Argentina v Mexico: live

WRAP: Argentina got off to a very fortuitous start via Tevez's first and Osorio's assist for Higuain's goal. But a second strike by the Man City striker ended any arguments about whether they deserved their lead. A truly magnificent goal. Mexico's build-up play was excellent all night but they lacked a killer touch in the final third that made it easy for Argentina to sit back once they had the three-goal cushion. Hernandez took his goal brilliantly but it was too little too late.

FULL-TIME ARGENTINA 3 - MEXICO 1 . ARGENTINA PLAY GERMANY IN THE QUARTER-FINALS.

90+2 min: From Infostrada Live on Twitter: "This is the first time in 20 years Argentina win a World Cup knockout match in 90 minutes, since beating Brazil 1-0 in the Last 16 in 1990."

90+1 min: Messi! Where have you been all game? The little genius cuts inside and sneaks past two defenders before hitting a rapid shot that is well saved by Perez.

89 min: So Argentina are gonna win this one, quite clearly. And with that in mind, the bookmakers have spoken. Brazil and Argentina are now joint-favourites for the tournament at 7/2.You can get Spain at 4/1 and Germany at a very tempting 7/1.

86 min: After a ridiculously-overblown melodrama surrounding some cramp, Maxi Rodriguez goes off and Pastore comes on. Argies just playing for time now.

83 min: Time running out for Mexico and that tantalising Argentina v Germany quarter-final is looking ever more likely.

79 min: Great play from Heinze. A really dangerous ball is put in towards Marquez at the far post and the ex-Manchester United man puts his body on the line to get ahead of his opponent. Gutsy.

78 min: Jonas Gutierrez is on for Angel Di Maria, and at last we have a Newcastle player on the pitch.

77 min: I reckon the Germany forward line would fancy taking Argentina on after today's matches. Their defenders? Probably less keen...

76 min: From Phil & Sue via email: "I’m watching it on Telemundo in Texas – I can’t understand all the commentary but they must have the record for how long the word goal can last!"

74 min: Mexico really giving it some now. They've put a lot of bodies forward in the Argentina half. But is it too late?

73 min: From Rory Smith on Twitter:"Guillermo Franco v Martin Demichelis is the sort of clash of the titans it's a privilege to watch. Also, Chicharito looks a player."

70 min: GOAL! Argentina 3 - Mexico 1 (Hernandez 70') They're back in it! Hernandez shows why Fergie was so keen to bring him to United this year. He turns Demichelis, motors into the box and then unleashes a stonker of a left-footed shot high into the net that Romero has no chance of saving.

69 min: Chance for Mexico. More goal-line technology banter on the way? No... Gabriel Heinze clears a Mexico header off the line. But it wasn't over the line. I think.. Much like the ref I haven't seen a replay yet.

68 min: Argentina cruising now and Diego Maradona has the luxury of giving Tevez a rest. Juan Veron is on.

67 min: Argentina content for Mexico to come at them. Not a bad shout given the fact Argentina have conceded just one in the tournament so far, and Mexico hardly look like scoring.

65 min: Heinze's clearance smacks the linesman who thought Tevez was onside for the first goal. Tough night for that man.

62 min: Salcido can hit 'em, can't he? His shot is palmed away for a corner by Romero. Then from the set-piece the ball falls to Hernandez, but his header is way over.

59 min: Chance for Mexico. Substitute Barrera dances his way into the box, and from a tight angle hits the side-netting when he really should squared it to a team-mate. It's play in the final third like that which has has been one of the nails in Mexico's coffin tonight.

57 min: From Rory Smith on Twitter:"If the first was dodgy and the second soft, that was just brilliant. Argentina v Germany should be a cracker."

54 min: That goal is going to go some way to restoring Tevez's reputation after his offside goal. Honestly. What. A. Strike. The BBC seem to be showing the live footage of the game. If I was producer I'd be replaying that goal again and again and again.

51 min: GOAL! Argentina 3 - Mexico 0 (Tevez 51') Carlos Tevez may have just scored the individual goal of the tournament. From about 35 metres out he turns sharply and absolutely leathers a strike into the top-right corner of Perez's goal. A thunderbolt. It was so fierce, and so fast that if Perez had got anywhere near it, he didn't, he may have lost a limb.

49 min: Mexico's attacks start off so crisp and attractive, but barely any of them have ended with a killer pass or shot. More incision needed.

48 min: It's all Mexico at the moment, great to see them channelling their disappointment.

46 min: We're back underway and Mexico are in the process of manning up. Corner to them. It's cleared and Salcido has a crack! Brilliant technique but it's way off target.

20.33: Passions are running high on the emails. We can, and should, argue long into the night about the need to bring in technology. But right now, Mexico need to get it together and go in search of a goal instead of feeling sorry for themselves. Agreed?

20.32: From John A. Benjamin via email: "I was supporting Argentina in this match, but the goal by Tevez yet again brings to light the arrogance of Fifa. This is no World Cup at all."

