Angel Di Maria scored as Lionel Messi made their long-awaited return to worldwide soccer, serving to Argentina to a 1-0 victory over Ecuador in a Copa America warm-up match on Sunday.
Messi, sidelined for six months resulting from a hamstring harm, got here on within the second half, changing Di Maria within the 56th minute.
Their return marks a major second for the eight-time Ballon d’Or winner and Inter Miami star, who missed Argentina’s earlier two Copa America warm-up matches towards El Salvador and Costa Rica in March.
“Sometimes there is no need to risk it, not only with Leo. It is about taking care of them so that they arrive in optimal conditions,” Argentina head coach Lionel Scaloni stated of his choice to sit down Messi for the primary half.
With Messi watching from the bench, Di Maria despatched a reverse cross from Christian Romero into the web to open the scoring within the fortieth minute.
“It helps to play against a rival like that, especially because Ecuador plays at a high level, they make it difficult for anyone,” Scaloni stated. “And we needed to get together, compete, add minutes and feel the sensation of putting on the shirt before a Cup that is going to be difficult.”
It was Di Maria’s second consecutive aim in a world match. They additionally scored towards Costa Rica on March 26. With the thirty first aim of their Argentina profession, the 36-year-old midfielder is tied with Gonzalo Higuain for the fifth-most targets within the nation’s historical past and sit simply 4 scores behind Diego Maradona at No. 4 on the leaderboard.
Argentina, the reigning World Cup and Copa America champion, haven’t misplaced of their final seven conferences with Ecuador, a streak relationship again to 2019.
“The goal is to continue competing, and these guys have competing in their blood,” Scaloni stated. “Sometimes it turns out well and other times it doesn’t turn out well. But you have to keep playing. There are always things to play for. Now the Copa América, then the qualifiers. … Our goal is always to compete at our best.”
Lionel Scaloni’s Argentina will wrap up their pre-Copa America slate in Washington D.C. on Friday with a warm-up match towards Guatemala earlier than opening their group stage of the match towards Canada on June 20.
Meanwhile, Ecuador has a pair of worldwide pleasant matches remaining towards Bolivia on Wednesday and Honduras on June 16 earlier than opening the Copa America schedule towards Venezuela on June 22.
Source: www.dailysabah.com