Argentina will play Ecuador in Houston on July 4th in the first quarterfinal of the 2024 Copa America. The defending champions swept all three of their group stage matches to lead Group A without conceding a single goal. However, concerns over captain Lionel Messi’s injury have become a slight distraction ahead of this match.

On the other hand, Ecuador finished tied with Mexico on four points after a scoreless draw in their final Group B match. Despite this, Felix Sanchez’s team secured a spot in the knockout stage due to their superior goal difference. They enter this match as underdogs, but with Kendry Paez, soon to join Chelsea, among their ranks, they have the potential to pull off an upset.

Goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez became the hero of the Argentina national team when he saved two consecutive penalties from Ecuador, thereby helping La Albicelester win a ticket to the semi-finals of Copa America 2024.

At the start of the match, Ecuador brought a big surprise to the defending champions when they attacked from the first minutes and caused La Albiceleste’s goal to fall into a state of alarm many times. Moises Caicedo and Jeremy Sarmiento took turns firing at Argentina’s goal, but the duo could not overcome the excellence of goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez.

After a shaky first few minutes, Lionel Scaloni’s team gradually regained control of the game and responded to their opponents. Enzo Fernandez was the most active player with dangerous shots, but could not convert them into goals.

In a tight match, Argentina unexpectedly opened the scoring from a corner kick, and the one who brought the advantage to the defending champions was center-back Lisandro Martinez with a close-range header, thereby ending the first 45 minutes of the match with the lead.