Argentina pass this way and that for the last minute, toying with their nervous opponents. Eventually, the referee blows his whistle. That's it!
90' +4
De Paul floats the resulting corner into Poland's box. The Polish are delighted to see the ball away.
90'
Poland have at least six more minutes of agony to endure. They're keeping everyone back in their own half.
88'
Argentina are popping the ball around without a care in the world. Poland won't mind as long as it's not near their goal.
84'
T. Almada enters the game and replaces A. Mac Allister.
Mac Allister, who opened the scoring for Argentina, goes off to applause. Almada replaces him.
83'
K. Piątek enters the game and replaces G. Krychowiak.
Poland make a change. Krychowiak goes off. Piatek comes on.
Argentina know their job is done. Poland look physically and mentally spent. All they can do now is try to keep things clean and not concede again.
81'
Molina holds the ball up down the right. Argentina shift play left to Mac Allister, whose cross gets stopped by Glik.
79'
G. Pezzella enters the game and replaces E. Fernández.
L. Martínez enters the game and replaces J. Álvarez.
Fernandez goes off too after a fine display. Pezzella, a centre-back, replaces him.
Argentina make more changes. Alvarez goes off having grabbed his goal. Lautaro Martinez takes his place up front.
78'
G. Krychowiak gets yellow.
Krychowiak is shown the yellow card for a tactical foul. Poland are still achieving very little in an attacking sense.
Minute
Description
77'
Lewandowski controls the ball only to get shrugged off it seconds later. Poland's star striker has been feeding off scraps all game.
72'
A. Jędrzejczyk enters the game and replaces B. Bereszyński.
Poland make a change to stem the bleeding. They need it. Bereszynski goes off. Marcin comes on.
71'
Messi leaves Poland's hearts in their mouths! The Argentine captain forces a point-blank save from Szczesny. The Polish must be dreading the next 20 minutes.
69'
Poland understandably look pale. As things stand, they're level with Mexico on goal difference and goals scored. They're clinging onto second due to their superior fair play record. Another Mexico or Argentina goal would simplify things.
68'
Fernandez gave Alvarez the ball to his feet, and the striker did the rest. Argentina are heading for the last 16, and Poland might be heading out!
67'
J. Álvarez has scored a goal for Argentina! Assist by E. Fernández.
GOAL! POLAND 0-2 ARGENTINA! Alvarez doubles Argentina's lead and leaves Poland in deep trouble! The Manchester City man controls Fernandez's pass and holds off his man in the box to send a stunning strike past Szczesny.
66'
Argentina keep possession from the corner. Mac Allister races onto a throughball down the left. Glik comes across to put a stop to the attack.
64'
Messi has Alvarez alongside him but elects to shoot instead. The ball hits a defender and goes out for an Argentina corner.
62'
D. Szymański enters the game and replaces K. Bielik.
Here's that Poland change. Off goes Bielik. On comes Szymanski in attacking midfield.
60'
Argentina appear to have switched to a four-man midfield. They want that second goal to seal the three points.
59'
L. Paredes enters the game and replaces Á. Di María.
N. Tagliafico enters the game and replaces M. Acuña.
Acuna also makes way after an energetic hour on the pitch. Tagliafico takes his place at left-back for Argentina.
Argentina decide to make some substitutions. Paredes replaces Di Maria first.
57'
There's action in the other group game. Mexico are now 2-0 up against Saudi Arabia. One more goal from Mexico or Argentina could see Poland drop to third as things stand. Things are getting interesting!
55'
Cash makes a great block to prevent Alvarez from troubling Szczesny. Argentina are still on top.
53'
Messi rolls back the years by going on a wonderful run through the middle of the pitch. The diminutive maestro eventually fires wide of the left of the box.
49'
M. Acuña gets yellow.
Acuna's booked for that challenge. Argentina's fans are rocking now, but their team have a free-kick to defend.
48'
Acuna steams into a late tackle to hand Poland a promising free-kick.
46'
J. Kamiński enters the game and replaces P. Frankowski.
M. Skóraś enters the game and replaces K. Świderski.
A. Mac Allister has scored a goal for Argentina! Assist by N. Molina.
Poland wisely make two half-time changes. The anonymous Swiderski gets the hook first. Skoras replaces him.
Frankowski won't be coming back out for the second half either. Kaminski takes his place on the pitch for Poland.
GOAL! POLAND 0-1 ARGENTINA! Argentina have the lead they deserve, seconds after the restart! Mac Allister converts Molina's cross, finding the bottom left corner from the centre of the box.
Molina made a great run down the right to create that crossing opportunity, and Mac Allister was in the right place to make the most of it. As things stand, Argentina are top of Group C!
Argentina get the second half started. They've been unlucky not to have scored yet.
45' +3
HALF-TIME: POLAND 0-0 ARGENTINA
45' +2
Messi takes charge in midfield but loses the ball to Bielik. Poland manage to get a throw-in, which is progress of sorts for them.
45'
Acuna can't reach De Paul's curling cross. There'll be just three minutes of added time at the end of this first half. It's raced by.
44'
Di Maria's blast down the middle is easily caught by Szczesny, who's having a busy time in the Poland net.
42'
Argentina only look more motivated by that setback. Alvarez and De Paul get further saves out of Szczesny. If Poland make it to half-time unscathed, they'll be delighted.
