Argentina defeated Qatar by 2-0, thanks to the goals from Argentinian strikers Lautaro Martinez (4′) and Sergio Aguero (82′). With this win, the 14-time Copa America champions move to the quarter-finals from Group B in 2019 Copa America.
Argentina with 4 points from three matches finished 2nd in the Group B points table.
On Monday, the Argentina squad played calmly, without any real flashes of brilliance although they controlled the game all the way through and Qatar never really threatened to pull off an exception, before almost 40,000 fans at Arena do Gremio in Porto Alegre.
Argentina dominated just after four minutes from the starting of the game. Lautaro Martinez drew the first blood for them. The 21-year-old took advantage of a Qatari gift in the 4th minute to gleefully open the scoring by beating a diving Qatar goalkeeper Saad Al-Sheeb from his left. In no time, the scoreboard read 1-0 and Argentina were on top of the game.
But after this goal, the game hanged in balance in terms of performance as both the teams shared almost equal possession of the ball.
Though Argentine forward Sergio Aguero got a couple of close chances, he failed to put the ball into the post.
But in the 82nd minute, the 31-year-old Aguero made a great individual effort, running past Boualem Khoukhi of Qatar to power a superb shot in from the right of Saad Al-Sheeb. This goal sealed the victory for Argentina and wiped off Qatar’s chances of staying further in the ongoing showpiece event.
Argentina face Venezuela next in the quarter-finals on Saturday. Venezuela have won the 2nd spot in the Group A points table with 5 points from 3 matches; one win and two-draw.