In an uninspired night of Lionel Messi, Argentina was 0-0 with Paraguay, today, in Defensores del Chaco (PAR), for the 11th round of Qualifiers for the 2022 World Cup.
At the training pace, Argentina dominated the actions and spent much of their time in the attacking field, but without being able to turn their superiority into goals. Already Paraguay, even playing in front of their fans, closed and exploited the few counterattacks they had.
With the result, Argentina remains in second place, with 19 points, three more than Uruguay, who drew with Colombia today, in Parque Central (URU). Paraguay follows in sixth, now with 12 points.
Next, Argentina host Uruguay at Monumental de Nuñez this Sunday, at 20:30 (GMT), in a late game in the fifth round. Paraguay, on the other hand, will face Chile, on the same day, at the San Carlos de Apoquindo stadium, at 9 pm (GMT).
Playing at home?
Even playing in Asuncion, Argentina commanded the actions of the match. Pressing Paraguay from the first minutes of the game, and with Messi free on the field, the Argentine team put goalkeeper Antony Silva to work, especially with Correa.
So much so that Argentina almost opened the scoring after 10 minutes of the first stage. After a pass from Messi, Correa takes off the goalkeeper and Di María is stopped by Alderete practically on the line.
Paraguay tries but doesn’t scare
After seeing Argentina dominate much of the first half, Paraguay launched the attack in the final minutes of the first stage. Taking advantage of Argentine passing errors, as well as some steals, the hosts reached Martinez’s goal.
The Paraguayans, however, did not pose any danger to the visiting team. With difficulties both in the exchange of passes and in the construction of plays, Paraguay had at one point the defender Gustavo Gómez, from Palmeiras, as a forward.
Argentina abuses mistakes
The second half started in the same way as the first: with Argentina pressing and Paraguay holding back. The Argentines, however, continued to waste opportunities.
With errors both in the exchange of passes and in the submissions, the Argentine team had its first big chance just five minutes into the final stage. Messi fired De Paul from the right, which hits the middle. With the goal empty, Correa lost time with the ball.
goalkeepers work
Little required in the first half, Martínez saved Paraguay’s main chance in the second stage. At 19 minutes, Junior Alonso called Arzamendia. Lateral crossed to Sanabria, who forced the Argentine goalkeeper to make a great save.
In the next move, it was De Paul’s turn to scare Silva. The striker sent a bomb from outside the area after Messi’s pass. The Paraguayan goalkeeper did it and no one took advantage of the rebound.
The Paraguayan goalkeeper returned to work in the 38th minute of the final stage. Papu Gómez received from Messi and hits from the right, forcing Silva to defend with a different hand.
Messi loose but discreet
The Paraguayans were not bothered by the presence of Lionel Messi, who roamed freely in the Argentine attack field. Falling both by the sides and by the center, the shirt 10 was responsible for a large part of the creation of the offensive actions of the ‘hermanos’.
Even so, the shirt 10 made a discreet match. Losing simple balls and without aiming at the set pieces, the PSG player did not pose much danger to the hosts.
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