Plaza de mayo, Historical landmark in Buenos Aires, Argentina

On Sunday, the Argentine squad played acceptably, without any real flashes of brilliance although they controlled the game all the way through and Qatar never really threatened, before 39,100 fans at Arena do Gremio in Porto Alegre, reports Efe news.Argentina had been in last place in Group B, having lost to Colombia 2-0 and battled Paraguay to a 1-1 draw, and the so far rather disorganized squad was desperate for the win on Sunday to get them through to the elimination stage.Prior to the match, Qatar had an identical 0-1-1 record, although they were one spot in front of Argentina on goal differential. They had fought back to a draw from a two-goal deficit in the second half against Paraguay but then had gone down to a 1-0 defeat against Colombia.On Sunday, Lautaro took advantage of a Qatari gift in the 4th minute to open the scoring and Aguero made a great individual effort on a powerful shot in the 82nd minute for the second tally.The first goal came when a Qatari defender mistakenly tapped the ball to Inter Milan's Martinez right at the edge of the penalty area and the striker beat goaltender Saad Al-Sheeb to put the squad up 1-0 almost before anyone knew what had happened.Later during the first half, Aguero had a fabulous opportunity to put Argentina another goal ahead but he fired low and wide of the goal from about 12 meters.After the break, Argentina seemed to get its act together and started manufacturing much better chances for themselves, but Al-Sheeb still managed to defend well against the driving Aguero, saving two shots on goal from the Man City striker.Lionel Messi - who otherwise didn't seem to factor in the match much at all - tried a close-range shot about 30 minutes into the second half but it sailed over the crossbar.The second goal came as the ever-present Aguero was on the scene again eight minutes before regulation time expired, firing a powerful low shot that finally got by Al-Sheeb for the 2-0.With the result, and Paraguay's 1-0 loss to first-place Colombia in Group B, Argentina now sits in second place in the group and will go up against Venezuela in the quarterfinals in Rio de Janeiro on June 28.( With inputs from IANS )

Plaza De MayoFOLLOW

Plaza de mayo, Latest News

29 Argentina defeated Venezuela 2-0 to advance to the semi-finals of the 2019 Copa America, where they will face host nation Brazil. ...

Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a trilateral meeting with United States President Donald Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Friday in Osaka, Japan, on the sidelines of 14th G20 Summit. ...

27 Arena do Gremio in Porto Alegre is ready to host the upcoming Copa America quarterfinals match between host Brazil and Paraguay, with management working to address the criticism of the facility leveled by Argentine superstar Lionel Messi. ...

Facebook has rolled out its transparency tools globally for advertisers wanting to place ads about social issues, elections or politics. ...

After Argentina registered their first victory in the Copa America and secured their quarter-finals spot on Monday, Lionel Messi said that 'another Copa begins now' for them. ...

Qatar's head coach Felix Sanchez lavishly praised Argentina bigwig Lionel Messi after his side faced a 0-2 defeat against the Albiceleste in the Copa America on Monday. ...

After Argentina managed to secure a 2-0 win over Qatar in the ongoing Copa America, coach Lionel Scaloni has said they needed a game like that to gain confidence as this was the first win for the Albiceleste in the tournament. ...

24 Argentina downed Qatar 2-0 courtesy goals by Lautaro Martinez and Sergio "Kun" Aguero, thus moving to the quarterfinals for Group B in Copa America. ...