Gerardo Martino’s Argentina produced the proverbial ‘game of two halves’ last night in La Serena allowing Paraguay to overturn a two-goal deficit and claim a draw that after 55 minutes looked impossible. In an opening 45 that saw La Albiceleste well and truly live up to their pre-tournament favourites tag and take a commanding two-goal lead, it was remarkable to see the same side completely implode and allow Ramón Díaz’s side to snatch what in the end was probably a deserved draw.
Díaz had said before the game that he had no special plan to stop Lionel Messi and instead he just hoped that the best player in the world would have an off-night and while Paraguay may not have focused on Messi, their conservative approach in the opening 45 minutes was a clear attempt to defend in numbers and frustrate Argentina. Any question marks over Martino’s side appeared to answered conclusively in this first half as no matter how many players retreated for Paraguay, they were run ragged by Messi, Agüero, Di María and Pastore. The swift passing and elusive movement found spaces all over the pitch and almost at will they seemed to carve through La Albirroja defence.
In spite of this the goals themselves came via defensive errors. Miguel Samudio’s awful back-pass after halting a Lionel Messi break was gleefully snapped up by Sergio Agüero and the resurgent striker made no mistake in skipping around Antony Silva and sliding the ball into the back of the net. Minutes later it was two after Di María dashed into the penalty box and drew contact from Samudio before tumbling to the ground. Wlimar Roldán pointed to the spot and Lionel Messi stroked the ball into the net for his first Copa América goal since 2007.
If the first penalty decision was dubious, Argentina should have had a second when Messi was bundled to the ground but Roldán obviously was in no mood to award two spotkicks in such quick succession. Half-time came and it looked as though Argentina were making the statement that so many wanted to see. The only question at this point was how many goals they would score.
Ramón Díaz made a change at half-time but initially Argentina continued to dominate. Antony Silva had to keep Pataguay in the game with a number of good stops but when the wily Díaz made further changes to attack Argentina and push them back the match turned. Mascherano and Banega began to be overrun in midfield and Argentina’s full-backs were stretched and when Nelson Haedo smashed in a superb long-range goal, it should have been a wake-up call.
Instead Argentina continued to commit men forward allowing Paraguay to exploit more space. Somewhat inexplicably Martino introduced Tevez and Higuaín rather than attempt to shore up the midfield and it was really no surprise when substitute Lucas Barrios smashed in a late equaliser.
There is no reason to panic at this stage but Martino will come in for some justified criticism after a series of decisions that negatively impacted on the outcome of the game. When still two-up and the game was beginning to become stretched it was clear that Mascherano needed support and the introduction of Lucas Biglia at this point would have been preferable. Biglia was given some minutes towards the end and if he and Pablo Zabaleta are fit for Tuesday it would be prudent to recall both to the starting eleven. As Messi said afterwards, Tuesday’s match against Uruguay is now a “must-win” but lessons must be learned from the mistakes against Paraguay.
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