🏆 Argentina advance; Poland go through over Mexico on goals scored | OneFootball

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Alex Mott·30 November 2022

🏆 Argentina advance; Poland go through over Mexico on goals scored

Article image:🏆 Argentina advance; Poland go through over Mexico on goals scored

Groups C and D finish at the World Cup on Wednesday with four mouth-watering clashes coming your way.

You can follow all of them live right here.


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Argentina top the group with win over Poland

Scorers: MacAllister 47′, Álvarez 67′

Argentina got the job done with a 2-0 win over an abject Poland side who also qualified for the knockouts on goal difference.

It took almost half an hour for a shot to really threaten the goal, and it went the way of Argentina when Julián Álvarez had his effort blocked, and Marcos Acuña flashed the follow up just wide of the post.

Wojciech Szczęsny was called into action when Álvarez shot from close range, and Argentina were given a penalty when the Poland stopper’s seemed to catch Lionel Messi in the face.

Messi then stepped up to take the penalty, but Szczęsny made the save to keep the match at 0-0.

Just one minute into the second half, Alexis MacAllister netted his first international goal and Argentina had the lead with a shot that outfoxed the entire Polish defence and goalkeeper too.

As Argentina continued to pressure Poland, Álvarez repaid the faith Lionel Scaloni had showed in him when he turned inside the box and scored with a stunning finish, and just two minutes later Messi once again forced a good save from Szczęsny.

With Poland seemingly falling apart, Messi fed an excellent ball into Álvarez, but this time his powerful shot hit the side netting.

They simply didn’t attempt to attack in the second half, and their defensive performance just about did enough.

Heartbreak for Mexico as win isn’t enough

Scorers: Martín 47′, Chávez 52′

Mexico knew they had to win by a significant margin to overturn Poland’s goalscoring record to advance through to the knockout stages, and although their 2-0 win put them on equal points in the group table, they lost out by that goal difference.

Tata Martino’s men almost capitalised on a weak Saudi Arabia effort early on, racing straight down the pitch to put Alexis Vega through on goal, only for goalkeeper Mohammed Al-Owais to come out quickly and smother the shot.

Saudi Arabia responded with an excellent chance of their own, a free-kick from Mohammed Kanno that curled just over the crossbar.

Just before the half hour mark, Mexico went close again, but Saudi Arabia again managed to stifle an effort from Orbelín Pineda that looked like it was heading for the back of the net.

Mexico finally made Saudi Arabia pay just a couple of minutes into the second half when Henry Martín tapped home from close range from a corner.

One soon became two after an outrageous free kick from Luis Chávez from almost 30 yards out, as the supporters went wild knowing that a one goal swing would put them in a qualification spot.

Lightning almost did strike twice when Chávez almost hit another stunning free-kick, but this time goalkeeper Al-Owais managed to fist the shot away.

Mexico had the ball in the back of the net through Uriel Antuna – a goal which would’ve seen them leapfrog Poland into a qualification spot – but agonisingly for them it was disallowed for offside.

As they pushed for the winner, it allowed Saudi Arabia to take their chance to score, and in the dying seconds Salem Al-Dawsari netted to give Poland a helping hand.


From earlier…

Brave Tunisia out despite brilliant win

Scorers: Khazri 58′; Griezmann 90+8′

Tunisia produced one of the shocks of the World Cup so far as they beat France 1-0.

Table-toppers France made nine changes here as Didier Deschamps used this opportunity to give his squad players a go at this World Cup.

But it was Tunisia who were doing most of the playing early on as Wahbi Khazri whipped in a corner that unsettled goalkeeper Steve Mandanda.

With seven minutes gone Tunisia had the ball in the back of the net but Nader Ghandri’s goal was disallowed for offside.

Les Bleus finally woke up from their slumber and had their best chance on 25 minutes as Kingsley Coman saw his effort go wide.

Into the second half and Tunisia had a penalty appeal waved away almost immediately as Eduardo Camavinga challenged Khazri from behind.

But they got their goal on 58 minutes as Khazri netted one of the best individual goals of the tournament so far as he jinked past two defenders and slotted one in past the goalkeeper.

France opted to put the big names on now as Kylian Mbappé and Antoine Griezmann made their way on to the pitch.

And one of those big names, Griezmann, thought he had scored in the 99th minute but had his effort chalked off for offside.


Australia make history with Denmark win

Scorers: Leckie 60′

A second half goal from Mathew Leckie was enough to see Australia beat Denmark 1-0 and qualify in second place.

It was a straight shoot-out between these two for a place in the last 16 with Denmark knowing that only a win would see them into the latter stages.

It was the Danes who looked less nervy in the opening exchanges with Joakim Maehle causing trouble down the left-hand side.

Mathias Jensen was having a field day up against left-back Aziz Behich but saw two shots saved by Matt Ryan.

Into the second half and the Aussies came out much livelier and had a chance on 48 minutes that Jackson Irvine fired over the bar.

And they got their goal on the hour mark as Mathew Leckie struck on the counter-attack with a neat, low finish.

Denmark went for broke now, throwing on two more strikers, and one of those had a penalty appeal turned away after going down inside the area but getting flagged for offside before the foul.

But it wasn’t enough as they ran out of ideas and finished the tournament bottom of Group D.


You can find all of yesterday’s action here.