Without creating many situations, Argentina managed without Lionel Messi, who watched the game for 76 minutes from the bench.
A goal by Ángel Di María in the 7th minute gave Argentina a 1-0 victory in Montevideo on Friday, bringing it closer to the Qatar 2022 World Cup and taking Uruguay’s team away from the qualifying positions.
Without creating many situations, Argentina managed without Lionel Messi, who watched the game for 76 minutes from the bench, and added three points that consolidate it in second place in the playoffs.
Uruguay showed a better performance than in previous matches, they could get a different result.
True to the style that led him to consecrate himself in the last Copa América, Lionel Scaloni opted for an eleven with three midfielders in which Rodrigo de Paul and Giovani Lo Celso organized football.
Without Messi, his position was taken by Paulo Dybala to form an offensive partnership with Lautaro Martínez and Ángel Di María.
On the other side, after several encounters playing with a winger on the right side, Nahitan Nández returned to the center of the field, where the brand was divided with Matías Vecino, Rodrigo Bentancur and Lucas Torreira.
Meanwhile, Luis Suárez was the area reference for the team led by Óscar Washington Tabárez, who could not count on Edinson Cavani.
From the beginning, the Celeste showed a very different attitude from the one they had exhibited in previous matches, in fact, within minutes of play, goalkeeper Emiliano Martínez avoided a goal from Nández with a spectacular cover.
In the first half, Argentina approached the goal defended by Fernando Muslera only once, the problem for the locals was that this play ended in a goal.
At seven minutes, Ángel Di María took advantage of an error by Joaquín Piquerez at the start and with a left-footed shot left the Uruguayan goalkeeper without options.
La Celeste did not give up and launched the attack encouraged by its audience. Running tirelessly, Nández became a figure.
With a close shot, Vecino came close to converting. Also Suárez, who at 30 minutes crashed a ball against the right post and then failed on the rebound.
At the beginning of the second half, the field continued to incline towards the goal defended by Martínez.
Piquerez and Suárez had the tie in two clear plays, however, both players were slow to finish off and were marked by the Albiceleste defense.
In the opposite goal, Alejandro Gómez was able to increase the score with a shot that was lost a few centimeters from the post. The ‘Papu’ had entered a few minutes before with Ángel Correa.
About 70 minutes, when the game was played more in the center of the field than in the extremes, Messi entered instead of Lo Celso.
On a counterattack, Argentina had the second through Joaquín Correa, who was greatly blocked by Bentancur. Immediately, the Inter Milan striker approached again but Muslera lowered the blind to nullify his shot.
At the end, Agustín Álvarez Martínez was about to score twice, but Uruguay could not achieve the equality it deserved.
Argentina won 0-1 and took a new step towards the Qatar 2022 World Cup, while Celeste was in sixth place in the standings and has already begun to think about Bolivia. (D)
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