Argentina

Colombia held hosts Argentina to a 0-0 draw in a Copa America match riddled with missed chances to retain their two-points lead in Group A on Wednesday. Argentina goalkeeper Sergio Romero made four saves from the Colombia attack when they had only him to beat, earning the man of the match award as coach Sergio Batista’s team were booed off the pitch by their own fans at first division Colon’s stadium in Santa Fe. The home side also failed to put away chances while Batista’s tactics did not help the heavily marked Lionel Messi, who exerted little influence and even blasted a free kick over the top. Ten minutes later, midfielder Esteban Cambiasso crossed from the left and the ball looked on its way in to the top far corner before Martinez tipped it away.

Colombia, launching stinging counter-attacks whenever Argentina lost the ball, should have gone ahead in the 20th minute but were guilty instead of their first glaring miss. Winger Dayro Moreno crossed low from the left wing into the unmarked Adrian Ramos but the midfielder contrived to hit the ball over the bar with Romero beaten. Six minutes later, Ramos leapt onto a poor back pass by Gabriel Milito but was tackled from behind by fellow central defender Nicolas Burdisso.

Messi had one of his few potentially telling moments of the match just past the half hour with a superbly weighted through ball to Ezequiel Lavezzi but the winger delayed his shot just enough for Martinez to block. Colombia, living up to their billing as dark horses, brought two diving saves from Romero in the final three minutes of the half, first from a swerving shot from outside the box by striker Radamel Falcao and then from Moreno. Argentina captain Javier Mascherano had a shot saved early in the second half and minutes later Colombia left back Pablo Armero shot just wide of the far post. Colombia should have taken the lead in the 67th minute when Argentina were a defender short with Burdisso off getting treatment for a nose bleed and Falcao beat the offside trap with only Romero to beat only for the goalkeeper to parry his shot.

Colombia have revealed their tactics about how they will try to stop Argentina talisman Lionel Messi – they are not going to use any. Colombia meet the hosts in Santa Fe on Wednesday evening for their Group A encounter and with the pre-torunament favourites only drawing their opening match, the emphasis will be on attack. Naturally, that has meant that most of the talk has focused on the ingfluene of the Braceona player but opposition coach Hernan Dario Gomez has no special plans for the little magician.

“I don’t know how to go about marking Messi and that’s the truth. We have our way of doing things, we have our system… the way we work is all about the ball and we mark the ball,” insisted Gomez, whose men have the advantage of having beaten Costa Rica already while Argentina could only draw with Bolivia. Colombia already have a foot therefore in the last eight while Argentina ponder how to improve their form with the world player of the year having struggled to find a way through against a resolute Bolivia defence. Gomez says he will look at his own side’s strengths rather than worry about his rivals. “If I look at Argentina I’ll go crazy if we start thinking about how to man mark Messi, (Carlos) Tevez, (Sergio) Aguero, (Angel) Di Maria. I have a style and one I am clear about and the team are gradually taking it on board, we are improving all the time,” Gomez insisted.

Meanwhile, Argentina Manager Sergio Batista had the following comments. “We play like a mirror of Barcelona but I cant say that we play like them, it is a very difficult task. All the same, we are not Barcelona we are the Seleccion,” he told reporters. “I like how Barcelona play I love it, I think it’s how football should be played. But to play like this after just 20 days of training is tough, they play like this all their lives.” He also restated his desire to see Lionel Messi become the linchpin of the Albiceleste attack. “Lionel has to play in the final quarter of the pitch, where he will play,” Batista concluded.

Argentina escaped a shock upset in their Copa America opener on Friday when substitute Sergio Aguero’s late volley earned the hosts a 1-1 draw with Bolivia. Bolivia soaked up the pressure in the first half before snatching the lead early in the second through Edivaldo Rojas. The hosts had to wait until the 77th minute for the equaliser when Aguero slammed the ball home. Argentina’s Lionel Messi was marked tightly by the Bolivian defense and had few chances to shine. “It is not what we expected, now we must improve and we win our remaining (group) matches,” a visibly disappointed Messi told reporters. “Now we need tranquility.”

