Javier Mascherano’s Sub 20 closed their participation in the South American as they began: with defeat. It was lost 1 to 0 against the local Colombia this Friday night in a one-on-one to go to the Final Hexagonal and thus, Argentina, six-time world champion in the category, will not be at the Indonesian World Cup in the middle of the year nor in the Pan American Games in November.
Unlike previous presentations (1-2 with Paraguay, 1-3 with Brazil and 1-0 against Peru), the National Team did not suffer so much from the nervous handling of the ball, especially in their own half. This time, the urgency of triumphs that has been afflicting the National Team after the debut -he had to win this Friday to pass the round, while Colombia also had a draw- It only became noticeable when it approached the rival area: the albiceleste kids didn’t even get to enter it since everything ended in long distance shots. There were 15 minutes into the game and Gino Infantino (Rosario Central) had already tried twice and Brian Aguirre (Newell’s; again the best of the team) another, in the three Argentine attacks of that period.
Mascherano’s indication was very clear and if Argentina rushed to define how much minimum chance of danger was presentedColombia was the opposite: possibility of attack that the local team had, a situation in which they put an extra hitch that ended up messing things up.
Although the Argentine game did not appear, Colombia was delayed with the passing of the minutes according to the increasing value of the tie, which allowed our team to get ahead on the field. Consequently, heThe Selection was left more unprotected in defense and began to depend more on goalkeeper Franco Herrera (Newell’s)such as when Infantino carelessly lost a ball in the middle and the one saved his team with a double save against a shot from Juan Fuentes (Barcelona B).
Mascherano began to burn the ships with half an hour to go, with the entry of lungo Alejo Veliz (Rosario Central) to stand on double nine with Ignacio Maestro Puch (Atlético Tucumán).
The Argentine formula of shooting from anywhere then became that of sending crosses into the box. And in one of these, at 75, Nico Paz (Real Madrid B) hit him badly and Colombia launched the counter against a Argentina very bad stop. There were three attackers against two defenders when the kid Fuentes chose to take the left-footed shot from the door of the area instead of looking for a free teammate. It seemed like a bad decision, but Herrera, from Santiago, lost the ball between his hands and through the middle of his legs, unfortunately for the Albiceleste.
Although there was time for the heroic, there was no strength or resources for the comeback of Argentina, which closed a tournament to forget that may have culminated in the image of Herrera but that had much deeper flaws than the mere mistake of a footballer.
So things, Group A ended with Brazil (10 points), Colombia (8), Paraguay (7), Argentina (3) and Peru (0). The first three advanced to the final Hexagonal, which already has Uruguay (9) in Group B and Ecuador (4), Chile (4) and Venezuela (3; directed by Fabricio Coloccini) fighting for the other two slots. In the Hexagonal they will play all against all, the first four will qualify for the World Cup in Indonesia and the best three will qualify for the Pan American Games in Santiago de Chile.