Miami, United States.- With a brace from Lautaro Martínez, defending champion Argentina made up for the absence of Lionel Messi and completed a perfect group stage in the Copa América by beating Peru 2-0 on Saturday night.
The albiceleste will face the second in Group B in the Quarterfinals, which could be Mexico.
Lautaro subtly chipped the ball over Peruvian goalkeeper Pedro Gallese to open the scoring in the 47th minute after a combination between Angel Di Maria and Giovani Lo Celso. He sealed the win shortly before the end after getting behind defender Aldo Corzo and lifting the ball over Gallese again.
The Inter striker reached four goals in the continental tournament after having scored in the victories against Canada (2-0) and Chile (1-0).
Argentina secured first place in Group A with the ideal of nine points and will play its quarterfinal match next Thursday in Houston against the second in Group B, between Venezuela, Ecuador or Mexico.
Canada, which tied 0-0 with Chile in a simultaneous match, was second with four points.
After his first goal, Lautaro ran to the side to hug Messi.
The Argentine captain did not play due to muscle discomfort in his right leg and watched the match from the substitutes’ bench.
Messi’s name appeared on the official match sheet, but the decision was made to save the star for the knockout phase in a tournament in which Argentina hopes to retain its continental crown amid the stardom of the World Cup it won in Qatar 2022.
Argentina also did not have its coach Lionel Scaloni, as he was suspended for one match due to repeated delays in entering the field at the resumption of their two previous matches.
With Walter Samuel as the manager on the bench, Argentina presented several new features in the starting eleven. Alejandro Garnacho accompanied Di María and Lautaro in the attack, Exequiel Palacios, Leandro Paredes and Lo Celso appeared in the middle and Nicolás Otamendi and Germán Pezzella were the central defenders.
Peru, which is in last place in the South American qualifiers for the 2026 World Cup, closed a weak campaign in the United States.
After reaching the final in the 2019 edition and then the semi-finals in 2021, the Peruvian team barely earned one point.
He had to make a forced change before the start. Right winger Andy Polo was injured in the previous warm-up and was replaced by Oliver Sonne, the son of Danes and a Peruvian grandmother who only became naturalized this year.
With his four goals, Lautaro reached the top of the tournament’s scoring table. The Uruguayans Darwin Núñez and Maximiliano Araujo, the Brazilian Vinicius Júnior and the American Folarin Balogun follow him with two goals each.
It all started with Argentina’s dominance and pressure, but the Albiceleste had a hard time penetrating their rival’s defense, which for a good part of the match retreated back and did not give them any major scares.
The match at Hard Rock Stadium was played in front of some 64,000 spectators, the vast majority of whom were Argentine fans who were clamoring for Messi to be there, after he suffered a contracture in his right thigh in the match against Chile.
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