It happened again. No matter how many stars Brazil has, lately it seems that the competitive capacity of the Argentine team directed by the legendary exinterista Matías has taken the measure and this Saturday he has agreed to the final of the Copa América after defeating his eternal rival on penalties (3-3, 1-2) in a colossal performance by Dani Sarmiento, goalkeeper of Real Betis Futsal.
The Argentines will face each other in the final this Sunday against the host Paraguay in a duel with a clear albiceleste color, although the ‘Cholo’ (former of ElPozo) is leading the Guarani very well as he has shown again this Saturday in the semifinals against Colombia (4-2).
As always when there is a ball involved and these two teams face each other, tension and emotion were always present in the second semi-final of this tournament that is being played in Asunción (Paraguay) after Brazil resigned at the last minute due to the restrictions against covid.
With the azulgranas Ferrao, Marcenio, Matheus and Pito in its ranks, the ‘verdeamarelha’ has more figures, but at the block level the albiceleste is so strong that it was even proclaimed world champion in 2017 under the command of Diego Giustozzi (current coach of ElPozo).
The match began very intensely, with precautions and chances on both sides until after nine minutes, former interim player Cristian Borruto took advantage of a rebound in the 9th minute to put Argentina ahead. Just a minute later, Ferrao converted a penalty ‘invented’ by the referees to sign the 1-1. The hands were involuntary, the player was on his back and had his arm on the ground.
Already in the second half, Matheus, also a Barça player, did not stop growing and established the 2-1 lead in the 26th minute by skillfully converting a free kick when the Argentines were waiting for the pass. There was no respite and Ángel Claudino took advantage of a rebound to make it 2-2 in the 29th minute. A safe value the star of Fútbol Emotion Zaragoza.
Brazil was not comfortable and his goal Guitta received a direct red card for voluntarily touching the ball outside the area. And the direct free kick a foot from the area made it 2-3 by Leandro Esteban Cuzzolino, a former Levante player who now plays for Italservice Pesaro.
Far from lowering their arms, the ‘canarinha’ equalized again five minutes from the end in a corner thrown hard by another azulgrana as Marcenio who surprised Sarmiento and so the extra time was reached just after another chance by the former Gazprom-Ugra player with 16 seconds to go.
Argentina was superior in the general calculation of the extension, but the best occasion was Brazilian in a Maximum penalty that Ferrao missed against Sarmiento. By the way, the Real Betis goalkeeper will face the one from Chapecó also in two weeks in the quarterfinals of the King’s Cup, a single match in Seville.
The fact is that the semi-final was decided on penalties and Sarmiento was definitely the hero of the match with three saves. He stopped the shots to Ferrao, Pito and the definitive one to Marcenio, while Bruno Taffy sent him to the crossbar after not playing a minute and only Rafa Santos (ElPozo) scored. On the Argentine side, goals from Edelstein and Claudino were enough.