Topline
Argentina’s superstar striker Lionel Messi helped his team advance to the World Cup finals Tuesday, where it will seek its first title in 36 years, with a 3-0 win over underdog Croatia, which was looking to repeat its 2018 success.
Lionel Messi of Argentina celebrates after scoring a goal to make it 1-0 from the penalty spot.
Key Facts
Argentina’s win over Croatia—the underdog in the 2018 World Cup—advances them to the World Cup final, where they will play the winner of Wednesday’s France-Morocco match in search of their first World Cup title in 36 years.
Argentina, which secured a semifinals spot after a shootout in a surprisingly close match against the Netherlands last week, had been relying on Messi, the world’s highest paid athlete according to Forbes and a 17-year veteran with the national team.
Messi, who plays for Paris Saint-Germain, capitalized on a penalty called against Croatian goalie Dominik Livaković in the 34th minute, burying a penalty kick into the back of the net and helping Argentina take an early 1-0 lead.
Five minutes later, 22-year-old Julian Alvarez added a goal of his own after a misstep by Croatian defender Borna Sosa, making the score 2-0.
Fifteen minutes into the second half, Messi drove the ball downfield, finding Alvarez on a cross for the Manchester City forward’s second goal of the match.
Croatia had advanced to the semifinals for the second straight World Cup tournament behind veteran midfielder Luka Modric, upsetting Brazil, a favorite to win, in a penalty kick shootout in its quarterfinals match last week.
Messi and Modric, a midfielder with Real Madrid, have both made it to the World Cup finals before (Messi in 2014 and Modric in 2018), but neither have won.
Tangent
France, which is looking to repeat its 2018 tournament victory, notched a win over England in the quarterfinals on Saturday, relying on a pair of goals from midfielder Aurelien Tchouameni and veteran striker Oliver Giroud—France’s all-time leading scorer—to knock off its European rival. Morocco, meanwhile, became the first African country or Arab country to advance to the semifinals when it stunned Portugal in a 1-0 win on Saturday. Morocco advanced to the quarterfinals after another upset win over Spain in a match that went to a shootout. The only national soccer teams from Africa that had previously made it to the quarterfinals were Ghana (2010), Senegal (2002) and Cameroon (1990). Host country Qatar was the first team eliminated in the tournament last month, making history as the first time a host country was the first to be knocked out.
Surprising Fact
Messi scored his first of 95 goals for the Argentina men’s national team in a non-competitive (friendly) match against Croatia in 2006, when Modric made his debut for the Croatian men’s team.
Big Number
25. That’s how many World Cup matches Messi has played in, tying Germany’s Lothar Matthaus’ record for the most tournament matches by a single player (Matthaus set the record in 1998, although he started playing in 1980 as a member of the West German team).
Editor’s Note: An earlier version of this story misstated that Argentina had gone 36 years without an appearance in the World Cup final. The country has made it to the finals but has not won a title in 36 years.
Further Reading
World Cup Shocker: Croatia Knocks Out Favorite Brazil Even As Neymar Ties Pelé’s Goal Record (Forbes)
Pepe Becomes Oldest Player To Score In World Cup Knockouts—Here Are The Other Records Set In Qatar (Forbes)
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/brianbushard/2022/12/13/messi-and-julian-alvarez-lead-argentina-to-3-0-win-over-croatia-in-world-cup-semifinal/