Argentina 2-0 Qatar: Messi's Copa America dream kept alive
The Albiceleste qualified for the last eight with their first win of the competition
Argentina kept their Copa America dream alive with a 2-0 win against Qatar which booked them a place in the last eight against Venezuela.
CAT
2 ________________ 0
ARG
LINE UP
Catar
Al Sheeb; Pedro Miguel (Ismaeel, 84') Hisham, Khoukhi, Al Hajri (Al Ahrak, 76'), Salman; Al Haydos, Boudiaf, Hatem; Almoez Ali y Afif.
Argentina
Armani; Saravia, Foyth (Pezzella, 85'), Otamendi, Tagliafico; De Paul, Paredes, Lo Celso (Acuña, 55'); Messi, Agüero y Lautaro (Dybala, 75').
Gol
1-0 M.4 Lautaro; 2-0 M.82 Agüero.
Árbitro
Julio Bascuñán (Chile). TA: Lo Celso (41'), Foyth (44'), Almoez Ali (50')., Boudiaf (75').
Incidencias
Partido disputado en el Arena do Gremio (Porto Alegre).
Lionel Messi and his teammates had failed to win either of their first two games in the competition, losing to Colombia and drawing with Paraguay, but did enough on Sunday to make the quarterfinal.
They knew before the game defeat would knock them out of the competition and, as it turned out, a draw would have seen them eliminated, too.
But it didn't come to that, with a goal in each half keeping Messi in the competition as he looks to win his first senior international tournament with the Albicelste.
Lautaro Martinez opened the scoring early on after a mistake by Qatar but it wasn't until late in the second half that Argentina managed to seal the three points.
Manchester City striker Sergio Aguero produced a fine solo effort to double his country's lead minutes after Messi had spooned over from close range.
Argentina will have to improve to go further in the tournament, but at least they're still alive for now.
