Jorge SAMPAOLI press conference, VALDANO, others weigh in

1. Argentina is not winning anything unless and until Sampoli throw his arrogance out the window. How did Argentina made the final in 2014?? By playing 4, sometimes 5, in the back. Sampaoli?? He fantasizes about, listen to this, playing with… 1 defender. He calls that a revolution. What is that mean?? He doesn’t emphasize the importance of realistic defensive work. This is a man whose defense has let in, in 45 minutes, four gold a piece to Spain and… Nigeria. It’s means his defensive philosophy are by that measure a catastrophe. Hoped this will wake him up but it doesn’t seem to be evident. Play four in the back, four in the middle and two, Messi and DYBALA up front. The two of them up front will create havoc. And you also avoid the centenarians debacle where Messi, up front, was constantly fighting to beat three four defenders by himself. I don’t buy the notion of two world class players not compatible, it’s ridiculous. They beat Brazil 1-0 in Sampaoli debut and they played just fine. And that is the coach job, to incorporate different parts and make them play like a team. The best thing about this result is now the universal consensus that DYBALA cannot be left out no matter what. That Sampaoli even considered such a thing is why it’s hard to trust his judgment. I meanareyij kidding me?? How could anybody think about something like this hat?? You have the best player in Italy, one of the four top league in the world, and you think about leaving him off your roster??? Are you kidding me??? Wow.

2. What I see is team is getting shape little by little they are going to be a solid team.New player are giving balance to the team.Result counts nothing they just need to rise their spirit to play full ninety minute match.Not converting chances is our biggest problem we will be good in midfield.Ones our star players are back young ones gonna to show them what they are capable of.

   • defence is the concern.others will improve.but without a good defence you cant win anything.if your best cb otamendi also commits error thats one of the biggest drawback.caballero will not be a starter.he played poorly.he was tensed.bustos also will not be a starter.he just dont have the defensive capabilities.rojo also will not be a starter.so out of 4 member 2 players will not be playing in wc.tagliafico was ok .not as bad defensively and with little time he will improve.but the biggest concern is the cb pair.otamendi was quite bad against spain.is he that bad?? i dont think so.so why that happened mayb pressure mayb because of lack of protection from our dm pair masche-biglia or mayb he is not comfortable playing with rojo.rojo was super bad.spain pressed also very nicely.if sampaoli somehw rectify the defence and build a solid defensive midfield pair then we can hope for a win.but we have minimum time left and only try out things and build the chemistry in only 2 practice matches.

3. I’m not sure why some are assuming that was the end for Higuaín. The guy will go to Russia along with all clowns like Lazy Aguero, Di Maria, Biglia, Banega and Mascherano. All the gang will be heading to WC this Summer as a matter of fact. Messi want to play with his buddies, so coaches can’t say no. They can’t dare !!

   Also, people here have a very short memory, after last copa, everyone said Di Maria, Aguero, Biglia and Higuaín should have dignity and retire from the NT, now only Higuian is the bad player, but Di Maria and selfie boy are needed so they will save us in the real competition. Let’s be honest here and admit that not just Higuaín, but also Aguero, Diva, Biglia, Banega, Rojo, and Mascherano are rubbish and cost us a lot, they need to retire from the NT today.

   This is entertaining:
   Sampaoli: “We really can’t have Dybala and Icardi because we try to maintain the harmony and synergy of our team, plus we don’t have time to adapt Dybala to our unique style especially when we have better players who are able to mesh with the team style of play. Also, we can’t play Messi and Dybala together because it ruins our plan”
   Now seriously? What harmony and who are those players who are adapted to your style? Do you have a style from the first place? Harmony? What? Synergy? No time to spend on Dybala? well now you will have all the time needed to start building from scratch dude, how about that?

   Dybala, Icardi, Meza, Lo Celso, Tagliafico, Lanzini, Martinez and some others are the future and will play in Qatar 2022 when all this shit retire after a humiliating campaign in Russia.

   Messi is the best player in the history but will not win a world cup for three reasons:
   1) He’s not a leader, can’t be a captain in the first place
   2) Having friends is better than having fortune, that’s in life, but on field, only talented and skilled ones should be your friends.
   3) Enjoying other players’ reliance on him will not lead to championship. The team can’t be built around one player….what if that player is watching the game from the bench due to injury? 6-1 remember?

   • You must be an idiot if you think Messi wants to play with friends rather than those who are suited best for the role. That too not for any cup game, but World Cup out of all, Lol. I think Messi would rather unfriend with Aguero (his best friend @NT) rather than not winning the WC.

     Messi is the ultimate professional and a true match winner. He hates losing and always want the best team mates. He would atleast hope he gets a solid team so that he can win matches.

     If at all Messi prefers someone, it would be because of his on field chemistry with them, not off field chemistry. Messi might not prefer Dybala, but I think the blame should foto Dybala rather than Messi instead. Dybala publically said he doesn’t think he can play with Messi because both play in identical positions. This would after he finding it difficult to adjust to a new position because of Messi’s presence. Such an attitude might have irked the coach and Messi himself. So Dybala has only himself to blame. Having said that, I really think we need Dybala, he can be our super sub. We can also use him to replace Messi so that he gets some much needed rest in that busy schedule.

     People get confused with the preference built from on field chemistry as off field chemistry. If that was the case, players like Aguero & DiMaria would be playing in Barcelona.

     • “Messi is the ultimate professional and a true match winner. He hates losing and always want the best team mates. He would atleast hope he gets a solid team so that he can win matches”

       But with Higuain, Banega, and Biglia Argentina will look very weak. I don’t believe “friends club” but when you look at some of Sampa’s selections there could be a feeling that something is wrong.

