By Darwin Largo
At the end of the first half, the Argentina National Team beat Bolivia 2-0 at the Hernando Siles stadium in La Paz. The performance of Los Albicelestes was excellent, as they handled the ball with patience and creativity during most of the 45 minutes and generated many dangerous situations to score goals.
The great fear of the Argentines was not what the Bolivian players could do, as there is a great difference in quality between the two teams, but the altitude. The city of La Paz is 3650 meters above sea level and that makes the conditions different from other matches. Players who are not used to playing there may suffer from headaches, shortness of breath and fatigue, which causes lower performances than usual.
But none of this happened, as Argentina showed a great level. The opener came after 31 minutes, when Rodrigo De Paul took the ball, dribbled past two opponents and gave a pass to Julian Alvarez, he passed it to Angel Di Maria, who assisted Enzo Fernandez to score inside the box with a subtle touch of his left foot. The Chelsea midfielder was one of the best players on the team.
And in the 42nd minute came the second goal, when Di María sent a cross from a free kick and Nicolas Tagliafico hit the ball with his right shoulder, after missing the header, overcoming the resistance of goalkeeper Viscarra.
Bolivia ended the first half with one player down due to Roberto Fernandez's red card. The defender had been cautioned since the 14th minute for a foul against Di Maria, but then he kicked Cristian Romero and referee Esteban Ostojich, with the help of the VAR, sent him off. The Argentines were frightened by that situation, as the Tottenham defender appeared to be in a lot of pain in his ankle from the kick. However, he was able to continue playing until the end.
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