Argentina and Netherlands advance to the 2022 World Cup quarterfinals

Argentina and the Netherlands are the first two countries that have advanced to the quarterfinals of the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar. Argentina defeated Australia 2-1, while the Netherlands defeated the United States 3-1 in the first two Round of 16 matches.

Argentina got two first half goals before a second half own goal. Like Argentina, the Netherlands had two first half goals, before the teams exchanged one goal each in the second half.

Argentina’s goals for came from Lionel Messi in the the 35th minute and Julian Alvarez in the 57th minute. Messi is currently with Paris Saint-Germain of France’s Ligue 1 and Alvarez is with England’s Manchester City. Messi now has nine goals in the history of the World Cup, dating back to the 2006 World Cup in Germany. It was Alvarez’s second goal of the 2022 World Cup, as he also scored in Argentina’s 2-0 win over Poland in pool play.

The Netherlands got goals from Memphis Depay of Spain’s Barcelona, Ajax’s Daley Blind, and Inter Milan’s Denzel Dumfries. Netherlands had control for most of the first half and many Americans were disappointed with their overall play in the opening 45 minutes. The Dutch are still looking for their first World Cup title in its nation’s history.

Netherlands will now play Argentina in the quarterfinals on Friday. This will be the sixth time the two countries will have played against each other. In 1974 in West Germany, the Netherlands won 4-0 in the second round. In 1978 in Argentina, Argentina beat the Netherlands 3-1 in the World Cup Final thanks to two goals from Mario Kempes. In 1998 in France, the Netherlands defeated Argentina 2-1 on a game-winning goal by Dennis Bergkamp in the 90th minute of the quarterfinals. In 2006 in Germany, the nations played to a 0-0 deadlock. In 2014 in Brazil, Argentina and the Netherlands played to a 0-0 tie heading into penalty kicks, where Argentina won 4-2. This game was the semifinals of the World Cup eight years ago.