       How on earth can Higuain and Banega be starters in the team? We all know what to expect from these guys. Why Enzo was left out since we all know his hard working and contribution to the team?

       Yesterday Ramos said “Without Messi Argentina look an inferior team” becaus he knows that Higuain is a joke and can’t score some of the easiest chances.

       The road to succcess is clear and if anybody tries to take down another path then they planned to fail.

       Drop Higuain, Banega, Biglia (the worst three in the squad) + Rojo

       Let’s not fool ourselseves by expecting good results from Higuain and Banega and the likes of them!

       • @dadir10, I think both Banega and Higuain justified their calls because they have been playing well for their respective club.

         You can’t accuse Samoa not calling someone who were not performing well and didn’t deserve a call up.

         However, he should not select Higuain & Biglia in the squad again. Enough is enough.

         Bustos should not be selected either. It was a joke seeing him defending Isco’s first goal.

         Banega and Mascherano should not be in the first 11. Mascherano for his leadership and experience would be a good squad player. Banega is inconsistent to be a starter. But he could be a game changing sub just like we saw against Italy.

         Sampa must never try the formation that he put up against Spain. Double pivot with just no winger. Meza played as 10.

         Meza deserves not only a call up to the WC squad, but also in the first 11 ahead of DiMaria. He was our leader and the only shining star against Spain while Lo Celso proved he came be trusted too.

         Following players should share the blame for the drubbing:

         Higuain – had he scored that goal, the team would have got the momentum. He also missed another one.

         Bustos – one of the poor performances by an LB

         Rojo – complete disaster as a CB. Similar to Bustos.

         Willy – Didn’t show the necessary confidence when he was put one on one.

         Biglia – He was invisible. Argentina had double pivot, but it appeared that they had no pivot.

         Mascherano – He was pretty poor. Didn’t bring the defensive stability.

         Banega – he was non-existent in the game

         • bustos is right back tagliafico is left back

       • Higuain and banega will not start

     • if and only if sampaoli thinks about employing a pragmatic approach in the form of quick counter attack i do believe dybala messi ikerdi all can play in the same team as simple is that ,this time i do miss sabella had he been there messi dybala ikerdi would thrash the opponents.there is still time because the players are not child ,with one month of building the chemistry between the younger ones and messi i think we are good to go ,thrres only seven matches ,as simple as that.
       the main concern for me is they chose barcelona for final camp that’s going to cost the cup i believe.

       • why bad to chose barcelona as a camp??

         • they gonna spy on us and we are giving them free pass

         • You can’t do anything.actually nou camp training facilities are excellent and will help players to prepare well.i hope this 30 days of training will help our players building chemistry and chemistry is quite important for defence actually.we could see Argentina’s defence having lack of chemistry against Spain.I’m sure they will be not as bad as they were against Spain but they will leak some in WC.those players still not comfortable playing out from back

   • agree. thats why ronaldo won euro because he didnt care who he would play with. or maybe he didnt have a choice.

     messi is best individual player. but not for the team.

     wc 2006 argentina played very good football with riquelme and veron in there. messi was very dangerous, but sadly he was benched by pekerman.

     he should be nothing to lose. just let youngster play with him because he had known the answer when he played with donkey like masch di maria biglia and banega.

     meza is impressive. 100 times greater than di maria. but….

4. Argentina needs one good defensive midfielder and good replacement of center back both Otamendi and Fazio need good substitutes.In attacking threat we have enough.LB and RB are good.Biglia’s position needs some good competition. If we place Lamela in Banega position that would give balance to the team.Lamela also tracks back and constant in going forward.Lamela is a player who is gonna to shine in any circumstances I do not know why he is not recognised in Europe top league in any team he provides balance.Acute understanding of game,killer passes that are his trade mark skills.Sampoli choose him better before it is too late.

   • sampaoli’s choice is shithole banega . lamela pastore lanzini
     and mesdi as false 9 we need this .
     at least a single chance for pastore is needed it is high time.
     lo celso is good but too raw ,that’s why pastore is needed alongside lamela.

5. Not too sure if you guys noticed this or not but we were sorely missing Enzo Perez in our midfield. A player who hustles and marauds the pitch while fairly providing some connectivity between the defence,midfield and attack. Not too sure why he was dropped although my suspicion is his recent poor club form.

   Anyway let’s not make this fairly dejecting defeat kill our hopes for the big tournament this summer. Trust me when i say by now Sampaoli would’ve spotted all our weaknesses and would’ve came up with a good strategy to rectify them. Also the fact that we will have Di Maria, Fazio, Lanzini, Aguero and Messi back in our lineup to strengthen the team. I believe Salvio would replace Bustos too which would create some stability on our right side. All of these players will inevitably make our team a fearful one even for the giants.

   Have a little faith you guys. Vamos Argentina !

   • I admire Enzo Perez and he’s a hard working winger, you see him all over the place, great tackle technique and stamina. I’m not sure he has a membership in Messi’s club though.

   • I like Enzo alot, has WC experience, versatile (can play RM, DM and CM) and he was the only midfielder to perform well in the do or die game with Ecuador.
     He’s light years ahead of Masch and Biglia and I would easily take him over pablo perez, whom I like.

     • pablo and enzo both are needed to ditch the strategy of spain and germany.if enzo plays a bit deep and pablo in a forward role will hold midfield together.

       • See like I said I really like both and wouldn’t mind seeing either (or both) in the midfield but Sampa’s system is a high pressing, high backline, high energy one and to execute that you need highly athletic -preferably younger- players, which neither of the perezes are, although Enzo is still fairly athletic.

