Argentina beats Paraguay and qualifies through to the quarter-finals

Yesterday, Argentina got the win against Paraguay with a goal from 'Papu' Gómez and secured their spot in the quarter-finals. Messi's stats were: 2 SoT (3 in total), 5 dribbles, 1 key pass, 34/42 passes, 12/16 duels won, 5 fouls won, 1 interception, 2 tackles, 2 recoveries, and 73 touches.

These were his ratings:

SofaScore: 7.5

Fotmob: 7.9

FootballCritic: 7.1

AiScore: 6.35

Tigo Sports: 7.9

This was his performance on video:

This was his heatmap:

Some fun facts after the game:

• Messi is now 3rd in the table of most games in Copa América history, along with Víctor Ugarte (30). He is 3 behind 2nd place and 4 behind 1st place.
• This was Messi's 40th victory with Argentina in neutral stadium matches.
• Messi is now tied with Mascherano for the most games played with Argentina (147).
• This was his 20th game played against a team ranked 50 or lower in FIFA's ranking in a group stage game.
• This was his 10th game played against a team ranked 54 or lower in FIFA's ranking in a group stage game at Copa América.

Continuing with the fact that Messi now has the joint-most games played with the Argentine national team, both Messi and Mascherano made posts about it.

As previously mentioned, thanks to this win Argentina qualified through to the quarter-finals of the tournament. Their rival is still unknown since the positions of both groups are not yet known, with a round to go in each group. Argentina's next rival will be Bolivia, who's last in the group with no points won yet in three games. Hopefully, Argentina get the win and consolidate their 1st place position in the group. I hope you liked this entry, and as always, I'll see you in the next blog.