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Argentina training news ahead of Bolivia match on Monday, Exequiel Palacios not fit

Roy Nemer
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Argentina national team coach Lionel Scaloni had everyone training together except for one.

Nicolas Gonzalez and Gio Lo Celso are back training with the team after both missed the team’s 1-0 win vs. Uruguay. The only one that did not train with the group is Exequiel Palacios as he’s still not fully fit.

As we reported on Wednesday, coach Scaloni is expected to make several changes for Monday’s Copa America match. Argentina have already secured qualification and six players are on yellow cards. The six players being Emiliano Martinez, Lucas Martinez Quarta, Gio Lo Celso, Leandro Paredes, Joaquin Correa and Lautaro Paredes. A yellow for any one of them would mean they would miss the next match.

While the team has nearly a week’s time of rest, it remains to be seen if Scaloni will play Lionel Messi from the start or if he will keep him on the bench.

CONMEBOL publishes the VAR audios of Argentina’s disallowed goal vs. Paraguay

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On Tuesday, CONMEBOL uploaded on its official Youtube channel the conversation between the VAR referees regarding Argentina’s disallowed goal in the 1-0 win vs. Paraguay. The referee ended up giving offside for “interference in the goalkeeper’s vision” from Lionel Messi when Di María took the shot.

Here’s VAR’s revision on Argentina’s disallowed goal:

“The assistant correctly follows the protocol of delaying his decision, and when the play ends, he marks the offside for interfering with the opponent,” says the narrator. “The VAR analyzes with virtual lines the position and the impact that the striker causes to the goalkeeper and agrees with the referee’s decision: offside for interfering with the opponent.”

Here, the final decision reached among the VAR assistant that was communicated to the main referee:

“There is a clear offside. That player (Messi) is in the goalkeeper’s line of sight, makes a move, and delays the goalkeeper’s reaction.”

Argentina players on yellow cards, Emiliano Martinez could be rested

Roy Nemer
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A total of six Argentine players are on yellow cards and would be at a risk of missing the knockout match.

Argentina national team coach Lionel Scaloni has already stated that there could be several rotations for the match vs. Bolivia on Monday. Emiliano Martinez, Lucas Martinez Quarta, Gio Lo Celso, Leandro Paredes, Joaquin Correa and Lautaro Paredes are the six players who are one yellow card away from suspension.

Franco Armani is the first name which springs to mind when talking about a potential replacement for Emiliano Martinez. As for Lucas Martinez Quarta, there are a number of players who could replace him. German Pezzella, Nicolas Otamendi or even Lisandro Martinez.

In midfield, Scaloni has several options. Exequiel Palacios and Nicolas Dominguez, could replace Lo Celso and Paredes. And as for Lautaro Martinez, Sergio Aguero, who replaced him vs. Paraguay could get the start. If not, Joaquin Correa is another option for Scaloni.

What would be the starting eleven you would like to see?

35 years since Diego Maradona vs England: Goal of the century, Hand of God

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It has been 35 years since arguably the best individual performance in sports history. On June 22, 1986, Argentina would defeat England 2-1 in the quarterfinals of the World Cup. A tournament they would go on to win, with Diego Maradona showing why he was the best player in the world.

There was only 3 minutes and 49 seconds between Maradona’s “Hand of God” (51’) and Maradona’s “Goal of the century” (55’). A bit less than four minutes between two of the most memorable goals in the history of football.

There are thousands and thousands of articles, videos, images, stories, and even books about that match, which is perhaps the most memorable in the history of the Argentina national team. A lot of feelings and emotions from the fans every time they see or listen to something related to that game.

But it was definitely much more than a game. Only four years prior, in 1982, Argentine president and military dictator at the time, Leopoldo Galtieri, sent thousands of young Argentine’s with zero military expertise to die in a nonsense war against England, in order to get back the Falklands Islands.

As it happened many times throughout history, the president was losing power, and he thought the best way to unify and distract the population was a war.

There are testimonies from the parents of those who died in the Malvinas war, who explained how Maradona, in that match, made them smile for the first time after 4 years. That day, those heartbroken parents found a friend in Argentina’s captain.

This June 22nd is the first one time we remember that game with Maradona in heaven. Diego’s daughter Dalma took the initiative today in wanting to celebrate the “goal of the century” at 4:09 PM (local time), the exact time Maradona had scored.

This is what Dalma Maradona tweeted this Monday:
“Let’s all shout it (the goal) at 4:09 PM! Let’s all shout it together so that it gets to heaven!”

Angel Di Maria named Man of the Match for Argentina in win vs. Paraguay

Roy Nemer
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Angel Di Maria was named the Man of the Match for Argentina following the team’s 1-0 win vs. Paraguay.

Back to being a starter for Lionel Scaloni, Angel Di Maria was one of the best players on the pitch for Argentina. So much so that he was literally named the Man of the Match.

Di Maria was everywhere for Argentina and silenced many of his critics who said he couldn’t cut it anymore for his country. From holding up the ball, to driving at the Paraguay back line to his sublime assist to Alejandro Papu Gomez, Di Maria had his best performance in an Argentina shirt in some time.

Following the match, Di Maria commented on the team’s performance:

“I believe we deserved the win. We had a lot of chances but we were only able to convert once.”

Another one who had a solid showing was Alejandro Papu Gomez. After not playing a single minute in Argentina’s string of matches the past few weeks, Papu Gomez found himself in the starting eleven for Lionel Scaloni.

And the Argentine repaid Scaloni with the match winner. As mentioned earlier, Di Maria played the through ball which found Gomez following a great run by the Sevilla man and a lovely little dink over the goalkeeper.

Papu spoke about his opportunity and goal after the match:

“I’m very happy, I was waiting for this chance. I’m very happy for the win. I think about the family, the friends. The effort goes through your mind. I had the patience to wait for my opportunity when it wasn’t my time.

“The assist by Angel was so good. All I had to do was put my foot under the ball and finish. The team is back to winning and that gives us a lot of confidence. Now to rest and to prepare for what is coming.”

While those two connected for the goal, the back line had a say in the win and clean sheet. Molina, who at times struggled in the first half, showed up very strong in attack. And defensively, he improved a lot in the second half as Paraguay insisted on attacking through his side. However, the Udinese man was up for the task.

Cristian Romero put out many fires and playing alongside Pezzella, the two were able to block shots to make sure that Emiliano Martinez did not have too much to do.

Who would you select as your Man of the Match for the win? Would it be Di Maria, Papu Gomez, Molina, Romero or perhaps someone else?

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