June 29, (THEWILL) – The legend that is Lionel Messi shows no signs of slowing as the Argentine talisman overtook fellow countryman Javier Mascherano on Monday to become his country’s most capped international. The “Little Magician” netted a brace to help his side set up a Copa América quarter-final against Ecuador by overcoming Bolivia 4-1.
It was a 148th appearance for Messi in the Argentine colours and the maestro was in sublime form throughout. His man of the match performance was the highlight of the game and he was practically involved in almost every advance forward and the goals scored.
He began with a brilliant flick that lobbed the ball over the defense to reach the run-in of Alejandro Gómez, who did not need to break his run to volley home the opening goal after five minutes. It was a sumptuously weighted pass and made for the earliest of Argentina’s goals in the competition so far.
Messi himself took the responsibility of doubling their lead from the penalty spot just after the half-hour mark when he sold the Bolivian keeper, Carlos Lampe, a slight feign and kept him rooted to the spot before burying the ball in the right side.
The brace for the hero of the day was complete shortly before the interval. The duo of centre forward, Sergio Aguero and Messi gave fans of Barcelona a glimpse of what to expect next season if Messi signs a new contract and they play together in La Liga, when he ran on to a through-ball from Sergio Agüero and lobbed Carlos Lampe, who rushed off his line to stop Messi.
The three-goal deficit the Bolivians had to recover from against a dominant display by the Argentines, who were playing a more cohesive format than they used to, was not helped by the fact that the Bolivians were finding goals hard to come by and had lost 11 previous Copa América matches. In addition to that, they lost possession of the ball, especially in their own half, all too frequently.
Cesar Farias, the Bolivian coach, must have hammered that fact into their ears at the break as they displayed vast improvements when play resumed. They began to look dangerous as the half progressed and a quick break into the box by Leonel Justiniano on the hour opened up the defense and he crossed for Erwin Saavedra to cut the Argentine lead.
However, five minutes later and Albiceleste restored their three-goal cushion with substitute Lautaro Martínez, who found the back of the net within seconds of replacing Agüero to halt all thoughts of a Bolivian comeback and wrap up the game as a contest completely.
The brace for Messi took his tally of international goals to 75 for the Argentine side. As always, he worked tirelessly, making dizzying runs to link up play, stringing impossible passes together like the assist for the first goal and he could have had more than two himself but for another excellent performance by Lampe.
Argentina, however, stretch their unbeaten streak to 17 games to keep a healthy run that goes back to the last Copa América when they lost to Brazil in the semi-finals, as Brazil went on win the competition 3-1 against Peru.
For their next match in the competition, Argentina will clash against Ecuador on Saturday while Uruguay, who beat Paraguay 1-0, will play Colombia the same day. Defending champions and hosts again, Brazil, will take on Chile in Rio de Janeiro on Friday, while Paraguay play Peru.
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
