Julian Alvarez celebrates his goal against Poland. Photo: Alberto Estevez / EFE (taken from lavanguardia. com)
By Orlando González Cruz.
Havana, November 30 (RHC)-- The Argentinean national soccer team defeated Poland (2-0) today and qualified for the round of 16 of the World Cup, which is being held in Qatar. With this result, the South Americans qualified as first in the C key, accompanied by their rivals.
The Albiceleste had to win to depend on themselves and escape from the variants of results that could send them home. Their rivals knew that a draw was enough to qualify for the next round and, conditioned by this, or by the high pressure exerted by the Argentines, they dropped back. Lionel Scaloni's side dominated the first 45 minutes and almost had their efforts rewarded, but Polish goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny was in fine form, making several fine saves and saving a penalty from Lionel Messi.
With the score at 0-0 and only one team playing soccer at the Ras Abu Aboud stadium, they went to the break.
In the second half, the Argentines came out looking for the victory and Alexis MacAllister scored ('46) to open the scoreboard. A few minutes later ('67), Julián Álvarez scored the definitive goal with an excellent goal. The team captained by Messi (who played a very good game, even if he could not score the penalty) continued to dominate the Europeans in all lines of play, who were asking for time, as a third goal against them would leave them without a World Cup. In the end, the score was 2-0, giving the Argentines the long-awaited victory.
For its part, Mexico did its homework and defeated Saudi Arabia (2-1). Precisely, the Saudi Arabian goal left the Central Americans without a ticket to the next round, since the Poles had the better goal differential and will be the owners of the second place in section C. The Mexican goals were scored by Henry Martin ('47) and Luis Chávez ('52), while Salem Al-Dawsari ('90+5) scored for the Arabs.
In other matches of the day, Tunisia, thanks to Wahbi Khazri ('58), pulled off a surprise and defeated France by one goal to nil; it is worth noting that the French took the field without their starters. This result did not affect the top spot in Group D, which was finally occupied by the reigning world champions, who were joined in the next round by the astonishing Australians, who defeated a disappointing Denmark 1-0. The goal for the island continent was scored by Mathew Leckie ('60).
In the round of 16, Argentina will face Argentina against Australia and France against Poland, with the former mentioned in each case as clear favorites to advance to the quarterfinals. However, surprises are the order of the day at Qatar 2022 and no powerful team can be complacent.
