Argentina beat Croatia at Lusail Stadium to advance to their sixth World Cup final, thanks in large part to a brilliant performance from Lionel Messi.
Messi now has one more opportunity to win the title that has eluded him throughout his trophy-laden career, but 22-year-old Julian Alvarez of Manchester City also sparkled as Argentina assured they would return here on Sunday to play either France or Morocco.
Messi initially appeared to be having hamstring trouble, but after 34 minutes, when Croatian goalkeeper Dominik Livakovic fouled the roving Alvarez, Messi was able to recover enough to score from the spot.
Five minutes later, Alvarez doubled Argentina's advantage by grabbing Messi's header just inside Croatian territory, going on a slaloming run, and beating Livakovic with the help of fortunate bounces off of Josip Juranovic and Borna Sosa.
After the halftime, Messi mesmerized Croatia's star defender Josko Gvardiol on the byline before laying the ball off to Alvarez for the game-winning goal.
Messi will now have the chance to atone for the heartbreaking disappointment of falling to Germany in the 2014 World Cup final at Rio's legendary Maracana.
The dream for Argentina and their legendary number 10 appeared to be coming to an end when Messi stretched and clutched the top of his left hamstring 19 minutes into this World Cup semi-final.
Instead, Messi bounced back after a period of moving slowly to motivate Argentina as they seek a third tournament victory after victories in 1978 and 1986.
And what a contrast to when Argentina lost their opening match 2-1 to Saudi Arabia in Qatar, despite Lionel Messi scoring to put one of the tournament favorites ahead. That loss remains the biggest shock of this World Cup.
Argentina was also surprised by Cameroon in their opening match in 1990, and they went on to lose 1-0 to West Germany in the championship game.
As the World Cup nears its conclusion, they now have the opportunity to surpass themselves. And in his final competition, Messi may finally reclaim the title.
Argentina put on their most convincing performance of the World Cup in this match against the tenacious, resilient, and skilled Croatia, indicating Lionel Scaloni's team is peaking just in time.