20.27: From Brian (in California) via email: "some Italian amateur league is missing their second-best linesman."

20.26: From Rory Smith on Twitter: "2 games irrevocably altered by very poor refereeing. If England was incompetence, there seems to have been an element of arrogance with Argentina v Mexico."

WRAP: Right, make no mistake. There's no way that opener from Tevez should have stood. He was offside by a distance. But Mexico giving it the carry on and crying over spilt milk isn't gonna help them. Osorio gave Higuain his goal on a silver platter and Argentina have had a ton of other chances too. In attack Mexico have looked pretty handy, and could have had the opener if the post hadn't intervened. 1-0 would probably be the fair score. But that's life.

20.17: It's all kicked off on the bench! The two squads, and some coaches, have a bit of a scuffle that's calmed down by Diego Maradona. Yes, you read that right....calmed down.

HALF-TIME Argentina 2 - Mexico 0

45+2min: Guardado does well to storm into the box but Rodriguez gets a toe in before he can shoot. Seconds later a peach of a ball just evades Hernandez, who was in a great position.

44 min: From Opta Joe on Twitter: "Argentina have won none of their last 8 knock out matches in 90 minutes since beating Brazil in 2nd Round in 1990. Huff."

41 min: Massive chance for Argentina. Ooooh. That was a great opportunity for the third. A perfect ball is put into the box and Higuain, unchallenged, leaps up to meet it but can only direct his header wide. Mexico still alive.

38 min: Back to the first goal. The referee and linesman both got it horribly wrong. Tevez was miles offside. In fact if you wanted a definition of offside that would be an excellent example to use. The problems started to occur when the replay was screened. Sucks to be Roberto Rosetti and his team right now.

36 min: Double chance for Argentina. Di Maria ghosts his way into the box before drawing the save from Perez with a low shot, then Tevez tries to turn and put in the rebound but his shot is blocked. That was almost lights out for Mexico.

35 min: Osorio gives it away again, this time to Tevez, and the Man City man chips a ball into the box for Messi that Marquez just gets a touch on. Maradona's boys are on fire, dodgy goal or not.

32 min: GOAL! Argentina 2 - Mexico 0 (Higuain 32') Osorio gets caught in two minds about what to do at the back. He decides to pass it straight to Higuain who uses a bit of muscle, then a bit of skill to round Perez and score his fourth goal of the tournament.

31 min: Mexico need to regroup before the break. There's no point going into the changing room at half-time feeling like a victim.

29 min: Debate raging on about the goal. Normally they don't show contentious decisions on the big screen so whoever put that on must be a Mexico fan. Either way they're fired.

25 min: GOAL! Argentina 1 - Mexico 0 (Tevez 25') Messi puts a heavy through-ball for Tevez and he tries to poke it away from Perez, it loops up to Messi who nudges it ahead for Tevez, in an offside position, to nod home. The Mexicans are furious! They're surrounding the referee and his assistant, who now have both seen the incident on the giant screens in the ground. It looked for a second like they may end up scratching it off, but it stands. Never mind goal-line technology, what about replays for offsides?

22 min: Heinze and Di Maria combine well with the full-back retrieving a one-two before Marquez bundles him to the ground. Free-kick in my book, goal-kick in the ref's.

19 min: Mexico didn't rock my world in their opening three games, and they even lost to England a month ago, snigger. But they're doing a brilliant job of taking the game to Argentina in attack and hanging on in defence.

15 min: Messi gets away from Osorio and is fouled for his troubles. No card though, which seems lenient to me.

13 min: My fingers are having to work overtime at the moment. Javier 'Chicharito' Hernandez has a decent shot on goal that just goes wide. It really is end to end.

12 min: Argentina corner. The set-piece is cleared and Di Maria attempts a volley! But it deflects off Burdisso for a goal-kick.

From FK via email: "Watching Argentina play after the Eng - Ger Disaster is like un real - they are soo very fluid where as Eng was just stuck!!" Y

11 min: Tevez nips it ahead of Rodriguez and has options ahead and to his left, but his attempted pass to Higuain is too heavy. Seconds later Messi has the ball glued to his toe, as per usual, and tries a cheeky lob that Perez has to work very hard to get hold of.

8 min: Double chance for Mexico. What a shot! Salcido has a very long-range dig that Romero has to fingertip onto the crossbar. Remarkable effort. Argentina counter to no avail and Mexico regain possession. The ball finds its way to Guardado and his low, driven effort whisks just wide of Romero's right-hand post.

7 min: First spark of the game. Tevez and Messi link up on the left of goal and Messi lets fly! But it's well blocked by the Mexican defence.

5 min: Massive white streamer made its way onto the pitch and Oscar Perez has to clean up before play can resume.

2 min: No side has had a sustained period of possession here. Lots of tackles flying in.

1 min: Both coaches crossed themselves before the first whistle. So I just did it too. Argentina wearing blue shorts with their normal blue and white stripes. Pretty much the same kit I've given my fantasy football team for the last three seasons. Awesome.

