Argentina advanced to the round of 16 of the Qatar 2022 World Cup tonight with a comfortable 2-0 win over Poland, who also advanced on goal difference ahead of Mexico.
South American champions Argentina earned the crucial win to complete the turnaround after their shock 2-1 defeat to Saudi Arabia in their opening game last week.
Lionel Messi missed a penalty in the first half but the Argentina captain and star player still had a fine game as they scored two second-half goals through Alexis Mac Allister and Julian Alvarez.
Argentina needed a win to guarantee passage to the knockout rounds while Poland would be through with a draw, and the Europeans were resolute in their defending in the first half.
The best opportunity for Argentina to get the opening goal came in the 39th minute when they were controversially awarded a penalty after a VAR review for goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny’s foul on Messi.
The Paris Saint-Germain star took the spot kick but it was magnificently stopped by Szczesny for his second penalty save of the tournament.
Argentina were in front just one minute after the break though as Brighton midfielder Mac Allister swept home a low cross from the right.
Manchester City forward Alvarez sealed victory with a superb finish into the top corner in the 67th minute as Argentina topped the group on six points.
Poland still just about claimed the second spot in the group despite Mexico’s 2-1 win over Saudi Arabia.
Henry Martin and Luis Chavez scored for the Mexicans and, at 2-0, they were heading out on the fair play rule as they were tied on points, goals difference and goals scored with Poland but had more yellow cards.
However, Saudi Arabia struck in the fifth minute of added time to ensure it was goal difference instead that decided Mexico’s fate.
Argentina will face Australia on Saturday in the round of 16, with Poland up against defending champions France on Sunday.
