Argentina kick off U-20 World Cup with valuable win over Cuba | OneFootball

Just as it happened in the South American tournament, the Argentine team showed a very offensive face at the start of the match. In the first action of the game, Santino Andino and Maher Carrizo combined well and the Vélez forward sent a low cross for the appearance of Alejo Sarco, who only had to define next to the goal after a rebound from the goalkeeper. With great forcefulness, Diego Placente's team started the youth tournament in an extraordinary way.

The joy, however, lasted too little for the national team: Santiago Fernández ended up being expelled for a foul on the edge of the area against Alessio Raballo, after a review by referee Muhammad Nazmi bin Nasaruddin on VAR. The action immediately generated the complaint from the Argentine team's bench, warning that it had been a dispute situation, and demanded the judge's analysis through the new FVS system. In fact, the Cuban player had thrown an elbow just before the supposed infringement.

Hit by the red card, the boys struggled with the speed and physique of the Central Americans: Santino Barbi saved his goal after an interesting shot from Romario Torres. Faced with difficulties, Teo Rodríguez entered to rearrange the defense and the proposal paid off. In the immediately following play, Placente again requested the assistance of the video referee for a clear penalty by goalkeeper Yurdy Hodelin on Sarco. The referee, however, ignored it and the South Americans lost the green cards. By that point, the task of the person in charge of administering justice was very poor.

As time went on, Argentina regained its composure and had moments of good football, despite the logical limitations due to numerical inferiority. Before the end of the first half, they patiently built an extraordinary play that ended in a goal: Carrizo waited for Dylan Gorosito on the right side and the Boca full-back put a pass on Sarco's head, who scored his double.

When everything seemed to indicate that the teams would go to the locker rooms with the result set, the Selection did not mark well on a corner kick and, after Torres lowered it with his leg, Karel Pérez discounted by the same means. Although the players claimed for a supposed hand, the truth is that the ball hit the defender's thigh.

At the start of the second half, the team opted for intelligent possession, forcing the Caribbeans to run from side to side and wear themselves out. Without being deep, it gathered passes in the middle and clearly showed superiority, with some flashes of that team that broke it in the classification. The absence of a player was not noticed at all, at the beginning of the second stage.

At times, the Selection suffered physical exhaustion and the legs stopped responding, more in attack than in defense. As the minutes passed, Placente's team had to withstand the onslaught of a Cuba full of energy but with few arguments to show. The few ideas of their rival, until the 75′, were enough for the national team to hold the victory.

Already at the end of the match Ian Subiabre the River kid who until the last moment was if he was going to participate in the world cup since he did not renew his contract with the Millionaire appeared to put the 3 to 1 and the final figures to the match.

Now the team led by Diego Placente will play for the second date of their Group against Australia from 8 pm.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇪🇸 here.