Sergio AGUERO, Lautaro MARTINEZ score, Argentina reach Copa America quarters

By
Roy Nemer
-
27

Lautaro MARTINEZ and Sergio AGUERO scored as Argentina won 2-0 against Qatar to reach the Copa America quarter finals.

Argentina got exactly what they were hoping for, which was an early goal. A defensive mistake by the Qatari back line gifted Lautaro MARTINEZ the ball inside the penalty area and the Argentina hitman scored to give his team the 1-0 lead. That goal was Lautaro’s fifth in nine matches for his country.

The first half came to a close with not much threat from Qatar aside from an offside chance which was dealt with by goalkeeper Franco ARMANI.

Rodrigo DE PAUL continued to impress. Constantly pressuring, dribbling, passing and moving, he along with Leandro PAREDES were among Argentina’s best players.

Marcos ACUÑA was substituted in for Gio LO CELSO and provided some width in attack. A low cross from Marcos nearly found the back of the net but AGUERO was unlucky with his attempt. However, a second goal was coming for Argentina.

Paulo DYBALA was substituted in for Lautaro MARTINEZ and assisted Sergio AGUERO’s goal who made it 2-0 and secured Argentina’s passage to the quarter finals.

Sergio AGUERO received the ball in midfield and ran towards the Qatari back line to score. That goal was his 40th for Argentina.

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27 Comments

  1. This formation worked against Qatar. It will probably work against Venezuela, but if we make it to SF against Brazil, we need an additional midfielder. I think only one of Paredes/Lo Celso should start in that match. De Paul impressed me as a make-shift box to box. We should also play a hard worker like Acuna and a destroyer like Guido.
    Both Otamendi and Foyth are very error prone when being pressed. Firmino is one of the best pressing forward in the world right now. Our CBs and GK must avoid dangerous pass as much as possible.
    I’d like to see the below formation:
    —————–Armani——————
    Saravia–Pezella–Otamendi–Tagliafico
    —————-Guido——————–
    ——DePaul—-LoCelso—Acuna——
    ———–Messi————————-
    —————–Aguero

  2. VAMOS ARGENTINA!!

    2 changes made a lot of difference:

    -Foyth for Casco
    -Aguero for Pereyra

    I am not a De Paul hater, and I like the fact that he runs a lot. But I haven’t seen much creative penetration from him. He played the 2nd half better than 1st half. In the first half Lo Celso created more chances than De paul.
    Nor am I a Paredes hater, he has the ability to bring stability to the game, but he is somewhat slow and I didn’t see him do anything outstanding.

    At least one of De Paul and Paredes needs to be replaced at starting and should only come as a substitute if needed.
    And Dybala needs to play.

  3. Congratulation, Argentina…. Great job! Keep up the good work, Argentina… Have a nice Knock Out game…

    Be the champion! Go Tango! VAMOS ARGENTINA!!

    God bless everyone…

  4. MOTM should have been Paredes what a game he had….
    Just amazing those twisting and turns he did amazing….. was the best player on the pitch….
    Messi was not up to his mark or Qatar would have had the worst game ever…. i hope he perform better next match….

  5. Great result! We now have to work our hardest to win this!

    Player ratings:

    Messi – 7/10
    Although he is our gem, he played a pretty average match. Leo had some good passes but did not see as much of the ball than normal. He did however do good when on the ball.

    De Paul – 9/10
    Our MOTM for sure. He was playing everywhere. He defended, attacked, passed, tackled and dribbled. He had a great game and a huge role in the win today!

    Aguero – 8/10
    Great attacking perseverance, even through missed chances he kept going and even bagged a goal for us to seal our victory

    Lautaro – 9/10
    Second choice MVP, not only did he bag a goal, but had great attacking awareness. He made some good attacking runs and support play. Only negative was that he did not have any active attempts during aerial chances.

    Ottamendi – 7/10
    Compared to last week’s match, he was a lot more cool and kept his legs to himself when needed. He had good defensive activity, and also was a good aerial threat.

    Armani – 7.5/10
    He gained a lot more trust today. He kept a clean sheet and with the support of the defense, lowered Quatar’s chances of scoring by a big mark.

