Argentina did not only miss Lionel Messi, but also head coach Lionel Scaloni, who was banned from coaching. Argentina had already qualified for the group stage, thus they only played Peru with the B team to save the strength of its important players, but the reigning champions demonstrated that they were stronger in terms of squad quality.
The majority of Argentina’s chances came from set pieces. Throughout the first half, Peruvian custodian Gallese struggled to save free kicks from Argentina’s key players.
Argentina handily won on the day they fielded their second team.
The Peruvian goalkeeper’s exceptional performance was also responsible for the first half’s lack of a goal. However, just one minute into the second half, things became too difficult for Peru, as Argentina had an excellent coordination scenario. Di Maria produced a one-touch pass to Lautaro, who ran down and chipped the ball past Gallese to open the scoring.
Tagliafico appeared to have scored Argentina’s second goal in the 55th minute, but the referee ruled that Lo Celso was offside. Peru had to wait until the 67th minute for their first good chance, but Marcos Lopez’s long-range attempt was not stopped by Emiliano Martinez. Two minutes later, they were awarded a penalty when Castillo handled Montiel’s cross.
Peru was eliminated from the Copa America group stage for the first time since 1995.
Paredes’ attempt, however, struck the post from 11 metres away. The defending champs did, however, score their second goal. Lautaro Martinez shined again in the 86th minute, scoring a superb goal to give Argentina a 2-0 victory. Argentina won all of their group stage matches, and they are now prepared to face any opponent in the knockout round.
In the simultaneous match, Canada merely needed to avoid defeat, Peru did not need to beat Argentina, and Chile needed to gain three points to move from the group stage. However, the two teams were unable to break the deadlock, and the game ended 0-0 after 90 minutes. This score allowed Canada to move from the group stage for the first time in a Copa America, while Chile was eliminated with only two points.
