Argentina heads to World Cup finals after beating Croatia 3-0
![Argentina's Lionel Messi celebrates after scoring his side's first goal during the World Cup semifinal match between Argentina and Croatia at the Lusail Stadium in Lusail, Qatar, on Tuesday. [AP/YONHAP]](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2022/12/14/c9b416bf-9cb2-4cac-949e-73b6e5390645.jpg)
Argentina's Lionel Messi celebrates after scoring his side's first goal during the World Cup semifinal match between Argentina and Croatia at the Lusail Stadium in Lusail, Qatar, on Tuesday. [AP/YONHAP]
![Argentina's forward Lionel Messi vies with Croatia's midfielder Mateo Kovacic during the Qatar 2022 World Cup semi-final match between Argentina and Croatia at Lusail Stadium in Lusail, north of Doha, on Tuesday. [AFP/YONHAP]](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2022/12/14/b8768b32-fd2e-4928-ba2d-faca67c73523.jpg)
Argentina's forward Lionel Messi vies with Croatia's midfielder Mateo Kovacic during the Qatar 2022 World Cup semi-final match between Argentina and Croatia at Lusail Stadium in Lusail, north of Doha, on Tuesday. [AFP/YONHAP]
Argentina is through to the finals of the World Cup after beating Croatia 3-0 on Tuesday.
It was Julian Alvarez and Lionel Messi who stepped up for Argentina to beat Croatia and secure a place in the World Cup finals.
This is the sixth time Argentina will be playing in the World Cup semifinals and finals. In 1930 they defeated the United States to advance to the final, but were beaten by Uruguay. They beat the Netherlands in the finals of the 1978 World Cup to win the trophy. Again in 1986, Argentina beat Belgium in the semifinals and West Germany in the finals to win their second World Cup. In 1990, Argentina beat Italy in the semifinals but then lost to West Germany.
In 2014, Argentina advanced from the semifinals beating the Netherlands but was beaten by Germany 1-0 in the finals.
If they manage to win the finals, it will be their first win in over three decades as the last time Argentina won the World Cup was in 1986.
Despite Croatia holding Argentina down for the first half hour, Croatia conceded a penalty in the 32nd minute after Alvarez went one-on-one with the goal keeper Dominik Livakovic and was fouled.
In the 34th minute, it was Messi who took to the penalty himself, slotting the ball past Livakovic.
Just five minutes later, Alvarez was back at it with a counter attack. Picking up a pass from Messi, he dribbled all the way from midfield past three Croatian defenders and gave Argentina a 2-0 lead before the whistle blew for half time.
With neither team able to add any more, the first half ended 2-0.
Then in the 73rd minute, Messi picked up the ball once again on the left, making his way past Josko Gvardiol, and ran toward the box. Turning, Messi passed the ball and Alvarez slotted it in, taking the score to 3-0.
Despite possessing 62 percent of the ball and attempting 10 shots, Croatia was unable to keep Argentina from reaching their sixth World Cup final.
With the goal and assist, Messi has now become the first player to both score and assist in four separate World Cup matches since the 1966 World Cup.
After his spectacular performance that helped Argentina reach the finals, Messi stated that the 2022 World Cup was going to be his last.
![Argentina's Lionel Messi celebrates after Julian Alvarez scores their third goal during the World Cup semifinal match between Argentina and Croatia at the Lusail Stadium in Lusail, Qatar, on Tuesday. [REUTERS/YONHAP]](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2022/12/14/2b2b5cec-3ef9-4ff3-9eef-60bd84231775.jpg)
Argentina's Lionel Messi celebrates after Julian Alvarez scores their third goal during the World Cup semifinal match between Argentina and Croatia at the Lusail Stadium in Lusail, Qatar, on Tuesday. [REUTERS/YONHAP]
“It’s my last World Cup,” Messi reportedly said on Tuesday. “It is impressive to end up playing a final. There’s a long way to go for the next one, there are many years and surely because of age I won’t get to it.”
At 35 years old, Messi is playing his fifth World Cup and now will be playing his second-ever World Cup final. Last time, in 2014, Argentina lost to Germany 1-0.
“It’s the sixth final that Argentina is going to play and I’ll have played in two,” said Messi.
“Hopefully this time it ends up another way.”
Despite being a traditional footballing powerhouse, their first match at the World Cup against Saudi Arabia turned out to become one of the biggest upsets at the World Cup, with the Saudi Arabian side beating Argentina 2-1 on Nov. 22.
“The first match was a hard blow,” said Messi. “For us to start this way was hard, we didn’t think we would lose against Saudi Arabia. It was a test, but we proved how strong we are.”
But that may have given Argentina the motivation that they needed, because Argentina went on to win all of the following matches. Beating Mexico 2-0, Poland 2-0, Australia 2-1 and the Netherlands after a penalty shoot-out.
“Then we won the other matches and it was very difficult because every match was a final, and this has a mental load — because if we didn’t win then things would be quite complicated for us," Messi said.
“We have played five [semi]finals and have been able to win five [semi]finals and I hope it will be the same in the final. We were confident, but we know what we are capable of as a squad.”
With five World Cup goals and three assists to his name, Messi is now just ahead of France's Kylian Mbappé, who has five goals and two assists, for the tournament lead in the Golden Boot competition.
With the World Cup finals scheduled on Sunday. Messi sets a new record in Qatar as this was his 25th World Cup match, joining Lothar Matthäus for all-time FIFA appearances.
As of press time, Argentina will next face the winner of Wednesday's semifinal between France and Morocco in the final.
Croatia will play their third place match on Saturday against the loser of the semifinal between France and Morocco.
BY YUN SO-HYANG [yun.sohyang@joongang.co.kr]
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
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