Guarani and Orense competed for first place in the group after two matchdays, after both teams managed to win their first match against respectively Newell’s Old Boys and Universidad de Concepcion. The Paraguayan set up in a 4-3-3 and played with high-positioned full-backs and a defensive midfielder who dropped deep between the two central defenders. Orense made a few mistakes early on in the game which led to a few big chances for Guarani, but they could not find the back of the net. Orense started to get better in the game and after a good assist by Ariel Suarez, Dany Coronel managed to score his first goal of the tournament to get Orense the win.
Youth Ratings
1 – Ready for the first team
2 – Good, potential to be first team
3 – Decent, could make first team squad
4 – Decent potential, unlikely to make it to first team
5 – Unlikely to make first team
Matías Segovia
Player profile:
- Nationality: Paraguayan
- Age: 19
- Date of birth: 04/01/2003
- Club: Guarani
- Career: Guarani
- Position: Right Winger
- Preferred foot: Left
Matías Segovia played as a right-winger in the match against Orense and even though he has some clear strengths, I think he failed to make a good impression in this match. The winger often dropped deep in this match to get into possession. From this area, far from the goal, he liked to take on an opponent before playing a sideways pass to one of the central midfielders. The Paraguayan winger also played some good passes into the attack. His touch when dealing with aerial passes, mostly long passes, was not that great as he failed to keep the ball in play once. Segovia liked to shoot from distance, but even though they were quite accurate and aimed towards the corner, his shooting power simply is not good enough which also has to do with his physical appearance. Segovia scans well before receiving the ball.
The 19-year-old’s vision is quite good, but he sometimes makes the wrong decision on the ball, passing it to the wrong player or in the wrong direction to his teammate. Matias Segovia has a low centre of gravity and is really agile. He is quick on the first meters but is not capable of maintaining that speed over long distances. The Paraguayan, when starting far from his own goal, never reaches the box and this restricts him from creating danger in front of Orense’s goal. Segovia had a good delivery from dead-ball situations, showing good crossing technique with his left foot. Segovia, who’s 165cm tall and has a slim build, got pushed off the ball quite easily in physical duels.
Rating – 2
I think Segovia needs to play higher up the pitch and not act like a playmaker far from his own goal. He needs to come in the 1v1 situations on the wing more often from where he can be more dangerous with inswinging crosses, shots from distance or playing a one-two with the striker, like he did for the opening goal against Newell’s Old Boys. Matias Segovia, at the age of just 19, will be an interesting target for clubs from bigger competitions soon, but I don’t think he has the potential to play for the top 5 leagues, just because of his physical appearance. There are some exceptions, but I don’t think Segovia’s technical/tactical ability is good enough to back up his lack of physicality.
Thiago Servin, Alcides Barbotte, Alexis Cantero & René Rodriguez
Thiago Servin once again proved to be really comfortable on the ball, showing a good technique to play accurate short passes. He liked to carry the ball into midfield and did this confidently. Servin looked powerful when carrying the ball out from the back and had good changes of directions for a central defender. The Paraguayan looked composed when being put under pressure and in one situation, he dribbled past a few players on his own half which created a numerical superiority on the opposition’s half. Servin played good and strong passes into the attack, but his long passes were inconsistent. Defensively, the Paraguayan central defender does not seem to turn that quickly, but did well to get in front of his opponent at times, showing good anticipation. He gets a 3 rating in this match.
Alexis Cantero caught my eye in the second half, after I already realized that he has great athletic ability in the first match. The left-back is a very dynamic left-back. Cantero has good changes of direction when sprinting, good mobility, good crossing technique, good positional sense, good movement, good strength in physical duels, good ball control and first touch and looked good taking on multiple opponents at once. Defensively, Cantero looked disciplined to stay in position. I am going to take a more in-depth look at him in the next three matches of Guarani. He gets a 2 rating for this match.
I also watched Alcides Barbotte, but he did not make a good impression and I did not make enough notes of him. He did not possess good athleticism and looked really slow on the turn, which is a key part for a full-back in my opinion. Barbotte did not have excellent technical or tactical ability to make up for his lack of athleticism. I would have given Barbotte a 4 rating. Next to that, I also watched René Rodriguez to whom I gave a 1 rating last time. This time he would have been given a 3 rating. He did not look that quick and often failed to stay on his feet in the 1v1 duels, making a mistake leading to the 0-1 of Orense. His technical ability is good and he is composed on the ball though. I will watch Rodriguez more often.
As I covered both teams last match, I was watching this match to see if I saw any changes in playing style, strengths or weaknesses. This is also why the report is not as long as the last report. Please check this report out if you want to read my first match report on Guarani under 20.