Argentina plays it against unbeaten Poland

Argentina plays it against unbeaten Poland

Messi's albiceleste needs to win to not depend on Mexico

MADRID, 29 Nov. (EUROPA PRESS) -

Poland and Argentina will play this Wednesday the pass to the round of 16 of the World Cup in Qatar in a direct duel between the virtual qualifiers right now in which a tie could not be worth the albiceleste, who needs to tear down the wall that is up to now the Polish team.

Undoubtedly, the spotlight in Poland was on Robert Lewandowski and his offensive squires like Arkadiusz Milik or Krzystof Piatek, and despite the fact that the Blaugrana forward already knows what it is to score in a World Cup, with his goal on the second day, he Poland's most notable is its defense.

They have not yet conceded a goal, with their veteran goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny saving a penalty and the subsequent shot after rebound -- at the World Cup stop, for now -- against Saudi Arabia. Now, Argentina needs to put an end to that unbeaten status if they want to go to the round of 16 and do so as the leader of this Group C.

Leo Messi's Argentina is on the way to forgetting the disappointment of the initial defeat against the Saudis. Against Mexico, a good goal from Enzo Fernández at minute 87 made it 2-0 final, after Leo Messi opened the scoring at minute 64, making a good pass from Di María with a shot placed from the edge.

The Argentine '10' equaled Diego Armando Maradona with that goal in terms of goals scored (8) in World Cups, with the same matches played (21). Messi can continue making history but the captain is clear that the goal is to win over Poland, the European 'Cinderella' who is waking up to the Americans.

With a victory, Argentina would be the leader. With a draw, I would have to pray that Mexico didn't beat Saudi Arabia. "We will try, or rather, we will remove the word 'try', because we are going to win the game, which is what we all want," said the Argentine coach, Lionel Scaloni, in the run-up to this clash.

It is clear that, in Messi's last dance at a World Cup, going home in the group stage would be disastrous. For the PSG player and the rest of his teammates, for the 'staff' and for the entire country, which sweats football every day. So Poland, the unbeaten Poland, should suffer an albiceleste siege from the first minute of the game.

For its part, Poland will ensure qualification with a draw on the last day. They have everything in their face to achieve the feat of getting back into a World Cup round of 16, something they have not achieved since 1986.

It will be a match to unbalance the scales. In the World Cups, Poland and Argentina met in 1974, with a 3-2 victory for Poland in the group stage, and in 1978 they met again with a victory for Argentina (2-0). So this duel, with so much at stake, will break that equality.

A game that the Poles face with some calm. In addition, his great star Lewandowski removed a great thorn in his head; that of not scoring in a World Cup. He did it at minute 82 against Saudi Arabia -the one that knocked down Argentina in one of the surprises of the championship- in a play in which he caused Almalki's mistake to stand before Alowais and beat him with a low shot.

Between tears and the emotion of his teammates, the Blaugrana striker celebrated his first goal in the World Cup, with which he also certified Poland's first victory in this edition. Now, 'Lewangol' wants to repeat and lead his team to glory in the round of 16, for the first time since 1986.

POLONIA: Szczesny; Bereszynski, Kiwior, Glik, Cash; Frankowski, Krychowiak, Bielik, Zielinski; Milik and Lewandowski.

ARGENTINA: E.Martinez; Montiel, Lysandro Martinez, Otamendi, Coin; Mac Allister, Fernandez, De Paul, Di Maria; Messi and Lautaro Martinez.

--ÁRBITRO: Danny Makkelie (NED).

--STADIUM: Stadium 974.

--TIME: 20.00/World Goal.