Lionel Messi insists there is more to come from Argentina as they prepare to face Venezuela in the Copa America quarterfinals.
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It was also his fourth goal of this year’s Copa America, taking him to the top of the charts despite only playing 74 minutes of the competition before Saturday evening’s clash.
The former Barcelona manager, despite acknowledging his team as worthy winners over Venezuela, is wary of the threat posed by the United States in the Copa semifinals. Considering what he’s done in his two limited spurts – most notably his 26-minute hat trick against Panama – there should be little joy now for Venezuela when Argentina unveils its matchday 11, nearly assured of including the world’s best player for the first time this tournament.
Rondon pulled a goal back with a header from Alejandro Guerra’s left-wing cross but Argentina substitute Lamela immediately made it 4-1 with a deflected finish from Messi’s pass.
“The coaching staff, they always do an unbelievable job of scouting our opponents and utilizing the players that we have”, said Gyasi Zardes, who scored against Ecuador to give the USA a 2-0 lead.
Venezuela clinched their last-eight spot with a 1-0 win over Uruguay and Salomon Rondon, who scored the goal, declared that they do not fear Argentina.
The States then beat Ecuador 2-1 in the quarter-finals to make it through to the last four for the first time since 1995. We should be proud that Everton have a player in such a high profile global set up, and realistically in with the chance of being a Copa America finalist. Angel di Maria’s injury-enforced absence and Argentina’s creaky defense will conspire to deliver Copa America 2016 glory to Chile … or Mexico.
Argentina, and Messi, will present an even more hard challenge for the Venezuelan side.
But 28-year-old Messi matched that record on Saturday night after Argentina beat Venezuela 4-1 in MA to breeze through to the Copa America semi-finals, where they will face host nation USA.
“How can that not inspire you, if you’re facing one of the best players in the world?”
According to ESPN predictions, Argentina has an 87-percent chance of knocking out Venezuela in the quarterfinals.
“He knows that he’s a game-changing player”, Martino said.
Batistuta also scored twice in an exhibition against Slovakia in 1995 that is included in FIFA’s records but not the national federation’s; if it did, he would have 56 goals. Venezuela have conceded just one goal in their three group stage matches in the Copas.
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Entering the Copa, Argentina were seen as the favourites to end their 23-year senior trophy drought. After Vargas found the net for the final time on this extraordinary display of shot-making, the star forward jumped in the air and pumped his right fist as his shaggy hair swayed in the Bay Area breeze.
