Copa América: Argentina In The Last Eight After An Excellent Score Against Peru

With two goals from Lautaro Martínez, Argentina won 2-0 and will play the Quarterfinals on Thursday July 4 in Houston.

Argentina began the game with a few changes against Peru, most strikingly the exit of Lionel Messi and the entry of Alejandro Garnacho, one of the extraordinary commitments in the new age of Albiceleste talent.

The Manchester United winger played well and even made the first shot of the game, which missed the target.

For the first time in the tournament, Peru, who entered the game with the intention of qualifying, had their legendary Paolo Guerrero start from the beginning.

La Bicolor attempted unsuccessfully to harass the Argentine team with counterattacks despite having very little possession. Peru had no shots during the whole first half.

Argentina had two clear chances in the first 45 minutes to break the gridlock. At the 25th minute, Leandro Paredes curled the ball well from a free kick. It landed near Gallese’s top right corner, where Gallese was able to deflect it.

Then, at that point, at 44 minutes, an extraordinary aggregate play drove by Di María on the right finished with Lo Celso shooting from the penalty spot and a decent reaction from Gallese; on the bounce back, there was a decent shot by Garnacho, which just missed the goal.

In the second half, Argentina’s Di Mara assisted Lautaro Martnez, who was one-on-one with Gallese and chipped it past him for his third tournament goal. Di Mara did not control the ball.

Argentina kept on dominating. Paredes missed a penalty kick and Tagliafico scored a goal that was disallowed.

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For Peru, Paolo Guerrero was subbed off in the last part, playing his 28th game in this competition and becoming the Peruvian with the most appearances throughout the entire existence of the CONMEBOL Copa América™.

In the dying minutes of the match, Lautaro Martínez pursued a long ball, won with his physique, and scored his fourth goal of the competition. After Zanelatto’s header hit the post, Peru came close to scoring their first goal.

The final victory marked that Argentina finished first in their Group with a perfect score and will play the Quarterfinals on Thursday, July 4th, in Houston against the second of Group B. For Peru, it meant the end of their journey in the CONMEBOL Copa América 2024™.