Argentina reach quarters, Chile on course - COPA AMERICA CENTENARIO
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THE DAY REPLAYED. Inspired by the return of Lionel Messi, Argentina thumped Panama 5-0 on matchday two in Group D to cruise into the quarter-finals of the Copa America Centenario. Meanwhile, holders Chile recovered from their defeat to La Albiceleste on the competition’s opening day to scrape a 2-1 win over Bolivia and remain in contention for a place in the last eight. FIFA.com rounds up Friday’s highlights.
The day’s results
Chile 2-1 Bolivia
Argentina 5-0 Panama
The analysis
Beaten in their opening games, Chile and Bolivia served up a match that reflected their anxiety at the prospect of an early exit from the competition. Showing little in the way of improvement on their performance against Argentina, the reigning champions struggled to string moves together, let alone create chances in the Verde box. Their opponents, meanwhile, were more concerned with not conceding than pushing forward, all of which made for a fraught, error-strewn and uninspiring encounter.
La Roja eventually took what looked to be a decisive lead, only for Jhasmani Campos to pull the Bolivians level with a superb curling free-kick that fizzed past Claudio Bravo and into the top right corner of the net. A draw looked inevitable as the clocked ticked on, only for the holders to earn a late penalty that their star man Arturo Vidal converted to secure three points and boost their hopes of reaching the quarter-finals.
Group rivals Argentina are already there, thanks to their 5-0 defeat of Panama, with Lionel Messi marking his return to action by scoring three of the goals. Nicolas Otamendi headed La Albiceleste into an early lead, though it was not until La Pulga rose from the bench to register his second-half hat-trick that they pulled clear. Sergio Aguero completed the scoring in the closing seconds.
Highlight of the day
Argentina were two goals to the good against Panama when Lionel Messi, who already had one goal to his name, lined up a free-kick just outside the Canalera box with 11 minutes remaining. The Albiceleste No10 then proceeded to flight the ball over the wall set by Jaime Penedo and into the top-left hand corner of the net, past the keeper’s despairing full-length dive. Marking his return to the side in the best possible style, La Pulga left the pitch with the matchball in his hands, after completing a hat-trick to move to within one goal of Argentina’s all-time leading marksman, Gabriel Batistuta.
The stat
23 - the number of Copa America appearances Javier Mascherano has now made for Argentina. In running out against Panama on Friday, the Barcelona man moved past Javier Zanetti as the most-capped Albiceleste player in the history of the 100-year-old competition.
What they said
#VamosArgentina Messi: “We played well against Chile and now we’ve beaten a tough side in Panama.” pic.twitter.com/cwxVaaK3M7
— Argentinian National Team (@Argentina) 11 June 2016
Next matchday
Saturday 11 June, Group A
USA-Paraguay
Colombia-Costa Rica