3 Reasons why Argentia won 2-0 against Qatar | Copa America 2019
Argentina has finally gone through to the next round of the Copa America 2019 after a 2-0 victory over Asian Champions, Qatar.
The 14-time Copa America winners made sure that they continued their run of qualifying to the second round of the competition since 1983.
The Argentine display though was far from convincing. The defence, yet again, looked shaky but somehow managed to keep a clean sheet. The attacking front though seems to have finally found the exact combination with Messi, Martinez and Aguero.
The match started with Argentina in the lead within five minutes after Lautaro Martinez intercepted a poor ball from Al Rawi to give the Albicelste the lead.
The two-time World Cup winners dominated for the most part of the match. The Asian champions gave a scare or two on rare chances, but poor finishing made sure that the scoreline wasn't affected.
Sergio Aguero then scored in the 82nd minute of the match to secure Argentina's path into the next round of the 2019 Copa America.
The 14-time winners will now face Venezuela at the Maracana on Friday.
#3 Early strike sets the tone
With nothing short of a win required, Argentina needed a quick start to the match to relieve the immense pressure they were under.
And that is what they got as Lautaro Martinez scored in the fourth minute to give the Albiceleste the lead.
The goal by the Inter Milan forward gave Argentina the lead in a match for the first time in this competition, after failing to score against Colombia in their first match and coming from behind to secure the draw against Paraguay.
Argentina started the match brighter of the two teams, but it was the alertness of Martinez and the error by Bassam Al Rawi that produced the first goal.
Restarting the match from a goal kick after Lionel Messi poor shot sailed over, Bassam Al Rawi's poor cross-field pass was easily intercepted by the Inter Milan forward before he side-footed the ball into the bottom corner to put his side into the lead.
The first goal set to tone for Argentina as it relieved some pressure off the Albicelste.