Argentina needed to find a way to get a victory in their second match of Group C pool play on Saturday. That after a disappointing stunning loss to Saudi Arabia 2-1 in Argentina’s World Cup opener.
Lionel Messi was the one that stated they had to play better, and he was the one that scored the opening goal followed by Enzo Fernandez late in the second half.
Argentina pulled off a much needed 2-0 victory over Mexico and put them into a better spot with a remaining match with Poland on Wednesday. While Mexico will need a victory over Saudi Arabia to have a chance at the top two spots.
“It was a complicated game to lift ourselves up for,” Messi said. “Because Mexico played really well. In the first half, we played with intensity, and in the second half, we calmed down a bit and came back to ourselves.”
Going into the match, Messi and the rest of the club knew what was riding on this match and trying to get out of the group stage.
“We knew that we had to win,” Messi said. “That another World Cup started for us, and we knew what to do. We can’t let our guard down now. We have all the finals left to play; we can’t err. We knew that the response from our fans would be like this, and I think we complied. We have been all hand in hand together for a long time.”
After a scoreless first half. Mexico had a couple of chances to score. However, Mexico lost one of its key leaders Andres Guardado to an injury in the 42nd minute and had to leave the match. Guardado was a veteran of five World Cups for Mexico in the midfield and was a huge presence.
“Losing the team captain in the first half was a hard blow,” Mexico manager Gerardo “Tata” Martino said. “But (substitute Erick) Gutierrez did well).
It was Messi that found the back of the net in the 64th minute and Fernandez added a goal for insurance in the 87th minute for Argentina.
There were some rumors floating around that Messi had injuries his ankle in the previous match.
“I don’t know why there were so many things said about it,” Messi said. “The other day everyone was talking about my ankle, and I did not have anything wrong with it. But then in the last minute (against Saudi Arabia), I rolled it over, It seemed like ti was on purpose. I said all week, that I didn’t have anything wrong with it and then in the final minute, I twisted it. But it’s fine. I was able to train normally afterword right along with the team, and I didn’t train along at any moment.”
Mexico will need a strong effort in its final match of pool play against Saudi Arabia in reaching the knockout stage.
“As long as we still have chances, we’ll try,” Martino said. “We need to score at least 3 goals.”
Argentina
