Under-20 World Cup in Argentina: Mascherano’s team suffers against Uzbekistan but turns the situation around and wins on their debut

It was not without suffering. It was without having anything advanced and making a lot of effort. But the Argentina national team Sub 20 He was able to finish a crooked game and thus put his World Cup dream at the fore with a 2-1 victory before the complicated Uzbekistan in a Unica Madre delle Città stadium packed with 30,000 people. The group led by Javier Mascheranothat he had been surprised by a tough opponent. Next Tuesday they will face Guatemala.

On paper, Uzbekistan was Argentina’s toughest local rival. The coaching staff thought so right from the day of the draw for the competition in which the teams that the youth national team would have to face were confirmed. And when it came time for action, the Asian champion agreed with that previous analysis.

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Because he pressed from the start and came face to face against the venue. Wrapped in a 5-2-3 formation, he launched his wings to attack and left his wings spread and raised to stifle Argentina, who blamed discomfort.

Even so, the albiceleste boys tried to establish themselves and progress on fast ground due to the constant, slow and copious drizzle that soaked everything. Mascherano organized a flexible 4-2-3-1 system because covering the start of the Uzbeks, Valentín Carboni was positioned at the level of Alejo Véliz and the wingers, Brian Aguirre and Matías Soulé, fell to either side of the double five composed by Mateo Tanlongo and Máximo Perrone.

Something interesting began to be noticed when they managed to connect Soulé and Valentin Barco, the Boca side who has a great offensive craft and passes with speed and judgment. A Colo center finds Véliz’s head in one of the first hazards of the cool Santiago afternoon. Véliz already had another one after a mistake by Umarali Rahmonaliyev, the Asian number 10, which gave Carboni a pass into the center.

However, and despite the encouragement led by the hammering of the bass drum of historic Tula, the boys of Masche began to feel insecurities deep inside. The first scare came due to a mistake at the start: Federico Gomes Gerth gave it to a demanding Perrone, who lost and left Polatkhoja Kholdorkhonov hand in hand. Luckily he vomited it up.

Argentina vs Uzbekistan: from surprise to draw and VAR

There were a lot of those unforced errors on the part of the Argentines, even after turning history around. The coup in Uzbekistan would come next. The cast of Asia took advantage of Agustín Giay’s bare back and Makhmudjon Makhamadjonov did not forgive.

The positive thing was that before the ghosts of the South American invaded the group, hehe bequeathed the head tie to Véliz -Giay’s centre-back- and the collaboration of goalkeeper Otabek Boymurodov, who seemed to lack the strength to take the ball with his arm. He ran out of energy and entered his enclosure.

It seemed that the procedure for the Selection had straightened out, but Giay’s back suffered again with Makhamadjonov’s ascent. He slipped to the side of San Lorenzo and had no choice but to throw himself to sweep it. The French referee Francois Letexier, penalized without hesitation. But the call came from the VAR to go and check. After looking at different angles, he reversed his sentence and what was new was that his explanation was heard over the speakers in the stadium. The judge understood that it was the Uzbek who proposed the contact.

Zafo Argentina. He had an extra life and understood that he had to wake up so as not to continue having a bad time. He cost the same. Uzbekistan persisted and repeated it with an Abbosbek Fayzullaev header after the errors of Valentín Gómez and Gomes Gerth from above.

Sub 20 World Cup: Argentina turns the situation around

Until Newell’s player started growing on the right, Brian Aguirre. On his side some centers fell which pushed the team towards the attack. Now with better ground position, he managed to turn the tables with a nice combination between Soulé, Barco and Coalswhich he called left-handed.

The boy from Inter did it its first online dressed in blue and white in its first official presentation. He was also the one who scored a few different shots when he had the ball in his possession.

Apart from dominating the result, Argentina never had control of the match. His opponent has not resigned and has always contested the management of the ball. And for several periods he stole the complement and succeeded, also generating a couple of clear chances. Gomes Gerth’s hands solidified.

Mascherano’s changes aim to balance the midfield and he succeeds. He regained possession and removed the danger. The team can and must improve: on Tuesday they will have the opportunity against Guatemala, the Asians’ less demanding rivals. It will be about taking advantage of it.

The summary of the game