A victory
Messi didn’t play. The rest of Argentina barely showed up. I don’t mean the team; I mean the country. How empty the stadium looked!
The other big names were on the field. At the beginning I was a little worried about el Fideo Di María, but after the first few minutes, he hardly touched the ball. We defended high up on Argentina’s half, all game long. It was as if we were the home team.
Special credit to Christian Noboa and Pedro Quiñónez – and, later, Segundo Castillo – our defensive midfielders. Antonio Valencia made some freakish runs, one of which you’ll see below.
In Ecuador: a news anchor with one eye on the game.
I wonder if the Argentinians will keep their #1 world ranking.