Lionel Messi scored a superb brace to help Argentina maintain their 100% record with a 3-2 win over Nigeria, who also qualified for the next round.
Argentina approached their final Group F game with Nigeria on Wednesday night knowing that they had already booked their place in the next round but the 40,000 fans watching on wanted a performance from their beloved country and Lionel Messi certainly gave them one.
Angel di Maria was instrumental in helping Messi score his first of the game, when after just two minutes – the Real Madrid winger broke free before hitting the post with his effort, of which Messi was on hand to fire a powerful volley into the back of the net.
Moments later, however, Nigeria would equalise through Ahmed Musa, a goal that would keep their hopes of qualifying alive, made even more so likely after Bosnia had scored against Iran through Edin Dzeko.
Messi was on hand to score a sublime free-kick just before the break, but Musa would again score, two minutes into the second half.
Marcos Rojo would score a winning goal to maintain Argentina’s 100% record, but thankfully for the Africans, Bosnia had beaten Iran by three goals to one.
Dzeko’s strike was followed by Miralem Pjanic and Avdija Vrsajevic, who both scored either side of Reza Ghoochannejad’s strike.
| Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Argentina |
3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 3 | +3 | 9 |
 Nigeria |
3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 4 |
 Bosnia and Herzegovina |
3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 3 |
 Iran |
3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 6 | −4 | 1 |