Bolivia were outclassed by a clinical Argentina team by 4-1 in the Copa America 2021. Thus, the Albiceleste make it to the quarterfinals finishing as Group A winners. Lionel Messi, Alejandro Gomez and Lautaro Martinez were goalscorers for them whereas Erwin Saavedra pulled back one for the opponents.
In a comparatively tougher group as compared to that of tournament hosts, Brazil, the Argentines managed to be unbeaten with three wins and a draw. Additionally, Messi is now Argentina’s most capped player surpassing Javier Mascherano with 148 appearances so far.
On the other hand, La Verde bow out from the competition by finishing at 5th place.
Bolivia 1-4 Argentina : Team News
Bolivia made four changes to their starting 11 and played with a 4-4-2 formation.
Whereas, Lionel Scaloni made five changes to the starting line-up and Franco Armani started instead of Emiliano Martinez. They fielded a 4-2-3-1 formation spearheaded by Sergio Aguero.
Bolivia 1-4 Argentina : Analysis
The momentum completely shifted towards one side as Argentina were dominating the field with 68% possession. They were more clinical as compared to the previous fixture against Paraguay as they had 13 shots on target out of 18 total shots.
Once again, their opponents, Bolivia, were dropping deep and were only looking for any possible counter-attacks. However, Alejandro Gomez broke the deadlock once again and Lionel Messi was the architect behind the early lead.
Gomez was fouled inside the penalty box and Messi made it 2-0 in the 30th minute. He added his second goal of the day in the 41st minute as Messi chipped a ball over opponent goalkeeper. However, the Greens got one goal back in the 60th minute after a poor defensive display from the Argentine defence.
But, their defense once again let them down as Lautaro Martinez made it 4-1 four minutes later. Despite the dominant display, the White and Blues showed some weaknesses and they would certainly need to improve upon it.
Notable Performances
Lionel Messi (8/10) – Another classy performance from the skipper. Two well-deserved goals and one assist certainly means that he could still win Copa America this time around!
Sergio Aguero (7/10) – Despite not getting on the scoresheet, he still was the main orchestrator behind Messi. A decent performance by him.
Carlos Lampe (5.5/10) – Disorganized in defence and he was struggling to keep up against the Argentine attackers.
Argentina next face Ecuador in the quarterfinals and may face Uruguay or Colombia in the semifinals.
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