Messi and Co scrape past Qatar to book their place in the Copa America quarter-finals
ARGENTINA scraped past Qatar in nervy manner to book their place in the Copa America quarter-finals. Lautaro Martinez’s fourth-minute strike was enough for Argentina to grab a tense victory in the final group game – with Sergio Aguero putting the game to bed in the dying minutes. Lionel Scaloni’s men had lost 2-0 to Colombia […]
ARGENTINA scraped past Qatar in nervy manner to book their place in the Copa America quarter-finals.
Lautaro Martinez’s fourth-minute strike was enough for Argentina to grab a tense victory in the final group game – with Sergio Aguero putting the game to bed in the dying minutes.
Lionel Scaloni’s men had lost 2-0 to Colombia and drawn with Paraguay as their Copa America hopes dangled by a thread.
But needing a win to book their spot in the last eight, Argentina got off to the dream start.
Not missing a step early doors, Martinez pounced on a defensive error to keep his cool and roll the ball into the net.
From then on, Argentina were well on top, dominating in all areas of the pitch.
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However, they failed to make their chances count, with Aguero and Lionel Messi both guilty off missing glorious chances to kill off the game.
In the 82nd minute, Aguero went on a fantastic solo run before rifling the ball into the bottom corner to finally see off plucky Qatar.
The South American giants’ performances so far this summer have echoed those of the last – in their disastrous 2018 World Cup campaign.
Then too, the Argentines picked up just one point from their opening two games – drawing 1-1 with Iceland and then being thumped 3-0 by Croatia.
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A tense 2-1 win over Nigeria in their final group game saw them reach the last-16.
But they were then dumped out in the first knockout stage by a dominant France, eventually losing 4-3 after throwing away a 2-1 lead.
Argentina had desperately hoped to get back to winning ways on the big stage of the Copa America – but have struggled mightily once again.
They may have made it through to the quarter-finals with victory over Qatar – but it looks as though Messi’s long wait for international silverware will continue.