[골닷컴] Correspondent Kang Dong-hoon = Argentine national football team striker and ‘god of football’ Lionel Messi (35, Paris Saint-Germain) has surpassed ‘idol’ late Diego Maradona. In particular, it was all the more meaningful as he set a record in his 1,000th official match (789 goals and 385 assists).
Argentina won 2-1 in the round of 16 of the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar against Australia held at the Ahmad Bin Ali Stadium in Arrayyan, Qatar on the 4th at 4:00 am (Korean time).
Argentina, who won that day, advanced to the quarterfinals for the 11th time in the World Cup history. It has been 8 years since 2014. In the quarterfinals, they will face the Netherlands, the ‘Orange Legion’, who defeated the United States 3-1 and arrived first. The total opponent record of both teams is 3 wins, 2 draws and 4 losses, and Argentina is inferior.
Argentina took the lead right from the start of the game and drove, but struggled because they could not attack Australia, which was thoroughly blocked by focusing on defense. In fact, it was so frustrating that I couldn’t even hit a single effective shot until the 34th minute of the first half.
But there was Messi. He changed the flow at once. In the 35th minute of the first half, Nicola Otamendi (34, Benfica) gave it up with a one-touch, and he put it low with his left foot and put it into the corner of the goal. Afterwards, Argentina got on the flow and Julian Alvarez (22, Manchester City) scored an additional goal, winning 2-1 and advancing to the quarterfinals.
Messi, who scored that day, surpassed his idol Maradona’s World Cup scoring record. He stood shoulder to shoulder with 8 goals before the game, but he added 1 goal and became 9 goals. It was his first goal in his World Cup tournament.
Now, Messi challenges the record (10 goals) of Gabriel Batistuta (53, retired). As it is the last World Cup, there are three games left under the assumption that they will advance to the final. Attention is focusing on whether it will be possible to rewrite another history in Qatar.