FIFA Men's World Cup

World Cup Now: Argentina's adjustments pay off

Updated Dec. 13, 2022 6:53 p.m. ET

Argentina defeated Croatia on Tuesday to earn its second World Cup final berth in the last three tournaments.

Argentina kicked off the scoring in the first half when Julián Álvarez drew a foul in the box and earned a penalty kick in the 34'. Lionel Messi was able to knock it in to give Argentina a 1-0 lead. He also became the all-time leading goalscorer in Argentina's World Cup history. Just five minutes later, Álvarez was able to direct a touch into the back of the net, putting the Argentines up 2-0 going into the half.

In the second half, it was more of the same for Argentina, with Messi and Álvarez both looking unstoppable. That duo was able to connect on the third goal of the game for Argentina when Messi hit Álvarez with a pass in the box in the 69', and Álvarez did the rest for his second goal of the match.

Argentina vs. Croatia Highlights | 2022 FIFA World Cup

On the latest "World Cup Now," Jimmy Conrad, DaMarcus Beasley, Melissa Ortiz, Sacha Kljestan and Derek Rae broke down Argentina's win and shared their biggest takeaways on the greatness of Messi and his impact on the match.

Conrad: There is a South American team in the final. Early on, everyone thought it was going to be Brazil, but it is Argentina. What is interesting is that they have lost only one of the last 42 matches under Lionel Scaloni. That really speaks to their quality, and that loss was to Saudi Arabia. I do want to bring up that quarterfinal, France against Argentina was probably the best game of the last tournament, it was 4-3 in favor of France, and it really went back and forth. Messi now has five goals in the tournament and is tied with Kylian Mbappé on top of the Golden Boot race, but also has three assists.

Beasley: I think another thing that changed with the loss to Saudi Arabia is Álvarez. He didn't start in that match. That was another area they said that 4-4-2 didn't work. We have to switch it up to give the team a little bit more energy and that is Scaloni finding a way to get his best 11 players on the field in order to win matches. Hats off to Argentina and their staff

Kljestan: Yeah you mention the loss to Saudi Arabia and how things changed for Argentina. It reminds me of the 2005 U20 World Cup when we [the United States] played Argentina in the tournament and Lionel Messi did not start. He came off the bench as a 17-year-old and none of us knew who he was yet, but he absolutely dominated. We won the game 1-0, and he went on to start every single game after that. He scored a goal in every game after that. And then they won the U20 World Cup and Messi won the Golden Ball. What we are seeing now is a mirror image of that. Some things had to change after that loss to Saudi Arabia, and now they are on a roll. They are into the final. I said a couple of days ago Mbappé was the Golden Ball winner hands down, but Beas was right. Messi has taken the lead. This reminds me of being a kid and watching Messi become a star. We didn't know he would become the GOAT at the time, but we knew he was special.

Ortiz: This is an incredible merit just to get to the final and as a South American this is an honor. I'm not even Argentinian, but what I am telling you about being here in Qatar. I have been going to most of the Argentina games and I say I am not Argentinian, but one feels Argentinian because you interact with the fans you are feeling the chants in the stadiums with the words they are saying in Spanish when you actually listen to them is just fascinating. This is huge for our generation.

I was in Russia in 2014, and I saw Messi's face leaving that pitch, not knowing what would happen at that time in four years, but to see this last four-year cycle and how this team has progressed and to see the belief system put in is something we can remember from this World Cup.

Rae: Very impressive by Argentina tonight. And I think what we saw tonight was an opportunistic Argentina. When you look back to the actual game. It wasn't as if Argentina played Croatia off the park. I don't think they did, but they took advantage of the big moments in the game. If you take a look at the raw numbers, Croatia had more of the ball, they had more passes. They had more of most things, but we shouldn't really analyze soccer in those terms because when it came to Argentina having to get in behind the defense they did that in a way Croatia couldn't. This is always going be remembered as the Messi semifinal on one hand and the Álvarez semifinal on the other. Take your pick.

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