Argentina won against Australia in the round of sixteen. There is a time and a place for this.
Lionel Messi says he will not celebrate his personal milestone of reaching 1,000 professional matches after helping Argentina to a 2-1 victory over Australia in the World Cup round of 16.
Messi scored the first goal for Argentina against the Socceroos in the first half. Argentina were made to hold on in the final minutes of the match as Australia scored a goal and threatened another, but they were able to escape with a point.
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They beat Poland in their final match of the group stage to make the knockouts.
The player of the match was Messi. Even though he surpassed Diego Maradona's mark of eight World Cup goals, Messi isn't recognizing his own achievement.
He was happy to get through a physical test so quickly after the match.
After the match, Messi said he was happy for taking another step.
We knew it was going to be difficult, and it was. We were concerned as we knew it was going to be a physical match and they were very strong.
Messi was asked if he was going to celebrate his 1,000th match, but he said no. A very physical game was played.
We said it was crazy and not enough rest, but at the same time we wanted to be here for what it feels like and for our fans.
Australia coach Graham Arnold said his players did a good job of containing Messi, but his class shone through.
Arnold said that he was incredible. It's one of the best ever. We didn't want to be in awe of him because he's a great player. He's amazing.
Both Diego Maradona and Messi are wonderful players and Argentina should be so proud and happy to have them.
Argentina will face the Netherlands in the World Cup quarterfinals.
Lionel Scaloni said that they saw the match against the US.
They don't play as well as previous Dutch teams, but they have strengths and weaknesses that we will try to exploit. There will be two historic national teams playing. We hope we will be able to.
Argentina will keep a close watch on the fitness of several of their key players in the run-up to the Dutch game. Angel di Maria is recovering from a quad injury and they are confident that he will be able to play again.
"I hope Di Maria will be able to play, he wasn't fit today," he said. I don't think we would have helped anyone if we brought him on. He needs to evolve and make it to the next match.
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