The poster will be superb on Friday in the setting of the Lusail stadium and Argentina will remember their first World Cup won at home in 1978, beating the Dutch in the final.

Her magnificent supporters will be present en masse and she will be able to tell herself that in Doha too, she is playing at home.

But it will also be a first real test for Messi's team, surprised at the opening of the tournament by Saudi Arabia and which then dominated three opponents to which it was superior.

In the meantime, the dream of a third world title after those of 1978 and 1986 therefore still holds, especially since the captain and N.10 of the Albiceleste repaired a statistical oddity on Saturday by scoring his very first goal in phase World Cup knockout, at 35, 1000 pro games and for his fifth World Cup.

"It's a lot of joy to have passed this milestone and to have taken another step towards the goal. It was a very tough, very physical match. We knew it, because we played there. Little by little, we had little rest time", summed up Messi after the match.

remote control balloon

His goal, the third of his tournament, opened the scoring, when everything was going well for Argentina, in control of the match and at most threatened by a certain lethargy, so modest was the pace.

A strong pass from Alexis Mac Allister was poorly controlled by Nicolas Otamendi, a central defender lost in the opposing area, whose clumsy gesture turned into an assist for Messi.

He is not bothered by his left foot and he remotely controlled the ball into the side net of Mathew Ryan (1-0, 36th).

The Australian double wall then collapsed in the second half, on a new rough control, that of the goalkeeper and captain Ryan, attacked by the furious pressing of Rodrigo De Paul, who did not stop running like mad throughout. Match.

Australian goalkeeper Mathew Ryan (d) loses the ball in front of Argentinian Julian Alvarez (c) who will score, December 3, 2022 in al-Rayyan © MANAN VATSYAYANA / AFP

Ryan's error benefited the young Julian Alvarez, author of his second goal after the one scored against Poland and which confirms that he is a real asset in this World Cup (2-0, 57th), while Lautaro Martinez, entered late in the game, missed three big chances.

But curiously, without knowing very well why and when nothing seemed to be able to happen to him against hardly leaping "Socceroos", the Albiceleste was still very scared at the Ahmed Bin-Ali stadium.

a classic

This last quarter of an hour of fear and great headbutts to ward off the danger began with a shot from Craig Goodwin which went off in the clouds but which crossed the back of Enzo Fernandez, for an improbable goal against his camp ( 2-1, 77th).

While Lautaro Martinez squandered opportunities to kill the game again, Australia were then very, very dangerous twice, first on an incredible play from Behich superbly saved by Lisandro Martinez, then, in added time, with a shot from young Garang Guol, beautifully saved by goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez.

Lionel Messi in his works against Australia, December 3, 2022 in al-Rayyan © FRANCK FIFE / AFP

"The end was complicated because we took this goal and we suffered a little. But it's the World Cup, it's normal that there are difficulties," said Messi.

"I think the team didn't deserve to suffer like that, they deserved to increase the score. But it's a typical World Cup match," confirmed coach Lionel Scaloni.

While in 2018, the Argentina of Jorge Sampaoli had been swept away by the gust of Kylian Mbappé, that of 2022 is preparing to play in the quarter-finals a "classic", between "two historic selections", as qualified by Scaloni .

The Albiceleste dream continues.

© 2022 AFP