Ecuador, despite not winning yet, showed a good level and dominated most of the games it played.
The Argentine team, which has been undefeated for 17 matches and is a candidate to reach the final of the Copa América in Brazil, will face Ecuador in the quarterfinals this Saturday night, which has not won a match in the tournament. but he showed a good level that allows him to dream of reaching his second semi-final.
Argentina, which has no injuries or injuries, has an enlightened Lionel Messi, who was the best player in his group during the first phase and is the top scorer of the tournament with three in four games, one of them from a penalty.
The good level of several of the Argentine players made DT Lionel Scaloni have doubts about the starting eleven. Marcos Acuña and Nicolás Tagliafico fight to be the left back and Guido Rodríguez could appear as a recovery midfielder instead of Leandro Paredes, one of the coach’s favorite players.
The defender Germán Pezzella could also enter for Cristian Romero, who is not in optimal physical condition.
Ecuador, despite not winning yet, showed a good level and dominated most of the games it played.
The bad news for the Argentine coach of Ecuador Gustavo Alfaro is that the offensive midfielder Damián Díaz tested positive for covid-19 and will not be able to play.
After the discharge from Díaz, also midfielder Carlos Gruezo joined the team, which will be another option in the midfield.
Everything seems to indicate that the same players will play against Argentina as they did on the last day of the group stage in the draw (at 1 against Brazil) that gave the Ecuadorians the classification.
The Tricolor only reached the semifinals of the Copa América on one occasion. He did it at home in the 1993 edition, in which he eliminated Paraguay in the quarterfinals, but lost in the semifinals against Mexico.
Argentina, on the other hand, won the Copa América 14 timesThe last one was precisely the Ecuador 1993 edition. That was the last title of the Albiceleste national team.
The winner of this match will play in the semifinals against Uruguay or Colombia.
La Albiceleste comfortably led Group A, qualified a day earlier and finished as the leader with ten points as a result of three victories and a draw, against Chile 1-1 in the debut.
Uruguay, with seven units, Paraguay, with six, and Chile, with five, are the other classifieds in this area. Bolivia was left out after losing all five games.
The team led by Scaloni has been undefeated for 17 matches, with ten wins and seven draws. Their last loss was 2-0 to Brazil on July 2, 2019. in the semifinals of the Copa América that year.
Ecuador, on the other hand, reached this stage by finishing fourth in Group B with three points, the product of three draws.
Brazil was the leader of Group B with ten units, Peru followed with seven and then was Colombia with four. Venezuela, with only two points, was the team that was eliminated. (D)
Possible alignments
Argentina: Emiliano Martínez; Nahuel Molina, Cristian Romero, Nicolás Otamendi, Marcos Acuña; Rodrigo De Paul, Leandro Paredes, Giovani Lo Celso, Lionel Messi; Lautaro Martínez and Nicolás González. DT: Lionel Scaloni.
Ecuador: Hernán Galíndez; Angelo Preciado, Robert Arboleda, Piero Hincapié, Diego Palacios; Pervis Estupiñán, Jhegson Méndez, Carlos Gruezo, Alan Franco; Ángel Mena and Enner Valencia. DT: Gustavo Alfaro.
Referee: the Brazilian Wilton Sampaio, assisted by his compatriots Danilo Manis and Bruno Pires.
Stadium: Olympic Pedro Ludovico Teixeira, from Goiás.
