Copa America 2015: Tuesday's Day 6 Takeaways
Day 6 at the Copa America was one for Arsenal fans of a certain age to appreciate, as two 1-0 wins clarified the picture—at least to a certain extent—in Group B.
Argentina and Paraguay were the two sides celebrating victory, in the process moving to four points from their opening two games. That guarantees both nations at least third place in the final standings but crucially does not yet guarantee them progress to the knockout rounds, meaning the final round of group games will still be of great importance.
Argentina beat Uruguay, thanks to Sergio Aguero's brave header in Tuesday's late kick-off. That result leaves Oscar Tabarez's side knowing they must beat Paraguay in their final group game to be sure of their place in the last eight.
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The same cannot be said of Jamaica, whose second successive defeat—thanks to Edgar Benitez's improvised effort—means they cannot now escape the group whatever they do against Lionel Messi and Co.
After a day of few goals but plenty of excitement, let's look at some of the key points.
1. Aguero slowly becoming pivotal to Argentina hopes
In the end, it was the sort of game in La Serena that many had anticipated, even if they secretly hoped it might go another way. Uruguay very obviously (and unashamedly) came to defend in their meeting with Argentina, hoping to frustrate their rivals for as long as possible—and perhaps nick something on the counter-attack to win it.
By and large, it was a strategy that worked well, except for a brief period midway through the first half when Messi threatened to take over the game. But Tabarez tweaked things slightly to put an extra man on the Barcelona maestro, and his influence was diminished after that—not significantly, but just enough to take the edge off Argentina's main attacking threat.
That meant Argentina's goal had to come from somewhere else and someone else. And it was Sergio Aguero who played that role brilliantly. The Manchester City man showed all his bravery to head home after club teammate Pablo Zabaleta put a very inviting cross into the near post.
It was a goal built on a nice, flowing team passing move—a fitting way to win a game that was built on a similar base.
Aguero now has two in two games in this competition and is quickly becoming vital to his side's goalscoring hopes. If Messi is the team's creator and most dominant individual—to such an extent that opponents devote huge energy to stopping him—then it is invariably Aguero who pops up in those spaces and makes the difference. His high level of play has kept him ahead of Carlos Tevez in the pecking order.
Aguero's finishing touch is becoming so important that there was significant worry when he appeared to suffer a shoulder injury during the process of scoring past Fernando Muslera in Tuesday's match. He was ultimately able to continue, but Gerardo Martino will be monitoring that issue closely heading into the rest of the tournament. OptaJavier noted Aguero's knack for scoring in this international competition:
Argentina also showed they can stand up to a physical assault—with Uruguay seemingly trying to rile their opponents at every opportunity without gaining any significant advantage from it.
As Messi summed up afterward, per AFP News' Mariano Andrade (via Yahoo Sports):
"It was a tough match from their side. They didn't want to play that much.
They were tough. They were hard on us. But we showed that we can also play that kind of game if we need to.
Yet we tried to keep playing our game and that's how we found the goal through Kun [Aguero].
"
2. But what did Jamaica learn from the experience?
Two games, two defeats, no goals. It is not hard to see why Jamaica are going home (and, in truth, it won't come as a great surprise to many) and therefore it's rather easy to criticise their inclusion in the competition to begin with.
They were determined defensively against Paraguay but clearly lacked any invention in the final third, and manager Winfried Schafer has now evidently decided he needs to focus on that area ahead of future challenges.
"Two matches and no goals for us, you can see our problem," Schafer told reporters, per beIN Sports. "We lost against Uruguay via a free-kick, we lost today due to a crazy goal.
"Our strikers have to move to give more options for the midfielders, defenders. … I hope I find a team that can play like this against Argentina.
"This tournament is for us to find a very good team for the qualification matches in August, September."
Playing against players of this skill and calibre will only help the Jamaica players, however, and the manner in which they have defended for much of both games will give them plenty of confidence.
If they can avoid a hammering in their final game against Argentina, then there might be positives for the Reggae Boys to take home from this competition—even if there aren't any goals.
