Saint Petersburg, Russia (June 26, 2018) — Argentina won a nerve-wracking 2-1 match against Nigeria in the last game of Group D to advance to the Round of 16 and avoid elimination.
Lionel Messi took care of his team after scoring the first goal in the 14th minute and Marcos Rojo secured the victory in the 86th.
Nigeria 1-2 Argentina: Argentina Qualifies for Knockout Stage in Thrilling Fashion
Messi’s opener was his first goal in Russia and sixth overall in the World Cup. Moreover, the Barcelona striker became the third Argentinean player who scored in three different World Cups after reaching the net in 2010, 2014, 2018; the others are Diego Maradona (1982-1986-1994) and Gabriel Batistuta (1994-1998-2002).
Sampaoli started goalkeeper Franco Armani, midfielder Ever Banega, and forward Gonzalo Higuaín for the first time in the tournament and also added Angel di María to the pitch. The lineup lived up to the expectations after Banega delivered great passes, especially in the first half, including the one that found Messi inside the box to open the score.
Croatia topped the group with nine points after a 2-1 triumph over Iceland, and the four points Argentina accumulated were enough to keep them alive. On the other side, Nigeria came up short with only three points and Iceland ended last with just one point.
Breathtaking Second Half
Victor Moses tied the game with a penalty kick in the 50th minute after the VAR technology showed Argentina’s Javier Mascherano committed a foul.
Mascherano has been severely criticized for his defensive issues in this tournament and his foul almost sent his squad back to Argentina.
Argentina, as it was against Croatia, never came back from the goal the opposing team scored on them. It looked like Argentina was coming back home; however, when nobody expected, center-back Marcos Rojo entered into the box and scored a superb right-footed goal when the game was close to stoppage time to bring hope to all the Argentineans around the world.
“We are very happy, we did not deserve to get out in the first round”, said Lionel Messi. “We took advantage of the opportunities and now we start another tournament. There’s no margin for errors.”
Nigeria claimed Gabriel Mercado touched the ball inside the box in the 76th minute but the referee Cüneyt Çakır said the action was unintentional. That play could have changed the entire group.
Nigeria failed to advance to the knockout stage after making the Round of 16 in Brazil four years ago.
In addition, the last time Argentina did not advance to the World Cup Round of 16 was in 2002.
Up Next
Argentina is first out of the gates in the knockout round when they play France on June 30 at 10 a.m. ET in Kazan. The Group D winners Croatia face Group C runners-up Denmark on July 1 in Nizhny Novgorod at 2 p.m. ET.
Argentina and France will face each other for the second time in the World Cup tournament. The last time they played was in 1978 when the South Americans prevailed 2-1 on their way to winning their first World Cup trophy.
