You had to win and you won. The phrase, repeated ad nauseam when it comes to ignoring team performances and individual performances, applies to what happened this Wednesday with the Under 20 team led by Javier Mascherano, who added his first points in the South American of the category after beating Peru 1-0 and expected a little favor from Brazil vs. Colombia in the game that was played at night.
The former midfielder’s team had made its debut with a defeat in the South American Cup (2-1 with Paraguay) and left an even more worrying image against Brazil in the 3-1 loss against the classic rival that could have been thrashed.
Consequently, and added to the tight schedule (one day of rest between matches), Mascherano made nine starting changes compared to the team that fell to Brazil. Not even the goalkeeper sparring for the World Champion Team in Qatar was spared: Facundo Gomes Gerth (Tiger) he had provided little security in the first two dates and left his place to Franco Herrera (Newell’s). Along with him, the four in the background also came out, quite a blow on the DT table.
Among those who survived from one match to the other were midfielder and captain Gino Infantino and striker Brian Aguirre, one from Central and one from Newell’s. And a large part of what happened at the Pascual Guerrero stadium in Cali, Colombia, happened through them. Is that The one from Newell’s was the most destabilizing player from Argentina, located on the extreme left. While The one from Central, who had just missed a penalty against Brazil, took off his mufa and scored the only goal of the meeting
For Argentina to find relief at the end of the first half, the miscalculation of the Peruvian goalkeeper Sebastián Amasifuen was vital -a good game anyway- and the quick reaction of the nine Alejo Veliz (Central) to head as soon as the one missed the slap. But his head hit the stick and luckily there was Infantino there to push her into an almost empty goal.
The Selection was nervous and erratic during the match, a completely logical situation given the latent possibility of elimination. Not even with the goal was it possible to see a fluid Argentine game, despite the good individualities of the aforementioned Aguirre and the left-handed Nicolás Paz (Real Madrid)who raised his level a lot in the second half.
In any case, Mascherano seemed to find some solutions among so much modification, such as with the good work of Veliz as center forward, the imbalance of Aguirre, the rises of the right-back Ulises Ciccioli (Central) and the safety of goalkeeper Herreraespecially in the final minutes when the team fell behind and gave the opportunity to a very weak Peru, which added its fourth defeat in as many appearances.
Thus, Argentina was able to vent a little before going to see the match between Colombia and Brazil, which was played in the night shift and could decree the elimination of the albiceleste. As Paraguay (7 points) and Brazil (6) are already classified to the second phase, Argentina needed Colombia (4) not to win to reach the chances of going to the Final Hexagonal on the last date, on Friday in a one-on-one with the coffee growers. If the local team beat, they would go to 7 points and would be unattainable for Mascherano’s team with one game to play (just like Paraguay). And also, to equalize in points with Brazil (6) the tiebreaker criteria of the tournament are the one-on-one matches. The first three of each South American group go to a final Hexagonal of all against all that will decide the qualifiers for the World Cup in Indonesia this year.