         A midfield like the following could execute Sampa’s style fairly well:

         —-Meza———-Battaglia——–Celso————-Acuna—–

         3 out of those 4 are likely to be going to Russia, so it isn’t out of the question to see a line up such as this in the WC (although unlikely because you can bet that Biglia/Masch and Banega will be occupying 2 of those spots sadly).

         One way a Perez x2 pair would work if Sampa features them in a deep 4 man midfield along with a deep 4 man backline but that would require Sampa to change his philosophy and that ain’t gonna happen.

         • spain also played with 4-4-2 aren’t they?.
           the problem was possession based thinking ,when we have ikerdi and dybala we can use nessi as 10 just behind them.the most fantastic thing is that with these two messi won’t burn out because if messi fails then theres two more on the field who can take the advantage of the counter attack and score and less pressure for messi.

         • I like both Enzo Perez and Pablo Perez. Wonder which of them would be now more usefull for us. P. Perez needs more minutes. IMO both should be in squad however it’s hard to find a place for them and Battaglia at the same time. That’s possible only if players like Mascherano, Biglia, Banega will burned.

           I like your midfield, Mamoun.

6. With Lanzini and Augreo Argentina has hope of converting the chances created by Messi.If you can not convert chances you are gonna to lose.Argentina had many clear chances in the match but could not convert them in first half they could have three goals they played good especially younger ones but Mascherano should not be in WC roster.He is done for NT that is why Barcelona did not want him and sold him out to China.Mexa is good replacement for injury prone Di maria.Many things are positive for Argentina and that are enough to clinch world cup.Young ones should start over old guards.

7. Guys, I will ask all of you to go youtube and watch the game again. It’s not all doomed. We didn’t play badly in the 1st half with an almost unknown team! I mean for god sake 2 of guys had a debut match. Meza made Spain’s life hell. I don’t why he didn’t take those 2 shot quick and with real pace. With three slow old guys like Masche, Banega Bigilia we played very well in the first half. Sampaoli’s high line defense system killed the game. The only team I see is Brazil playing very consistently and seems they have the team! But Spain watch it, Ramos or Costa will get a red! If some new guys click with Messi we can go far!! Germany and Brazil did so bad in 2002 WCQ and they both went to final.

   • any link for the full match??

     • Just type Spain vs Argentina full match

8. Masherano should retire and fuck Biglia 😡😡😡😡😡

9. Ole published a list of 17 players whose places are guaranteed among them biglia,masch,higuain,aguero,di maria. Lo celso & lanzini are also included.

   • Nothing is etched in stone,
     Mascherano is done and has been so for at least 2 years now, costing us a win in the qualifiers when the game was done and won just to give an example.
     Biglia plays scared and can’t make a pass to save his life.
     Higuain and I said it at least 5 times on this site, ” mentally broken” KAPUT.
     Di Maria could be useful and so is Kun.

     • Higuain once again? I don’t think he will wear Argentina jersey another time.

       The chances he missed would’ve been easily scored by a 90-year-old woman from Laurania (fictional country).

       • hahaha … thats true … Icardi must come in place of donkey Higuain … Erike Lamel is doing good with this club … dybala … Enzo Perez … i hope something changes before its too late.

     • di maria and kun are always unfit by tournament time.

       • Maybe we’ll get lucky for a change.
         Getting rid of all 3 is not gonna happen, so it might as well be these two and not u know who.

         • Blaming Higuain, Di Maria, and Aguero for Argentina world cup woes? How about start blaming every single Argentina player in the last 25 years who flop at all the world cups post 1986 especially the overrated class of 2002? People just like scapegoating individuals..If, if, ifs. Maybe if the Titanic had a different captain and crew members the ship wouldn’t have sank. Argentina was just unfortunate in 2014, it wasn’t because of a single player.

         • No not a single player but rather 3 players namely Messi, palacio and your boy Higuain, they’re the ones who fluffed their golden chances.

   • befor last qualify against ecuedor you said bye bye.we are out bla bla bla.now you coming with this.you and gonzalo are too much negetive and sick minded.

   • i think first a 35 man squad will be announced.after that in june 23 man squad will be announced.this is the rule for this wc

10. All emotions aside, when is the next friendly?
    What was done is done, let’s move on.

    • The next one is against Bolivia. I think it’ll be late April and the majority of the team could be from the local league. And days before the WC there is another one vs Israel.

      • At least now Sam knows what NOT TO DO.

        • sam knows nothing.he is still adamant.if he learns from this loss then it would have been good.but read the press conference.he will still select those bums and leave talented players at home.he still not focus in our weak spot in defence and midfield specially defensive midfield spot.still not pick a dimaria replacement if dimaria injure in wc we would b in trouble with no proper replacement.

11. I am a new member in this forum, am from Nigeria. I have been going through u peopls comments for long. In my assertions, I have found out that many of u will never want messi to be. when messi plays u tackle him, when he does not play u still say he was the reason Arg lost. How can someone from nowhere initiate that messi chooses his friends to play or selects the team and some ppl out there will believe. Sampoli only said that it is Messi’s team! in the sense that he will be hugely missed whenever he is not playing, yes as the best ever, not that messi selects players to play, ‘Think’. Let me ask , for the first 2-3 months sampoli took charge was Higuan selected for matche’s ? remember, ‘messi friend’. But when he started doing well in seria A & Champions league better than Icardi and Dyagbala who were no where to be found during those periods until the last game they played when sampoli has already decided his team, he was selected ahead of them. Sampoli selected him based on his form and to try him when Icardi & Dyagbala has failed in his system and some ppl are here criticizing messi who wants that trophy more than u or anyone else. #REMEMBER, it was that same sampoli that raised Icardi from the dust and cleaned him up when other coaches has failed to do so bcs of one reason or the other. Always have a second thought before u jump into conclusion. #Think wisely my People!

