December 9, 2022 World Cup news and highlights

Lionel Messi and Angel Di Maria celebrate after a win against the Netherlands.

This captivating face-off finally has a winner: Argentina is triumphant over the Netherlands after a penalty shootout.

The two sides were locked in a 2-2 tie at the end of extra time, following a match that produced constant drama, including on-field scuffles, more than a dozen bookings and a near-miraculous late equalizer from the Dutch.

In the end, Argentina scored four times in the shootout to the Netherlands’ three.

In what is widely expected to be Lionel Messi’s final World Cup, La Selección advances to a clash with Croatia in the semifinals.

The 35-year-old superstar had a hand in both of his side’s goals during regulation, with an assist on one and scoring the other on a penalty kick.

Of course, even extra time wasn’t enough to separate these two teams in a hotly contested matchup.

Argentina and the Netherlands head to a penalty shootout locked in a 2-2 tie.

How it works: Each team is given the chance to take five penalty kicks, and whoever scores the most, wins. We’re updating the result of each shot here.

⚽️ means goal

❌ means save

Argentina

Kick 1: ⚽️

Kick 2: ⚽️

Kick 3: ⚽️

Kick 4: ❌

Kick 5: ⚽️

—

The Netherlands

Kick 1: ❌

Kick 2: ❌

Kick 3: ⚽️

Kick 4: ⚽️

Kick 5: ⚽️

Messi stands on the field at the end of the second half.

We’re back with the first period of extra time.

There’s no love lost between these two sides: The benches cleared again at the end of regulation, with more pushing, shoving and unfriendly words.

There were 13 yellow cards issued during regulation – 11 for players and two for coaches.

Wout Weghorst scores a second Dutch goal off of Berghuis' free kick.

When the Netherlands won a free kick on the edge of Argentina’s box with literally seconds left to play, almost everyone expected a shot on goal.

Teun Koopmeiners and Cody Gakpo stood over the ball with the former shaping up to shoot.

But instead of unleashing an effort over the wall, Koopmeiners slipped a ball into Wout Weghorst who held off a defender to poke the ball home.

It was a remarkable passage of play that caught everyone by surprise, even some of their own teammates.

Such innovation rarely pays off in soccer, let alone in a World Cup quarterfinal.

Wout Weghorst celebrates scoring a second Dutch goal.

In a stunning conclusion to added time, Wout Weghorst tied the match for the Netherlands off a free kick right outside the penalty box.

The teams must now play 30 minutes of extra time.

Players clash after an Argentine ball launched into the Dutch bench.

The benches briefly cleared late in what has been a tense match with several yellow cards for both sides.

After committing a foul on a slide tackle, Argentina’s Leandro Paredes kicked the ball off the pitch and into the area of the Netherlands’ bench, quickly bringing the Dutch players out to meet him.

Players from both sides pushed and shoved in a scrum before the referee restored order.

When the dust settled, Netherlands captain Virgil van Dijk received a yellow card for delivering a hard bump that sent Paredes flying.

Paredes and Argentina coach Lionel Scaloni also received yellow cards.

Wout Weghorst of the Netherlands celebrates after scoring the team's first goal.

Wout Weghorst heads the ball into the back of the net to score a goal for the Dutch in the 83rd minute.

Argentina 2-1 Netherlands

Messi scores Argentina's second goal via a penalty.

Lionel Messi took a penalty kick and converted it into a second goal for Argentina, doubling its lead over the Dutch.

It’s the soccer star’s 10th goal for Argentina in the World Cup — a tie as the country’s top goalscorer in the competition with Gabriel Batistuta – and 95th overall for his country.

Argentina 2- 0 Netherlands.

It’s time for the second half in the quarterfinal face-off between Argentina and the Netherlands.

Lionel Messi’s side has the 1-0 advantage, and the Dutch have work to do if they want to pull off an upset. Let’s go!

Argentina players line up before Friday’s match.

Tonight, Qatar’s Lusail Stadium feels like Buenos Aires.

Fans have gathered to watch Lionel Messi and his team play the Netherlands in the World Cup quarterfinals.

CNN’s team on the ground reports the fans in blue and white stripes — Argentina’s jersey — heavily outnumber the Dutch fans, who are hard to spot.

Argentinians have traveled in massive numbers, but there are also a lot of international fans. At one point in the first half, the fans broke into a chorus of “Messi, Messi!” and put their hands up above their heads as a gesture of hero worship.

Argentina fans celebrate the squad's goal.

It appears you don’t have to be from the country to cheer for the Argentinians.

