Magical Messi sees Argentina through to World Cup
A magical Lionel Messi hat-trick carried Argentina to a 3-1 win over Ecuador on
Tuesday and booked their place at next year’s World Cup finals in
Russia.
With Argentina facing the dire possibility of missing out on a World Cup for
the first time since 1970, their brilliant captain delivered when it matter most with three goals in the rarefied air of
Quito.
The twice World Cup winners finished third in the 10-team South American
group, going through with Brazil, Uruguay, and Colombia as the automatic
qualifiers, while Peru grabbed a playoff place against Oceania champions New
Zealand at the expense of Chile.
“Today Argentina took a great step forward,” said coach Jorge Sampaoli. “I
hope that with the time to prepare that we’ll have, we can be competitive (in
Russia) like we were today.”
While Sampaoli was delighted with his captain’s performance, he said the side
had to stop relying on him so much.
“We’ve got to fix it so not everything depends on Messi,” he added.
Messi had not been at his best in Argentina’s stuttering campaign and failed to
score in their previous three drawn qualifiers, which had left them in sixth
place and out of the qualifying berths for Russia heading into Tuesday’s
game.
A World Cup without Argentina seemed an even bigger possibility when Romario
Ibarra put Ecuador ahead in the opening minute after he got the better of Javier
Mascherano and beat Sergio Romero with a low shot.
But Argentina, who had managed only one previous win in Quito, in 2001, equalised 11 minutes later when Messi tapped home after a
one-two with Angel Di Maria.
Messi then put Argentina ahead in the 20th minute, firing a superb shot past
Maximo Banguera into the top corner, and completed his hat-trick just past the
hour, shaking off three tired Ecuador defenders before lifting the ball over the
advancing goalkeeper and into the net.
Messi, enjoying a little bit of extra space seldom afforded against rival
South American defences, joined Uruguay’s Luis Suarez, his teammate at
Barcelona, as the all-time joint top scorers in CONMEBOL qualifiers with 21
goals.
Source: Reuters
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