The International Friendly Match between the Argentina National Team and the Ecuador National Team has ended on Monday (10/06/2024) this morning. The match which took place at the Soldier Field Stadium, Chicago, United States ended with a score of 1-0 for Team Tango’s victory. The only goal was scored by one of Argentina’s star players, Angel Di Maria in the 40th minute.
Match Progress
In the first half, the match ran at a fast and hard tempo, this was evidenced by the shooting statistics of 11: 5 for Argentina and 15: 20 violations for Ecuador. Argentina repeatedly attacked Ecuador’s tightly guarded defense. In the 21st minute, Team Tango created an opportunity through Di Maria from the left side.
Unfortunately, his left foot shot still soared high above the crossbar. Not long after, five minutes later, in the 26th minute, they again got a golden opportunity in front of Ecuador’s goal from Lisandro Martinez’s hard half-volley kick utilizing Di Maria’s free kick set piece that was not cleared properly by the opposing player. But unfortunately again, the ball was still blocked by Ecuador’s goalkeeper, Hernn Galndez.
Continuing to bombard the opponent’s defense, finally in the 40th minute, Argentina managed to change the score to 1-0 through Di Maria’s goal from the right side. Working together with R. De Paul and C. Romero, Di Maria managed to enter the opponent’s penalty box before successfully putting the ball into the goal through De Paul’s key pass which was continued by Romero.
Ecuador’s goalkeeper was unable to block the ball from entering his goal. The score changed to 1-0 for Team Tango’s advantage. Three minutes later, in the 43rd minute, Di Maria almost increased Argentina’s advantage if only his free kick had not hit the Ecuador crossbar. The whistle was blown, the first half ended with Argentina’s advantage 1-0.
Entering the beginning of the second half, the game pattern was still the same as the first half, Argentina continued to attack Ecuador’s defense to double their lead. In the 49th minute, Team Tango got a chance through a header from L. Martinez, but the header was directed right at the Ecuador goalkeeper’s position so it could be easily caught. Argentina tried to rotate by bringing in L. Messi and Enzo Fernandez to replace Di Maria and L. Martinez.
Messi’s entry, apparently, had not had a significant impact on Team Tango’s game, he was marked very tightly by Ecuador players so he couldn’t do much. On the other hand, continuing to defend, Ecuador tried to get out of the pressure by creating several opportunities, in the 75th minute from the right side, Franco sent a pass to E. Valencia, but it was still broken by Argentina’s goalkeeper, Emi Martinez.
A minute later, Valencia created another opportunity through a header, unfortunately the direction was still very wide on the left side of the goal. Several times they created opportunities directed at their attacker E. Valencia, but Valencia still couldn’t take advantage of these opportunities.
In the final seconds at the end of the match, precisely in the 95th minute, Argentina got a golden opportunity through substitute player, Nico Gonzales. Facing one on one with the opposing goalkeeper, he tried to chip the ball, but the Ecuadorian goalkeeper was still able to reach the ball, the final whistle was blown and no more goals were scored.
The match ended with a final score of 1-0 for Argentina’s victory. Argentina will play another friendly match against Guatemala on June 15, while Ecuador will face Bolivia on June 13.
Lineups
Argentina (4-3-3): E. Martinez; L. Martinez; C. Romero; M. Acuna; G. Montiel (L. M. Quarta 86′); R. De Paul (E. A. Palacios 86′); L. Paredes (Nicolas G. 78′); G. Lo Celso; J. Alvarez (A. Correa 78′); A. Di Maria (Lionel Messi 56′); L. Martinez (Enzo Fernandez 56′)
Coach: L. Scaloni
Ecuador (4-2-3-1): H. Galindez; W. Pacho; F. Torres; A. Preciado; P. Hincape; J.Ortiz (C. Gruezo 62′); M. Caicedo; A. Franco; K. Paez; A. Minda (E. Valencia 62′); J. Sarmiento (A. Mena 78′)
Coach: F. Sanchez Bas
ASL
