Argentina beats Croatia 3-0 to advance to final
Argentina celebrates victory
In the early morning of the 14th, Beijing time, the 2022 Qatar World Cup staged its first semi-final. The Argentine team defeated Croatia 3-0 and entered the final. Argentina reached the World Cup final again after 8 years.
Argentina beats Croatia
The Argentine team was not eager to attack at the beginning of this semi-final, but waited for an opportunity to counterattack the Croatian team on the basis of a solid defense. In the 33rd minute, Alvarez formed a single-handed counterattack and was knocked down by the opponent's goalkeeper Livakovic. The referee decisively awarded a penalty. Messi achieved it overnight and created the World Cup scoring record in the history of the Argentine team. This goal also became a turning point in the game. Croatia was still in shock. Argentina expanded its advantage after 5 minutes. It was another quick counterattack after a corner kick defense. Alvarez went all the way into the penalty area. The Croatian defender made two steals None of them were successful, and the ball finally fell to Alvarez's feet after continuous rebounds, and he scored the goal.
The Croatian team dispatched troops in the second half, but the effect was not good. On the contrary, the Argentine team's counterattack was even more impressive. In the 68th minute, Messi got rid of Gwadiol's defense on the right side of the penalty area and passed the ball in an inverted triangle. Alvarez followed up with a sweep to seal the victory. The 22-year-old star who played for Manchester City has scored 4 goals in this World Cup, and he has become the third player in this century to score twice in the World Cup semi-finals. The previous two were Germany in 2014. Cross and Schurrle.
Seeing that the Croatian team was powerless, they replaced the core Modric in the 80th minute. The 37-year-old veteran has given everything for the team, and his World Cup trip has basically come to an end. "Magic Flute" deserves the respect of all football lovers.
Won all 5 semi-finals
Argentina's defeat of Croatia allowed the team to maintain a record - winning all five World Cup semi-finals and maintaining the most number of entries among unbeaten teams. The five times are as follows: 6-1 United States in 1930; 2-0 Belgium in 1986; 4-3 Italy (penalty shootout) in 1990; 4-2 Netherlands (penalty shootout) in 2014; 3-0 Croatia in 2022.
In fact, before this game, not everyone was optimistic about Argentina. Many fans believe that Croatia can once again hold off Argentina with its tenacious fighting spirit, and even lead the game into overtime and penalty shootouts.
But footballs are round. Argentina basically did not encounter too many challenges in this game and easily defeated the tenacious Croatia. According to statistics, the Argentine team's 3-0 game is the largest victory without conceding a goal in the history of the World Cup semi-final stage.
