Calamitous Argentine defending allowed Croatia to take the lead in today’s friendly, but Gerardo Martino’s men fought back through Sergio Agüero and Lionel Messi to take a 2-1 victory in London.
The Argentina back-line had been guilty of sitting far too narrow as their Balkan rivals pushed on the overlap in the 11th minute. Anas Sharbini was left alone on the left, and converted perfectly past Sergio Romero to give Croatia the lead despite resting several of their most talented players.
The Albiceleste tried to level the game, but squandered a handful of golden opportunities in the first 45 minutes. Agüero in particular had an off-day in front of goal, while captain Messi also fired wide as Argentina pushed forward without luck in West Ham’s Upton Park home.
The pair, however, found more luck after the interval to give Martino’s charges the advantage in impressive fashion.
After missing a host of chances, El Kun redeemed himself in bizarre fashion when, in the second half, his elbow connected with Cristian Ansaldi’s shot to send the ball into the net for the equaliser.
Minutes later, an excellent pass from Messi sent Agüero through on goal, but the Manchester City striker was downed by Croatia goalkeeper Kalinic. Messi stepped up from the spot and sent his opponent the wrong way to reverse the scoreline, after a promising start from the Croats.
The game lost intensity after Messi’s winner, with the entry of Carlos Tevez off the bench one of the few incidents to generate a murmur of excitement from the Upton Park crowd. Carlitos looked sharp on his return after three years away from international action, but the Juventus star could not add to the Selección tally as the team eased to the win in the latter stages.
Source: Buenos Aires Herald