Having weathered a first-half storm at the Ciudad de La Plata stadium, Bolivia stunned Argentina two minutes into the second half when Jhasmany Campos hit a corner low to the near post where Rojas back-heeled it past goalkeeper Sergio Romero. Marcelo Martins looked set to give Bolivia a two-goal lead on the hour when he beat Argentina’s offside trap but Romero dived to touch the ball away from the striker’s feet then got up to block his second effort. Argentina equalised with 13 minutes left when Nicolas Burdisso chested down a cross from Marcos Rojo and Aguero volleyed home. Minutes after his goal, Aguero might have snatched a win for the hosts but his shot brought a diving save from Bolivia goalie Carlos Arias.

While the first half was dominated by Argentina, the only shot on target came from the ultra defensive Bolivians’ single chance when Martins squared the ball to Rojas and his weak but well-directed shot was saved by Romero. Apart from that chance it was almost one-way traffic towards the Bolivia box with Argentina winning a string of corners but failing to get a clean shot on target. The hosts almost broke through when striker Ezequiel Lavezzi broke in from the right and sent a low shot just wide of the far post. Messi then linked with Carlos Tevez but the moved fizzled out for a corner, and midfielder Esteban Cambiasso was unable to capitalise on a loose ball after a jinking Messi run. In an exciting finish, either side could have snatched victory as Argentina created chances while Bolivia attempted to hit them on the break

Host Argentina feels it is their “obligation” to win the Copa America with a team built around Lionel Messi and cannot stomach the idea of finishing behind archrival Brazil for a third time in a row. The old enemies met in the last two finals of South America’s top football tournament, with Brazil upsetting the favorite twice, but with home advantage at the July 1-24 event Argentina hopes to win the trophy for the first time since 1993. While Argentina have Messi, fast emerging as Diego Maradona’s heir, at the heart of their attack, the Brazilians have their own brilliant player in Neymar, a potential new Pele who has already helped Santos win the Libertadores Cup at 19.

“It is our obligation to win the tournament,” said Argentina coach Sergio Batista, who plays the high-scoring Messi in a roving center forward role akin to his flexible position at Barcelona. Argentina opens the world’s oldest active major football tournament at the modern, roofed Ciudad de La Plata Stadium today when they take on Bolivia in Group A (0045 GMT on Saturday).

The Argentines have a score to settle, having been thrashed 6-1 the last time they met in a World Cup qualifier at high altitude in La Paz two years ago during Maradona’s time as coach. An attack boasting Messi, Carlos Tevez and Ezequiel Lavezzi, with Gonzalo Higuain, Sergio Aguero and Angel Di Maria on the bench, should have little trouble brushing aside the Bolivians in a relatively easy group for the hosts. They also meet Colombia and Costa Rica.

Brazil, with coach Mano Menezes going back to the basics of his country’s “beautiful game” after the pragmatic Dunga era, kicks off against Venezuela in Group B at the same venue on Sunday before heading for Cordoba to play Paraguay and Ecuador. Menezes’ pair of aces are Neymar and his 21-year-old Santos team mate Paulo Henrique Ganso, an exquisite playmaker the coach hopes will spark Robinho, a veteran of Brazil’s 2007 victory, and Alexandre Pato up front.

Lionel Messi laid on two goals and scored another as Argentina romped to a 4-0 win over Albania at the Monumental on Monday in their last warm-up for next month’s Copa America. Defender Javier Zanetti won an Argentine record 140th cap in the match, which his team controlled at will against mediocre opponents. Striker Ezequiel Lavezzi put the Copa hosts ahead in the fifth minute, sticking the ball over goalkeeper Arjan Beqaj from Messi’s perfect pass, before Messi made it 2-0 in the 43rd, taking the ball from Lavezzi’s lay off and striking a low left-footed shot inside the base of Beqaj’s post.

“Lionel had a great match, generating scoring chances and scoring,” coach Sergio Batista said of Messi, who took his international tally to 17 in 57 matches. “The team played well. There are things that need adjusting because our opponents did not attack much and did not see much of the ball, but I’m happy because we showed everything we’ve been practising,” he told reporters. Argentina got their third in the 74th minute after Messi fed another sublime pass with the outside of his left foot to Sergio Aguero, who rounded the goalkeeper to slot home from a tight angle. “These kind of matches help us to get confidence and get to know each other better,” said Lavezzi. Aguero then laid on the last goal in the final minute for fellow substitute Carlos Tevez, who was recalled by Batista despite appearing out of the Copa reckoning less than a month ago.

The Copa America, which Argentina have not won since 1993, kicks off on July 1 when the hosts play Bolivia in La Plata in their Group A opener. The final is scheduled for the Monumental on July 24.