Much was said and emphasized about the need for the argentine team face top-level rivals in preparatory friendlies on the way to the next Copa América. However, three months before the debut in the competition to be played in the United States, the modest Costa Rica He put her in trouble, with one of those impacts that the world champion is not used to receiving. But Argentina passed the hot flashes, had time to react, the work of a team that had eight members of the unforgettable final in Qatar in the initial formation appeared, and in the second half they turned around an adverse result to end the tour with a victory by 3-1. A logical success numerically, because it was clear that Costa Rica was going to be more than El Salvador, and it also left several nuances.
The victory at the Los Angeles Coliseum over the Costa Rican cast was, at times, difficult. There were also some interesting lapses, a couple of premieres, and the validity of Ángel Di María. A few months after saying goodbye to the national team, and in the absence of Lionel Messi, it was another Rosario player who took over the game. Having recently turned 36, “Fideo” is still a decisive piece in the Albiceleste structure. He showed it with a burst in which he scored the tying goal, a gem of a free kick that he had already shown in club matches, but the first with the national team because, of course, usually the priority on the dead ball goes to the “10″. Di Maria offered a tribute to Messi with a perfect shot.
Gustavo Alfaro, knowing Alejandro Garnacho’s debut as a starter, established a staggered mark on the sector in which the Manchester United winger was going to operate. Costa Rica, clearly ready for the counterattack, found a foothold in the hands of the experienced Keylor Navas, and surprised the world with the goal from Ugalde, who took advantage of a long rebound from the debutant Walter Benítez, after a counterattack that took the Argentine team. It was the first goal that the team received in a friendly after more than four years (2-2 against Uruguay, in November 2019). For a while, the world champion looked strangely bewildered.
Until Di María appeared. A couple of clear, incisive attacks were the prelude to the comeback. Great goal from Angelito and, immediately, after a corner kick, Mac Allister took a rebound off the crossbar and scored the second. Scaloni finished arranging the board: Paredes and De Paul inside – the Atlético de Madrid midfielder is another indisputable one – and then Lautaro Martínez, who ended the drought of almost a year and a half with the national teamand scored the third, another positive note.
“It is a reward for tranquility and work. I thank the colleagues who were always with me. There is a group of boys who come in strong and in every training session they make things difficult for the coach. We competed again, in every training session you can see the intensity and desire,” said the Bahia native, after breaking the series of 777 minutes without goals with the national shirt. There was also room for the debut of Valentín Carboni, with ten promising minutes, including a great individual play in which he almost scored the fourth.
“I have seen a very mature team, we encountered difficulties, and in the second half the team had 25 very good minutes. We are going to meet many of those matches, so it helps us. We did not understand the game well in the first half, in the second we corrected it,” was Scaloni’s evaluation. It is true that Argentina will most likely encounter more than one rival with a similar approach to that of the Tico team. The recovery exhibited was good, because there are not many occasions in which the Albiceleste starts a game at a disadvantage.
Scaloni returned to the Memorial Coliseum in Los Angeles, an emblematic setting: there, in September 2018, he made his debut as coach of the national team, with a 3-0 win over Guatemala. Other names also returned from that night: Lo Celso, Paredes, Tagliafico and Pezzella. He won, like that time, but now, with the badge of world champion, with a formation that, little by little, glimpses What will the adventure of playing without Messi be like?, with a notebook in which the coach begins to add surnames for the future, and the good thing is that it has players with different, versatile characteristics, more than interesting alternatives according to the profile of what the coach requires. Beyond the fact that Scaloni only assured in the Copa América “the one who did not come and the Fideo”, it is clear that he has several full boxes, as well as a lot to choose from. And that is another positive factor that this tour left him on the route through the United States.