World Cup qualifier: Early Di Maria objective offers Argentina 1-0 win at Uruguay
Argentina began with out Lionel Messi however a second of magic from Angel Di Maria was sufficient to offer them a barely deserved 1-0 win over Uruguay in Friday’s World Cup qualifier in Montevideo. Uruguay surrendered meekly to Argentina in a 3-0 defeat final month however this time they took the sport to their opponents and can really feel aggrieved at rising pointless after having extra of the probabilities in entrance of their residence followers.
“Sometimes you just have to win and we managed that,” Argentine coach Lionel Scaloni mentioned. “Not playing well, certainly, but it still counts.”The match was determined by a second of brilliance from Di Maria after simply six minutes. Young Uruguayan left-back Joaquin Piquerez misplaced possession on the sting of the penalty space and Di Maria curled a chic shot over helpless keeper Fernando Muslera. Luis Suarez had already pressured Emiliano Martinez into a superb save on the different finish and the Atletico Madrid striker additionally hit the submit after half an hour.
Highlights:
The second half was extra even and each keepers made essential saves however Uruguay’s lack of firepower – they’ve now scored solely two targets of their final 5 video games – meant they struggled towards a sometimes strong Argentine workforce. Goalkeeper Martinez was additionally lucky within the dying minutes when first Julian Alvarez put a free header over the bar after which the keeper fumbled a long-range shot however was in a position to get better earlier than it crept into the web behind him.
Messi, who missed his final two Paris St Germain video games by means of damage, changed Giovani Lo Celso with 14 minutes left for Argentina however made little affect for a aspect that noticed their unbeaten streak improve to 26 video games, a run that stretches again greater than two years.” They put strain on us, they’ve skilled gamers, however we have been fortunate to have the ability to preserve our unbeaten run and get all three factors,” defender Nicolas Otamendi mentioned.”We understand how troublesome it’s to play right here and we knew that they have been underneath quite a lot of strain to win. We needed to be robust when the sport bought sophisticated however we have been in a position to preserve a clear sheet.”
The victory takes Argentina to twenty-eight factors, six behind Brazil, who on Thursday grew to become the primary South American workforce to ensure their place in Qatar 2022 after beating Colombia 1-0. The high 4 groups qualify robotically for the finals and the fifth-placed aspect go into an inter-regional playoff. Uruguay stays on 16 factors, fourth equal with Chile and Colombia. They head to Bolivia to face the house aspect at excessive altitude on Tuesday, whereas Argentina are at residence to Brazil the identical evening.
