A header from Luciano Gondou, the boy with the decisive goals, two vital saves from Leandro Brey and three very good individual performances (Equi Fernández, Thiago Almada and Juan Sahora) installed the Argentine Under 23 National Team in the football competition of the Olympic Games. Paris. They had to beat Brazil in Caracas to qualify and they beat them 1 to 0. Without leaving any doubts. Perhaps, throughout the Pre-Olympic, the team put together and directed by Javier Mascherano suffered too much and should not have reached its limit in the last match of the final round. But at the moment of the big definitions, Argentina was up to the task and met the objective.
Faced with a cold and disconcerting Brazil that preferred to play waiting and counterattacking, Argentina recovered the defensive solidity that it had lost in the matches against Uruguay (3-3), Venezuela (2-2) and Paraguay (3-3). It wasn’t that the Brazilians attacked that much either. But when they did, especially after the entry of the spicy John Kennedy at 13 minutes into the second half, they found Brey who, in two minutes, took a couple of goal balls from Gabriel Pec and Kennedy himself who They made him and the team bigger.
The cover of Líbero, with music by Sandro.
Much greater was the increase when at 32 minutes of the complement, Valentín Barco went up once again on the left side, launched the center and Gondou, who for the second time played from the beginning (in seven games), scored his fourth goal in the Pre-Olympic, surely the most decisive. Shortly before, Mascherano had moved the bench to put “Diablito” Claudio Echeverri in place of Cristian Medina. And shortly after the goal, he replaced the Argentinos Juniors scorer with Aaron Quirós to form a line of five at the back.
What’s more, Argentina could have increased the numbers at the end: the Brazilian goalkeeper Mykael first took a free kick from Almada that went in at an angle (another free kick in the first half had burst off a post) and then he handled a shot by the entered Solari. And almost in the last play of the afternoon, Barco, lying on his right and from a slanted position, took a powerful left foot shot that hit the crossbar.
At the moment of truth, the kids of the Sub 23 stood up for Mascherano and played to put Argentina back in the Olympic Games. Soccer won the gold medal in Athens 2004 and Beijing 2008 and in both conquests, Mascherano was on the field. This year, he will be in Paris again but as technical director and with a very precise mission: to win the third. Same as in Qatar. But before the eyes of all the sports in the world.
Match summary
0 BRAZIL: Mykael; Khellven, Arthur, Lucas Fasson, Richelme; G. Pirani, Andrew, Alexander, Maurice, Office; Endrick DT: R. Meneses.
1 ARGENTINA: Brey; Luján, Di Césare, Valentini, Barco; E. Fernández, Sforza, Medina; Almada; Castro, Gondou. DT: Mascherano.
Stadium: National (Caracas, Venezuela). Referee: Cristian Garay (Chile). Goal: 77m Gondou (A). Substitutions: 57m Kennedy for Biro (B) and Gabriel Pec for Mauricio (B), 63m J. García for Di Césare (A) and Solari for Castro (A), 72m Marquinhos for Endrick (B) and Bruno Gomes for Gabriel Pirani ( B), 75m Echeverri through Medina (A), 82m Giovane through Rikelme (B) and 85m ón Quirós through Gondou (A).
Paraguay defeated Venezuela and became champion
2024-02-12 03:01:00
#Olympic #PreOlympic #Argentina #defeated #Brazil #Paris #win #gold #medal
