Argentina beat Australia 2-1, thus securing qualification to the next stage of the World Cup. Leo Messi was once again the main protagonist of the Copa America champions, as he managed to find the net again, in his 1000th game in his career.
The Argentine national team did not create many scoring chances in the first half, thanks to the Australians' solid defense and line-up. However, in the only concrete case for a goal, it was Messi who, in the 35th minute of the challenge, unlocked the result with a very beautiful shot with his left. The first half of the meeting ended with a 1-0 advantage for the American-Latins.
In the second, Argentina found the net again, this time with Julian Alvarez in the 57th minute. The striker punished the mistake of the goalkeeper Mat Ryan who was careless by giving the ball to the opponent. But despite the second goal, Australia was not demotivated and managed to score with Craig Goodwin in the 77th minute. The latter's shot took a decisive deflection off Enzo Fernandez. The goal revived the Australians' hopes, but fortunately for Argentina, the numbers did not change until the end of the challenge.
Meanwhile, in the next match, the Netherlands managed to defeat the USA with a convincing score of 3-1. The "Tulips" did the job, never questioning the qualification, despite the insistence of the opponent. Coach Van Gaal's confidants scored in the 10th minute of the challenge with Depay, after a model action where the Dutch completed 21 passes before finding the net. Shortly before the end of the first half, Holland doubled the advantage with Blind, after an action similar to that of the first goal.
In the 76th minute, Wright reopened the challenge with an unexpected goal, but USA's hopes were extinguished after only 5 minutes. Dumfries scored the third goal for the Dutch, thus sealing the final result 3-1, as well as qualification to the next stage for the "tulips".
