Argentina scrape to lone goal win against Venezuela

Argentina won their international friendly 1-0 against South American rivals Venezuela in Kolkata. A lot had been expected from the Argentina vs Venezuela game at the Saltlake Stadium, but the match never rose to any great heights with Venezuela giving their more famed rivals a tough time.



Actually today wasn't about the game but mainly about 'World Player of the year' Lionel Messi and his visit to Kolkata to play infront of his legion of fans. Every touch, move of the little maestro was cheered by the crowds but the stadium was far from capacity which will come as a surprise if one looks at the media coverage the game has received in the last few days.



It was an even first session with numerous half chances on both sides as it was a slow paced match were Venezuela looked threatening on the counter while Argentina had some nice build-ups, but finishing wasn't up to the mark on both sides.



Things remained the same after the break with Argentina's attacks having more purpose, but the same can be said about Venezuela's counters which continued to worry Sergio Romero in the Argentina goal. The winner for Argentina came in the 67th minute when centre-back Nicolás Otamendi headed in a Messi corner. That was the best phase of the match for Argentina but they couldn't take advantage of the situation.



Towards the end of the game it was even again with Argentina having throughout more of the ball, while Venezuela looked for the direct approach towards goal especially over the flanks. It remained 1-0 for Argentina at the final whistle.



Messi played a solid game, but not really spectacular which his fans would have liked, but many can now at least say, we have seen Messi live in action and that in Kolkata.





MATCH STATS



Venezuela 0-1 Argentina - Goals: 0-1 Nicolás Otamendi (67')



Argentina

Sergio Romero; Pablo Zabaleta (79' Federico Fernandez), Martin Demichelis, Nicolás Otamendi, Marcos Rojo; Lucho Gonzalez (68' Jose Ernesto Sosa), Javier Mascherano, Ricky Alvarez (61' Javier Pastore); Lionel Messi [C], Gonzalo Higuain (74' Sergei Aguero), Ángel Di Maria



Venezuela

Rafael Romo, Fernando Amorebieta, Oswaldo Vizcarrondo, Angel Flores, Gabriel Cichero, Nicolas Fedor, Tomas Rincon [C], Frank Feltscher (68' Yohandry Orozco), Csar Gonzlez, Roberto Rosales, Jose Salomon Rondon



Referee

Dinesh Nair (Gujarat, India)



Yellow Cards

Fernando Amorebieta (Venezuela); Javier Mascherano (Argentina)