U-20 Argentina 1-0 DPRK

In the review for U-20 match against Czech Republic, I mentioned our players looked too tight, and they would probably perform better if they had loosen up.
In today's match, they did that, but possibly overdid it a little.

On offense, there were alot of creativity and individual skills shown, but we weren't able to capitalize on several excellent opportunities. The North Korea goalie performed excellently, but even when our players had gotten around him and his defenders we weren't able to score. For example, Banega's shot hitting the post was an unluck event, but it could also be result of him loosened up too much. We had some openings to push into opponent box that weren't developed properly and resulted in long shots.

On defense, this over relaxation allowed several dangerous chances. North Korea didn't equalize largely due to their poor finish. Some of their combinations looked very dangerous, and definitely put pressure on Sergio Romero. Romero positioned himself very well and stopped quite a few shots on goal, but if our defense was better organized, some of these efforts wouldn't of been necessary.

North Korea is one of the few national teams I've seen that made Argentine players looked physical. They conserved their energy well and created some serious chances towards the end of second half. Very unfortunate to see a team with such strong mentality exiting before second round. But the truth is, players of this Argentine U-20 team are extremely matured for their ages. Very few teams in this U-20 tournament can rival their experience.

With 7 points and 1st position in the group, it's time for the other teams to worry about meeting our boys.