Messi's assist is a great victory for Argentina

 

After an opening draw against Chile that put them under some pressure ahead of the second game, Argentina put together a solid team performance and defeated Uruguay to move into first place in Group B and take an important step towards a place in the Copa América quarterfinals.

Argentina started well and scored early from a short corner as Lionel Messi took on Lucas Torreira, found some space and put in a perfect cross to find Guido Rodríguez

After scoring the opener, Argentina’s strategy was clear: give Uruguay the ball, be solid at the back and try to kill the game on the counter. Uruguay are always excellent when they get to defend and counter attack, but struggle historically to keep possession and break teams down.

Lionel Scaloni made four changes to his defensive structure and the backline was a lot more solid, with goalscorer Rodríguez doing an excellent job in front of the defenders. Despite having Luis Suárez and Edinson Cavani on the pitch, Uruguay struggled for the rest of the game to create and Emi Martínez had no important saves to make in the second half.

Argentina couldn’t get a second goal to ensure the victory, but Messi and the forwards did a good job keeping the ball in their half to run out the clock. The final whistle came, and Argentina are winners thanks to a very good team performance.