France eliminate Lionel Messi's Argentina from World Cup in seven-goal thriller

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Lionel Messi’s Argentina was eliminated from the 2018 FIFA World Cup after a 4-3 loss to France in the Round of 16 on Saturday.

The French scored first from the penalty spot after 13 minutes through Antoine Griezmann.

Argentina winger Angel Di Maria scored a screamer from 25 yards out five minutes from half-time to level the score at 1-1.

The South Americans picked up where they left off in the second-half with Gabriel Mercado giving Argentina the lead in the 48th minute.

However, France responded 10 minutes later through Benjamin Pavard before Kylian Mbappe restored their lead in the 64th minute.

The young forward scored a second five minutes later to give France a commanding 4-2 lead.

Substitute Sergio Aguero scored a late goal in stoppage time to give his team a bit of hope, but there wasn’t enough time left to find an equalizer as Argentina crash out of the tournament.

France finished top of Group C with seven points, beating Australia and Peru before drawing with Denmark.

Argentina, meanwhile, barely survived elimination, finishing second in Group D on four points. A 1-1 draw with Iceland and a shock 3-0 loss to Croatia meant the South Americans had to defeat Nigeria in their last group game to qualify for the knockout stages.

In Saturday’s second Round of 16 game, Uruguay beat Portugal 2-1 as Cristiano Ronaldo joins Messi on the plane home from Russia.

Uruguay scored first after seven minutes through Edinson Cavani before Portugal defender Pepe equalized in the 55th minute of the second-half.

Cavani scored again moments later in the 62nd to set up a quarterfinal tie against France on Friday.

The 2018 FIFA World Cup takes place between June 14 and July 15 with 32 teams from five different confederations competing.

Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Morocco, Peru, Costa Rica, Tunisia, Panama, Poland, Iran, Australia, Nigeria, Iceland, South Korea, Germany, Senegal, and Poland have been eliminated from the tournament.

The nations who have advanced to the Round of 16 are Russia, Uruguay, France, Croatia, Belgium, England, Portugal, Spain, Denmark, Argentina, Sweden, Mexico, Japan, Colombia, Brazil, and Switzerland.

The Round of 16 ties will be played between June 30 and July 3.

The final will be played on July 15 at the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow at 6:00 p.m. Erbil time.