Argentina fall 2-0 vs. Australia in Tokyo Olympics opener, Ortega red card

By
Roy Nemer
-
15

Argentina started the Tokyo Olympics off with a loss and see themselves having to get a good result against both Egypt and Spain.

Fernando Batista could not have asked for a worse start to the match. Australia took the lead after just 13 minutes after some poor marking and defending by the two time champions.

A low pass sent into the penalty area went passed the Argentine back line and fell to Lachlan Wales as he would score to give Australia the 1-0 lead. It was a lackluster performance by Argentina with little to no cohesiveness and shape throughout the match.

Francisco Ortega was sent off for Batista’s team after receiving two yellow cards, the second being a little harsh by the referee. Ortega, who was already on a yellow, was given a red after a shove inside the penalty area as a corner kick was about to be taken.

The second saw half saw Australia score their second goal, a brilliant strike by Marco Tilio from the edge of the penalty area beat Ledesma who was in goal. Poor marking on the edge of the area by Argentina as Tilio was unmarked for the goal.

Batista fielded the following eleven for the match:

Ledesma
De La Fuente
Perez
Medina
Ortega
Colombatto
Vera
Valenzuela
Mac Allister
Barco
Gaich

The other match in Group C saw Spain draw 0-0 vs. Egypt. Argentina’s next match will be against Egypt on Sunday. Here are the current standings:

Australia: 3 points
Spain: 1 point
Egypt: 1 point
Argentina: 0 points

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15 Comments

  3. Its not a good sign, Had we lost against Spain which is a powerhouse nation in football its acceptablr, But lossing against Australia? With all the talents we have its not all a good sign. Its a sad state of Argentine football i guess. Hopefully its a tactical error or player selection mistake loss. But we Argentina should not take losses against teams like Australia, Egypt etc.

    Or we can think like this too, the under 23 teams of smaller nations are usually powerfull. Teams like Nigeria etc are examples from past, but once the players develop then teams like us usually gets better. So lets hope Barco, De La Vega, Almada etc develops in right track once they graduate into the senior NT.

  6. Foyth is an eligible player and after the drop from the seniors, he should have been drafted in, but he’ll no, Batista will stick with same gems that won him the what? Oh pan American games. Sentimental shit from a brain dead sentimental fool. He got shit results in friendly before he chose his squads, yet he has stubbornly stuck with the same core players. De La fence, ortega, when you see Velez players, you see failure. Unbelievable, I’ve seen it for 20 years. Strange, weird, or bizarre?

  8. Fun fact Spain olympic team from 2012: De Gea – Azpilicueta, Inigo Martinez, Dominguez, Alba – Koke, Javi Martinez, Isco – Mata, Rodrigo, Muniain…against Japan, Honduras and Morocco scored zero goal…maybe history will repeat itself.

  9. a poor start indeed, next 2 games are more difficult. Poor selection, should take the advantage of bringing old age players. A mid who can be the playmaker and one good wall defense are needed. Buendia, Senesi, or Dybala are among the right option to be included or even our most controversial player Icardi

  10. The starting line up is just bad. Hope Almada, Payero, and De La Vega start next game instead of MacAllister, Colombatto, and Valenzuela.

    Man this MacAllister dude are u sure he is below 23? Because he played like he is 53 years old. Even Juan Riquelme right now at 43 years old would be more mobile than him I am sure. or Pablo Aimar or Marcelo Gallardo. I feel sorry for Brighton really. Argentina is known for producing #10 but this dude is the worst one.

    • MacAlister is a mediocre player. Can’t believe he wears the no.10, and picked to play ahead of De La Vega. Batista has a brain diarrhea.

  11. That 2nd yellow was, what’s the word I’m looking for bullshit!
    Amateur hour refereeing, there was NO FOUL to GIVE nm another yellow in 60secs

    • After aston villa move, no chance buendia cld have missed preseason in a new club. Yes senesi cld have made it. But our biggest weakness was full backs. We jus got over run in flanks. it was surprising batista stuck to de la fluente, herrera, bravo, f ortega. He shld have pushed for an overage player here from angileri, ansaldi, saravia, bustos or try & get molina or montiel. De la fluente & herrera hardly get playinv time in clubs also. Frankly local league also not having much of young ready prospects for full backs. Batista will get a lot of flak & sack if argentina does not qualify to next round especially for decision of not focussing on overage players.

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