2023-11-17 17:54:00
Argentine striker Lionel Messi leaves the field after the end of the South American qualification soccer match for the 2026 FIFA World Cup between Argentina and Uruguay at the La Bombonera stadium in Buenos Aires on November 16, 2023. (Photo by JUAN MABROMATA / AFP)
Almost a year after the consecration in Qatar, the Argentine team stopped its triumphant march with an unappealable 0-2 that a high-flying Uruguay gave it to the stupor of a packed Bombonera, for the fifth date of the South American Qualification for the World Cup. 2026.
The triumph of those led by Marcelo Bielsa ended several records, since Argentina had been undefeated in 25 games in World Cup qualifiers, had never lost at home against Uruguay in this competition and the goalkeeper’s streak of 752 minutes without conceding goals ended. . Emiliano ‘Dibu’ Martínez.
Argentina, accustomed to the leading role, this time did not find the recipe against an unapologetic rival, who stood up to the world champion.
Uruguay showed character, beyond having several players with few international caps, and executed with dedication an intense and rough game plan that managed to extinguish the magic of Lionel Messi.
– “We never feel comfortable” –
The Albiceleste’s number 10 was soon trapped in a staggered marker and, wherever it moved in search of space for its tricks, it always ran into a Uruguayan marker. The captain also did not find his usual partners in the preparation of the attacks.
Uruguay clearly read that they could not allow Argentina long possessions and made an effort to give them a fight in every corner of the field. Thus, Alexis Mac Allister did not have time or space in the middle, Enzo Fernández was always in inferiority, Julián Álvarez found himself very alone in the attack and Nicolás González was a shadow on the field.
“We never feel comfortable,” said Messi, the first to show his face minutes after a defeat that silenced more than 50,000 spectators. «We didn’t have the ball, we didn’t have long possessions, we couldn’t accelerate and we were infected by their rhythm. In Uruguay you can see the hand of the coach,” he commented in an accurate analysis.
Lionel Scaloni ordered quick changes in search of an answer that never came. Uruguay did not go beyond the script and in this sense the Argentine coach praised the opponent and made a self-criticism: «we did not find the paths, but it seems that it was not the day, we were not in the game. The rival plays too and we must congratulate him.”
Argentina’s last defeat, that surprising 1-2 against Saudi Arabia in the opening game in Qatar, generated a tremor from which the team emerged with personality to embark on the path to consecration. In a few days, a new opportunity will open to the world champion to quickly forget this bad experience.
Next Tuesday, Argentina must go to the Maracaná to visit Brazil, in a superclassic in which, strangely, both arrive with defeats on their backs.
La Verdeamarela has accumulated three matches without success, which made it fall to an unusual fifth place on the road to 2026. Argentina, for its part, remains first in the standings, two points above La Celeste.
Aware of his team, Scaloni summarizes: “a very difficult game is coming up. We will try to do the best. This team showed plenty of signs that it can get out of difficult situations. Here you lose and win as a team. But we cannot think that because we are world champions we will never lose. We are not unbeatable, I said it and I will continue to say it.”
And Uruguay made it clear, which extinguished the Albicelestes’ World Cup euphoria and made them taste, after a year, the bitter taste of defeat.
str/tev/nn/ol
© Agence France-Presse
#Argentina #bitter #taste #defeat #celebrations