Messi heroics, Rojo's late winner take Argentina to knockouts; FT 2-1

Nigeria almost came back after penalty equaliser but Rojo pulled back the winner

Full time analysis: 

Football is a team game led by individuals. Argentina had the G.O.A.T Messi but were falling short of the overall team play in the first two matches. Today, Argentina had both Messi and a good team performance. To sum it up symbolically, Mascherano had the bloody face but still, he carried on for more 30 minutes of the game. That was the determination of Argentina today amid the limitations of age and quality in certain departments. 

The 2-1 win against Nigeria sees Argentina qualifying from the World Cup group stages for the fourth consecutive tournament (2006, 2010, 2014 and 2018). They will face France in knockout round who have topped Group C.

However, the match almost faded for Argentina after Nigeria scored the penalty in the 51st minute by Moses and were attacking in numbers in the 2nd half with renewed motivation.
 

Higuain had been relatively quiet in the second half and did his typical routine miss even though he had played a good 1st half with all his pressing.

However, Argentina never gave up under the shadow of the greatest of all time, Diego Maradona who was present in St Petersburg stadium and the team fought under his magnificent aura. 
 

As things were looking gloom, Marcus Rojo of ManUtd came out of nowhere and scored a brilliant right footed shot between the bodies of two defenders. The rest was history. 

A strange coincidence is 2 of Marcos Rojo's three international goals for Argentina have been scored against Nigeria (also World Cup 2014).

The stadium had gone wild and head coach Sampaoli intruded in the pitch. Maradona started making weird and inappropriate gestures with his hand and the stadium became blue. 

How it rolled

Argentina vs Nigeria match started with a strange fact. Argentina started with their oldest ever line-up in the World Cup with an average age of 30. The initial minutes of the game saw Argentina dominating possession. The Nigerians defended all of Argentina's advances. 

You-know-who received a good pass from Banega and controlled it brilliantly with his left foot and scored with his right. Leo Messi finally announced himself in the World Cup. After the goal, he started creating problems for Nigeria in the first half. He delivered a brilliant pass to Higuain who failed to lob the shot over the Nigerian keeper.

The photographic moment of the day came when Leo Messi took the freekick after Angel Di Maria was brought down by the Nigerian defence. Messi scored a brilliant curler which beat the Nigerian goalkeeper and hit the woodwork. 

Argentina pressed vehemently in the first half thanks to Higuain and Di Maria. Nigeria, were defensively goodd felt difficult to cope up with the sudden burst of attack.

2nd Half

Updates:

86 min: Marcus Rojo scores

80 min:Higuain with the typicalmiss

Sergio Aguero has been brought in to look for the winner

61min:Argentina are displaying a patch of slopping passing especially by the veteran Mascherano.

53 min:Nigeria has found renewed zeal after the goal.

51 min:Moses scores the penalty to equalise things for both the teams

46 min:Argentina looks comfortable in the early minutes of the 2nd half

Trivia: Moses' penalty was the 16th so far at the 2018 World Cup. Only the 1998 tournament has seen more 

Half-time analysis: Argentina vs Nigeria match started with a strange fact. Team Argentina started with their oldest ever line-up in the World Cup with an average age at 30. The initial minutes of the game saw Argentina dominating possession. The Nigerians defended all of Argentina's advances. 

However, you-know-who received a good pass from Banega and controlled it brilliantly with his left foot and scored with his right. Leo Messi finally announced himself in the World Cup. After the goal, he started creating problems for Nigeria. He delivered a brilliant pass to Higuain who failed to lob the shot over the Nigerian keeper.

The photographic moment of the day came when Leo Messi took the freekick after Angel Di Maria was brought down by the Nigerian defence. Messi scored a brilliant curler which beat the Nigerian goalkeeper and hit the woodwork. 