39'
Penalty saved by W. Szczęsny!
SZCZESNY SAVES THE PENALTY! Messi sends the penalty to the right of goal. Szczesny dives the right way and swats the kick aside with a strong right hand! Poland will feel justice has been done.
Messi put decent power behind the strike but it was too close to the centre of goal. Will Argentina live to regret wasting this opportunity?
35'
Argentine force another corner which is taken short to Messi. Fernandez sets himself outside the D and curls high and wide with his right foot.
34'
Mac Allister's flick from De Paul's corner doesn't pay off. Poland are holding their own for now, but for how long under this Argentinian pressure remains to be seen.
32'
Acuna's low cross from the left gets blocked. Lewandowski tries to create something for Poland down the left channel, but he's too isolated and Argentina soon crowd him out.
30'
Emiliano Martinez's hesitation to come for a high ball briefly invites the attention of Lewandowski. Argentina get away with it.
26'
Lewandowski is ploughing a lone furrow up front for Poland at the moment. The Europeans can't get the ball to their forward talisman much at all.
25'
Messi gets sold short with a wayward pass, and Poland attempt to escape their own half. De Paul clips Frankowski to stop that from happening.
24'
The corner's taken short. De Paul's floated pass in the direction of Messi is cut out.
23'
Di Maria's cross is too strong for De Paul. Argentina keep possession. Fernandez takes on Cash to earn the Argentines a corner.
22'
Zielinski fizzes the ball towards the danger area with his left foot. Argentina are able to clear it away.
21'
Zielinski whips the free-kick towards Argentina's box. It's a decent delivery, but Romero gets his head to it before another Poland player does.
20'
Cash bursts down the right and gets bundled over by a combination of Alvarez and Acuna. Poland get a free-kick in a decent position.
18'
De Paul makes a probing run off the ball which doesn't come to fruition. Argentina keep coming though, as Acuna nods straight into the arms of Szczesny from a tight angle.
17'
Messi spots Acuna to his left and plops the ball out wide to him. The Argentina left-back checks onto his right foot in the box and fires high and wide.
15'
Fernandez attempts to slip Alvarez through on goal with a sliderule pass down the middle. Szczesny has it covered.
14'
Frankowski attempts to make progress down Poland's left-hand side. Molina stands his ground and wins a throw-in.
12'
Di Maria drives inside and lays off to Messi, who finds De Paul. De Paul picks out Molina, whose cross towards Messi gets intercepted. It's been a fast start by Argentina.
8'
Di Maria's hopeful shot from outside the penalty area can only hit Messi in front of him. Argentina are, as you'd expect, playing as if they have a point to prove.
6'
Messi tests Szczesny in Poland's goal, trying his luck with a weak drive from the edge of the box. The Polish goalkeeper is able to easily keep it out of the net.
4'
Poland make their first foray into Argentina's box. Bielik makes a clean connection with the ball but his attempt at goal is blocked.
2'
Argentina start on the front foot as Di Maria's run earns his team an early corner. Messi's delivery is comfortably cleared by the Polish defence.
1'
After the usual pre-match pleasantries, Poland get this crunch final group game underway!
Hello and welcome to our live text commentary of this 2022 FIFA World Cup Group C match between Poland and Argentina at Stadium 974.
Group C remains in the balance as all four teams can still make it into the last 16. Poland's 2-0 victory over Saudi Arabia last time out has left them currently top of the group and well placed to qualiy from their World Cup group for the first time since 1986.
The Poles face a desperate Argentina, who ideally need a win to keep their World Cup hopes alive. La Albiceleste can qualify with a draw, but that will leave them at the mercy of events elsewhere. With both sides' places in the knockout stage at stake, this is going to be tense.
POLAND (4-4-2): Wojciech Szczesny, Bartosz Bereszynski, Jakub Kiwior, Kamil Glik, Matty Cash, Przemyslaw Frankowski, Grzegorz Krychowiak, Krystian Bielik, Piotr Zielinski, Robert Lewandowski, Karol Swiderski.
SUBS: Lukasz Skorupski, Kamil Grabara, Artur Jedrzejczyk, Mateusz Wieteska, Jan Bednarek, Arkadiusz Milik, Damian Szymanski, Kamil Grosicki, Jakub Kaminski, Szymon Zurkowski, Sebastian Szymanski, Nicola Zalewski, Krzysztof Piatek, Robert Gumny, Michal Skoras.
ARGENTINA (4-2-3-1): Emiliano Martinez, Marcos Acuna, Nicolas Otamendi, Cristian Romero, Nahuel Molina, Enzo Fernandez, Rodrigo De Paul, Alexis Mac Allister, Lionel Messi, Angel Di Maria, Julian Alvarez.
SUBS: Franco Armani, Geronimo Rulli, Juan Foyth, Nicolas Tagliafico, Gonzalo Montiel, Leandro Paredes, German Pezzella, Exequiel Palacios, Angel Correa, Thiago Almada, Papu Gomez, Guido Rodriguez, Paulo Dybala, Lautaro Martinez, Lisandro Martinez.
Argentina will face Australia in the round of 16, then, while Poland will face France. They'll need to play much better to stand a chance of beating them. That's all for now. Thanks for joining us, goodbye!
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