    • Buddy in this site there are members who will criticize messi no matter what. Members like Gonalzo only come to this site when Argentina lose or draw to say “see i told you, Messi cant win”. I did not see Gonalzo guy after Messi hattrick in Ecuador whereas before match, he was predicting Argentina will lose there. He pretend to support unknown/medicore players from unknown team however when Sampoali played lots of youngesters yesterday, we know the result. These guys are pretending that Argentina was winning world cup every 4 years and we suddenly stopped winning after Messi. These kind of fans are cancer to argentina football. Just listen what Diego Coasta said yesterday and he was particuraly taking dig at fans like Gonalzo in Argentina who love to criticize on Messi when ever possible.

      • YOU ARE ABSOLUTELY RIGHt BRO…. like gonzalo,mamoun elpipita..(i think he is pipita (higuain))… they dont have brain… they are the worst fan i have ever seen… they waiting to critisize the players… no matter what.. i think they played five world cup and won five of them.. they talk like that.. they pick their team… 1000 line up… they dont know if messi and sampaoli bring to this world cup… they never say when argentina played well… but if loose.. they like lot… like maradona… they want messi failure.. thats it… dont forget this post… argentina will beat spain in quaterfinal.. then world will speak only about messi… if messi played.. jordi alba and iniesta.. they wont cross half line… thats differnce with messi argentina… and messi less argentina… if anyone say messi is selecting a team… they dont have brain… if he likes biglia.. he would chosse barcelone team first before argentina… when sampoali took charge.. he selected 102 players… if messi choose the team… meza dybala icardi locelso lanzini wont make deput…

        i am asking who are really love messi in this site… mention below.. when he will retire world will cry… thats for sure.. for all those real fans are here. i am asking if some guys put negative cmt… blast those fucking idiots.. i hope this site have many good supporters.. and dont listen their cmts… and think positively… they are block holes…

12. I really don’t know from where to start. Like everyone in here i am so frustated, so many mixed emotions, a real mess, but despite that i am posting rarely lately (i am reading everyone’s post almost everyday tbough), i felt the need to share my feelings and thoughts with you guys so i will try to write a couple of things.

    When i saw for the first time our line-up against Spain i was quite surprised and wondered who could really create chances for goal for us. One of the many things that irritates me a lot are the headlines by media. According to them, someone who didn’t watch the game or even know anything about line-ups, would understand that full strength Spain thrusted full strength Argentina but in reality a full strength Spain thrusted an understrength Argenina to say at best.

    HOWEVER, missing almost all of your best players as well as players who could be influential or at least more effective (Messi, Aguero, Di Maria, Dybala, Icardi, Lanzini) against maybe the best team in the world currently at full strength in their soil, DOES NOT MEAN that there is even a single excuse for such humiliation when it comes for the sky blue and white shirt! I didn’t expect an understrength Argentina beating Spain at full strength in their own soil but i can’t accept this scoreline even if it was a friendly.

    Nevertheless, like some other people in here, i also thought that for the last eight years we were the kings of friendlies, humiliating in friendlies both Spain and Germany leaving a bitter taste in our mouths because both of them became world champions while we haven’t won anything for years, therefore despite not being that optimistic about our chances for this world cup i hope this time things turn the other way around.

    Personally, i am 100% with Gonzalo on this: In my humble opinion, NO WAY other teams have better young talents than Argentina, especially in the attacking department! Talent never was the case for Argentina but the messed up situation we went through after Sabella’s resignation, the fact that we were changing managers like shirts, no continuity at all, having as a result that we are still fighting to build a team while our rivals have already formed a steady team for atleast a year. Another reason is the luck of youth development all over these years like kid and many other have stated in here and of course our managers’ insane tendency of not selecting the obvious best players to fit for our team. I mean come on, in every other footballing powerhouse such as Brazil, Spain and France would be more than happy having at least one of Dybala or Icardi, we have them both but still we left them both out using Higuain upfront instead! I respect Higuain, appreciate what he has done for the team and i don’t doubt his skills, work rate, his passion and his willingness for trying his best, but i think than any sane individual can see clearly that he is done from Argentina! To me, Higuain, Mascherano, Biglia and even Aguero (an injured or unfit player the time we need him the most is not just a wasted spot but reduces our chances even more for going further) and maybe Rojo who i always liked, should all be excluded from the final squad. Even Martinez wasn’t tested properly. Because Sampaoli prefered to use for one game and a half Higuain in order to watch the same old story again, him wasting chances!

    Sampaoli must think the best of the team instead of making Messi feeling comfortably (don’t get me wrong, i don’t blame Messi, i respect him as everyone in here) and if Messi doesn’t want to play with mediocre players then he shouldn’t play with Higuain, Mascherano and Biglia because they are mediocre at best when playing for Argentina. Bring back Dybala and Icardi, try to fit the best possible player for each position, keep the same manager in order to create continuity and better lose risking and trying than loosing by exactly the same way with the same players!

    I apologise to you all for my messed up post, it is a mess like my feelings!

    • Don’t be deluded. Argentina do not have the best talent except forwards. Tell me a top midfielder or full back in the world that is Argentinian?

      /

      • Messi is a midfielder now.
        Lanzini is a great player, as is Acuña, Lamela is slowly regaining his form from his long hip injury and LoCelso is young, but has a ton of potential.

        The issue is tactical, not talent.

