ARGENTINA came out with all guns blazing in their Group C clash with Poland on Wednesday evening.

Totally dominant, Lionel Messi looked at his best as he pulled the strings, while Di Maria on the right saw so much of the ball he might just as well have written his name on it.

Poland, leading the group, when the game commenced, placed their faith on long balls to the lone ranger Lewandowski up front, who was surrounded by a posse of four at every turn.

The game was played at a lively pace and there was no shortage of physical contact, with Poland generally getting the short end of the stick when it came to free kick decisions.

Talking of which, Argentina were awarded the most dubious of penalties in the 38^th minute after Polish goalkeeper Szczesny was deemed to have made contact with Messi after getting his hand to a cross at the far post.

Keepers are normally a protected species but, perhaps swayed by the overwhelming stadium support for Argentina, the decision went the popular way.

Messi took it and was denied by a fantastic save by Polish goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny.

The Juventus stopper would not have known at the time that that save would keep his nation in the World Cup – along with a good few others he kept out the net (7 out of 9 of the shots struck at him, to be exact!).

Unfortunately the 10 Polish men in front of him were only leading in giving the ball away with some woeful passing, resulting in a relentless wave of Argentinian attacks.

Szczesny would be beaten a minute after the restart as his defence did a bit of ball watching, the worst possible resumption for the Poles, who did have a chance when Glick headed a free kick just wide of the post.

Down 1-0 and with the Mexico v Saudi Arabia score line surely filtering through (2-0), Poland knew it could come down to goal difference. They simply have to score, and not allow Argentina to score again.

But they did, Alvarez with a beautiful curler from the edge of the box and into the top corner.

The Man City striker had made it 2-0 and Poland’s fate was in the hands of the Saudi Arabians and whether they could contain the rampant Mexicans.

To add to the tension, Poland cleared off the line in the 90^th minute.

The final whistle blew with the other game not yet over and Mexico still leading 2-0 and pressing for the third that would put them ahead of Poland on goal difference – the two sides being equal on points.

Alas, the opposite happened, with Saudi Arabia being the spoilers and scoring totally against the run of play as Mexico left the back door open.

With that one goal, Saudi Arabia saved Poland and delivered a TKO to Mexico, showing again that even teams who are out of it can still be the kingmakers.