The difference between this match and other matches for Argentina has been the team's attitude. Argentina has pressed vehemently thanks to Higuain and Di Maria. Nigeria, although were defensively good,d felt difficult to cope up with the sudden burst of attack.

Although, Argentina has taken the lead but the game is still up for grabs for both the team. The second half is set for an epic clash.

Updates:

34 min: Messi takes the freekick and the ball hits the post. 

30 min: Nigeria have been wasteful in the early minutes of the game

23min: Nigeria have done well so far but they have been undone by one moment of magic.

14 min: Lionel Messi scores! The 100th goal of the Fifa World Cup 2018

10 min: Argentina have dominated the early possesion of the match

Trivia: 

Lionel Messi has scored the 100th goal at the 2018 World Cup.

Lionel Messi has scored his first World Cup goal in 662 minutes of football, his last previous World Cup goal came against Nigeria as well, in 2014.

Franco Armani will become the 17th different goalkeeper to start for Argentina

Line-ups:

Argentina XI: Franco Armani; Gabriel Mercado, Nicolas Otamendi, Marcos Rojo, Nicolas Tagliafico; Javier Mascherano, Ever Banega; Enzo Perez, Lionel Messi, Angel Di Maria; Gonzalo Higuain.

Nigeria XI: Francis Uzoho; Leon Balogun, Kenneth Omeruo, William Troost-Ekong; Victor Moses, Wilfred Ndidi, John Obi Mikel, Oghenekaro Etebo, Brian Idowu; Kelechi Iheanacho, Ahmed Musa.

Argentina subs: Nahuel Guzman, Willy Caballero, Giovani Lo Celso, Maximiliano Meza, Paulo Dybala, Lucas Biglia, Eduardo Salvio, Cristian Pavon, Federico Fazio, Marcos Acuna, Sergio Aguero, Cristian Ansaldi.
 

Nigeria subs: Ikechukwu Ezenwa, Daniel Akpeyi, Alex Iwobi, Simy, Odion Ighalo, Tyronne Ebuehi, Abdullahi Shehu, Chidozie Awaziem, John Ogu, Elderson Echiejile, Joel Obi, Ogenyi Onazi.

What are Argentina's chances? 

A win against Argentina will guarantee Nigeria a place in the second round.
 

A draw may also be enough even if Iceland beat already-qualified Croatia, depending on goal difference.

For Argentina, they must beat Nigeria and also hope Iceland do not win against Croatia, as that could send them home again depending on goal difference.

Messi and Co will have to improve by leaps and bounds to harbour any chance on Tuesday.

The Messi factor:

 

Messi, who turned 31 on Sunday, has looked undercooked in both games, been largely crowded off the ball and his penalty miss against Iceland was horrible to say the least. Against Croatia, the FC Barcelona talisman was anonymous.

"The team is lost," former Argentina international and Atletico Madrid coach Diego Simeone said in a leaked audio.

"What's happening to the team right now is what has happened to Argentina in these last four disgraceful years: anarchy, no leadership from the players, coaches or directors," he added.

Argentina have been the biggest disappointment of the World Cup so far, and with Leo Messi out of form, they have lacked cohesion and energy, prompting stories of divisions between players and coach Jorge Sampaoli.

Nigeria preview

 

Nigeria's final Group D game against Argentina promises to be one of the most dramatic to date in the World Cup finals as both sides look to book a place in the last 16 of the competition.

Nigeria bounced back from an opening game disappointment when they lost 2-0 to Croatia, to beat Iceland by the same margin in Volgograd," reports Xinhua news agency.

A draw against Argentina will probably be enough to put them into the next round.

Nigeria coach 
 

Nigeria coach Gernot Rohr is optimistic his side can eliminate Argentina, even though they have never beaten them in a World Cup fixture.

"That sort of a run has to end sometime," he said in an interview with FIFA.

"We are confident because we beat Argentina in a friendly (in Russia) last year, coming back from 2-0 down to win 4-2," Leo Messi didn't play, but we scored four wonderful goals and that gives us hope," continued Rohr.

