Sports

World Cup: Argentina beats Netherlands on Penalties to advance to Semi finals

Published

1 year ago

December 9, 2022

edujandon🏅

Lionel Messi and Argentina are just two wins away from the title.

Netherlands 2-2 Argentina (3-4 pens): Emil Martinez the hero with 2 pen saves

They will now face Croatia who defeated Brazil on penalties in the semi final.

Argentina looked like cantering into the semis after Nahuel Molina opened the scoring with his first goal for his country, before Lionel Messi added a second from the penalty spot with less than 20 minutes left to play.

But substitute Wout Weghorst latched on to a delicious Steven Berghuis cross to head Netherlands back into the contest with their first effort on target, before poking home from a brilliantly worked free-kick in the 10th-minute of injury-time.

Enzo Fernandez rattled the post in the last minute of extra-time, but with the score level at 2-2, the quarter-final tie went to the dreaded spot-kicks.

Emiliano Martinez saved the first two Netherlands penalties from Virgil van Dijk and Berghuis, giving the Dutch a mountain to climb, with Lautaro Martinez scoring the decisive spot-kick to ensure Argentina prevailed 4-3 in the shootout.