When the Argentine forward Yamile Rodriguez got the third goal of the albiceleste team in the match for third place in the Women’s Copa América knew that it was making history. After the scorer left the Paraguayan goalkeeper on the way Alicia Bobadilla and send the ball to save at the bottom of the goal, he threw himself on the grass of the Centennial Stadium of Armenia.
I had the teary eyes and a lump in the throat, which was unleashed when all her teammates, including those on the bench, hugged her and thanked her because with the goal she scored, Argentina became the third team in Conmebol qualified for the Women’s World Cup to be held in New Zealand between July 20 and August 20, 2023.
Argentina did the unthinkable in the last half hour of the game. He started losing with an own goal that he scored Romina Nunez at minute 39 of the first half.
This meant that the players were not focused on the last five minutes of the first half, so they hoped that halftime would arrive soon, to listen to the technical talk of Germán Portanova.
The coach’s words had an effect on his directed, because from the first minute of the second half, the Argentineans went out looking for the equalizer. They tried once more and once more, but the Paraguayan goalkeeper seemed to be invincible. In addition, with the passage of time the players of Paraguay stood en bloc on the defensive.
It seemed that the scoreboard was defined and that the Paraguayan triumph was only a matter of procedure. But the Argentines insisted and in the 78th minute, when striker Yamile Rodríguez found space for a counterattack and scored the equalizing goal, history began to turn.
Already with 1-1 on the scoreboard, the nerves of the players from both teams were evident. The game was closed in the center of the field. The players had little control of the ball and the process of the game was interrupted by kicks. Argentina committed 14 fouls and Paraguay 17 during the ninety minutes.
When all the signs pointed to the match being defined by kicks from the penalty spot, the Argentine midfielder Florence Bonsecond paved the way for the selected of the Argentinian republic would take the victory and stay with the third place of the Women’s America Cup held in Colombia. That was in the 90th minute.
The Paraguayans, who since the score was tied tried take the game to penalties They got desperate and went out to look for the goal with which to equalize the game, so they left spaces, which the Argentines took advantage of and for the one that arrived, in the minute 90+1, Rodríguez’s second goal.
When the judge blew the whistle for the end of the match,The Argentines hugged each other and let out a cry of relief, because, according to what one of them said in statements following the match, they swam once morest the current and overcame some of the injustices with which they had to overcome throughout the tournament, such as the problems that there was with covid-19 test swabs.
With this victory, the Albiceleste qualified for their second consecutive World Cup and in New Zealand they hope to get out of the group stage and with that improve the performance they had in France 2019when they failed to advance to the second round of the tournament.
The emotions in Women’s America Cup that takes place in national territory are not over yet. Tomorrow, starting at 7:00 pm Colombia will face Brazil in the Alfonso Lopez Stadium in Bucaramanga, to define the tournament champion. Both teams already have their quota World Cup 2023 and the Olympic Games Paris 2024.
