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Argentina, with a great goal from a free kick by Lionel Messi fifteen minutes from the end, debuted in the World Cup Qualifiers for the United States, Mexico and Canada with a 1-0 win against Ecuador at the Más Monumental de Núñez Stadium, in Buenos Aires.
At 2 minutes into the game came the first approximation of the game. Nahuel Molina received a filtered pass and when he reached the end line, he sent a pass into the middle of the area, but Roberth Arboleda just appeared to clear and avoid Lautaro Martínez’s goal cry, which appeared from behind.
Then, at 11′, Lionel Messi raised a cross from a free kick and Martínez was about to connect with his foot, but missed and the ball ended up in the hands of Hernán Galíndez. At 15′, Alexis Mac Allister opened for Martínez and he gave way to the middle for Messi, who finished off a first-class cross from the croissant and the ball hit the post.
Ecuador had its first arrival at 25′. Enner Valencia received on the edge of the area, settled in and took the shot, but it went right towards where Emiliano Martínez was. At 28′, Martínez had the goal for the locals, but after a low cross from Nicolás González he could not hit it well on the edge of the small area and the ball went wide for the corner kick.
At the end of the first half, defender Félix Torres took a corner from Rodrigo de Paul’s cross that went to the head of González, who was coming from the second post. In added time, the stick said no to Martínez, who finished off a cross that came from the right.
The usual with the usual
Argentina began dominating the second part, but in the first minutes it was difficult for them to finish. At 49′, Nicolás Tagliafico surprised by appearing in the middle and gave way back to Enzo Fernández when he received on the edge of the area, but the long shot from the English Chelsea midfielder missed over the crossbar.
The clearest came at 54′, when Messi executed a free kick that no one could deflect inside the area. The Ecuadorian defense got the ball out of the six-yard box as best they could and left it for Cristian Romero, but they blocked it just as they finished off and cleared it. At 57′, Tagliafico finished off from the edge of the area after a pass from Messi’s back, but the ball grazed the horizontal.
The Ecuadorians created danger again at 66′, when Valencia had a cross shot from inside the area after a pass from Gonzalo Plata that came out weak and did not mean any problem for Martínez, who kept the ball. Messi responded at 68′ with a stack of defenders on the edge of the area that ended in a shot that Galíndez contained.
Minutes later, at 70′, Ecuador quickly counterattacked with Valencia on the left side. He looked for Kevin Rodríguez with a low pass up the middle, but he didn’t connect the ball in a good way and Martínez made the catch. Until, at 77′, Messi took charge of a free kick on the edge of the area and did not forgive to put the Albiceleste ahead.
At 83′, de Paul generated a great play on the edge of the area, leaving players behind, and opened to the left for Ángel di María, who controlled and finished off crosswise, but the ball was lost close to the vertical. Argentina continued to dominate the actions and was left with the first three points of the Qualifiers. Ecuador, for its part, remains at -3 due to the FIFA sanction for the Byron Castillo case.
ARGENTINA 1–0 ECUADOR
Argentina: Emiliano Martinez; Nahuel Molina, Cristian Romero, Nicolás Otameni, Nicolás Tagliafico; Rodrigo De Paul, Enzo Fernandez, Alexis Mac Allister (75′ Leandro Paredes); Nicolás González (61′ Ángel di María), Lautaro Martínez (75′ Julián Álvarez) and Lionel Messi (87′ Exequiel Palacios). DT: Lionel Scaloni.
Ecuador: Hernan Gallindez; Roberth Grove, Felix Towers (80′ Angel Husband), William Pacho; Jose Hurtado (80′ Angel Preciado), Jose Cifuentes (66′ Joao Ortiz), Carlos Gruezo, Moses Caicedo, Pervis Stupiñan; Gonzalo Plata (66′ Kevin Rodriguez) and Enner Valencia. DT: Felix Sanchez Bas.
Goals: 77′ Lionel Messi (A)
Yellow: 61′ Jose Cifuentes (L), 81′ Leandro Paredes (A)
Referees: Wilmar Roldán (COL), Alexander Guzmán (COL), Wilmar Navarro (COL) and Carlos Ortega (COL). VAR: Jhon Perdomo (COL) and Jhon León (COL).
Estadio: Monumental (Buenos Aires)
FútbolUy. Follows on Twitter @footballportaluy
SoccerUy – Montevideo Portal
2023-09-08 02:00:00
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