Lionel Messi was benched for Argentina’s match against Bolivia in La Paz on Tuesday, but the South American champions were still able to cruise to a 3-0 victory to keep their perfect record intact in World Cup qualification for the South American region.
Messi, who has had a busy schedule with his club Inter Miami, sat on the bench to watch his teammates but was not named as a substitute because he complained of fatigue after scoring the game-winning goal in Thursday’s 1-0 victory over Ecuador.
Enzo Fernandez, Nicolas Tagliafico, and Nicolas Gonzalez scored for the team managed by Lionel Scaloni, and they were able to pull away from Bolivia despite the loss of their team’s talisman. These three goals were enough to seal the victory.
Fernandez, a midfielder for Chelsea, came close to scoring with a fantastic shot from 30 yards out that was on its way into the top corner until the goalkeeper for Bolivia, Guillermo Viscarra, turned it over.
Viscarra then did an excellent job once more to save a near post drive from Julian Alvarez, who had capitalized on some careless defending on the opposing team’s part.
The dynamic Alvarez was involved in Argentina’s first goal, which came in the 31st minute. He provided the ball to Angel Di Maria, whose low cross was finished off by Fernandez, who had made an excellently timed run into the box.
Eight minutes later, Roberto Fernandez was shown the red card for making an excessive challenge on Cristian Romero, which led to Bolivia’s mission being even more difficult.
Tagliafico’s header that looped over Viscarra gave Argentina a 2-0 lead going into the halftime break. The goal came after Tagliafico met a floating Di Maria free-kick with a header that sailed past Viscarra.
After the intermission, the team that has won the World Cup three times was in complete command of the game. Rodrigo De Paul and Angel Di Maria both had shots that were saved by Viscarra, and Alvarez struck the post in the 70th minute.
After some more tentative defending from the home team, Fernandez sealed the victory with a left-footed drive seven minutes before the game’s conclusion.
In the later part of Tuesday’s schedule, Ecuador will play home to Uruguay, Venezuela will face off against Paraguay, Colombia will be in Chile, and Brazil will be in Peru.