World Cup 2022: Messi's magic helps Argentina beat Australia 2-1 to progress to the quarter finals

 The second round of 16 match of the ongoing World Cup 2022 in Qatar has just ended.

It was between Argentina and Australia and it ended 2-1 in favour of Argentina. It was played at the Ahmed Bin Ali Stadium in Al Rayan - Qatar.

The coaches of these two teams rolled out a strong lineup for this very crucial game. Below is the lineup:

Line-ups

Argentina XI: Messi, Gomez, Otamendi, E. Martinez, Acuna, De Paul, Nahuel Molina, Romero, Mac Allister, Julián Álvarez, Enzo Fernández 

Australia XI: A. Behich, M.Leckie, Mooy, Ryan, Mitchell Duke, Degenek, J. Irvine, Souttar, Kye Rowles, Riley McGree, Keanu Baccus

Analysis

Argentina looks stronger on paper compared to Australia, and right from kick off they started showing their superiority on the pitch.

They dominated proceedings throughout the first 30' minutes but they couldn't find a goal. They finally got the breakthrough on the 36 minutes courtesy of Starman Leonel Messi, and went into the break with one goal up. This is Messi's first knockout round goal at the world cup.

In the second half, Argentina kept dominating the game. On the 57 minute their dominance paid off. They scored their second goal of the night through younger striker Julian Alvarez.

It looked like Argentina where going to win with a clean sheet, but that didn't happen. On the 76' munite, the Aussies pulled one back via a shot that deflected off Enzo Fernandez and ended at the back of the net. An own goal!.

The game ended 2-1 in favour of the Argentines. This results means Argentina are the second team to qualify for the last eight of the ongoing world cup In Qatar after Netherlands.

Stats 

Argentina dominated the stats and it not a surprise. They had about 61% of the total ball possession leaving only the remaining 39 to the Aussies. 

They had 14 shots on goal with 5 on target while the Aussies had 5 with only one on target. 

There were four corners In the game: the Aussies had three and the Argentines had the remaining one. There were also two yellow cards in the game and both went to the Aussies.