Brasilia: An Alejandro Darío Gómez (Papu Gomez) goal early into the match proved decisive as Argentina cruised past Paraguay 1-0 in Group A to book their Copa America 2021 quarterfinal spot on Tuesday. On the other hand, an own goal from Arturo Vidal cost Chile full points against Uruguay at Arena Pantana.
The match will also be memorable for talisman Lionel Messi who made his 147th appearance for Argentina equalling the mark of retired defender Javier Mascherano. Argentina also extended their winning streak to 16 matches.
Papu Gomez broke the deadlock on 10 minutes courtesy a beautiful assist from Angel Di Maria. Although Argentina didn’t get any goal further but managed to keep pressure on the opposition for the rest of the 90 minutes.
“We’re through but we have to keep improving,” said defender German Pezzella. “We had a great first half, our intensity wasn’t the same in the second but they didn’t have very many chances at goal.”
Meanwhile, Uruguay continued their dismal form with a 1-1 draw against Chile. Coming from a 0-1 defeat against Argentina in the opener — where they didn’t get a shot on target — Uruguay once again faltered with Vidal gifting them a point.
Chile were clearly the dominant side on the day with better ball possession. They were rewarded when Eduardo Vargas played a nice one-two before firing a thunderous shot past Uruguayan goalkeeper Fernando Muslera on 26 minutes.
But as the game rolled on Uruguay started to take hold of the game, and grew as minutes passed. They got an equalizer when a corner was nodded into the six-yard box and Luis Suarez and Vidal fell into a commotion as the ball hit the net. The goal was awarded to Suarez at first but was corrected as own goal from Vidal later on.
