Argentina vs Mexico: After the shocking 2:1 loss against Saudi Arabia, most of the Argentina supporters and fans are tensed about the chances of ‘La Albiceleste’ making it to the knockouts of the FIFA World Cup 2022.
Argentina vs Mexico
Argentina’s loss is not only one of the biggest upsets, but it also marked the end of their unbeaten streak of 36 games (2019-2022). Thus, Italy’s record (37 unbeaten games) is safe as of now. No one could have predicted that the current Copa America and La Finalissima winners would lose to Saudi Arabia. Though there are controversies about the referee’s decisions. Some say that Lautaro Martinez was onside. Some people still think that giving Argentina the penalty was wrong.
But after reviewing the match footage and gathering evidence, we can confirm that giving a penalty to Argentina was the correct decision, and, disallowing Lautaro’s goal due to offside is a huge mistake by the VAR. VAR did not consider the last defender. Proofs by FlashScoreUK support the argument.
Now let’s talk about Argentina’s chances of qualifying for the knockouts:
After the match between Poland and Mexico ended with a goal-less draw, the Group C points table stands like this:
| TEAM | PLAYED | WON | DRAWN | LOSS | GD | POINTS | |
| 1 | SAUDI ARABIA | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 |
| 2 | POLAND | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 3 | MEXICO | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 4 | ARGENTINA | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | -1 | 0 |
After going through all the 90 possible combinations of the results of all the teams in their remaining matches, we have divided the results into four cases. We will mainly focus on Argentina’s result and then, we will discuss the other games and what results will be favorable for Argentina.
CASE 1: ARGENTINA WINS THEIR REMAINING TWO MATCHES.
Argentina vs Mexico: If Argentina wins against both Mexico and Poland, they will have 6 points in 3 matches. In that case, the best results will come if Saudi Arabia loses their remaining games. Then Argentina will qualify for the knockout stage as the group champions and either Poland or Mexico will finish second and that will be decided on the basis of goal difference as both will have 4 points.
In short, if Argentina wins their remaining games, they will qualify for the knockout stage but their position may vary from 1 to 2.
CASE 2: ARGENTINA WINS ONE, AND DRAWS ANOTHER.
In this case, Argentina will have 4 points. Then Saudi Arabia will have to lose points. They need to lose a match, and lose or draw against the team, against whom, Argentina drew. Then Saudi Arabia will also have 4 points. The team against whom Saudi Arabia will lose will most probably finish with 4 points. Then, the qualifying teams will be based on goal differences.
CASE 3: ARGENTINA WINS ONE, LOSES ANOTHER / DRAWS ONE, AND LOSES ANOTHER.
If Argentina loses any of their last games, their chances of qualifying will be almost equivalent to none.
CASE 4: ARGENTINA LOSES BOTH OF THE REMAINING GAMES.
If Argentina loses both of the remaining games, it is completely impossible for them to qualify for the knockout stage as in this case, they will be the last boys.
So, Argentina should now bounce back well and win the remaining games, so that they can be on the safe side.
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