Spanish
The Argentina Under-20 National Team has already made history in this World Cup in Chile. It surpassed the quarter-final barrier and reached the semi-finals after 18 years, something that hadn't happened since Canada 2007, precisely the last youth tournament that the Albiceleste won. It did so after defeating Mexico 2-0, confirming that it is a solid and serious team that can aspire to the maximum. On Wednesday, from 8 p.m., it will face Colombia, which comes from eliminating Spain.
This U-20 team has a trademark. The youngsters led by Diego Placente have a knack for converting quickly. Except against Italy, in the rest of the matches, they started winning almost from the dressing room. And with Mexico, they repeated that pattern. Before 10 minutes, the Argentine team was already winning 1-0, with a goal scored by Maher Carrizo.
This time it wasn't the scorer Alejo Sarco who scored at the beginning, as had happened in the other matches in which this situation occurred. It was Carrizo, who acted as Bayer Leverkusen's number 9 to enter from behind the rival area and capture the rebound given by goalkeeper Ochoa to a shot by Valentino Acuña, after a pass from a restless Prestianni.
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The Benfica player was one of the best for Argentina in that first stage, since after Placente's team retreated on the field, the former Vélez player gave them air when he grabbed the ball and charged at full speed at every Mexican who stood in front of him. He was on fire and used his body very well to cover the ball when the play required it and thus take a pause. On the other side, Carrizo, who had been a star with Nigeria, also contributed his talent in this match against Mexico, until Placente took him out in the second half, given that he will not be able to count on him in the semi-final with Colombia. The Vélez player received another yellow card (he already had one) and will not be able to play the next match. But if Placente proved anything - besides giving the Under-20 an identity, something it never had with Javier Mascherano, his predecessor, in charge - it's having diversity and tactical versatility to accommodate the team throughout this tournament. In fact, he never repeated a formation and with Mexico it was no exception. He makes the most of the nominal changes and also the schemes. In fact, this Saturday night, Argentina started with a 4-2-3-1 and when defending, it set up as a 5-4-1, with Tomás Pérez positioning himself between the center backs and Delgado playing ahead of him, with Acuña, who was dropping back, alongside.
