Messi expects World Cup to 'get even tougher' after leading Argentina into quarter-finals


John McAuley
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Lionel Messi said the World Cup will only get more difficult from now after Argentina survived a “complicated” finish to their match against Australia to book a place in the quarter-finals.

The two-time world champions prevailed 2-1 at Ahmad bin Ali Stadium on Saturday night, but had to withstand a few nervy moments towards the end as poor finishing from their side and then some sturdy defending saw off Australia.

Argentina had been 2-0 up on the night, with Messi scoring in his 1000th career match and Julian Alvarez doubling the advantage to seemingly send the team through.

However, Craig Goodwin’s deflected shot gave Australia a lifeline, and it needed a last-gasp save from Emiliano Martinez to prevent the match from going into extra-time.

Argentina now take on the Netherlands, three-time runners-up, on Friday for a place in the semi-finals. The Dutch defeated USA 3-1 earlier on Saturday.

Speaking immediately after Australia, and having picked up another man-of-the-match award, Messi said: "Things got complicated in the end with their goal, but it's a World Cup and it's never easy.

"Now we have a really tough clash with Holland, who play very well. They have great players and a great coach. It's going to be hard fought.

“If a World Cup has been tough from the start, it gets even tougher at this stage."

Argentina, the South American champions, were superior for much of the match against Australia in Al Rayyan, but were pegged back with 13 minutes of normal time remaining.

Argentina v Australia player ratings

From there, Lionel Scaloni's side missed a number of chances, chiefly through substitute Lautaro Martinez, while namesake Lisandro Martinez was forced into making a last-ditch challenge after a superb solo run by Aziz Behich.

It was then left to Emiliano Martinez, the Argentine goalkeeper, to keep out 18-year-old substitute Garang Kuol deep into injury time.

“I’m very happy for taking another step forward, achieving another objective,” Messi said. “It was a very difficult match; we knew it was going to be this way.

“We knew it was going to be a very physical match and they were very strong. Matches are always difficult and what’s important is that you win.”

Argentina manager Lionel Scaloni said he was "satisfied" with his team's performance. AFP
Argentina manager Lionel Scaloni said he was "satisfied" with his team's performance. AFP

Argentina manager Scaloni paid tribute to his players, who have reeled off three successive wins in Qatar after their shock opening defeat by Saudi Arabia.

"We are satisfied,” Scaloni said. “Today's match was very difficult - they put a suffocating pressure on us. We shouldn't have suffered in the final minutes because we had chances to go further ahead.

"But my players were born to play in these sorts of games."

On the Netherlands test, in a rerun of the 1978 World Cup final that Argentina won, Scaloni said: "It's going to be a very beautiful game, with two historic teams. Sadly one team has to lose. And we hope it's us who go through.”

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252 projectors installed on Al Wasl dome

13.6km of steel used in the structure that makes it equal in length to 16 Burj Khalifas

550 tonnes of moulded steel were raised last year to cap the dome

724,000 cubic metres is the space it encloses

Stands taller than the leaning tower of Pisa

Steel trellis dome is one of the largest single structures on site

The size of 16 tennis courts and weighs as much as 500 elephants

Al Wasl means connection in Arabic

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Conflict, drought, famine

Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.

Band Aid

Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.

Updated: December 04, 2022, 4:08 AM`