Argentina and Poland advance to round of 16, Mexico eliminated despite victory

The fact that Mexico won 2-1 against Saudi Arabia in the other group game was only for the honor. Mexico and Poland finished level on points and the goal difference was also the same for a long time. Until Saudi Arabia scored the connecting goal in that match in injury time and destroyed Mexico’s last hope.

Argentina qualified for the next round as group winners. That didn’t seem to happen after the first group game when they lost 2-1 to Saudi Arabia.

Missed Penalty Kick

When Lionel Messi also missed a questionable penalty just before half-time, quite a few Argentines will have seen a doomsday scenario pass through their minds.

The double world champion owed the fact that it was ultimately not necessary to Alexis Mac Allister and Julián Álvarez.

Shortly after the break, the first scored the liberating 1-0 on a cross from Nahuel Molina. Shortly after, Messi almost hit his goal: after a beautiful solo in which he occupied four Poles, all that was missing was completion.

In the 67th minute, Argentina knew everything was fine when Álvarez fired the ball into the far corner.

Mexicans outside

In the other match, Saudi Arabia had the best papers at the start by winning the opener against Argentina. But when they fell behind against the Mexicans shortly after the break due to a Henry Martín goal, the cards were suddenly shuffled very differently.

Shortly after, it was already 2-0: Luis Chávez scored from a free kick. When the third goal was also scored, the Mexicans began to look forward to the next round. But that party didn’t last long as the goal was disallowed for offside.

Because the Mexicans themselves were no longer scoring, it seemed for a long time to come down to the so-called fair play ranking. Mexico and Poland were exactly level in terms of points, goals and head-to-head results. Poland had only received fewer yellow cards. The fact that it didn’t matter in the end was due to a late goal from Saudi Arabia that shattered Mexico’s hopes.

Netherlands maybe against Argentina

The Argentinians will face Australia in the round of 16 on Saturday. The winner of this match can face the Netherlands if Orange manages to beat the United States. Poland will face world champion France a day later.