Lionel Messi saved Robert Lewandowski – Sport – Kommersant
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Following the results of the last round of Group C, the national teams of Argentina and Poland made it to the 1/8 finals of the World Cup. In the match between these two teams, the South Americans scored two unanswered goals, finishing in first place with 6 points. Meanwhile, the Mexican team, having beaten Saudi Arabia 2-1, scored the same 4 points as the Poles, but remained only third in terms of goal difference.
In the match between the national teams of Argentina and Poland at this World Cup, perhaps for the first time, two football players with the status of the main stars of world football came together against each other. This, of course, is about Lionel Messi and Robert Lewandowski, whom the famous South American beat quite a bit last year in the dispute for the Golden Ball. This circumstance was hardly of fundamental importance in this case, but it was very tempting to compare the contribution of each of the outstanding forwards to the success of the teams. Moreover, the Argentine leader in the national team does not always shine, and the Pole, as a rule, looks much brighter in matches for the club, where much more qualified partners bring him shells.
Messi, who played his 22nd match in the final stages of the World Cup and thus overtook the former record holder of the Argentina national team Diego Maradona in this indicator, got down to business almost immediately. In the debut of the meeting, he not only delivered two corners twice, but also delivered both blows to the Poles’ goal. Moreover, the second of them, inflicted from the penalty area with his left foot into the near corner, was very dangerous. But the most experienced goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny was in the right place and hit the ball.
Half an hour after the start of the match, the advantage of the Argentines was already quite clear. A couple of times, Marcos Acuña unexpectedly advanced to the shock position. Once, Angel Di Maria beautifully tried to deceive Szczesny, his Juventus teammate, by spinning the ball into the goal from a corner. And in the 35th minute, the Polish goalkeeper, trying to cope with another overhang, instead of the ball touched the face of the jumping Messi with his left hand. After watching the replay, the chief referee, the Dutchman Danny Makkeli, appointed a penalty kick, which, of course, went to punch the seven-time winner of the Golden Ball, but Szczesny brilliantly corrected his unintentional mistake, managing, as in the previous game with the Saudi Arabia national team, to cope with the penalty. In general, the first half turned out to be exemplary for the Polish goalkeeper, who once again rescued his team before the break. But as soon as the game was resumed, Shchensky nevertheless suffered a setback. Di Maria and Nahuel Molina played a simple combination on the right flank of the attack and together found Alexis McAllister in the center of the penalty area, forgotten by the Polish defenders. The blow from the Argentinean turned out to be blurred and not strong, but very accurate, so Szczensny, who stretched out into a string, could not reflect the ball, which rolled into the far right corner from him.
The Poles responded with a sharp attack from defender Kamil Glik, who struck a header after a free-kick, but that was just an episode. The Argentines did not slow down. A quarter of an hour later, Messi unleashed another sharp attack and McAllister nearly scored a double. But the second goal was not destined to be scored by him, but by Julian Alvarez, who was quietly rolled the ball in time by Enzo Fernandez. The attack of the Manchester City striker was almost point blank.
The second half of the second half also went with a huge advantage of the Argentines. Lewandowski was still on the sidelines, while Messi continued to aggravate the game in someone else’s penalty area, giving partners opportunities to increase the advantage. Could do double McAllister. A little later, Alvarez missed his chance, and in the end, the Argentines slowed down a bit, the Polish team still did not miss the third goal.
And this was vital for her, since at the same time the Saudi Arabia team, which crushed the Argentines in the first round, provided the Poles with a result in a meeting with the Mexicans. There, the main events also unfolded after the break. Mexico scored two goals within four minutes: first, after the draw, Enri Martin scored, and then Luis Chavez from a free kick hit the top nine. If the match ended with a score of 2:0, then Mexico and Poland would have almost identical additional indicators, and when determining the owner of the second ticket to the playoffs, the fair play indicator would have to be taken into account – more precisely, the number of yellow cards, which the Poles had fewer . However, the matter did not come to this count. Having missed a lot of excellent opportunities to hit the Saudis for the third time – both from the field and from free kicks – the Mexicans at the very end of the match missed a quick counterattack, which ended with an accurate strike by the same Salem al-Dawsari, who scored the winning goal against the Argentines in the first round. As a result – 2:1, and the Polish team advanced to the 1/8 finals by the best difference between goals scored and conceded.
There, on December 4, she will face off against the reigning world champions, the French, and the Argentines will play the day before with the Australian team, which has so far become the main sensation of the tournament.
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