        • talent… goalkepper… germany have three world class and spain france and argentina… regular goalkepper… does not start for his club…

          full back… bustos and taglifico good full back.. not world class… if they injured we dont have any proper fullback.. no players in top european club..

          defensive mid… still lacks.. even decent player we have played atleast english premier league… argentina dont have… while spain and brazil and france they have second team… beat argentina main midfield.. and other team have many experience look casmeiro paulinho fernandinho… kroos khedira gundogan weigl… busguests.. even we dont have gabi in our team.. he never selected for spain…. thats relaity… argentina have world class in attacking department only… the other team have one or two.. but argentina have dybala icardi alario martinez messi auguero dimaria higuain..so on…

          argentina dont have proper 11 this is reality…. first understand this… but why world think they can win trophy because of messi… if messi is there… world class defender like school guy infront of him… thats is reality… they will fear to attack… this is what happend three finals.. chille only one team try to attack… when messi is there small team will defend in the box… if he is not available venezula attacke argentina came with point… remember… when messi is there.. uruguay.. defend in the box.. they wont do with other teams…. messi will carry even medicore team… he needs just support… if they provided… he can win the trophy … but its very difficult… but messi dont have the team… but he will do it…

      • Maybe Meza is not top midfielder but somehow he played as top midfielder. You see, that’s more about fame. SO we don’t need midfielder with opinion of superstars like Banega if they can’t play as superstars.

13. Did you guys think about this that Messi and Lanzini could have played but didn’t play. I am pretty sure Sampa knows he will meet Spain and he didn’t wanna show everything and let Spanish team to get all clue. Knowing Sampa characteristics he is the coach will do this definitely. Ofcourse he didn’t wanna loss like that obviously. And apparently some players wasn’t happy to play that open against Spain because they knew the results will be that. So it is kinda big mess now aswell.

14. I read in the Argentine press that Paredes has lost points to be selected for the World cup and will not be selected, because of that pass. Biglia who was horrible in both games is untouchable…and we wonder that we always fail. Some lost souls criticize a player like Tagliafico who with LO Celso were the only players who tried and played with heart.
    How can senior players perform so badly like Biglia, Mascherano, Higuain, Banega 9 out of ten games and are untouchable but youngsters get canned for 1 f mistake. The players that must be blamed for last night are:Messi(insisting on his buddies), Maschrano, Biglia, Higuain and not Tagliafico.
    Just Golazo has pointed in here that Otamendi was horrible last night. Should he also be canned? I don’t think so because he can be good, but why don’t we apply the same logic to Paredes a guy who has played just 1 bad pass.
    why do we deserve to win anything?
    people who engage in injustice deserve to be demolished.
    The press is saying that the friends club will all get selected for the world cup. Last nights debacle hasn’t changed anything on that front.

    • The source of Paredes to be left out news?

15. Hello Guys, What I have learned from watching Spain-Argentina match is that Argentina needs a coach like Portugal FERNANDO SANTOS.It doesn’t need to be attractive football to win International matches as it’s not a club game where you can all the players week in, week out but if you can win the matches playing attractive football, it’s better. Still, matches can be won with the defensive traditional approach.Reaching Argentina final in 2014 world cup was more or less had the same approach. Argentina should have won that final if Argentina had clinically finished at least one of the chance they had or they created, unfortunately, they couldn’t do so. I still say, it has chances but if we go sampaoli attacking approach with the player’s characteristics and limited time framework, that’s not possible. He should stop now that approach and go for the traditional approach, stay compact and counter-attack with the quality Argentina has in attack will work but the only thing is they should not clinical in attack and should n’t miss the opportunities come on the way. Portugal won the Euro Cup 2016, simply because of coach defensive approach and counter-attacking football against mighty France in their home ground even without Ronaldo. They made it possible no matter how ugly they looked in playing beautiful football. At the end of the day, what it counts is Trophy which they achieved.
    I still see Argentina chances to win if we improve our midfield and defense line, with all the attacking resource we have and we have to make them clinical in front of goals unlike 2014 World Cup Final and COPA AMERICA 2015 and COPA AMERICA 2016.
    Note: If Argentina and Sampaoli go to the World cup with the same approach, being so opened without making midField and Defense line rigid, I don’t think they can cross the super 16.
    Being Argentina Fan since 1998, I want Messi and Argentina will lift 2018 World cup in Russia. Anything can happen in Football, who has said Portugal would win 2016 Euro Cup 2016 and Many had thought they would go out from Group stages but where did France and Germany disappear? Despite all attacking talent, best midfield, and good defense, the home crowd, France had everything to win and even without Ronaldo they beat France in France so Let’s not lose our hope.
    I somehow feel from inside this time, I don’t know why Argentina and Messi will win 2018 world cup. God bless.

    • We need Simeone ain’t no way Argentina would lost a game like 6-1 if Simeone was the coach remember attack win games defense win championships

      • then why simione failed two ucl final?????look at germany they are the team to fear.

      • defence if we dont have any style.. no body is going to score other than messi… look what happend in 2014.. if messi dont score those goals argentina wont even reach quater final… from quater final it can help… but messi burn out… thats why his finishing was poor… messi dont want to defend 90 minutes.. its not easy task… on every three days… messi not suited for defensive style…

16. A huge loss for Argentina. It’s incredible we lost this game eventhough we played double pivot in a match after a long time. May be it shows double pivot do not necessarily bring more stability anf security at back esp if the double pivot are Masche and Biglia

    But this defeat is a blessing in disguise for our team. Hope this would force Samoa to take some serious and bold decisions.

    Sorry to say, but That should be the last game Higuain played for Argentina. It’s very unfortunate a talented and hard working player like him has to face such a situation. But there is something terribly bad with him at NT. I think it would be the best solution for both himself and the team. If he misses a chance like that in the game against Spain again in the WC and Arg loses, he would have had to retire from football altogether and go for a sabbatical. That would be a huge mental torture.

