Messi and his teammates showed great determination in the final match of Group D against Nigeria, only if they win can Argentina continue to the round of 16.
More than anyone, Messi knows how much responsibility and burden it is on his shoulders. And everything was quickly relieved when the match only lasted 14 minutes. From Ever Banega's long pass, Messi quickly ran down, delicately holding the ball and pushed the ball out for a beat before finishing with his left foot to open the score. Everything went extremely perfectly, for a classy player like Messi.
20 minutes later, a free kick right in front of Nigeria's 16m50m, Messi carefully held a shoe, held his breath to observe the line and ran. His shot went past goalkeeper Uzoho but hit the post. It was a pity for Mesi and if it was a goal to increase the score to 2-0, the match was over.
It can be seen how much effort Messi made when Argentina was equalized 1-1 on the 11m mark. He was the one who proactively moved a lot to find the ball and deploy it for his teammates to attack, because the draw now also means that the ticket to the round of 16 belongs to Nigeria.
All of Messi's efforts were later rewarded. In the 86th minute, Marcos Rojo "crawled up from the ground", received Mercado's cross and fired a one-touch shot into Uzoho's net to seal a hard-fought 2-1 victory but no less dramatic for Argentina.
Marcos Rojo is certainly Argentina's hero, but Messi, with his tireless efforts, deserves to be a player of the match, according to the FIFA homepage's vote.
