Argentina captain Lionel Messi and Enzo Fernandez scored in their 2-0 win over Mexico in their 2022 FIFA World Cup clash at the Lusail Stadium on Saturday evening.
After a fairly even opening half, Messi opened the scoring in spectacular fashion, hitting one into the bottom corner of Guillermo Ochoa’s net to spark wild celebrations.
The goal seemingly brought more life to the stadium and his teammates as they took control of the game and limited the North Americans to long-range efforts.
Second-half substitute Enzo Fernadez stole the show late on with a sumptuous strike, first beating his markers with neat step-overs before sending one to the far corner of the net.
The victory puts the Copa America champions in second place with three points, one behind Poland, while Saudi Arabia has three and Mexico, one.
Earlier on Saturday, Poland managed to secure a 2-0 win over a spirited Saudi Arabia side who had a penalty saved.
In a heated affair at the Education City Stadium, the Saudi side, who shocked world football with a 2-1 win over Argentina last week, dominated possession but saw themselves fall behind in the 39th minute.
Piotr Zieliński tapped in a cut-back from Robert Lewandowski to open the scoring but saw a barrage of Saudi attacks follow.
It led to a questionable penalty but Wojciech Szczęsny saved the resulting spot-kick from Salem Aldawsari and Mohammed Alburayk’s rebound to spark wild celebrations.
Herve Renard set his side up on the attack for the second half which created an end-to-end affair that no doubt pleased the neutrals.
Poland hit the post twice during waves of Saudi attacks but Szczęsny held a resolute defence throughout as they managed to get another through Robert Lewandowski in the 83rd minute with a swift counter, his World Cup goal in his glittering career.
All four sides can still, mathematically qualify for the knockout stages, taking Group C to the wire next week.