    Also no Mashe in the first 11 (he can be kept in the squad coz he is a leader). No Biglia in the squad. No Rojo in the squad. But I doubt Sampa will get rid of him as he has played almost all games under Sampa. But it’s quite clear that Biglia is mediocre.

    Banega must be included in the squad but should be played as a sub only. He could be decisive in some games as a sub, but at the same time he is inconsistent and could become a liability if he starts.

    Meza was a relevation, he should get the node ahead of DiMaria. I also doubt if it would happen due to DiMaria’s experience and reputation. In the worst case, Meza must be subbed in at the earliest if DiMaria is not producing the goods.

    Lanzini looks good. He should play as RM or RW (in 4-2-3-1). Celso is also good. We need a destroyer. I hope we find someone soon. May be Pizarro or Pablo Perez or some other player from arg league (best Arg DM in the league).

    It would be great if we can get either of Musachchio or Garay to partner Otamendi.

    I would like Lautaro as #9 coz he’s an inch taller than Aguero. He has all attributes of Aguero by the looks of it. Except the experience offcourse but in Argentina NT, it’s better to have no experience.

    Defeat against Spain would have helped Sampa assess players such as Higuain, Masche, Biglia, Banega and realize the potential of Meza & Lo Celso. It’s a pity that by the time Lautaro & Pablo came, the match was already lost.

    My squad:

    GK:
    Willy, Romero, Guzman

    Defense:
    Bustos, Mercado, Otamendi, Fazio, Mussachio, Tagliafico, Acuna

    Midfield:
    Pizarro, Lo Celso, Lanzini, DiMaria, Meza, Banega, Mascherano, Pablo Perez

    Forward: Messi, Dybala, Aguero, Lautaro, Icardi/A Correa

    My 11:

    Willy
    Mercado | Otamendi | Musachchio | Tagliafico
    Pizarro | Lo Celso
    Lanzini | Messi | Meza
    Lautaro

    Messi surrounded by 4 young, dynamic & talented players would make it a lot more interesting than anything we have witnessed before.

    It would be a bold decision to keep those exp players out of the first 11, but I hope Sampa gets the courage for taking those bold actions.

    • We will give revenge to Spain in the quarter final of WC. Mark my words!

      Spain would assume we were the team they defeated 6-1 plus Messi, but we will show how far we have come. We will show our true face in the WC through hard work and planning in the next 2.5 months.

    • Cant believe you want to discard Perotti after just one game, Martinez is too raw and young for a big stage like world cup. Mascherano unfortunately is too old to fit into any scheme of things, Pizarro over him any day. Pablo Perez has not enough minutes and it is criminal to not include Enzo perez especially since i dont recollect him playing poorly till now for Argentina.

      • I discarded him because he has not been tried enough. And there are no spots available.

    • i would take bustos over marcado… and auguero over lautaro…. bustos will develop the tournment goes on… auguero will do better this time

      • I can’t forgive how Bustos defended against Isco for the latter’s first goal. He was very cadual and not committed at all. That’s the last thing I want to see from a youngster.

        Mercado would atleast bring defensive stability. And we have Messi & Lanzini already to play through right wing.

        Regarding Aguero can’t remember the last game he put in a great performance in Arg shirt. He is mostly injured as well. Lautaro looks like the Aguero of Atleti years.

        I would like Messi surrounded with hard working, dynamic and talented youngsters. But I doubt it will happen. Sampa might give preference to DiMaria over Meza and Aguero over Lautaro anyway.

17. The national team don’t have any quality LB and RB players in Argentina or anywhere in world football. What works and looks good in the Argentina Primera in these two position doesn’t mean it will work on the national team against top level opposition. Argentina local football is weak right now. I’m not saying Bustos and Tagliafico are bad players, they’re decent enough, but not at the level to compete for a world cup title. Moreover, Argentina is not producing great midfielders who are in demand when it comes to the big clubs. If we have midfielders playing in the big teams it will help them develop better than say someone playing in Russia or the Portuguese league. Why do you think the not so heavyweight European nations can hold their own on the pitch? Because they have at least one or two strong recognizable midfield player who is playing in some of Europe biggest clubs. Teams like Switzerland, Serbia, Denmark etc. are prime example.

    Sabella was a pragmatic coach, he knew outside of Zabaleta there were no other credible LB or RB players in Argentina who could compete at the world cup hence the reason he had to stick with defensive/CB fullbacks like Rojo, Basanta, and Campagnaro. It wasn’t pretty but it was effective enough to get Argentina as far as the 2014 world cup final. Now people here are pretending as if Argentina find its own Roberto Carlos and Cafu in Bustos and Tagliafico even after two poor performances against Italy and Spain.

    Honestly, Sampaoli doesn’t have enough time to implement his ideas in such a short period before the world cup. Sabella had little over two years before the world cup with Argentina to fix the team. With Sampaoli he never was going to have the same time. Sampaoli hands are tied either way, if he dropped every player right now including Messi and select a new team, he is doomed for failure because he won’t have enough time and team chemistry to even compete with Egypt or Tunisia at the world cup. These random lineups on Mundo where they stick Messi into all the lineups are comical at best. Jerry Springer could do the same thing people. Players Messi has no chemistry with and wouldn’t even want to be on the field with them. These Argentina players are mediocre the same as how players like Tello, Bojan, Bartra, Deulofeu, Munir etc. were average for Barcelona hence the reason they’re not at the club. Messi doesn’t select his ”friends,” it just that he don’t want to play with mediocre team mates.