3. A simple truth: No Suarez, no goals for Uruguay
There was an unmistakeable Atletico Madrid feel about Uruguay's performance on Tuesday, and not just because Diego Godin and Jose Gimenez were in the heart of the defence.
Those two played in customary rugged fashion, but many of their teammates followed suit, impressing with their work rate and defensive concentration as they matched up against opponents who seemed to possess a significant talent advantage in certain areas.
Such characteristics should be no surprise to those who have watched Uruguay in major tournaments in recent years, of course. The difference this year, however, is that Luis Suarez is not around, and his absence was keenly felt during a game in which Uruguay lacked their usual attacking threat.
Tabarez's game plan, so effective previously in World Cups, hinges to an extent on individual quality to create attacking opportunities—something neither Edinson Cavani or Diego Rolan quite possess (to be fair, few players in the world do).
It was particularly painful, then, that the two best chances of the game fell to Rolan, the man ostensibly replacing Suarez in the lineup.
In the first half, the lanky striker nodded a difficult headed chance narrowly wide of Sergio Romero's far post. It was a decent opportunity, but he really squandered his moment in the second half, blasting over from six yards out after Romero had parried Maxi Pereira's shot straight into the striker's path.
It was a gilt-edged opportunity and one Suarez undoubtedly would have put away (indeed, it was not dissimilar to the goal the ex-Liverpool man scored in the Champions League final a few weeks ago). In the end, that ended up being the difference between defeat and a possible draw for Tabarez and his team.
Uruguay are still in this competition, and Rolan may still have a few chances to redeem himself. But you sensed that the way events unfolded on Tuesday were indicative of Uruguay's overall issues, and their chances of actually winning this tournament were decided as soon as their main striker and best player was banned from taking part.
4. The pain of being a goalkeeper hits Kerr hard
Jamaica goalkeeper Duwayne Kerr was one of the best players on the pitch for much of the game against Paraguay in Antofagasta, yet his egregious mistake ended up costing his side the match in the end.
Discovering that not all No. 1s are born to be Manuel Neuer-type sweeper-keepers, Kerr rushed from his line to head clear a long, rather aimless ball into his half—only to put it straight at the feet of the onrushing Edgar Benitez.
The midfielder still had a lot to do, but he somehow did it perfectly, lifting his shot over the suddenly stranded goalkeeper and giving it just enough pace to beat the covering defender and find the net.
A few hours later, the result in Antofagasta means Jamaica are now out of the competition. That surely won't make Kerr feel any better.
5. Just a little bit of history repeated...
Apparently, it did not require a rocket scientist to predict what would happen in the game between Uruguay and Argentina. Just a historian, as MisterChip's tweets illustrate:
6. Defending not easy enough for either winner
One of the notable aspects of both matches on Tuesday was how poorly the two winning sides protected their leads in the closing stages. Both Paraguay and Argentina clearly (and sensibly) employed tactical changes in the final 10 minutes to hold what they already had, yet still ended up skating very close to the wind before finally securing the three points.
Jamaica, who had offered little attacking threat all evening, essentially camped in the Paraguay box in the final five minutes—as Garath McCleary went close from range, and then a number of headers were directed only marginally off target.
Then Argentina suffered similar defensive problems, even after Rolan's pivotal miss had given them a real wake-up call. Uruguay created many dangerous openings in the last few minutes, with the best attempt ultimately coming from striker Abel Hernandez.
The substitute dropped off his defender expertly before rifling a low shot at goal that Romero did brilliantly to parry away, a save that ultimately secured the points for Martino's side. Based on Argentina's performance, sports journalist Ben Hayward predicts a group win:
Such troubles did not end up being a problem on the night, but they might be more of an issue later in the competition. Paraguay's troubles in particular did not exactly speak to their ability to protect their position when they come up against better sides, while Argentina's wobbles will surely give their biggest rivals (i.e. Brazil) cause to believe they have their soft spots at the back.
Paraguay's defences may well be tested again in their vital final group game against Uruguay. Argentina, in contrast, might not have to stress-test their backline again until they reach the knockout part of the tournament. Before then, however, you would imagine Martino will want his defensive unit to put in a bit of extra time on the training ground.
