Download Football Video: Poland vs Argentina 0-2 Highlights #POLARG.
Poland vs Argentina 0-2 Highlights Download: FIFA World Cup (Qatar) – November 30th, 2022.
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The group C third round of Qatar 2022 World Cup between Poland & Argentina started with full attacking forces.
Lionel Messi missed a penalty but Argentina still clinched top spot in Group C with a 2-0 win over Poland, who squeezed into the last 16 on goal difference ahead of Mexico on a night of high drama.
Argentina went into the game a point behind Poland knowing a second-placed finish would pit them against France in the last 16, but goals from Alexis Mac Allister (46) and Julian Alvarez (67) after Wojciech Szczesny had saved a contentious Messi penalty secured a deserved win which means they will face Australia instead.
For Poland, qualification was hanging in the balance right until the end, Czeslaw Michniewicz’s side sensationally set to advance on fair play points before Saudi Arabia’s stoppage-time goal in their 2-1 loss to Mexico put the Poles through on goal difference.
Poland played out the final stages of their game knowing another goal for either Argentina or Mexico would knock them out of the competition, and needed a goalline clearance from Jakub Kiwior in stoppage time to keep the deficit at only two.
With Mexico ultimately only winning by a single goal, however, and despite a poor Poland performance in which Robert Lewandowski did not even register a shot, the Poles did just enough to set up a meeting with reigning champions France on Sunday in what will be their first World Cup knockout game since 1986.
How Argentina dominated Poland
Argentina totally dominated the game from the outset, with Messi, clearly determined to build on his match-winning display against Mexico following the shock loss to Saudi Arabia, forcing a smart save from Szczesny with a powerful early effort.
The 35-year-old was Argentina’s main creative outlet too, popping up in midfield areas and repeatedly picking out team-mates in dangerous positions, only for the finish to be lacking.
Julian Alvarez, selected up front in place of Lautaro Martinez, spurned a fine opportunity from a Molina cut-back, his low effort blocked by a Poland defender when he should have scored, with Marcos Acuna then firing narrowly wide from the follow up.
Acuna wasted two other chances from Messi passes and Alvarez was denied twice more in the first half too, the Manchester City striker seeing a one-on-one effort blocked by Szczesny, then having another effort parried.
It was Messi, though, who missed Argentina’s biggest opportunity, his spot kick brilliantly saved by Szczesny following a VAR check which saw the Poland ‘keeper harshly deemed to have fouled the Paris Saint-Germain striker as he headed a cross wide.
Poland boss Michniewicz made a double substitution at the break in an attempt to change the course of the game, throwing on Michal Skoras and Jakub Kaminski to support the isolated Lewandowksi, but Argentina’s opener arrived within a minute.
Brighton’s Mac Allister scored it, finding the bottom corner with a scuffed finish from Nahuel Molina’s cut-back for his first international goal.
Kamil Glik headed a rare Poland chance wide from a free-kick soon afterwards, but it was all Argentina otherwise, with Mac Allister threatening a second before Alvarez finally got his goal, collecting an Enzo Fernandez pass and curling home brilliantly.
Poland were hugely fortunate not to concede again, with Sczesny denying the brilliant Messi, who put on a passing masterclass as he continued his chase for the one trophy that has eluded him.
There were further opportunities for Alvarez and substitutes Martinez and Nicolas Tagliafico, too, with the latter’s effort requiring a dramatic goalline clearance from Kiwior in the third minute of stoppage time.
In the end, though, Poland held on, claiming a place in the last 16 that their performance hardly merited.