    It took Pep Guardiola one full season to implement his ideas at Manchester City and it came with a lot of humiliating defeats in England and in the ICL. Fast forward to the new season and Pep Guardiola team is blowing away almost every EPL team. Sampaoli don’t have enough time to implement his kind of playing style before the world cup where the goalkeeper has to play out the ball from the back. Moreover, Argentina just don’t have quality RB and LB players to carry out Sampaoli task. People need to accept this reality; Bustos and Tagliafico would be low level players if they were born in Spain. Bellerin, Sergio Roberto, Nacho Monreal, Vidal, Escuedero etc. can’t even make Spain national team and they’re way better than Bustos and Tagliafico, this just show how far behind Argentina is in these two position. Look at the players who play in the LB and RB position for France, Brazil, Spain and even England? They have at least two quality players for either the LB and the RB position. Honestly, I don’t think Germany is strong in the LB and RB position either but they find a way to use technical pragmatic players who can balance their starting XI.
    Marcelo Bielsa left a foundation with the Chilean national team that was similar to the incoming Sampaoli playing style. On the contrary, Sampaoli took over an Argentina national team in crisis created by the AFA. With Sampaoli being so erratic no way he was going to fix this out of control national team created by the AFA. I could see Sampaoli in a better positon if he had taken over after Sabella, but even then the fans wanted every single player out of the national team.

    Argentina will make it out of their group just like they did in 2010, and I believe the team will win every group stage game. The problem will start in the round 16 where any of France or Peru or Denmark will make life on the pitch difficult for Argentina. Iceland, Croatia and Nigeria in the group stage won’t be strong enough to take down Argentina with Messi.

    • Kid dont be too down on the team, if history is any indicator 2002 Brazil, 2002 Germany, 2006 Italy then Argentina with the right players on the pitch and a little change in tactical formation can do better than what you potentially predict. Luckily this happened to us in a friendly and not at a world cup, atleast gives the coach and supporting staff enough time to eradicate what ails the team. Its not all doom and gloom, maybe this is a good sign after a long time as such losses can rise a team that gets too stagnant. Also Germany, Brazil, Spain might underestimate us when they do happen to meet us in the world cup, so lets hope for the best.

    • “Now people here are pretending as if Argentina find its own Roberto Carlos and Cafu in Bustos and Tagliafico even after two poor performances against Italy and Spain”

      just KidultHood

      brazenly wanting to make believe white is black and Bustos/Tagliafico were poor, especially against Italy.

      and the guy still want to be taken serious

      Instead talking about our fullbacks please some interpretation for Higuain last friendleis

      • And just look at our first opportunity against Spain. Great double counter-attack of Tagliafico-Meza and your Higuain fucked that up. And you want to talk about fullbacks…

        We have not talented players? Player from nowhere, from prasant league – Meza – just come and do things better than your superstars. At once. Now think about others you never heard of before, just like Meza.

        • I will never, in no way, class the Argentinean Primera as a ”peasant” league. That would be rude of me. But it’s not out of bound to say the Argentina Primera is in poor state; meaning the level of football is not what it used to be 15 years ago when a local team like Boca Juniors could compete and go toe to toe with anyone of Europe biggest club. Do you think clubs like Boca Juniors, River Plate, Racing Club etc. would put up any form of challenge against a top five team from a major European league today? Not a chance. Well, I like Meza, but while Argentina have Meza, Spain have Asensio who already won two UCL title at the age of 21. You see the difference here? Take off your blinders man and lower the expectation on these young players. Everyone know that Argentina players are talented, but we haven’t seen the fruit of these talent for the past 10 years at U20 tournaments. You live in a make believe world. Next time you will put ten names on Mundo telling everyone how these guys are even better than Meza, Bustos and Tagliafico as if the bar wasn’t lower to begin with.

          • “Well, I like Meza, but while Argentina have Meza, Spain have Asensio who already won two UCL title at the age of 21. You see the difference here?”

            And what? Our players don’t need UCL title. Was Meza worse than Asenjo. Meza showed he can compete on the highest level (they had real problems to stop him) without whole this European glory that made our most famous players unable to give what we need on NT level. The glory is coruptious for club superstars as Maria, Higuain, Banega, Aguero, Mascherano and others.

            Then here comes players Meza or Pablo Perez and they seems to be much more sacrificed (and even capabled) than favourites of masses. So there no difference between Meza and Spanish players if only Meza is able to compete. And yes, he was yesterday. Higuain was not. Tagliafico did good pass, Meza good run and pass and Higuain fucked up. That moment was symbolical. And you still keep the focus on not the right players.
            Club or league from of is a player doesn’t matter on NT level. Yesterday that Higuain or Banega looked like from inferior league.

            There’s no eveidence Argentina league is not the level as years ago. River lost to Barcelona 1:3 or 0:3 2 years ago. At that time no European club was able to compete with Barcelona you know very well. Perhaps most of them could lost by more goals than River. Argentina clubs still are wiinning Copa Liertadores and Copa Sudamericana. Nothing changed. They are not winning International Cup just because Real and Barcelona climbed the higheest level in football history that is unreachable also for other European clubs.

            You say still only something about Boca. Boca is only one of Argentina clubs contributiong talents. Actually currrently Boca and River youth academies ar nowhere near on talent producing to other clubs from the league. What I mean is your knowledge about Argentina resources is completely inadequate. Talented players emerges for you suddenly and surprisingly and from nowhere (as Meza, Lautaro Martinez, Acuna, Pavon). Surprisingly only for you because you don’t know not a bit what happens in Argenina league.

