Argentina 1 - 1 Paraguay - Match Report & Highlights
- by Grant Boone
- in Sports
- — Jun 23, 2019
Argentina have a very important game coming up against Paraguay in the Copa America 2019 as they are now 4th in Group B. "It will take some time to accept this defeat, but we have to take the positives from today and move on to try to win the next match". For any football fan, it's a game they must watch.
It was a Copa America classic in many ways, the less fancied team adhering so tightly to two banks of four that their formation seemed to have been inspired by Stickle Bricks, while the favourites - a term loosely applied to Argentina, in this case - grunted and strained in their efforts to break them down.
Lionel Messi returned to the Argentina side to continue chasing his dream of winning a trophy with his country at the Copa America, but with the team floundering under coach Lionel Scaloni, the experience is turning sour.
Qatar came back from a two-goal deficit to earn a surprising 2-2 draw in the opener against Paraguay, then it put on a tough challenge against Colombia in its second match, losing 1-0 after conceding a late goal.
"I could have continued playing but the coach made a decision to take me off".
The 25-year-old speed machine can play as a winger or in the number 10 role and he's already a big favourite at St James' Park.
"It would insane if we couldn't progress from the group given that there are practically three teams that go through", said Messi, who will turn 32 on Monday.
"It had been a long time (without beating Argentina)", Zapata said.
Messi has now scored 68 goals and assisted a further 43 strikes in 132 matches for Argentina.
"They scored with their first attack and that caused us a lot of uncertainty".
Paraguay, who also threw away the lead to draw 2-2 with Qatar in their first game, are second on two points and need to beat Colombia to be guaranteed a spot in the quarter-finals.
A defeat at the Minerao arena in Belo Horizonte would have implied that Argentina could end at no higher than third place - Colombia have officially won the group after two straight successes. They are, however, yet to win a game in this edition and will be looking to record their first victory so as to advance to the next phase.
