Argentina’s Gonzalo Higuain (left) and captain Lionel Messi celebrate a goal against Bolivia in their South American qualifier for the 2018 Fifa World Cup in Cordoba, Argentina, on Tuesday. Argentina won 2-0. (Photo: AFP)
Argentina’s Gonzalo Higuain (left) and captain Lionel Messi celebrate a goal against Bolivia in their South American qualifier for the 2018 Fifa World Cup in Cordoba, Argentina, on Tuesday. Argentina won 2-0. (Photo: AFP)
Lionel Messi scored his 50th international goal as Argentina defeated Bolivia 2-0 to advance to their 2018 World Cup qualification campaign.
Barcelona superstar Messi emphatically netted a 30th- minute penalty yesterday at the Estadio Mario Kempes in Cordoba as Argentina wrapped up their third consecutive qualifying victory.
Messi’s spot-kick followed defender Gabriel Mercado putting Argentina ahead after 20 minutes with his second goal in as many games.
The victory cements Argentina’s place in the automatic qualification berths of South America’s round-robin competition with 11 points from six games.
Messi’s penalty makes him only the second player in Argentinian history to reach a half century of goals for the two-time World Cup winners.
The 28-year-old striker is now closing in on legendary scorer Gabriel Batistuta’s record of 56 goals set between 1991 and 2002.
Messi now also needs only one more goal to reach 500 goals for club and country — raising the prospect that he could achieve that milestone with Barcelona this weekend when the Spanish giants take on Real Madrid in El Clasico. USA exact revenge on Guatemala The United States got their flagging 2018 World Cup qualification campaign back on track on Tuesday with a 4-0 thrashing of Guatemala.
A shock 0-2 defeat to the Guatemalans last Friday had left Jurgen Klinsmann’s side facing a must-win return fixture in Columbus, where a defeat would have all but eliminated them from North, Central America and the Caribbean zone qualifiers.
The crucial first American goal came in the 12th minute, when a long ball forward caused confusion as Los Angeles Galaxy striker Gyasi Zardes darted forward, and got the ball to Clint Dempsey, who rifled home the finish.
