Argentina’s Under-20 team racked up a third successive win today in the South American Championship, with goals from Giovanni Simeone and Ángel Correa securing a 2-0 reverse of Peru that gave the nation a perfect start to the competition’s final stage.
Having already beaten the Inca 6-2 in the first round, Argentina were overwhelming favourites to repeat the triumph in Montevideo’s Estadio Centenario. The Albiceleste kids, in the event, had to wait less than two minutes for the breakthrough.
Cristian Espinoza’s pass played through Giovanni Simeone with little more than 90 seconds on the clock, and the River Plate youngster fired the ball past Daniel Prieto to give the Albiceleste a dream start. The strike marked competition top scorer Simeone’s seventh of the tournament, in just five games.
From that explosive beginning, the side directed by Humberto Grondona came to dominate control of the ball, while showing less anxiety to stream forward against the vulnerable Peru. Fernando Canales was the pick of the opposition, who showed little sign of fighting back into the contest.
When the game appeared to be fizzling out into a narrow victory, however, the irrepressible Correa stepped up to make the three points safe. The Atlético Madrid teenager released a brilliant looping effort outside the area, which left Prieto without a chance of saving and doubled the advantage for Argentina.
The Albiceleste will return to activity on Thursday, when a much tougher test in the shape of Colombia, looms for Grondona’s charges. The top four countries out of the six-team final round will book a place in the U-20 World Cup, while the winner will earn the right to compete in the Olympic Games and the runner-up will contest a play-off to go to Rio 2016.
Source: Buenos Aires Herald