Results Argentina vs Paraguay see World Cup VL 11/13/2020

Final: Argentina 1-1 Paraguay
Scored: González (41) – Romero (21 pen)

Argentina is clearly off to a good start on the qualifying journey for the 2022 World Cup: South America. In the first match, they beat Ecuador 1-0 thanks to the only goal from superstar Lionel Messi at the 11-meter mark. In the second match, teacher and coach Lionel Scaloni successfully conquered the “high” Bolivia with a 2-1 victory.

It should be remembered that the La Paz field has a very uncomfortable and diluted atmosphere due to its height of 3,637 meters above sea level, so playing here is always a great challenge for any visiting team. Argentina itself has fallen miserably here.

Therefore, the recent victory has shown that Argentina, although talent is no longer as abundant as before, is compensated by the collective strength and consensus of the team. Those are the important factors to be able to successfully conquer the World Cup qualifiers that take place for a long time. In fact, although there are few big stars, but in an objective evaluation, the quality of the Argentine team is still better than that of most of the South American teams.

Paraguay also got off to a good start in the 2022 World Cup qualifying campaign: 4 points after the first two games. However, in fact, they only have to host Peru at home (2-2 draw) and then very hard to beat the Venezuelan “dwarf” with the score 1-0.

In this match, the two biggest absences of the Argentinla team are the famous pair of strikers Sergio Agüero and Paulo Dybala (both injured), but both can only be important in the club they wear. At the national level, nobody plays such an important role, mainly because their performance is quite mediocre.

Compared to the last match (beating Bolivia 2-1 in October), Argentina had a unique adjustment in the starting list in the reception of Paraguay when Nicolás González (currently in Stuttgart in the Bundesliga) replaced Tagliafico (injury) in the right back position.

Among the names that play, apart from captain Lionel Messi, who is too big, Lautaro Martínez (Inter Milan), Leandro Paredes (PSG), Lucas Ocampos (Sevilla) or Otamendi (many years with Man City and now adding Benfica in Portugal) belongs to the category with number of cheeks and “brand name”. On the Argentine bench are Angel Di Maria (PSG), Joaquín Correa (Lazio).

For Paraguay, the most famous are probably just two players who play for mid-range teams in the Premier League: Fabian Balbuena (West Ham) and Miguel Almiron (Newcastle), a sign that they are lacking good players. how. Today they still have to play in the Argentine field, but the Guarani entered with confidence.

At the beginning of the first half, Paraguay not only did a good job separating Messi from his teammates in the Argentine attack, causing the Albiceleste not to have a remarkable attack, but on occasions the visitors also carried out an assault. confuse the opponent’s defense.

Not only that, until the 21st minute, Paraguay suddenly rose to lead the table. The referee gave the visitors 11 meters after Martínez Quarta (Fiorentina) committed a foul on Almirón inside the area. No. 11, Ángel Romero (playing in … Argentina) easily fooled goalkeeper Armani on the penalty spot to open the scoring.

Not only was he led, but Argentina also suffered losses when Exequiel Palacios (Leverkusen) was unable to continue playing after Ángel Romero touched his knee on the back. Giovani Lo Celso, Tottenham’s midfielder, took his place. Being led at home, of course Argentina must push up to equalize, but fall into a stalemate.

After all, thanks to a fixed situation, they can level the score. In the 41st minute, from the left corner taken by Lo Celso, Nicolás González headed at the head of the bravo and put the ball into the net in the helplessness of goalkeeper Antony Silva.

Thanks to the draw at the right time, Argentina played a little better after the break. In the 49th minute, Lautaro Martínez smashed hard into 2 defenders, but his final shot was inaccurate.

In the 54th minute, the Paraguayan visitors asked the referee to shoot a penalty after veteran midfielder Nicolás Otamendi let the ball touch. The fact that the slow motion phase was shown by the former Man City defender tried to close his hand in a defensive situation, so the referee was reasonable when he shook his head with 11m.

A few minutes later, the Paraguayan network had to vibrate after the left-footed shot by number 1 star Lionel Messi. Before that, Albicelester made a good attack down the left wing, the ball was put in the penalty area by González in the penalty area for Lo Celso and the Tottenham player returned the ball just within reach of Messi to move his leg to “kill” goalkeeper Silva.

However, VAR technology has spoken out to deny Messi’s goal. Not that Gonzalez had fouled Romero on Paraguay’s side when he won the ball and then started the attack on Argentina’s goal. In fact, if VAR were not applied to the game, it would be impossible to detect such a “deep” error.

Denied a goal that could not be “more bitter”, Argentina had to work hard to break Paraguay’s goal and despite the difficulties, the Albiceleste were not without possibilities. In the 72nd minute, Messi launched a dangerous free kick from a distance of almost 20 meters and aimed for the high corner, but goalkeeper Silva brilliantly sent the ball to save Paraguay.

In the last 15 minutes of the game the ball almost rolled through the Paraguayan field, but Argentina could not realize the advantage to get a second goal, coach Scaloni also adjusted personnel in the attack but the effect was insignificant. .

In the end, Argentina accepted a 1-1 draw at home against Paraguay in the third round of the qualifying round for the 2022 World Cup in South America. This was the fourth consecutive match in all competitions, Argentina could not beat the rival to lift Paraguay.

TEAM

ARGENTINA XI (3-4-3): Franco Armani; Nicolas Otamendi, Lucas Martinez, Gonzalo Montiel; Nicolas Gonzalez, Exequiel Palacios (Lo Celso 29 ‘), Leandro Paredes, Rodrigo De Paul (Lucas Alario 83’); Lucas Ocampos (Angel Di Maria 62 ‘), Lautaro Martinez (Nicolás Domínguez 83’), Lionel Messi (c).

PARAGUAY XI (4-3-3): Antony Silva; Robert Rojas, Fabian Balbuena, Gustavo Gomez (c), Junior Alonso; Gaston Gimenez (Rojas 86 ‘), Angel Cardozo, Mathias Villasanti (Morel 74’); Angel Romero (Sanabria 86 ‘), Dario Lezcano (Hernan Perez 74’), Miguel Almiron.