LUSAIL, Qatar (Archyde.com) – Argentina captain Lionel Messi praised his team’s intelligence after beating Croatia in the semi-finals of the World Cup.
Argentina overwhelmed Croatia, who had won the last two games even though they were entangled in penalty shootouts. Messi opened the scoring with a penalty in the first half, after which Julián Alvarez scored twice to win 3-0.
“We are an intelligent team, able to read the flow of the game, endure when necessary, assess the situation and press,” Messi said at his post-match press conference. “We knew that sometimes there would be space behind them,” he said.
Messi took advantage of the space up front and set up Alvarez’s second goal with a pass from the goal line. “It’s a lot of fun and I’m in good shape,” said Messi, who tied France’s Kylian Mbappe for the top spot with five goals in the tournament.
Argentina, who are chasing a third World Cup title, will face the winner of France-Morocco in the final on Sunday.