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Journalism of Courage
Be it on the field or in the dressing room, Argentina captain Lionel Messi always leads his team from the front.
With one of the most important goals of his career, Messi led Argentina to a 2-0 victory over Mexico on Saturday to ignite his team’s World Cup chances.
Following the win, the Argentina team celebrated inside the dressing room, with Messi joining the celebration with his teammates.
Argentina defender Nicolas Otamendi shared the video on his Instagram story after their vital win over Mexico to revive World Cup dream.
Argentina players were videoed singing and dancing inside the dressing room. Goalkeeper Emi Martinez was leading the antics as he was dancing on the centre table of the dressing room.
Messi’s dream of winning football’s biggest prize in likely his last attempt is still alive.
“It’s a weight off our shoulders,” Messi said after the match.
“It gives us joy and peace of mind to start again.”
Messi took a touch from Angel Di Maria’s pass across the face of the area and drove a low shot from 25 meters (yards) into the bottom corner to give Argentina the lead in the 64th minute.
He whirled his arms in an emotional response to scoring his 93rd — and perhaps most crucial — international goal. It was an eighth World Cup goal for Messi, the same number scored in the tournament by rival Cristiano Ronaldo and also Diego Maradona — Argentina great with whom he is so often compared.
Substitute Enzo Fernandez added a second goal in the 87th minute, ensuring Argentina bounced back from a 2-1 loss to Saudi Arabia that ranked as one of the World Cup’s biggest ever upsets.
Argentina is second in Group C ahead of its last match against first-place Poland on Wednesday, and might need to win it to advance.
“We can’t let our guard down now,” Messi said. “All of our matches are finals now. We can’t mess up.”