Last month, as the World Cup got underway, CNN reported that the blue and white colors were the most popular in Doha, with the name Messi on the back of almost all the shirts. It demonstrates the superstar’s pulling power around the world.

Ali Abbadi, a 35-year-old from Jordan who currently lives in Dubai, was one of those wearing an Argentina shirt. “In the Middle East, we always watch football. Football is our life.”

For Argentina, it just feels like they are playing on home turf.

CNN’s Don Riddell and Ben Church contributed to this reporting.

Nahuel Molina scores Argentina’s first goal in the first half of the match.

Argentina broke through during a tightly contested opening period, and it carries a 1-0 lead into halftime.

A crowd dominated by supporters of La Selección roared in approval every time their talisman Lionel Messi touched the ball in the first half.

That turned to utter pandemonium when the 35-year-old superstar fed a pass to Nahuel Molina in the 35th minute. Molina drove it into the back of the net, scoring his first international goal and putting his side on top.

The Dutch head to the locker room trailing Argentina, which was considered the slight favorite entering the quarterfinal matchup.

Nahuel Molina scored in the 35th minute to give Argentina a lead over the Netherlands in their quarterfinal match.

It followed a perfectly placed pass from star Lionel Messi.

This is Molina’s first goal for Argentina in his 25th appearance.

Pressure is on the Dutch for an equalizer.

Argentina 1 - 0 Netherlands

Argentina is facing Netherlands for a spot in the semifinals. The winner of this match will play against Croatia, the team that won earlier on Friday.

Lionel Messi and Argentina are three games away from winning the World Cup, but against the Netherlands they will face their toughest test of the tournament so far.

This quarterfinal at the Lusail Stadium is a compelling matchup.

Data insight company Nielsen has Argentina as the favorite with a 58% chance of progressing, but neither side has had the chance to test itself against one of the tournament’s top teams.

These teams have their share of World Cup history:

They last met in the semifinals eight years ago – a goalless game that Argentina ultimately won on penalties. Prior to that, they contested knockout games in the 70s and 90s.

Several key protagonists remain from the 2014 encounter. For the Netherlands, Louis van Gaal has returned as manager and veteran left-back Daley Blind is still a key part of the national team, while Messi remains Argentina’s talisman and most potent attacking threat.

Key players:

Much of the spotlight, as ever, will be on the 35-year-old Messi, who has been central to Argentina’s best moments of the tournament so far.

The Netherlands have looked impressive going forward through Cody Gakpo, who has three goals to his name this World Cup, and Memphis Depay, who finished off a wonderful move against the USA in the last 16.

Which squad will advance to the semifinals to face Croatia, which shocked former tournament favorite Brazil in the early game? We’ll find out soon.

Brazil, the favorite to win this year’s World Cup, is out of Qatar 2022 after losing to Croatia on penalties 1-1 (4-2) in Friday’s dramatic quarterfinal.

See some of the teams’ reactions on the field:

Brazil’s Neymar, left, is comforted by teammate Dani Alves after being eliminated from the World Cup.

Croatia goalkeeper Domini Livaković celebrates after Brazil’s Marquinhos’ penalty shot deflected off the post to secure victory for Croatia.

Croatia players rush towards the net after winning the match.

Brazil’s Richarlison reacts after the loss.

Teammates swarm Livaković after Croatia's victory.

The Netherlands takes on Argentina today at 2 p.m. ET for a spot in the semifinals. Here are the starting squads for each team:

The Netherlands

Goalkeeper: Andries Noppert

Defenders: Jurriën Timber, Virgil van Dijk, Nathan Aké

Midfielders: Memphis Depay, Marten de Roon, Daley Blind, Denzel Dumfries, Frenkie de Jong

Forward: Steven Bergwijn, Cody Gakpo

——-

Argentina

Goalkeeper: Damián Emiliano Martínez

Defenders: Cristian Romero, Lisandro Martínez, Nicolás Otamendi

Midfielders: Rodrigo De Paul, Marcos Acuña, Alexis Mac Allister, Enzo Fernández, Nahuel Molina

Forwards: Julián Álvarez, Lionel Messi

Julián Álvarez has had a dream year. In just a few months, he went from the Argentine soccer fields to the European ones, to end up shining in his World Cup debut with Argentina’s team.

The 22-year-old has been key in the performance of the Albiceleste, scoring one goal in the match against Poland and one against Australia in Qatar.

“You can see the how he works with humility,” Argentine coach Lionel Scaloni said in August of Álvarez before going to Qatar. “He is a boy who has things very clear and he is going to contribute to his team and he is going to contribute to us, and that is good.”