    Lo Celso – 5/10
    Made good runs but he was helpless when forced onto his right foot. He often lost the ball and did not have enough defensive or attacking involvement.

    Foyth – 7.5/10
    Very good performance defensively overall, despite the yellow card. This shows he is a good fit for our defense.

    Tagli – 8/10
    Had a very big attacking presence on the left and helped move the ball up the left flank. Although, not very consistent marking in defense.

    Saravia – 6/10
    Not much action on the ball, but good defensively as he minimized paced attacks on the left flank(most were from the right if you noticed)

    Paredes – 8/10
    Best performance all season from him. Excellent attacking and defensive awareness. He and De Paul were controlling the flow of the ball. He also had a massive part in today’s win.

    Things to take away:
    Despite winning, we struggled to convert great chances and often gave Qatar scary chances to level. We need to become more solid and increase overall awareness as a team. We often looked lost and lost the ball a lot. Especially in midfield, with Lo Celso(he looked off today), we were restricted when we lost possession, and couldn’t respond quick enough to the counter attacks. However, we won and that is what is important. ENJOY THIS!

    VAMOSARGENTINA!!! 🇦🇷!!!

  7. Scaloni plus, made the right change with 2 forwards and depaul.

    Depaul MVP. He was everywhere.

    Armani showing we can trust him.

    We still need a lot of work defending, but we are getting there.

    Vamos Argentina!

  8. Our team did or at-least tried everything that was missing in last two games. First our players tried not to side pass or back pass to Messi when others were in better position. Our wide midfielders tried to switch play between flanks when unable to press, they even tried few long aerial passes when unable to penetrate through the center. Scaloni might have raised eye brows when he started Foyth who again was extremely unimpressive; but again we are all used to Scaloni’s horrible player selections. However, he got all three substitutions perfect today. Dybala looks super hungry and he is desperate to prove a point.

    A player like Dybala, who is easily worth 100 million needs to be used over Suarez who hasn’t done nothing in last two matches. He doesn’t seem to win any balls, doesn’t have the speed , can’t press opposition, can’t trackback on time , can’t provide any crosses or passes at all and his scoring ability is next to nothing. All Suarez has done in last 3 matches is pet Messi’s hair after the latter has been fouled. Only inexperienced managers pick these kind washed up players based on 45 mins of display.

    Our another substitute , Acuna was impressive,he is capable of providing good crosses and beside that he also tracks backs and defends well. Impulsive duo Foyth and Otamendi seem to be gifting opponents chances over chances but lucky for us they haven’t been able to capitalize on their mistakes. Otamendi has already cost us 2 penaltys and Foyth is too much of a liability to be played in the knockouts. However, we don’t have any player that is capable of replacing the experience of Otamendi, so we are going to have to resort back to Pezella and Otamendi for the quaterfinal. Pezella’s positioning is excellent and is easily the safest option we have in the back.

    The players who shouldn’t be allowed to play anymore in this tournament or picked after this competition are Suarez, Dimaria and Casco. Well Dimaria still can be usefull as a forward but we already have tons of forward and his days of playing in the midfield are long over. So Bye Bye Mr Dimaria!! Suarez and Casco seems to be picked because of the pressure from their clubs. Some good performance from these almost DONE players could get their clubs some kind of cash but they both proved why nobody wants them or should buy them. Scaloni , who should still be an apprentice , no matter the end result of this competition , has to go!!!!!

  9. I am impressed by Dybala he is really good with the ball and vision. How on earth we did not use him in the first 2 games and shwariz gets all the chances, mind boggling

    • the comparison is suarez vs acuna mate. scaloni had been searching for how to bring width on the left in the closing stages to hit tired midfields this whole time with suarez and dimaria. Looks like its only now he finally found it with marcos. the dybala question is a bit different for this team.

  10. Attack looked great. We still have trouble connecting passes and using walls but overall well.

    Our defense and defense mod doesn’t gel right.. something is def missing..

    If we get lucky and beat Venezuela, Brazil we need to play with a dm other than PAREDES for sure.

    The mistakes we made with Qatar, other stronger opponents would have capatilized. Either way I’m happy we got to knockout stages

  11. If we can Defeat Venezuela, most probably will meet Brazil in Semi Final.
    It doesn’t matter..
    Nothing matters other than Argentina starting to play Normal football.

