Argentina came into
their second World Cup group fixture knowing a win was the only guarantee to
keep alive their hopes of progressing past the group stage after their shocking
2-1 defeat to Saudi Arabia in their first fixture. Lionel Messi kept he and
Argentina's dream of winning the World Cup with a 2-0 victory over Mexico
at the Lusail stadium.
Messi scored for
Argentina in the 64th minute, from outside the box giving Argentina much needed
hope to carry on. "That's what they came for," Peter Drury said after
Messi's goal. "The Magic Man!'
One more Messi moment and Argentina are alive."
Enzo Fernandez
further cemented Argentina's lead with a curling right-foot shot from a Messi
assist in the 87th minute.
Messi has now equaled
Diego Maradona's Argentina record of 21 matches and eight goals at the World
Cup. Messi
has won all but one title in his career, and that is the World Cup. He came
closest to winning it in 2014 when Argentina played the World Cup final and
lost to Germany.
"Today
starts another World Cup for Argentina," Messi said. "I tell people
the same thing, that they continue to believe. Today we did what we had to do.
"We
had no other choice. We had to win so that we depended only on ourselves.
"The
first half we didn't play as we should and in the second, when we calmed down,
we started to play the ball better and until the goal we went back to being
what we are," he said.
Argentina
still need a win vs Poland in their final group fixture to guarantee their
progression to the knockout phase.
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