Muslera breaks Argentine hearts in Copa quarter-final

Argentina’s hopes of winning the Copa América on home soil were dashed when they were beaten 5-4 in a penalty shoot-out on Saturday night by Uruguay, who now advance to a semi-final meeting with Perú, and stand poised to take their 15th title, one more than Argentina.

Fernando Muslera in goal was the Uruguayan hero, saving a weak spot-kick from Carlos Tévez, after having kept Argentina at bay during the regular match which finished 1-1 after extra-time in a pulsating encounter in Santa Fe’s Estadio Brigadier Estanislao López.

Having underachieved in their opening group games which were drawn against Bolivia and Colombia, coach Sergio Batista opted to continue with the starting eleven that shone against Costa Rica in Córdoba, meaning  that Pablo Zabaleta, Fernando Gago, Ángel Di María and Sergio Agüero retained their places in place of Marcos Rojo, Esteban Cambiasso, Ezequiel Lavezzi and Tévez respectively.

The excitement started right from the off, with Uruguayan midfielder, Diego Pérez  lucky to remain on the field after a bad challenge just three minutes into the game, receiving instead just a yellow card from the referee.

Pérez capitalised on his good fortune just two minutes later to open the scoring for Uruguay – his first ever goal for his country in over 60 internationals – poking home after Sergio Romero in the Argentine goal failed to hold Martín Caceres’ header from a Diego Forlán free-kick.

Gonzalo Higuaín levelled for Argentina on 17 minutes with a glancing header from a finely weighted Lionel Messi cross, and when Pérez received his marching orders after getting a second yellow card for a foul on Gago six minutes before half-time, Batista’s men were in the ascendancy.

The second-half saw wave after wave of Argentine attacks as Javier Pastore, on as a second-half substitute for Di María, and Messi probed the Uruguayan defence trying to find an opening. However, the Uruguayans, ably marshalled by their inspirational captain, Diego Lugano held firm against the Argentines, displaying the garra that had got them to the World Cup semi-final twelve months ago. On the rare occasions that Argentina’s attackers did get through, Muslera was equal to the challenge, saving smartly from Higuaín and Messi.

Not that Uruguay were without chances of their own. Forlán, exploiting the gap in the centre of the Argentine defence between Nicolás Burdisso and Gabriel Milito looked well set to score until his shot was smothered by Romero.

Late in the second-half Batista introduced Carlos Tévez to replace the industrious Sergio Agüero up front, but the Manchester City striker’s most telling contribution was a free-kick just on the stroke of full-time which was turned over the crossbar by Muslera after taking a deflection from the Uruguayan defensive wall.

With the clock ticking down, Argentina’s frustration at failing to break the deadlock became increasingly evident and resulted in themselves being a man down as their captain, Javier Mascherano, received a second yellow card as he clattered into Luis Suárez from behind with three minutes to go.

With player parity restored, extra-time was a more end-to-end affair as Suárez was prominent in Uruguay’s best attacking moves, whilst Higuaín hit the near post for Argentina. After taking the captain’s armband from the departed Mascherano, arguably the best opportunity to break the deadlock fell to Messi in the final minute of extra-time.

Having jinked his way through the Uruguayan defence, he had only to lift the ball over the onrushing Muslera, as he had done dozens of times before for Barcelona, but instead hit a tired shot along the ground into the arms of the grateful keeper. Messi slumped to the ground in dejection, lying prostrate in the knowledge that Argentina’s hopes had probably disappeared with that chance.

In the post-match press conference, coach Sergio Batista was unrepentant saying: “I will carry on… I don’t call this failure…We have to continue working for the most important thing which is getting to the World Cup.”

He added: “In the first two matches we didn’t play the way we wanted, in the third we played well and today we could have won it in the first half which was our aim. Then we lost some composure when it was 10 against 10.”

The next challenge for Argentina is the 2014 World Cup in neighbouring Brazil for which the qualification series begins later this year. Argentina have the basis of a competitive side with the right blend of youth and experience, and they seem to have solved the defensive frailties that bedevilled them in South Africa – after all they conceded just two goals in four matches.

The 4-3-3 system employed by Batista does appear to suit the Argentines, as he tries to emulate the success of Barcelona in getting the best out of Messi. However, as this tournament has shown, without a world-class playmaker in the mould of Andrés Iniesta or Xavi, Argentina have struggled to penetrate top international defences.

If Batista is to be successful then he needs to find a player who can play in the enganche role linking the midfield with the attack who can produce the killer pass and bring Messi and the other forwards into the game more. It is no secret that Messi’s best performances in the albiceleste shirt have come when Juan Román Riquelme was playing in that role, particularly at the 2007 Copa América.

Whilst just a decade ago any one of half a dozen candidates such as Ariel Ortega, Marcelo Gallardo, Pablo Aimar and Andrés D’Alessandro in addition to Riquelme could have fulfilled the role, now they are very thin on the ground. Most hope now rests on the shoulders of Javier Pastore, who played a cameo role in this Copa América. If Argentina are to finally fulfil their undoubted potential, a lot will rest on him stepping up to the plate.

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