worn by Lionel Messi, author of a goal and a decisive pass Tuesday against the Croats (3-0), the Argentines will participate in the sixth final of their history on Sunday.
by Grégor Brandy
Argentina is the qualified first nation for the final of the 2022 World Cup. The Argentines beat Croatia on the final score of 3 to 0, Tuesday December 13, in Lusail, in Qatar.
goalscorer, then a decisive passer, Lionel Messi played a key role in his own victory: “We’re going to play the last match and that’s what we wanted, reacted the number ten Argentinian after the meeting. We is here to take advantage of all this and I took great advantage of this World Cup since my arrival. I was very confident of this group. We knew what we were worth. “
Everything had rather badly started on Tuesday evening in the semi-finals for the Argentines. Widely dominated in the first half hour of play, they take advantage of a hazardous defensive placement of Dejan Lovren to send Julian Alvarez to the Croatian goal. The attacker is missing his duel against Dominik Livakovic, but is struck by the opposing goalkeeper. The Italian referee of the meeting, Daniele Orsato, whistles a penalty, despite the Croatian disputes.
Already a goalscorer in eighth and quarter-finals, Lionel Messi transforms the sentence of an unstoppable strike (1-0, 34
Less than five minutes later, Julian Alvarez, again, embarks on a fabulous rush. After a loss of a Croatian ball on the outskirts of the Argentinian surface, he grabbed the ball in his camp, goes up fifty meters on the foot in the face of a defense which prefers to back down that trying to block it, then benefits from two favorable counters The opposing surface and this time wins its duel against Livakovic (2-0, 39
above).
The Argentines even have a 3-0 bullet just before half-time, but Livakovic manages to divert a head by Alexis Mac Allister, completely lonely on a corner (42 e ).
Messi’s masterpiece, the double of Alvarez
Upon returning from the locker room, the Croats resume their domination business, while the Albiceleste fell. Despite everything, the Argentines are creating the rare occasions. Livakovic again pushes the deadline in front of Messi (58
Party along the right side, Lionel Messi overflows and resists Josko Gvardiol. He stops, pretends to turn around, then dribbles the Croatian defender, enters the surface and serves his teammate who only has to push the ball to the bottom of the nets to register a double (3-0, 69
é>).
Unable to raise their heads, the last twenty minutes are a ordeal for the Croats, who, with the exception of an opportunity five minutes from the end, have no possibility of returning to the score. The Croatian coach even comes out his number ten, Luka Modric ten minutes from the end. A resignation output.
“This is a deserved defeat, estimated the coach Zlatko Dalic after the meeting in remarks reported by the France-Presse agency. We created some good situations, but without real opportunity. We had prepared ourselves, But we lacked a real striker. We lost, but I have nothing to blame the boys. “Four years after the first final in their history, the Croats will play the match for third place, Saturday.
The Argentines qualify for the sixth final in their history. Winners in 1978 and 1986, they remained on two defeats in 1990 and 2014. Eight years after the disillusionment in Brazil against Germany (1-0, after extension), Lionel Messi will therefore have a chance to win the last title which Lack in his record on Sunday. It will be against France or against Morocco.