19.27: Messi, Tevez and Higuain. Three sure-fire hangover cures. Enjoy.

19.26: Mexico up next and it's pretty bouncy too. Sounds a bit like the kind of music you might have in a Disney cartoon at the beginning of an adventure, possibly involving talking animals. I like. 4/5

19.25: Anthem watch. Argentina up first and it's joyous. Vuvuzela-less crowd really got into that and I was sad to hear it finish. 4.5/5

19.23: Teams coming out now. The collar of Diego's now infamous shiny silver suit gets adjusted by a fellow coach acting like a proud father on graduation day.

19.22: Clarence Seedorf on the BBC: "Maradona is a beautiful person." Get a room guys...

19.19: From Ian Chadband on Twitter: "What the hell. There's still a World Cup out there, still Brazil and Argentina to savour." Hear hear, Chad.

19.11: Diego singing and hollering at the cameras as he gets off the bus. Legend.That's Maradona, not Milito, who presumably still looks like Remy from Ratatouille.

19.05: Big test of the BBC here. Can they manage to actually focus entirely on this game? Nope, first bit of action post-opening credits is a Germany montage. Great.

19.04: From Opta Paolo on Twitter: "61 - Argentina have attempted the most shots (incl. blocked) in the 2010 World Cup group stages (61). Artillery."

19.00: Teams are in. And Argentina have recalled their big guns. Nicolas Otamendi and Nicolas Burdisso are the only changes from the team that beat South Korea 4-1 in the second lot of group games. Mexico put their faith in Adolfo Bautista and Javier Hernandez at the expense of the off-colour Guillermo Franco and the ancient Cuauhtemoc Blanco. While Efrain Juarez comes in after serving a one-match suspension.

18.52: My old muckers at the New York Post have produced another A-grade front page headline. After losing 2-1 to Ghana in their last-16 game yesterday the sub-editors there produced this pearler: "This sport is stupid anyway"

18.50: Are you still there? Right, get the selotape out and let's put that World Cup wallchart back together, yeah? It hurts like hell, but it's time to move on. And where better to start than in the warm bosom of Diego Maradona? This will be an England-free zone for the next three hours, so let's sit back and enjoy what should be a cracker.

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Actual football preview stuff:

Argentina v Mexico team news:

Argentina: Romero, Otamendi, Demichelis, Burdisso, Heinze, Maxi, Mascherano, Di Maria, Tevez, Messi, Higuain
Subs: Pozo, Rodriguez, Bolatti, Veron, Garce, Samuel, Aguero, Gutierrez, Milito, Palermo, Pastore, Andujar.

Mexico: Perez, Osorio, Rodriguez, Marquez, Salcido, Juarez, Torrado, Guardado, Giovani, Hernandez, Bautista
Subs: Ochoa, Castro, Barrera, Franco, Blanco, Vela, Aguilar, Moreno, Magallon, Medina, Torres, Michel.

Referee: Roberto Rosetti (Italy)

Previous meetings

Played: 25 Argentina 9 wins, Draws 12, Mexico 4 wins

1930: (Montevideo, WC): Argentina 6 Mexico 3
1956: (Mexico Df, Friendly): Mexico 0 Argentina 0
1960: (San Jose, Friendly): Mexico 0 Argentina 2
1960: (San Jose, Friendly): Mexico 2 Argentina 3
1962: (Buenos Aries, Friendly): Argentina 1 Mexico 0
1967: (Mexico City, Friendly): Mexico 2 Argentina 1
1973: (Mexico Df, Friendly): Mexico 2 Argentina 0
1984: (Monterray, Friendly): Mexico 1 Argentina 1
1984: (Buenos Aries, Friendly): Argentina 1 Mexico 1
1985: (Los Angeles, Friendly): Mexico 1 Argentina 1
1985: (Puebla, , Friendly): Mexico 1 Argentina 1
1990: (Los Angeles, Friendly): Mexico 2 Argentina 0
1991: (Buenos Aries, Friendly): Argentina 0 Mexico 0
1993: (Guayaquil, South American Champs) Mexico 1 Argentina 1
1993: (Guayaquil, South American Champs) Argentina 2 Mexico 1
1999: (Los Angeles, Friendly): Argentina 0 Mexico 0
1999: (Chicago, Friendly): Mexico 2 Argentina 2
2000: (Los Angeles, Friendly): Mexico 0 Argentina 2
2003: (Los Angeles, Friendly): Mexico 0 Argentina 1
2004: (Chiclayo, South American Champs) Argentina 0 Mexico 1
2005: (Los Angeles, Friendly): Mexico 1 Argentina 1
2005: (Hanover, Confederations Cup): Mexico 1 Argentina 1 (Argentina win 5-6 pens)
2006: (Leipzig, WC): Argentina 1 Mexico 1 aet
2007: (Puerto Ordaz, South American Champs): Mexico 0 Argentina 3
2008: (San Diego, Friendly): Mexico 1 Argentina 4

Fact: Argentina have failed to score with three of their last five penalties at World Cup finals.