Detained By Paraguay 1-1 Draw, Argentina Still At The Top Of The CONMEBOL Zone Standings

Lionel Messi against Paraguay (Photo: Antara)

JAKARTA - The Argentine national team had to settle for winning one point during a 1-1 draw by Paraguay in the 2022 South American Zone World Cup Qualification match.

The match was held at the Estadio Alberto Jose Armando, Argentina, Friday morning WIB, the home goal was scored by Nicolas Gonzales and a Paraguay goal was contributed by Angel Romero, Antara noted on the official CONMEBOL website.

Appearing at home, Argentina has tried to take the initiative to attack since the match began.

Lionel Messi and his friends want to continue the positive record they have achieved in the previous two matches.

Even though at the start of the match they controlled the game, but Argentina fell behind first.

The referee awarded Paraguay a penalty after Lucas Martinez fouled winger Miguel Almiron.

Angel Romero was appointed executor and managed to do his job well. In the 21st minute, he managed to bring Paraguay ahead with a score of 1-0.

Behind one goal, Argentina tried to get up and Lionel Messi several times tried to create opportunities.

Tango team finally managed to equalize in 41 minutes through the action of Nicolas Gonzalez.

Utilizing a corner from Giovani Lo Celso, Gonzalez managed to head the ball past goalkeeper Anthony Silva. Position changed to 1-1 and lasted until the first half ended.

Entering the second half, Argentina was eager to win which made them dominate the game at the start of this second half.

Lionel Messi put Argentina ahead in the 58th minute, but the goal was ruled out because VAR saw a foul before the goal occurred.

VAR decided not to authorize a goal because before Messi scored, Nicolas Dominguez seemed to have violated Romero. That way, the score returned to 1-1.

In 73 minutes, Messi again had a golden opportunity to score a goal. He managed to open a shot, unfortunately his shot was slightly off the mark.

Towards the end of the match, Argentina really appeared dominant and locked the opposing team. However, Argentina could not change the score and had to end the match with a draw.

This result made Argentina fail to continue their positive trend after winning the first two qualifying matches.

Even so, Lionel Messi and his friends are perched at the top of the standings with seven points, one point difference from Brazil under him who will compete on Saturday tomorrow. Meanwhile, Paraguay is in fourth position with one point.

The composition of players:

Argentina (3-4-3): Armani, Otamendi, Lucas Martinez, Montiel, Nicolas Gonzalez, Palacios (Lo Celso 29 '), Paredes, De Paul (Alario 85'), Ocampos (Di Maria 60 '), Lautaro Martinez ( Dominguez 83 ;, Messi

Paraguay (4-3-3): Antony Silva, Rojas, Barbuena, Gustavo Gomez, Junior Alonso, Gaston Gimenez, Angel Cardozo, Villasanti (Morel 74 '), Angel Romero (Sanabria 86'), Dario Lezcano (Hernan Perez 76 ' ), Almiron (Alderete 90 + 2 ')