Messi steps up to the rescue, but Argentina's fragile World Cup dream seems like a fantasy too far away

Ghosts everywhere. In the stands, where the specter of Diego Maradona waved his fists, wondering how Argentina could put on such a cutesy performance.

On the pitch, where the shadows of Sergio Aguero and Gonzalo Higuain sprinted down the middle, looking for a pass or clearing a path for Lionel Messi.

The ghosts of Argentina's past haunted them for much of Saturday's game against Mexico, as the present almost became a living nightmare.

Lionel Scaloni's side were in grave danger of pulling out of this World Cup after two games, with last year's South American champions vulnerable to humiliation on the world stage, until a flash of magic from Messi changes everything.

A rustle of that left boot from 25 yards out, and the ball streaked into the bottom right corner. It had to be him.

On the night Messi equaled Maradona's Argentina record of 21 World Cup appearances, he also equaled El Diego with eight career goals in the final, two behind national team record holder Gabriel Batistuta . For Messi, those World Cup goals all came in the group stage, something he came to Qatar to change and could still change.

The loss to Saudi Arabia on Tuesday was bad enough for Argentina, but at least there would be a reaction against the Mexicans. Maybe that could be the push they needed, and maybe it could still be Messi's World Cup.

These are theories that have been widely aired, but for an hour they seemed like rubbish.

Even at 90 minutes, with the scoreline 2-0 barely reflecting how the game unfolded, you feared Argentina would find a way to stumble against Poland next time around. If they finish second in this group, it will almost certainly be France waiting for them in the second round, and based on the evidence so far, Argentina would be mauled by the Blues.

Messi and Co arrived at this tournament on a 36-game unbeaten streak, but their languid start was such that you would have been forgiven for guessing they played all 36 games last month.

Here they were out of rhythm from the start, with no obvious strategy, running out of energy, praying that Messi would bring up something. It had an air of Barcelona in the last days of Ronald Koeman's reign about it.

Scaloni has backed Lautaro Martinez to be his only striker, and that may need to be rethought. Martinez has a 12.9% shot conversion rate this season for Inter, not ideal for a striker, and has found the net at club level every 206.25 minutes.

He has Edin Dzeko at his side for the Nerazzurri, who have been more clinical with his chances, but with Argentina it is Martinez who leads the line seemingly alone.

This team used to be embarrassed to attack riches, and they desperately miss Prime-era Higuain and Aguero.

Martinez has a strong goalscoring record for his country, but he was ineffective here, his second game at his first World Cup.

When a great opportunity presented itself in the 40th minute, after a fine cross from the right from Di Maria, he planted a header wide of the target. It was his only attempt at goal. Argentina only managed five shots in the evening, one more than Mexico. Their combined shot tally is the lowest ever at a World Cup, according to match studies dating back to 1966.

There was a moment late in the first half that seemed to characterize the Argentine evening: Mexican Alexis Vega had a free kick well saved by Emiliano Martinez shortly before halftime and Argentina made the pause, Messi looking to dance down the right and shake things up.

Except those feet aren't dancing as fast as they used to, and the ball was quickly touched. At Paris Saint-Germain, with Neymar and Kylian Mbappe for company, Messi's gradual decline is not so glaring. He can still be a joy to behold in this company, but when the full attention of defenders is on him, as was inevitably the case this time around, he was too easily swept off and chased off the ball.

In the second half, Erick Gutierrez hacked Messi as he approached the edge of the box and started to sprint, and Argentina got the chance they wanted. Messi threw it over the crossbar, and you just felt it wouldn't be his night.

And then Messi decided that, in fact, yes, it would.

At 35, he can't win a World Cup on his own, but he can still create magical moments, and that was a goal for career displays, a familiar stroke of genius at the Lusail Iconic Stadium, who will organize the final of this tournament.

For the second time in his career, Messi has scored in six consecutive international matches for his country. He remains a player's joy and his country's greatest hope.

Substitute Enzo Fernandez added a late second goal that flattered Argentina, and it made the Benfica player, at 21 years and 313 days, the youngest Argentinian...