FIFA World Cup: Argentina vs Australia, Preview and prediction
Argentina would have seemed to have quickly moved on to this knockout round after taking first place in their qualifying group, but it was not that straightforward
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The World Cup is reaching “Messi territory".Even though it took more than an hour for Lionel Messi's long-range goal to open the score in their second game, they can now put their shock 2-1 loss to Saudi Arabia behind them. That served as the impetus for a scrappy 2-0 victory over Mexico before a more skilful performance saw them defeat Poland by the exact tally to secure first place.
It was reported that Australia was content to be in the World Cup finals after they were defeated 4-1 by France in their opening match. The Socceroos swiftly disproved that idea with able defensive performances against Tunisia and Denmark, keeping out seemingly superior opponents and then capitalising on their opportunities to record two well-deserved 1-0 victories and advance the Aussies into the Round of 16.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Messi is the only player in this World Cup with 7+ shots on target, 7+ successful dribbles and 7+ key passes. Aging like a fine wine 🇦🇷🐐<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Messi?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Messi</a> <a href="https://t.co/58VorskAdi">pic.twitter.com/58VorskAdi</a></p>— Messiologist (@breathMessi23) <a href="https://twitter.com/breathMessi23/status/1598277246162288641?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 1, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Even with Messi at the helm, Argentina have occasionally been fragmented and creatively dry when faced with a deep-set defence, so the Socceroos won't take them lightly. However, given the vast talent gap, it is difficult to imagine Argentina twice in two weeks losing to an underdog.