El Weblog de Messi | El mejor jugador del planeta

The Chilean national team got their first ever official-match victory over Argentina yesterday in Santiago in the Southamerican World Cup qualifying group.

The team coached by Marcelo Bielsa claimed a deserved win. Argentina’s play lacked organisation and intensity, while the home side were aggresive in their pressing and fast on the attack. Chile missed a number of scoring opportunities, but in the end Orellana’s first-half goal was enough to secure them the points. Leo Messi proved to be the most threatening player on his side, but even so was only able to create a couple of good chances in the entire game.

Chile and Argentina are now level on points (16) on the Southamerican group table after ten games have been played. The next rivals for the Argentinians will be Venezuela (home) and Bolivia (away) in two matches to take place in March 2009.

Argentina got back to winning ways in the 2010 World Cup qualifying stage after goals from Leo Messi and Sergio Agüero gave them a 2-1 victory over Uruguay at the Monumental stadium in Buenos Aires.

The home side had a great start to the game, scoring their two goals in the first twelve minutes. Lionel Messi got the opening goal finishing a Riquelme cross with a header and then it was Kun Aguero who extended the lead. Lugano scored for Uruguay near the end of the first period. Despite suffering many fouls from the opposing defenders, Leo Messi found space and created danger on the right wing in the first half; the FC Barcelona forward had a quiet performance after the break until he was substituted by Daniel Díaz near the end of the match.

Argentina will next take on Chile in a game to be played in Santiago on Wednesday.

Argentina’s national football team let victory slip away after conceding a last-minute goal against Peru in the World Cup qualifying game played between the two sides yesterday in Lima.

It was a poor performance by the men coached by Alfio Basile; both Riquelme and Messi were heavily marked, and the rest of the team showed a lack of attacking resources against a well-organized Peruvian side.

Still, the Argentinians had gone ahead when Cambiasso scored after an assist by Gago in the 82nd minute, but Fano’s strike for Peru right before the final whistle earned the local side a deserved draw. Argentina now sits in the third spot on the Southamerican World Cup qualifying group table, four points behind leaders Paraguay. The squad will be called up again in a month for the next two games, against Uruguay and Chile, to be played on October 11 and 15 respectively.

Argentina’s national football team could only get a 1-1 draw against Paraguay in the World Cup qualifying game between the two sides played yesterday in Buenos Aires.

In the twelfth minute of the game a mistake by Heinze in a bouncing ball led to the Real Madrid defender clashing with keeper Abbondanzieri (who got injured) an scoring an own goal. Things got even worse for Argentina when Tevez was sent off after 30 minutes.

In the second period the Argentinians showed great spirit to overcome the difficulties and were aided by Alfio Basile’s decision to bring on Kun Agüero, which allowed the three attacking players (Riquelme, Messi and Agüero) who started throughout the recent Olympic tournament to meet again on the pitch. The side’s offensive threat was significantly improved and in the 60th minute a great move by Messi and Riquelme ended in a through ball which Agüero put into the back of the net with a left-foot touch. The ten-man local side went on to create a couple more chances in the remainder of the match, but the score did not change.

After this result, Paraguay stay at the top of the Southamerican qualification group with 14 points from seven matches, while Argentina have obtained 12 points and occupy the second spot on the table. The Argentinians will next take on Peru on Tuesday Wednesday.

Argentina defeated Nigeria (1-0) in the Olympic final in Beijing to claim their second consecutive title in the football tournament of the Summer Olympic Games, after having already triumphed in Athens in 2004. It is also the second international trophy that Leo Messi has won with his country, following the Under-20 World Cup title obtained in 2005.

The game was played under tough conditions mainly due to the high temperature; it was a hard fought affair, with not many scoring chances available for the two teams. The Argentinians always looked more dangerous though, and eventually took the lead ten minutes into the second half: Leo Messi picked the ball in the centre circle and delivered a through pass to Di Maria, who then approached the penalty area and found the net with an excellent left-foot finish over the keeper.

From that moment on Argentina focused on holding on to their lead, but still created danger through the ability and spark of Agüero and Messi. No more goals were scored and the gold medal went to Argentina, the team that proved to be the best throughout the whole competition.

Congratulations, Leo! Congratulations, Argentina!

Argentina got a great win (3-0) over Brazil yesterday in the semifinal of the football tournament of the Beijing Olympic games, and will clash with Nigeria for the gold medal on Saturday.

The Argentinians were the better side throughout the entire game and saw Brazil off with second-half goals scored by Agüero(2) and Riquelme(pen.). Lionel Messi, who had another good performance in the semifinals, expressed his thoughts after the match:

Argentina and Brazil will clash today at the National Stadium in Shanghai for a place in the final of the football tournament of the Beijing Olympic Games.

Probably the two biggest favorites to win the gold medal, both sides face the semifinal in a similar physical condition after winning their quarter-finals matches in extra time. The spotlight will be on the FC Barcelona star Lionel Messi and his ex-teammate Ronaldinho as the two try to lead their sides into the Olympic final.

The game kicks off at 15.00 CET. Nigeria and Belgium will be the two teams playing the other semifinal.

Argentina and the Netherlands are clashing with each other today in the quarter-finals of the football tournament of the Beijing Olympics. After having been rested on the last game of the group phase against Serbia, Lionel Messi will make Argentina’s starting line-up today as the team fights to earn a place in the semifinals, which would put them on the verge of securing a medal.

The second game in the group phase of the 2008 Beijing Olympic football tournament saw Argentina get a 1-0 win over Australia at the Shanghai stadium and secure a spot in the quarter-finals of the competition.

The Argentinians had a hard time creating chances throughout the entire game as they clashed against a well organized and defensive-minded Australian team. Lionel Messi and Juan Román Riquelme, Argentina’s two most creative players, were closely marked and struggled to find space. After the break, the Southamerican side progressively started to get closer to scoring as second-half substitute Di Maria provided them with more spark and the Australian defenders started to look tired. Argentina’s goal eventually came fourteen minutes from time, when a brilliant collective play set up by Riquelme, Messi and Di Maria was finished by Lavezzi with a precise right-foot touch to beat the Australian keeper.

Having already booked a place in the knock-out phase of the tournament, Argentina will face Serbia in the last game of the group stage on Wednesday.

Argentina had a good debut in the Beijing Olympic football tournament as they defeated Ivory Coast 2-1 at the Shanghai stadium. Lionel Messi was the most dangerous attacking player for his country and scored the opening goal.

The game was fairly close and both teams had their chances to win. After 40 minutes Leo Messi picked up a through ball from Juan Román Riquelme and sent the ball to the left of the Ivorian keeper and into the goal, giving Argentina the lead. Seven minutes into the second period the African side equalized through a header from Cisse. As time passed the game was looking likely to finish in a draw, but five minutes before the end Sevilla FC player Lautaro Acosta scored the winning goal for the Southamerican side. Acosta got the rebound off the keeper after a shot from Lionel Messi and put it in the back of the net to secure the three points.

The second game in the group phase will see Argentina face Australia on Sunday.