Per Copa America bracket, Argentina is seen as the “away” team in their match against the United States at the Copa America.
Due to the bracket, Argentina will play with their dark blue shirts in the semi-finals on Tuesday. This will be the first time the team plays with that shirt in this Copa America.
As Argentina are preparing for their Copa America semi-final match on Tuesday, Tata MARTINO might be able to count on two additional players.
Reports in the media are that Angel DI MARIA will likely be fit enough to make the bench for Argentina. DI MARIA, who got injured against Panama, appears to have made a speedy recovery and could even see some minutes in the semi-finals.
The other player who could see the bench is Javier PASTORE. Some reports are stating that PASTORE could be fit enough to get some minutes in Argentina’s semi-final match.
Hey everyone,
Tata Martino will have to decide on a replacement for Nicolas Gaitan who is not only suspended for the next game but is also injured. He is apparently choosing between Erik Lamela and Ezequiel Lavezzi. To me it’s hard to decide between these two amazing players. Lamela has been playing very well for us but we all know how good Lavezzi is and everything he can do for us. What do you guys think? Who would you pick?
VAMOS ARGENTINA!!
While a lot of the focus from Argentina’s 4-1 victory against Venezuela will go to either Gonzalo HIGUAIN’s 2 goals or Lionel MESSI equaling Gabriel BATISTUTA’s National Team goal tally, we should not take anything away from the performance of Sergio ROMERO.
With the score at 2-0 and about 15 minutes remaining in the first half, Venezuela applied the pressure and got more than their fair share of chances. Luckily for Argentina, ROMERO was there to save the day. A fantastic save following miss-communication between he and MASCHERANO was followed by a tip save over the goal and which was then overshadowed by a penalty save.
Had any of those gone in, Argentina would have went into half-time with a 2-1 lead rather than a 2-0 lead and who knows what could have happened. Tata MARTINO came out after the match praising ROMERO and saying that his saves were key to the team going into the break calm.
Here were Sergio ROMERO’s 3 saves in the first half.
Lionel MESSI, Gonzalo HIGUAIN, Ever BANEGA and Ramiro FUNES MORI all spoke to the press following Argentina’s quarter-final win on Saturday.
Here’s what they had to say:
Lionel MESSI:
“I like this team’s character and how we always go out to be the protagonists.”
“It’s not easy to reach two consecutive finals. We always want to win but we also have to realize what we’ve done. We’re doing things really well, we’re growing and we have to continue this way.”
“I’m happy for having equaled BATISTUTA’s record but my mind is set on lifting the Copa America.”
Gonzalo HIGUAIN:
“I was calm, confident and luckily the goals came.”
Ever BANEGA:
“We went into the second half with the mindset of finishing up the match and we did just that.”
Ramiro FUNES MORI:
“I think the match against the United States will be an intense match. We don’t underestimate anyone.”