The Nigerian coach insisted his side were still the underdogs against Argentina, who have only one point from 2 matches after drawing 1-1 against Iceland and losing 3-0 to Croatia.

"You have to put Argentina's so-called weakness into perspective. They had bad luck with the penalty in their first game, and the outcome would've been different if that had gone in," he explained, adding that Messi is "one of the best players in the world" and that Argentina have "unbelievable quality throughout the team."

Nigeria will look to counter Messi and company with "youthful abandon, enthusiasm and desire. Most of our players want to get to where the Argentinians already are: the very top," commented Rohr, who believes the match will be a showcase for the talent in his squad.

"The whole world will be watching this game and it's a chance to show what we're capable of," he concluded.

Here is the full list of Argentina’s 23-member squad:

Goalkeepers: Wilfredo Caballero (Chelsea/England), Franco Armani (River Plate).

Defenders: Cristian Ansaldi (Torino/Italy), Gabriel Mercado (Sevilla/Spain), Nicolas Otamendi (Manchester City/England), Federico Fazio (Roma/Italy), Marcos Rojo (Manchester United/England), Marcos Acuna (Sporting Lisbon/Portugal), Nicolas Tagliafico (Ajax/Netherlands).

Midfielders: Javier Mascherano (Hebei China Fortune/China PR), Cristian Pavon (Boca Juniors), Maximiliano Meza (Independiente), Angel Di Maria (Paris Saint-Germain/France), Giovani Lo Celso (Paris Saint-Germain/France), Manuel Lanzini (West Ham/England), Ever Banega (Sevilla/Spain), Lucas Biglia (AC Milan/Italy), Eduardo Salvio (Benfica/Portugal).

Forwards: Paulo Dybala (Juventus/Italy), Gonzalo Higuain (Juventus/Italy), Lionel Messi (Barcelona/Spain), Sergio Aguero (Manchester City/England).

Here is the full list of Nigeria squad:

Goalkeepers: Ikechukwu Ezenwa (Enyimba), Daniel Akpeyi (Chippa United/RSA), Francis Uzoho (Deportivo La Coruna/ESP) 

Defenders: William Troost-Ekong, Shehu Abdullahi (Bursaspor/TUR), Leon Balogun (Brighton Hove Albion/ENG), Kenneth Omeruo (Chelsea/ENG), Bryan Idowu (Amkar Perm/RUS), Chidozie Awaziem (FC Porto/POR), Elderson Echiejile (Cercle Brugge/BEL), Tyronne Ebuehi (Benfica/POR) 

Midfielders: Mikel Obi (Tianjin Teda/CHN), Ogenyi Onazi (Trabzonspor/TUR), John Ogu (Hapoel Be'er Sheva/ISR), Wilfred Ndidi (Leicester City/ENG),Oghenekaro Etebo (CD Feirense/POR), Joel Obi (Torino FC/ITA) 

Forwards: Odion Ighalo (Changchun Yatai/CHN), Ahmed Musa, Kelechi Iheanacho(Leicester City/ENG), Alex Iwobi (Arsenal/ENG), Simeon Nwankwo (FC Crotone/ITA), Victor Moses (Chelsea/ENG).

When and Where to watch: Argentina vs Nigeria and Iceland vs Croatia

Time: 11:30 PM (IST)

In today's Group D match, Argentina vs Nigeria match will take place in Saint Petersburg on Tuesday, 26, 2018 at 11:30 PM (IST).

Argentina vs Nigeria will be broadcast on Sony Ten 2, Sony Ten 2 HD, Sony Six and Sony Six HD in English Commentary and Sony Ten 3 and Sony 3 HD in Hindi Commentary.

Argentina vs Nigeria match will be available for live streaming on Sony Liv also. And Both Airtel and Jio would broadcast the FIFA World Cup 2018 matches for free to their respective subscribers.