Saturday’s Matches: Lionel Messi plays in 1,000th career match

Argentina’s star player, Lionel Messi, played in his 1,000th game in his professional career and led his team to a 2-1 victory over Australia in their round of 16 match at the Fifa World Cup 2022 in Qatar on Saturday.

The legendary No 10 scored and starred in Argentina’s eventually tense 2-1 win to set up a quarterfinal clash against Netherlands, who defeated USA 3-1 on the same day.

Messi commanded the stage again on Saturday night and scored Argentina’s opening goal. It was Messi’s ninth World Cup goal and his first in the knockout stages of the tournament.

While Argentina progressed to a quarter-final clash against the Netherlands, football commentators have said the team was far from convincing and Australia nearly snatched an equalizer in the closing seconds.

Critics have also pointed out that Argentina is still far too reliant on their aging superstar to dig them out of trouble.

For the Netherlands, Memphis Depay’s early goal got the Europeans off to an ideal start before Daley Blind’s strike on the stroke of half-time left the Americans with a huge task. Haji Wright halved the deficit on 76 minutes to tee up a tense finish, but Denzel Dumfries confirmed the win soon after.

The USA’s tournament is now over, having only scored three goals in four matches, and they will hope that the sport will continue to develop in their country in time for 2026, when they will host the tournament alongside Canada and Mexico.

Where to watch

Afghan fans need not miss out on any of the excitement of this year’s tournament which is being broadcast live and exclusively by Ariana Television in Afghanistan.

For the full broadcast schedule CLICK HERE