Lionel Messi scored on his 1000th career appearance as Argentina advanced to the FIFA World Cup quarter-finals by defeating Australia 2-1 on Saturday night. SLInt MORE:
Both nations made just one each from their final group stage matches, as the South Americans handed a start to Alejandro Gomez in place of Angel di Maria while South African-born midfielder Keanu Baccus started for the Socceroos.
Lionel Scaloni's men dominated the possession in the early stages of the first half but with Australia sitting quite deep, they struggled to carve out any serious openings in the final third. La Albiceleste carried that lead into the second half, as coach Scaloni made a change at the start of the stanza by throwing on Manchester United defender Lisandro Martinez for Pau Gomez.
Australia responded by introducing Craig Goodwin and Ajdin Hrustic just after the hour mark, with Baccus and Riley McGree making way in the midfield.
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