Venezuela and Argentina took on each other, fighting for a place in this year’s Copa America semifinal.
This tournament presented one of the last chances for one of the greatest players of the last decade, Lionel Messi, to win an international trophy in his career. On the other hand, Venezuela had done an impressive job by getting through a difficult group, which included hosts Brazil, without losing a game.
Team News
Venezuela coach Rafael Dudamel opted for the following line-up.
Wuilker Farinez was in goal. The back four consisted of Jhon Chancellor, Luis Del Pino, Roberto Rosales and Ronald Hernandez. Junior Moreno was ahead of the defensive line, with the quartet of Yangel Herrera, Tomas Rincon, Darwin Machis and Jhon Murillo tasked with providing the legs and creativity further up. Salomon Rondon led the line upfront.
Argentina boss Lionel Scaloni chose a different formation.
Franco Armani stood between the posts. German Pezzella and Nicolas Otamendi were in the heart of defence, with Nicolas Tagliafico on the left and Juan Foyth on the right. Leandro Paredes anchored the midfield, also consisting of Marcos Acuna and Rodrigo De Paul. Lautaro Martinez, Sergio Aguero and Lionel Messi made up a very formidable attacking line.
The First Half
Argentina went forward from the start, and less than three minutes were gone when Martinez set Aguero up for a shot from a tight angle, but Farinez did well. Pezzella came even closer in the seventh minute after a corner, but the ball had caught everybody, including him, by surprise and Farinez was able to save his team again.
But there was no saving them three minutes later. Messi took a corner and and Aguero found space to shoot from 15 yards. The shot wasn’t perticularly good but Martinez showed great awareness and skill by flicking it past Farinez with his back-heel.
0-1.
Not another two minutes had gone when Messi had a shot blocked and VAR was called into action for a possible penalty, but the decision went Venezuela’s way.
The Barcelona superstar was lively as ever, but his famous “magic” simply wasn’t there and the opposition found ways to stop him through basic defending. On the other hand, quick combinations between Martinez and Aguero gave Venezuela quite a lot of work to do.
It took Venezuela over 16 minutes to get into the opposition box, and Armani was called into action for the first time as he punched a cross away.
But Argentina still dominated the flow of the game, not allowing their opponents much time on the ball and moving forward quickly when in possession. Messi had another penalty appeal overruled by VAR around the 20th minute.
Venezuela seemed frustrated, or simply determined to try and counter Argentina through physicality, and they were lucky that only Rincon and Herrera picked up yellow cards early on with Argentina’s Martinez joining them in the book.
They did, however, manage to take the sting out of the game in the period that followed, limiting Argentina to set-piece attempts. They also won a few set-pieces themselves in attack, but that’s where they obviously saw their chance.
However, it was Aguero who had the best chance from a set-piece as his teammates took a free-kick quickly and Messi sent him running in behind, but Chancellor’s defending on that occasion was immaculate. Messi tried directly from a free-kick a minute later, but it was a rarely poor shot from the five-time Ballon d’Or winner. He did, however, then enable Acuna to whip in a low dangerous cross into the six-yard box, but nobody managed to take advantage.
Venezuela managed to hold on and go to the break just one goal down.
The Second Half
As was the case at the start of the game, Argentina charged forward after the break as well. They tried to find Aguero in a dangerous position, but Chancellor reacted well again, before Farinez cleared a dangerously whipped free-kick into the six yards. Then it was Martinez who broke through and had a go from the edge of the box and beat the goalkeeper, scraping the outside of the post.
With five minutes gone, Venezuela managed to spend a few minutes looking more determined to go and get something from the game, but it almost turned to their undoing as Messi burst forward on the counterattack, and Del Pino was lucky to avoid a yellow card for bringing him down.
In the 56th minute, Yefferson Soteldo entered the fray for Venezuela instead of Del Pino – an interesting move by Dudamel, sending a winger in for a centre-back. Herrera dropped to the back four beside Chancellor.
Venezuela were spending more and more time in the opposition half, and an interesting battle was developing on their left flank between Machis and Foyth. The Tottenham Hotspur defender had a lot of work to do, and needed all the help he could get from his centre-backs.
In the 64th minute, Angel Di Maria made his 100th appearance in the Argentina shirt as goalscorer Martinez made way.
A minute later, Machis tried to get around Foyth again and there was definite contact between them as the Venezuela winger went down, but after another VAR check, referee Wilmar Roldan gave the signal for the play to continue.
Scaloni’s second change of the game came shortly afterwards, with Acuna making way for Giovani Lo Celso as the Argentina boss sought to take back control of the game, which had started eluding his team.
And then, on the stroke of 70 minutes, Venezuela had their best chance of the game. Hernandez managed to sneak past Argentina’s defence and latch onto a great pass from Moreno, but his powerful shot from a tight angle went straight into Armani. Argentina responded immediately as Di Maria tried to find Aguero in behind, but Farinez reacted well.
However, in the very next minute, the Venezuela goalkeeper made a huge mistake as he dropped a shot by Aguero from just outside the box – straight into the path of the incoming Lo Celso who scored probably the easiest goal of his career.
0-2.
There was nothing left to do for Venezuela but try and hit as hard as they could, but apart from a few hopeful crosses that were easily dealt with, they simply weren’t threatening enough. There was a promising moment as Pezzella committed a foul on Rondon some 25 yards out with 10 minutes to go, and the Newcastle striker took the free-kick himself, missing the target by a yard or so. He came much closer after a corner soon afterwards, but Armani produced a great save to deny his header.
Then Rosales made way for Luis Seijas due to injury for Venezuela, before Scaloni withdrew Aguero and sent on Paulo Dybala.
As the game entered the final five minutes of the 90, Argentina started playing for time. Di Maria took several minutes to get back to his feet after a foul by Rincon, and he managed to waste a good chance created for him by Messi after a couple of minutes.
Venezuela threw everything they had at Argentina as the five-minute stoppage slowly passed, but to no avail.
The Afterthought
The Venezuela team were a credit to themselves in this game. They fought bravely made their opponents work very hard. They were well organized too. But in the end, the sheer quality and cunning of the Argentina players were too much for them to contend with. Nonetheless, they leave the tournament with their heads held high.
Argentina deserved to go through, there can be no question about it. Even with Messi looking unusually ineffective – he was stopped in his tracks every single time he tried to wriggle past an opponent – they managed to find inspiration and show their quality, and they made it count. They now go on to face Brazil in the semifinals, in a game that promises to be a real treat – as it usually is when those two sides meet.
Match Report
VENEZUELA: Farinez 7.5, Chancellor 8, Del Pino 7 (56′ Soteldo 7.5), Rosales 6 (83′ Seijas N/A), Hernandez 7, Moreno 7.5, Herrera 6, Rincon 7, Machis 7.5 (72′ J. Martinez 6), Murillo 6, Rondon 7.
ARGENTINA: Armani 7, Pezzella 7.5, Otamendi 7.5, Tagliafico 7, Foyth 7.5, Paredes 8.5, Acuna 6.5 (69′ Lo Celso 7), De Paul 6, Martinez 7.5 (64′ Di Maria 6), Messi 6.5, Aguero 7.5 (85′ Dybala N/A).
GOALS: Martinez 10′, Lo Celso 75′.
YELLOW CARDS: Rincon 12′, Herrera 16′, Martinez 17, Acuna 42′, Rondon 44′, Soteldo 90′.
REFEREE: Wilmar Roldan (Colombia).
DATE & VENUE: June 28, 2019, Estadio do Maracana, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
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