Álvarez, who is from Cordoba, is fulfilling a childhood dream: to play shoulder to shoulder with his childhood idol, Lionel Messi, with whom he made his debut and scored his first goal with Argentina in a 1-1 draw with Ecuador in March this year in a World Cup qualifying match.

“Messi has been my idol since I was a child,” he told Manchester City’s website before his arrival. “He is the idol of my family, the idol of my brothers too. So Messi is a hero for me.”

Now, in Qatar, he was key on the field to lead Argentina to the quarterfinals — playing as a starter, either as a striker or right center, along with figures such as Ángel Di María, Rodrígo de Paul, Nicolás Otamendi and Lionel Messi himself.

The Cordoba striker was called up by Lionel Scaloni in 2021 and since then he has participated in four friendly matches, six World Cup qualifiers and the four World Cup games so far.

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Argentina’s Lionel Messi warms up prior to Friday’s match.

Lionel Messi and Argentina are three games away from winning the World Cup, but facing the Netherlands will be their toughest test of the tournament so far.

Friday’s quarterfinal at the Lusail Stadium is a compelling match-up. Both teams have had blips in Qatar – Argentina a surprise defeat against Saudi Arabia and the Netherlands a draw against Ecuador – and both are hoping to reach the final four for the first time since 2014.

But much of the spotlight, as ever, will be on the 35-year-old Messi, who has been central to Argentina’s best moments of the tournament so far — even in the twilight of his career.

“He doesn’t have the capacity to do the running that [Paulo] Dybala in the team would do, but he’s a genius and he’s going to win you games,” sports scientist Simon Brundish told CNN Sport.

Indeed, attention has been drawn to the amount Messi has walked during Argentina’s games at the World Cup – slowly working himself into space before bursting into life to fashion scoring opportunities.

Brundish explained that the amount Messi walks also speaks to Argentina’s defensive organization. “Argentina set up their system around him not being involved in the press,” said Brundish. “They’re not a high pressing team anyway … It’s never been part of Messi’s game and his role doesn’t involve that.”

But Argentina will be hopeful its master playmaker can add to his goals tally by unlocking the Netherlands’ three-at-the-back defense.

Data insight company Nielsen has Argentina as favorite in the quarterfinal with a 58% chance of progressing, but neither side has had the chance to test itself against one of the tournament’s top teams.

Croatia is heading for its second successive World Cup semifinal after beating Brazil in a penalty shootout (4-2), following a 1-1 tie in extra time.

In a World Cup full of shocks and upsets, Croatia has joined the list of giant killings in Qatar.

Brazil completely dominated the match, but was unable to break down a stubborn Croatian defense or get past Dominik Livaković — who once again was the penalty shootout hero as he saved Rodrygo’s first penalty.

After Croatia scored all four of its penalties, it was Marquinhos who missed the all important penalty, crashing his low shot off the post. Neymar, who was presumably waiting to take the fifth penalty, did not even get a chance to take a penalty.

After a goalless 90 minutes, Brazil finally broke down the Croatian defense through its talisman Neymar. The PSG forward played a series of cute interchanges with his teammates before rounding the keeper and finishing into the roof of the net.

There was always a sense that Croatia would get that one chance, and it finally came in the 116th minute when Bruno Petković’s deflected strike brought Croatia level.

All of Croatia’s knockout wins in 2018 came after extra time and this year the team has done it again, first beating Japan and now Brazil. It seems they can’t be beaten!

Croatia will now meet the winner of the Argentina vs Netherlands match, which begins at 2 p.m. ET Friday.

After 90 minutes of regulation and two 15-minute periods of extra time, Brazil and Croatia’s quarterfinal match will be decided by a shootout.

Neymar pulled Brazil into a lead in the first period of extra half, but Croatia’s Bruno Petković nullified that lead with his equalizer.

So now, the teams head into the shootouts with a 1-1 tie.

How it works: Each team is given the chance to take five penalty kicks, and whoever scores the most, wins. We’re updating the result of each shot here.

⚽️ means goal

❌ means save

Brazil

Kick 1: ❌ Rodrygo

Kick 2: ⚽️ Casemiro

Kick 3: ⚽️ Pedro

Kick 4: ❌ Marquinhos

Kick 5: Not needed

—

Croatia

Kick 1: ⚽️ Nikola Vlasić

Kick 2: ⚽️ Lovro Majer

Kick 3: ⚽️ Luka Modrić

Kick 4: ⚽️ Mislav Orsić

Kick 5: Not needed