December 13, (THEWILL) – Argentina won Qatar 2022 first semi-final 3-0 over Croatia on Tuesday to advance to the final and bring Lionel Messi’s pursuit of an elusive World Cup victory to a game away from reality.
In the previous round, Croatia had proven to be a formidable opponent when they defeated Brazil, but they were eliminated at the Lusail Stadium as Argentina maintained their remarkable streak of never losing a World Cup semi-final.
As he had been all along, Messi was again instrumental, scoring Argentina’s first goal from the penalty spot to become his nation’s all-time leading World Cup goal scorer with 11 goals, and then contributing to Julian Alvarez’s solo effort to doubled their advantage.
For the third goal, Messi rolled back the years to produce a mesmerising path into the danger area of the Croatians before calculatingly setting up his strike partner Alvarez to score his second of the game and effectively seal the win for the South American champions.
With the win, the Albiceleste are through to their second world final game in eight years. The Croatians, led by Luka Modric, who was somewhat reserved today, exit the tournament after yet another valiant run to the finals. They will now have to compete for third place at the weekend against whichever team loses between France and Morocco.