    The 90 minutes against Venezuela is really an opportunity. They can do something about it, definitely.

  12. Glad to see they won. I thought Depaul had a very good showing and Paredes played the best he has so far.
    Lo Celso disappeared but I think he is playing out of position,. He needs to be more in the middle. Defense again was suspect and we will surely give up goals against a better side.
    Messi didn’t have his best game but I think that is a blessing. Maybe these guys will now feel more comfortable to play their own game.
    I thought Armani was solid as was Tagliafico, but not sure why Montiel doesn’t get a call up and Casco does. Casco isn’t even the best defender on his club team and I think Montiel would have been a much better option.
    Lets not get too excited. It was our best showing but the team is still far less than the sum of its parts.

  13. Here is my take:
    1. Rodrigo De Paul is what we hope Lo Celso to be. Scaloni has high expectation on Lo Celso but it is De Paul who is the answer.

    2. The three forward tactic of Lautaro-Messi-Aguero AND an offensive midfielder in De Paul is the fantastic four part 2. This tactic is Messi’s favorite tactic. They are nowhere near the fantastic four part 1 yet (Di Maria, Messi, Aguero, and Higuain) but the current fantastic four has a chance to improve. Sabella 5 years ago started the fantastic four as long as they promised to defend. Now, I would vote for us to keep starting them with one condition: all of them must defend (except Messi).

    3. I like what we did after Aguero’s goal; we defended with 9 men.

    4. Aguero and Messi need to always play no matter what. Players of their caliber has ego. They need to be treated as key players, NOT rotation players. If they get offended, they might ruin the whole team. When Scaloni made sub for one of the forwards to Dybala, I was glad it was for Martinez not Aguero. Martinez was better than Aguero until that moment, but the likes of Aguero needs to be given a chance to be Aguero.

    5. Keep the same starting line up.
    Don’t change the winning team.

    6. Di Maria, Dybala, Acuna should be the 12th-14th men. Di Maria will come in handy eventually.

    7. This new tantastic four tactic need good forwards to replace forwards, just like in WC 2014 where Sabella had Palacio and Lavezzi as the back ups of any of the injured fantastic four: Di Maria, Aguero, Messi, or Higuain. I am convinced Dybala and Di Maria can do the job of backing up: De Paul, Messi, Lautaro, and Aguero.

    8. Not Suarez…. sorry

    9. Messi’s mediocre performance does not worry me. If we fix other problems (good defense, finding the best line up, strikers start scoring, coaching getting better), Messi would follow. He is my least worry.

    10. I am happy that the senior and the juniors start to gel, this is just the beginning.

    11. I don’t believe that we can’t get better.

    12. I don’t believe that we have no chance to win the Copa as now the pressure is lower. Argentina always play better when flying under the radar.

    • Thumbs up to all points, especially 3,4 ,& 6.
      But I don’t agree about Lo Celso.
      If everything goes well, he has enough time to go up to his normal level. That will do wonders to the team. De Paul is a perfect player. Good asset to any textbook midfield…
      But Lo Celso has better potential, the problem is the situation in his team is not that suitable for talents like him to perform, right now. He can grow with the team. I still have great hopes from both.

    • Well written. But you missed Paredes..!
      Scaloni will continue to use Paredes and LoCeslo in the middle. They are the most used players in hist time…! As Depaul played excellent today…no chance he will be dropped. So Scaloni will have to continue this lineup against Venezuela too. But that will be fist time in his tenure, to use same x1 twice..!

  14. Great game from the midfield, nice moves and effort from the attackers, specially Aguero worked really hard today. De Paul and Paredes were on point in pressing and confident on the ball. Saravia was much better today, Acuña is a viable option and Dybala seems useful coming from the bench. Overall good performance, some mistakes, but much better collectively. VAMOS

  15. All things are possible. If this is the starting lineup we continue with, I am ok with it – but I would like to see Dybala come in even earlier. He can hold up play and link up extremely well. Completely changed the character of our attack, despite Qatar more or less folding in the last 20 minutes or so. Cheers to the team. Also De Paul is a monster.

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