Forced to cancel the organization of the Copa América due to the health crisis affecting the country hard, Argentina therefore went to Brazil to play the prestigious South American tournament. Present in pool A, the Albiceleste was treated to a hell of a bite as an aperitif: Chile. And as usual between these two teams, the meeting was very intense.
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Not enough to offer us a great show, however. Lionel Messi often tried to find solutions from the center circle and Argentina also relied on the passing quality of Giovani Lo Celso to create lags. In the end, it took a superb direct free kick from La Pulga to unblock the situation (1-0, 33rd). A masterful kick that also allows the Barça player to overtake Cristiano Ronaldo by becoming the active player having scored the most goals from a free kick (57).
Messi’s stunning free kick wasn’t enough
Back from the locker room, Chile finally decided to be more offensive thanks to the duo Eduardo Vargas-Fernando Meneses. A pair that managed to create gaps in which Arturo Vidal rushed just before the hour mark. The Inter midfielder also managed to get a penalty. Unfortunately for him, his attempt was postponed, but he was able to count on an attentive Vargas (1-1, 56th). The rest, not much to report. Messi disappeared over the minutes and the score has not changed.
Result: Paraguay took the lead in Group A (ahead of Argentina and Chile). However, everything started badly for Eduardo Berizzo’s men since it was Bolivia who opened the scoring thanks to a penalty converted by Erwin Saavedra (0-1, 10th). And then the match took a funny turn. After a first extended period (11 minutes stoppage of play) and the expulsion of Jaume Cuellar, Bolivia completely collapsed. In twenty minutes, Paraguay has indeed reversed the situation thanks to Alejandro Romero (1-1, 60th) and the double of Angel Romero (65th, 80th). 3-1 final score. Note that Uruguay is logically the only team in this group of five not to have played yet.
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