In a passionate Group C matchup, it took until the last minute for the dust to settle on a victory between Argentina and Poland to set them on the road to qualification. As one of the most intense battlegrounds in the group, Saudi Arabia's legendary come-from-behind victory over Argentina ignited the entire group, putting the originally highly-regarded Argentina in a momentary crisis of possible failure to qualify. However, Argentina's solid tactics in the following two matches saw them beat Mexico and Poland consecutively, and despite some ups and downs, they eventually managed to advance to the top of the group. Poland and Mexico battled it out for the second qualifying spot, as expected, and the two teams ended up in a draw, with Poland eliminating Mexico on better goal difference. However, both teams had significant shortcomings, especially in poor form in their final matches, and the chances of a breakthrough into the knockout rounds were not high. Saudi Arabia, ranked last in the group, despite a scorecard of just 1 win and 2 losses, both defeats were well played and impressed with their opponents' back-and-forth. (Learn more: [2022 Qatar World Cup] Full Record Summary of the Group Stage)
In the round of sixteen, Group C table-toppers Argentina faced Group D second place Australia. There was a clear gap between the two teams' lineups in terms of star power and thickness, and it was widely expected before the match that Argentina would dominate most of the game, while Australia would play solid defense and use counterattacks to create threats. Argentina started the match with a 4-3-1-2 attacking formation, but it didn't work well in practice. Despite the lack of offensive highlights, Australia managed to hold off Argentina's attack with solid defense. Until the 35th minute of the first half, Argentina got a free kick opportunity on the right, Lionel Messi (Lionel Messi) took the penalty shot was parried by the goalkeeper, then Messi organized the second wave of attack, teammates diagonal pass on the right, Messi inserted into the penalty area and central defender Nicolas Otamendi (Nicolas Otamendi) with the left-footed curling shot broke through the goal, for the team's first record, and also the only goal in the first half! The only goal of the first half. In the second half, Australia strengthened the attack, Argentina replaced Lisandro Martinez to play three center backs, liberating midfielder Enzo Fernandez, Argentina's attack improved, but the effect of positional play was limited. In the end, Argentina beat Australia 2-1 and managed to advance to the last eight. (In-depth reading: [2022 Cada World Cup] Full Record Summary of the Round of 16)
The Dutch Orange Army faced off with the Argentine Blue and White Army in the last eight. While the Netherlands continued to play in their adept 3-4-1-2 three-guard formation, Argentina manager Lionel Scaloni made an unexpected change to his lineup, replacing center back Risandro Martinez in the second half to make the defense more solid, switching from the original 4-3-1-2 formation to a conservative 5-3-2 five-guard formation. The first half saw a slower pace as both teams tested their opponents. Lionel Messi (Lionel Messi) in the 35th minute in the middle of a person disk, attracted a number of players in the Netherlands, and then passed the ball to the right side of the insertion of the defender Molina (Nahuel Molina), Molina single knife broke the goal, Argentina 1-0 lead. In the second half, Argentina continued to defend the counterattack, the Netherlands replaced the four defenders to strengthen the attack, but empty possession without a chance to shoot. Subsequently, Argentina left Acuna (Marcos Acuna) breakthrough caused the Dutch right back Denzel Dumfries (Denzel Dumfries) foul, Messi penalty kick hit, Argentina 2-0 lead. The Netherlands brought on two empty-net strikers, Luuk de Jong and Wout Weghorst, in the final moments of the game. The latter recovered a goal with a header and then equalized with a free-kick in 90+10 minutes of injury time to make it 2-2 in extra time. Argentina continued to press the Netherlands in extra time, but were never able to score. The match went into a penalty shootout, with the Netherlands failing to score on the first two points with Virgil van Dijk and Steven Berghuis, and Argentina's Lautaro Martinez scoring the winning goal on the fifth point to send Argentina through to the quarterfinals. (More details: [2022 Cada World Cup] Summary of the full record of the last eight matches)
