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Argentina Moves To World Cup Semifinals After Beating Belgium

Argentina's Gonzalo Higuain (left) kicks the ball to score a goal past Belgium's Daniel Van Buyten (center) and Vincent Kompany. Argentina won the match 1-0 and now advances to the World Cup semifinals for the first time since 1990.
David Gray Reuters/Landov
Argentina's Gonzalo Higuain (left) kicks the ball to score a goal past Belgium's Daniel Van Buyten (center) and Vincent Kompany. Argentina won the match 1-0 and now advances to the World Cup semifinals for the first time since 1990.

Argentina advances to the World Cup semifinals for the first time since 1990 after its win against Belgium 1-0.

The single goal in the match was made by Gonzalo Higuain, who converted a deflected pass into the net.

ESPN writes:

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"Higuain for once outshone Lionel Messi, but the Barcelona star also provided a constant threat that kept Marc Wilmot's Belgium side on the back foot."Messi started off playing deep, seeing plenty of the ball and creating some good positions for his teammates. One such move put Ezequiel Lavezzi clear on the right and only Vincent Kompany's alert intervention prevented a goal."It took less than eight minutes, however, for Argentina to take a huge step towards the semifinal and it was Messi, twisting and turning in midfield, who was the architect."His incisive pass to Angel Di Maria was diverted to Higuain, taking a nick off a defender which caused the ball to bounce up for the Napoli striker to swivel and thump a first-time shot low into the corner from 25 yards out."

The Associated Press says: "Argentina, which hadn't advanced past the World Cup quarterfinals since 1990, put in its best performance so far in the tournament, controlling the match after Higuain's eighth-minute goal. The Napoli striker fired home Angel Di Maria's deflected pass just inside the area, beating Belgium goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois with a low shot to the far corner of the net."

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