A nightmare start for the Argentines at the World Cup in Qatar, but they ‘woke up’ at the right time. After a sensational defeat against Saudi Arabia, they defeated Mexico and Poland, and as the first team from Group C, they will play against Australia in the round of 16. In the triumph over the Poles, Alexis McAllister and Julian Alvarez entered the list of scorers, while Lionel Messi missed the opportunity to overtake Diego Maradona and Guillermo Stabile (all three with eight goals) on the list of the best Argentine scorers in the world rankings, as Wojciech Szczesny saved a penalty in the 39th minute. He will have the opportunity to do that against the Socceroos, and he needs three goals to become Argentina’s top scorer at the World Cup and surpass Gabriel Batistuta’s record 10 goals.Messi fails from the spot, but Argentina arrange a knockout tie with AustraliaIt is interesting that the Pole made a bet with the Argentinian for 100 euros that the main referee would not point to the point. After watching the video, he did so, and whether this bet affected the concentration of the Argentinian ace, we can only assume, but the Polish goalie saved the penalty kick, for the second time in a row (he saved one against Saudi Arabia).”No I didn’t think the penalty would be given. We spoke before the penalty and I told him I can bet him 100 euros that he wasn’t going to give it. So I’ve lost a bet against Messi. I don’t know if that’s allowed at the World Cup. I’m probably going to be banned for it. I don’t care right now. I was fortunate twice this competition. It’s a great moment in the career of a player, the World Cup is the maximum and this is special. There’s a bit of work that goes into it too, but in order to save a Messi penalty, you need some luck as well” said the exalted goalkeeper of Juventus after qualifying for the knockout stage, despite the defeat by Messi and his team.Lionel Messi has broken DiegoMaradona’s record for the number of matches played at World Cups for Argentina. He played his 22nd match in the last round of the group stage match against Poland in World Cup 2022 and surpassed Maradona’s achievement of 21 matches.#messi #footbal pic.twitter.com/GGb7RghdaG— Mirror Now (@MirrorNow) December 1, 2022 However, in the end, the Argentine had enough reason to be satisfied. He recorded a great victory, but also his 22nd appearance at the World Cup. Thus, he became the national team record holder and surpassed Diego Maradona on the all-time list (21).”Diego would have been happy. He was always happy when good things happened to the national team, as well as to me personally. He was always close and affectionate to me. There is no doubt that he was happy that we made it to the top 16, but also because of everything that happened on the field” said the Paris Saint-Germain players.Morocco stare at knockout spots as they face Canada in final group clashIn Qatar, Messi became the first Argentinian with five participations in the world championships, and that group also includes former German national team member Lothar Matthaus, long-time Italian goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon, as well as Portuguese ace Cristiano Ronaldo and Mexicans Rafa Marquez, Guillermo Ochoa, Andreas Guardado and Antonio Carbajal. Only three footballers have more appearances – the Italian Paolo Maldini (23), another former German Miroslav Klose (24) and the undisputed Matthaus (25). It is certain that he will equal the legend of Milan, and in order to stand at the head of this list, it will be necessary to reach the final.##NAJAVA_MECA_6853952##
