Argentina vs. Bolivia – Half Time Report – Copa http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/America-c38390 2011
The Copa America got underway on 1st of July, 2011 with the host team, http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Bolivia-c7828 in the first match of Group A. The Argentineans were the favourites to win the game and they showed it throughout the first half.
http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Diego-c11058 Armando Maradona, introduced his team with the usual 4-3-3 formation. The hosts seemed to be organized differently compared to how Maradona organized the Argentinean side.
The Argentinean goal stopper http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Alberto-c4309 Rojo played his role in the left back position.
The Argentinean team had to face a lot of difficulty in terms of http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Roma-c31603.
The midfield was flourished with tacklers. While the Argentinean http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Javier-Pastore-c18082 and he played his part in the attacking midfield role.
The front three were different from what Sergio Batista featured before. The http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Real-c30728 Madrid winger, Angel Di Maria did not feature in the left wing; rather it was the Manchester City captain Carlos Tevez who took his place up front. While Ezequiel Lavezzi of Napoli played in the centre forward role, Lionel Messi played on the right wing but often fell deep to add an extra man in the midfield.
Bolivia played a traditional 4-4-2. Carlos Arias was the man who stood guard between the sticks and he was aided by four defenders. http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Luis-Alberto-Gutierrez-c22650 featured in the left back position while Largio Alvarez Roca played on the right.
The two centre backs for the Bolivian side were Ronald Tylor Rivero Kuhn and http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Ronald-Raldes-c31719. Both the defenders had a busy day in their role because of the pressure exerted by the Argentinean strike force.
http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Jaime-Robles-c17562 was the man who played in the holding midfield position and was aided by Walter Flores who played in the heart of the pitch as a central midfielder.
http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Joselito-Vaca-c19484 played on the right wing for the Bolivian side. On the other hand it was Edvaldo Rojas Hermoza who played on the left wing.
Up front were two strikers – http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Marcelo-c23554 Martins Moreno.
As the match started, the Argentineans started to live up to their reputation of being the favourites to win the competition. The South American Giants never really went on their back foots and they always showed the urgency to find the goal.
Their waves of attacks were quickly gifted with a free-kick when http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Lionel-Messi-c22296 was taken down right outside the box. The free kick was taken by the Argentinean man and the Valencia midfielder Ever Banega could not really slot in a free header he was gifted with right under the Bolivian goalkeeper’s nose.
The Argentinean side relied too much on Lionel Messi who was basically at the heart of each and every attack made by them. The “best player in the world” created a lot of chances for the Argentinean side and even though he never came one-on-one against the Bolivian goalkeeper, he managed to release the http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Ezequiel-Lavezzi-c13073 six times but he couldn’t really find a goal.
Later, Carlos Tevez was also gifted with a glorious opportunity when Lionel Messi got past six Bolivian players and cheekily gave a through ball to the Manchester City star. The shot was well taken by http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Arias-c6476 was well on his lines and easily denied Argentina the goal scoring opportunity.
The Bolivian side barely tested the Argentinean defence line. Gabriel Milito, despite being a flop with his club, seemed to be quite solid alongside Nicolas Burdisso. Javier Zanetti was the best defender for the Argentinean side throughout the first half while http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Marcos-c23772 Alberto Rojo was mostly silent during the game.
Despite the Argentinean team’s endless efforts of finding the back of the net, they couldn’t really get any throughout the first. The Bolivian team earned three yellow cards in the first half and that showed how physical they were against the Argentinean side, in order to keep the ball to themselves.
As the first half ended, the score line was 0-0. It was a disappointing half for the Argentineans, who were the favourites to not only win this match but also the competition. Bolivians seemed to be satisfied with their performance as they managed to frustrate their opposition and didn’t let them score a single goal.
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