Aguero Saves Argentina In Copa America | Thebigtip

Argentina’s hopes of winning their 15th Copa America title suffered a blow this morning, scrapping to a one all draw against a determined Bolivia in the opening match of the tournament.

Despite starting attacking superstars Lionel Messi and Carlos Tevez, Argentina failed to break a Bolivia defence that pressured the hosts into error, with both Messi and Tevez presented with little room to weave their magic on the ball.

Bolivia were rewarded for their defensive resolve when they opened the scoring at the start of the second half, thanks to an own-goal by Valencia midfielder Ever Banega.

Indeed Argentina were lucky not to go further behind, after Bolivian forward Martins failed to make the most of a one on one opportunity against Argentine goalkeeper Sergio Romero.

Seeing how Argentina were struggling to cause any problems in attack, manager Sergio Batista produced a vital substitution, replacing Napoli striker Ezequiel Lavezzi with Atletico Madrid forward Sergio Aguero.

Batista’s substitution proved worthwhile, as Aguero struck home the equaliser with a thunderous volley, to give Argentina hope of a victory.

The inclusion of Aguero provided Argentina with a clinical edge in attack, as they began to make inroads against a stubborn Bolivian defence.

Despite the best efforts of Aguero and company, Bolivia held on for a valuable draw which gives them a great chance of progressing into the quarter-finals with matches against Costa Rica and Colombia to come.

As for Argentina, Batista’s men face a nervous match-up against Colombia, who possess arguably one of the form strikers in world football - FC Porto forward Radamel Falcao.

If Argentina are to attain victory against the Colombians, changes will have to be made, starting with the inclusion of Aguero for Lavezzi, with the Napoli striker displaying little of the form which helped Napoli secure a Champions League place next season.

Tevez was also disappointing against Bolivia, and one would seriously consider replacing the Manchester City forward for a tall striker such as Real Madrid’s Gonzalo Higuain or Inter Milan’s Diego Milito.

Of course, there remains the issue of Messi, who once again did little to erase the doubts that Argentina supporters have of him.

While there were flashes of brilliance from the FC Barcelona maestro, Messi was well contained by the Bolivia defence, and coach Batista could be forced into changing the set-up of his side in order to bring out the best from the world’s greatest footballer.

The inclusion of Palermo midfielder Javier Pastore could provide Messi with the spark to ignite his Copa America campaign. Indeed Pastore changed the course of the match against Greece during the 2010 World Cup group stages, allowing Messi to roam more freely and create the havoc which we so often see him produce for FC Barcelona.

No doubt coach Batista will be expected to find solutions for Argentina’s worrying performance against Bolivia. If not, Argentina may yet be staring at another Copa America failure.