Argentina played a great game, the best after their disappointing debut against Saudi Arabia and the distressing victory against Mexico.
He was the clear dominator of the game with 64 percent of the possession, he had a fluid passing circuit (858 against his rival’s 332), he finished off 24 times on target and turned the excellent goalkeeper from Poland, Wojciech Szczesny, into a figure.
The ease and patience that he showed in the search for the goal against a tight opponent with a line of 4 defenders and 5 midfielders was the best news after the unconvincing performances of the first two games.
Scaloni thought about the game with an attack without fixed references. Julián Álvarez came on for Lautaro Martínez to prevent the powerful Polish center-backs from controlling a positional striker like the Inter footballer.
Photo: Maximiliano Luna
The former River Plate player exchanged places alternately with Messi and Ángel Di María and was associated with the fair play that was born at the feet of Enzo Fernández, accompanied by De Paul, Mac Allister and an active Marcos Acuña in the left sector.
With the recognizable features of his cycle, the “Scaloneta” reduced the team of an isolated Lewandowski and after 25 minutes he began to accumulate merits with clear arrivals.
The first was at Julián’s feet with an imperfect shot in the center forward position and led to a later straight left foot shot from “Huevo” Acuña, which passed close to the left post.
After a while, Di María surprised his Juventus teammate with an Olympic corner kick that almost ended up inside the goal. The Pole smiled at him and gave him a thumbs up.
Álvarez, assisted by Mac Allister, had a net chance that was blocked by Szczesny after 37 minutes and on the second play there was a penalty action, the second sanctioned for Argentina in this World Cup. After heading wide, the goalkeeper’s left hand made contact with the face of the “10” and the Dutchman Danny Makkelie determined a penalty after checking it on the VAR screen.
Photo: Maximiliano Luna
Messi finished off across the ball, Szczesny guessed the direction of the ball and blocked it with a firm right-hand swipe that caused an exclamation of disappointment from almost the entire stadium. The fans immediately chanted the name of the Argentine captain as a sign of support.
Among today’s virtues, Argentina also had the ability to assimilate that blow with integrity and also had a wink to unlock the game in the first situation of the complement.
Romero, Di María and Molina put together a move from the right that turned into a low cross and Alexis Mac Allister won with the resistance of a goalkeeper with an imperfect shot but enough of a corner.
Poland did not show any reaction and the team maintained its search conviction with players growing in confidence. Messi and Alexis had the second on their feet, but Julián was in charge of achieving it after 22 minutes in an old River Plate connection with Enzo Fernández, chanted by the entire stadium by leaving his place to Germán Pezzella, also a former River Plate native.
With the lead, Scaloni made some conservative changes but Argentina did not lose ambition and could have thrashed had Messi not had an erratic night. The captain was upset with the situation, but the affection of the public and his collective performance gave him a wide smile at the end of the game.
Photo: Maximiliano Luna
The Poles had to wait a few minutes to find out the end of Mexico-Saudi Arabia and celebrate the classification in the midst of a one hundred percent Argentine environment.
Synthesis
Argentina: Emiliano Martinez; Nahuel Molina, Christian Rosemary, Nicolas Otamendi and Marcos Acuña; Rodrigo De Paul, Enzo Fernandez and Alexis Mac Allister; Angel Di Maria, Lionel Messi and Julian Alvarez. DT: Lionel Scaloni.
Poland: Wojciech Szczesny; Matty Cash, Kamil Glik, Jakub Kiwior and Bartosz Bereszynski; Grzegorz Krychowiak, Krystian Bielik and Piotr Zielinski; Przemyslaw Frankowski; Karol Świderski and Robert Lewandowski.
Goals in the second half: 1m. Mac Allister and 22m. Álvarez
Changes in the second half: At starting, Michal Skoras for Swiderski and Jakub Kaminski for Frankowski (P); 13m. Leandro Paredes for Di Maria and Nicholas Tagliafico for Coin ; 16m. Damian Szymanski by Bielik (P); 27m. Arthur Jedrzejczyk by Bereszynski (P); 33m. Germain Pezzella for Enzo Fernandez and Lautaro Martinez for Julian Alvarez (A); 38m. Krzysztor Piatek for by Krychowiak (P) and Thiago Almada for Mac Allister
Incidence in the first half: 38m. Szczesny blocked a penalty kick from Messi (A).
reprimanded: Acuña (A). Krychowiak (P).
Referee: Danny Makkelie (Países Bajos), asistido por sus compatriotras Hessel Steegstra (1° assistant), Jan de Vries (2° assistant) y Pol van Boekel (VAR).
Estadio 974 (Doha).
assists: 44,089 spectators.
