Argentina 1-0 Paraguay
Argentina are safely through to the Copa America quarter-finals with one group game to spare after a 1-0 win over Paraguay.
Papu Gomez scored the only goal early in the match, which will be remembered for Lionel Messi making even more history as he matched Argentina’s appearance record with his 174th career cap.
Overall, though, it was yet another underwhelming performance from the Argentines. While the Copa America 2021 betting odds still have them as one of the favourites, their showing thus far in the tournament does not inspire much confidence that they can overcome a Brazil side that’s blowing past the competition.
Highlights of the game
After starting the front three of Messi, Lautaro Martinez, and Nicolas Gonzalez in their first two games of the tournament, Argentina manager Lionel Scaloni decided to shake things up by bringing in Angel Di Maria, Papu Gomez, and Sergio Aguero to play alongside Messi up front against Paraguay.
Papu Gomez had Argentina’s first notable chance five minutes in with a shot from distance that went well over the bar.
Aguero then had a golden opportunity to give Argentina the lead a couple minutes later. A couple of Paraguay defenders made a mess of clearing the ball in the box, which allowed Aguero – who was behind them and would have been offside if they hadn’t touched the ball – a shot on goal. However, Paraguay keeper Antony Silva made a fine save to deny the incoming Barcelona striker.
However, Argentina would not have to wait too long to get the opening goal, which came on 10 minutes. Angel Di Maria, delivered a beautifully disguised through ball to Papu Gomez, who coolly chipped the ball over the onrushing Silva.
And the Argentines had a great opportunity to double their advantage on 17 minutes. Messi had a free-kick right in a great position on the edge of the penalty area, but the Barcelona star blazed his powerful left-footed shot just wide.
Argentina had the ball in the back of the net once again in first-half stoppage time. After Silva parried away Di Maria’s powerful strike, Papu Gomez fired in a cross intended for Messi, but it hit a Paraguay defender a went into his own goal. However, the goal was ruled out by VAR because Messi had been in an offside position after Di Maria’s shot was saved.
But that decision did not come back to bite Argentina as Paraguay were unable to produce any big opportunities despite coming out much more aggressively in the second half.
Similar to their 1-0 win over Uruguay, the Argentines were all too happy to let Paraguay have the ball for much of the second half while they just defended their narrow one-goal lead.
It was not the most impressive of performances from a team with so much attacking talent, but they got the result they needed to qualify for the quarter-finals, which is all that matters for now.
Key statistics
With Argentina deciding to sit back for much of the second half, the final statistics looked more in favour of Paraguay. The Paraguayans finished with a 10-8 edge in shots, although Argentina still had a slight advantage in shots on target (4-2). Paraguay also had 57 per cent of the possession, but they were just unable to create all that much with the ball.
Messi still had his share of Copa America 2021 highlights with three shots, two of which were on target as he matched former Barcelona teammate Javier Mascherano’s mark of 147 international caps.
What’s next?
Argentina have already qualified for the quarter-finals with seven points in their first three matches. They now have a week off before playing their final game of Group A against Bolivia. A win would secure Argentina’s place at the top of the group.
The Argentines should have relatively few problems getting the win over the Bolivians, who are dead-last in the group with no points in their first two games. Messi could potentially be rested for that match, and other players could be handed the opportunity to get valuable game-time ahead of the quarter-finals.
As for Paraguay, they still have two more matches to go, the first of which will be against second-place Chile, who also sealed qualification after a 1-1 draw with Uruguay. Paraguay then finish the group stage against Uruguay next week.
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