It was a delight for Argentina, while frustration for Uruguay and Chile on the sixth matchday of the Copa America 2021. Alejandro Dario Gomez’s tenth-minute goal was enough to register three points and a second straight win for Argentina. Meanwhile, Arturo Vidal’s own goal canceled out Eduardo Vargas’ first-half strike in the Uruguay-Chile clash.
Here’s a recap of both the matches from matchday six of Copa America 2021.
URU vs CHI
Uruguay picked up their first point in the tournament and dashed Chile’s hopes of back-to-back wins. Vargas opened the scoring and teammate Vidal had a match to forget as his clearance from a corner turned into an own goal.
In the eighth minute, Edinson Cavani thought his header, which was brilliantly kept out by Claudio Bravo, from around 10 yards had crossed the line. He appealed for a video review, but the assistant referee raised the flag for an offside. At the other end, Vargas found himself in the Uruguay box, courtesy of a reverse pass from Ben Brereton. He unleashed a powerful strike past Fernando Muslera from a narrow-angle.
Uruguay had plenty of possession in the second half but failed to create good chances. In the 66th minute, Facundo Torres saw his left-footer from the edge of the box pushed away for a corner. Uruguay equalized from the resulting set-piece after Vidal’s effort to deny Luis Suarez ended up in his own goal. Both teams missed a great chance to wrap up three points. Luciano Arriagada missed the target from three yards, while Cavani’s header from Matias Vina’s cross went narrowly wide.
Goalscorers: URU – A Vidal (OG); CHI – E Vargas
Assists: B Brereton
Top Five Fantasy Points scorers: E Vargas (9.5 pts), B Brereton (7.5 pts), C Aranguiz (6 pts), M Vecino (6 pts), D Godin (5 pts)
ARG vs PAR
A dominant Argentina grabbed a 1-0 win over Paraguay in the Copa America 2021 Group A fixture. The lone goal came in the tenth minute, thanks to a lovely finish from Dario Gomez. With seven points from three games, Argentina has established a two-point lead over Chile at the top of the table. Paraguay, meanwhile, occupies the third spot with three points from two games.
Argentina attacked right from the whistle and could have taken the lead through Sergio Aguero in the seventh minute. The Manchester City striker pounced on a poor header, but his effort went just over the crossbar. However, within three minutes, they took the lead. Angel Di Maria gave a sensational pass to Dario Gomez, who broke the offside trap and lobbed the ball over onrushing Antony Silva. Argentina didn’t slow down and went in search of more goals. Lionel Messi’s free-kick, awarded for a foul on Aguero, narrowly missed the target, while Di Maria, too, was denied.
The second half was a quiet affair compared to the opening 45 minutes. Argentina seemed to be comfortable with the one-goal advantage. Paraguay struggled to create any openings and didn’t threaten at all.
Goalscorers: A Gomez
Assists: A Di Maria
Top Five Fantasy Points scorers: A Gomez (13.5 pts), A Di Maria (10 pts), C Gabriel Romero (7.5 pts), N Molina (7.5 pts), G Pezzella (7.5 pts)
Parameswaran Sankaranarayanan
Parameswaran Sankaranarayan is a sports enthusiast who has worked in print, website, and other digital platforms. He was part of the editorial team of first-ever Indian football-based website - IndianFootball.com (now defunct) - and passionately follows the latest happenings in world football. During his time as a journalist, he had the opportunity to interact with some of the iconic personalities in Indian sports and witness some memorable moments in Indian football.
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