It’s absolutely criminal that Sergio Aguero is not a regular starter for Argentina. However, one suspects after his heroics at the Copa America the past week that Batista will be under severe pressure to include the soon to be former Atletico Madrid hitman regularly.
In the opening match of the tournament, Aguero came off the bench to score a rather fortunate late equalizer for the host nation. His arrival onto the pitch sparked what was a lackluster Argentina side into action. With all the immense talent the team possess, it’s quite surprising that the South American side have not won a major tournament since 1993.
Monday night’s final group game saw the Argentinians needing a win to go through. But after two lackluster and leggy performances thus far, many felt a bit apprehensive about their chances. Lionel Messi, the greatest player in the world, had continued to be a disappointment for his country, failing once again to bring his domestic form onto the international stage. One could argue though that with Barcelona he enjoys a much more constant supply of the ball from the likes of Xavi and Iniesta. I strongly agree with that view. Barcelona play in such a way with so many other dangerous players that it would be suicide for teams purely to concentrate all their efforts on Messi alone.
In the opening 40 minutes of Monday night’s game against the Costa Ricans, it seemed as if the Footballing Gods were not with the home side. Chance after chance was squandered with the major culprit being Gonzalo Higuian. Despite the missed chances, Aguero provided that spark that the home side had been craving in their first two group matches. Carlos Tevez and Ezequiel Lavezzi had both been dropped for Aguero and Angel Di Maria.
On the stroke of half time a Fernando Gago effort from outside the box was spilt by the goalkeeper invitingly into the path of Aguero who duly obliged and slotted the ball home. The game could have been a different story had the goal not come. Argentina could have been going in at half time deflated and feeling it wasn’t going to be.
From the get go in the second half however, it was a completely different Argentinean side to what we had seen prior in the tournament. Aguero simple goal had seemed to of cattle prodded the players into life again. With tails up, they started to pass with zest and typical South American flair. Lionel Messi had started to become the Lionel Messi of Barcelona finally, looking for the ball, turning at pace and running at the Costa Ricans with intention. It was in such a moment that he played a delicate through ball for the overlapping Aguero to coolly slot home Argentina’s second of the night, his second of the night and third of the tournament. From that point on, Argentina cut open the Costa Rican defence with ease creating chance after chance. Had the likes of Higuian been more clinical then it could have been so much more. However, one more was to come from Angel Di Maria who surged through to smash the ball home with his ever reliant left foot. He may be the most one footed player on the planet but what a left foot he has.
Aguero’s dynamic, busy, and tenacious display had inspired the likes of Messi and Di Maria to step forward and show the crowd what they do week in week out for their clubs. Surely now, Aguero has stamped his claim on a starting role for the quarter final versus Uruguay and what a game that could be. One thing is for sure, Argentina will need to pick off where they left and more in order to progress pass a strong Uruguayan side. A run to the final and victory could be just what Argentina needs and if that was to happen, then maybe we will finally see their true power in football.
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