Copa America 2021: Possession-based Paraguay’s playmaking problems vs Argentina – tactical analysis

Paraguay suffered their first loss of Copa América 2021 in their second group game when they came up against one of South America’s big three  Argentina, who have won two and drawn one of their first three group games at this year’s competition. Despite being the second most successful side in Copa América history, Argentina are currently on something of a drought, having failed to win this tournament since 1993. That is still more recent than Paraguay have lifted the trophy, however, with La Albirroja last winning Copa América in 1979.

This week’s meeting between these two sides was a tight affair that ended in a 1-0 win for Argentina. Neither side looked particularly convincing going forward in this one, which can partly be credited to each team’s solid defensive efforts, however, Paraguay undoubtedly created fewer quality chances than Argentina, who enjoyed the luxury of being able to rely on moments of brilliance from La Liga giants Barcelona’s Lionel Messi and Ligue 1 side PSG’s Ángel Di María at times.

Paraguay kept more of the ball, ending the game with 53.25% possession to Argentina’s 46.75%, but La Albirroja managed to create just eight shots with one hitting the target, while La Albiceleste created nine shots with five hitting the target.

In this tactical analysis piece, we’ll look into Paraguay’s creative issues versus Argentina. We’ll highlight some areas in which they struggled on the ball during this Copa América fixture, while we’ll also provide analysis of what Paraguay tried to do in this game and how they ultimately failed to execute their tactics and plans effectively.

Lineups and formations

Firstly, let’s run through both teams’ lineups and formations for this fixture. Argentina lined up in a 4-4-2 shape for this one, with Messi sometimes dropping deeper to become a ‘10’ in a 4-2-3-1, and Argentina pressing higher in more of a 4-2-2-2. In their 4-4-2 shape, Lionel Scaloni’s team lined up as followed in the corresponding positions:

GK: Emiliano Martínez, RB: Nahuel Molina, RCB: Cristian Romero, LCB: Germán Pezzella, LB: Nicolás Tagliafico, RM: Ángel Di María, RCM: Guido Rodríguez, LCM: Leandro Paredes, LM: Alejandro Gómez, RCF: Lionel Messi, LCF: Sergio Aguero.

Jo