Clinical Argentina thrash Paraguay 6-1 in Copa America semi-final

Argentina celebrate Angel Di Maria’s goal against Paraguay

A clinical performance from Argentina saw them thrash Paraguay 6-1 in the second semi-final of the 2015 Copa America and they will now face Chile in the final. The win saw La Albiceleste finally overcome the difficulties in scoring they’ve been facing throughout the tournament as they dismissed La Albirroja without breaking much of a sweat.

The first few minutes of the first half were tight, with both sides waiting for the other to show their cards. The first real chance fell to Paraguay when some good play from Nelson Valdez found the ball crossed into Roque Santa Cruz’s path inside the box, but he scuffed his shot wide.

Argentina then started to threaten and a well-worked move saw the ball reach Pastore, but his shot was too weak to trouble ViIllar and was an easy save. The Argentines though opened the scoring from a set-piece in the 15th minute, when Messi’s ball was not dealt with and found its way to Marcos Rojo, who calmly stroked into the goal.

The goal gave them encouragement to go forward with menace, and Lionel Messi started running with the ball, looking for the runs of Aguero, Di Maria and Pastore. One such great move saw him thread through a lovely pass to Pastore, and the latter’s powerful shot was saved well by Villar. The second goal came in the 27th minute, when a lovely through ball from Messi was latched onto by Pastore, who the finished with aplomb past Villar.

Paraguay pulled a goal back just before the end of the first half, thanks to Lucas Barrios’ instincts, as he read the miscommunication in the Argentine defence perfectly, capitalising on DeMichelis’s deep position to rifle in a shot past Romero, after an Argentine free-kick was headed back in by the Paraguayans.

The second half, though, was all Argentina, and they got off to a brilliant start. Angel Di Maria added to the scoreline in the 47th minute, thanks to some magic from Javier Pastore, who picked a beautiful pass, between two defender and Di Maria’s finish was perfect, and into the bottom corner.

The Manchester United man then immediately added to his tally, as he scored on the rebound after the PSG man Pastore’s shot was saved. The goal, though, was all down to Lionel Messi’s brilliance, as the Barcelona man picked the ball up, dribbled at great speed, shrugging off challenges, before laying it off to Pastore.

The Argentineans were fully clued in and were playing some beautiful, intricate football. Villar's brilliance helped save what would otherwise have been a thing of beauty from Messi, who went on a mazy run, exchanged a lovely one-two with Pastore, whose return pass was exquisite. They then got their fifth goal of the night, after some lovely team build-up, as the ball went from Gago to Messi, who found Di Maria on the wing. His perfect cross was headed in clinically by Sergio Aguero.

Almost immediately, the 2014 World Cup finalists got their 6th goal, as Gonzalo Higuain, who had just replaced Aguero, reacted quickest to a loose ball situation in the box, lashing a shot into the roof of the net.

Lionel Messi created history by becoming the 1^st ?ever player to assist thrice in a Copa America semi-final, and just the 2nd ever player in Copa America history to provide 3 assists in a knockout round, after Denilson, who had done it in the final in 1997.

Paraguay, who were dominated and completely outplayed n the second half could not reach their second consecutive Copa America final, and will now look to claim third place by defeating Peru. Argentina move on to face hosts Chile in the final, which will see the two best teams of the tournament fight it out for the win.