Santosh Trophy: Odisha rout Chhattisgarh to make final rounds
Odisha won both matches in the three-team group to collect six points. They scored 10 goals and conceded two.
Lionel Messi has urged Argentina “to think positively” as their hopes of a Copa America title win are shining very faintly post their 1-1 draw with Paraguay.
Five-time Ballon d’Or victor Messi’s 57th-minute successful penalty equalised a first-half opening goal from Paraguay’s Richard Sanchez on Wednesday night.
However, Argentina couldn’t come back to score the second goal to clinch three points.
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A loss here would not have finished Argentina’s expectations of achieving the quarter-finals since eight of the 12 teams will advance to the knockout stages. Just as the top two in every one of the three groups, the best two third-set finishers also qualify.
A defeat at the Minerao arena in Belo Horizonte would have implied that Argentina could end at no higher than third place – Colombia have officially won the group after two straight successes.
Now they know the equation. A victory over Qatar on Sunday will just about be enough to push them to the knock out stage.
However, Qatar too are in the same kind of form and rhythm and can beat any opposition on its day. The Argentine team hasn’t showed any kind of form remotely close to their form of the glory days and if they continue their tentative run of play, it would be difficult for Argentina to proceed ahead.
Messi arrived at Brazil planning to end an agonising run of losing finals with Argentina. In spite of winning La Liga and Champions League multiple times with Barcelona, he has failed to win a major trophy with his country. Messi lost in a Copa America final three times – 2007, 2015 and 2016.
Even more agonising was the defeat in the 2014 FIFA World Cup finals, where they were crushed by Germany.
However, the question here is not whether Messi can finally aid Argentina to end their trophy drought but whether they can avoid being on the first flight to home by staying relevant in the competition.
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