          • @gonzalo-pity-martinez.
            I agree with you 100%.Sampaoli should need to go back to primera.if enzo perez and pablo perez both makes our midfield attackproof both should have been given chance but we are giving chance to shithole banega ,biglia.
            There are many good players in the primera but the coaches seems to be reluctant on giving them a single chance on the other hand idiots spoil everything.

          • quote1 :

            [I will never, in no way, class the Argentinean Primera as a ”peasant” league. That would be rude of me. But it’s not out of bound to say the Argentina Primera is in poor state; meaning the level of football is not what it used to be 15 years ago when a local team like Boca Juniors could compete and go toe to toe with anyone of Europe biggest club]

            The same thing goes for Brazil as well, non of us said that the primera can compete with the top 4 leagues (I don’t consider league 1 a top league) but that doesn’t mean that the primera isn’t competitive enough to unearth hidden talent, otherwise european scouts wouldn’t bother brazil and argentina’s leagues.

            Quote 2:

            [Well, I like Meza, but while Argentina have Meza, Spain have Asensio who already won two UCL title at the age of 21. You see the difference here? Take off your blinders man and lower the expectation on these young players]

            No kid I don’t see the difference, Asensio happened to be a part of the bench of a team that won the CL yet you make it sound like Asensio carried RM on his back to CL glory when infact he’s only just began to get games this season because Zidane was desperate. I’m not denying Asensio’s talent but lets not make him out to be Messi all of a sudden.
            As for “lowering our expectations” when did any of us say that these youngsters are the second coming? All we said waas that these are talented young men who deserve a second look and Meza and Celso were argentina’s 2 best players against Spain while Lanzini and Tagliafico were 2 of Argentina’s best against Italy.

            quote 3:

            [Everyone know that Argentina players are talented, but we haven’t seen the fruit of these talent for the past 10 years at U20 tournaments.]

            And whose fault is that? The players or the inept system created by a corrupt organization like the AFA?
            Underperforming in the U20s doesn’t even remotely prove the point that you’re trying to make, which is that Argentina’s youngsters aren’t good enough for the big game.

            Quote 4:

            [You live in a make believe world. Next time you will put ten names on Mundo telling everyone how these guys are even better than Meza, Bustos and Tagliafico as if the bar wasn’t lower to begin with.]

            I told you before to take it easy with the condescension and be abit more respectful to other posters.
            And you know what Gonzalo is one of the few posters who provides updates on potential talent while all i see from you is negative comments about how Argentina’s youth are useless and that we should stick with world class players like Higuain, Biglia, Banega, Rojo and the ilk. Well guess what your tried and true played against spain and looked like idiots while youngsters like Ceslo, Tagliafico and Meza actually looked good in large patches despite the disgraceful result.

        • I agree with whoever replied that some local players showed grit and moments of sparkle more that veteran players who play in European clubs. I also would rather most of the team be selected from local players at this point plus Messi. Although they are young and still learning, they have potential and some are super fast on the counter, that was the only part that I acknowledged from the game. Meza will be a top player soon.

          • if a coach is good enough they analyze all players even in chinese mexico league… sampoalii have scouts.. all over the world.. if the players are talented… they will attract a big club… if argentina main 11 have to find a player means argentina not cappable of winning world cup… thats for sure… argentina main 11 needs competition… not to search players…

          • Well, thanks guys for expressing dome thoughts that I have omitted or even was not aware of. Agree completely.

18. Pasculli, Valdano & Kempes are saying everything correct about the current players.
    Shame on the biased Argentine media for criticizing Messi even if he is not playing.

    SPA 6-1 ARG a nightmare! .. agreed.

    This destroys my hope for the world cup.. but I still believe or maybe hope that Argentina gets lucky and does well at the grand stage.

    But its good that this happened before world cup;
    – weaknesses in team can be revisited and corrected, if the technical staff has any brains.
    – important changes will take place.. i hope. certain players are exposed such as Higuain, Mascherano, etc.
    – team/individual mindset will be right before going to the world

    Its painful to see Argentina lose like that but it was an experimental side.
    I am sure the team will be very competitive for world cup.

19. In 2002 WCQ Germany were defeated by England 5-1 infront of their supporters and in their home soil.

    They (Germany) reorganized their team and reached the final of that tournment. Sometimes heavy defeats can happen but you need to learn a lesson from that.

    Last night’s defeat was a very good wake up call for Argentina. Argentina has very good young players in most positions but the problem is the coaching staff that don’t have the balls to drop the old guards and take advantage of the new blood.

    Dybala, Icardi, Lamela, Meza, the two CORREAs, Lanzini, Battaglia, Paredes,Tagliafico, Ascacibar, Lautaro Martinez and Salvio all need to be in the final 23 squad.

    Higuain, Banega, Mascherano (with all my respect to him), Biglia, and Rojo must be dropped.

    Argentina’s reconstruction project must be started from scratch, that’s what Sampa has to do if he wants to have a strong team.

    In his prior match press conference he said “we want our opponents to respect and fear us”.

    With Higuain being the leading forward line nobody will fear Argentina or even give some respect.

20. MASCHERANO fan boys… Do you know Barcelona let go him for a reason right?…

21. I am very pessimistic because I see sone similarities between Sampaoli and Maradonna. It seems to me that like Maradonna, our actual coach is not aware of the opponent’s abilities. How do expect to play an experimented team with lot of first-timers with a team where players are playing in the best teams in the world. Besides Messi the entire Argentina team is playing in average teams in average leagues. The approach should be be different. He should have known that he can’t play a passing game with Spain. Therefore stay compact and counter-attack. It looks to me that it is the first time the coaching team sees Spain and that worries me a lot.

    • Yes ..should played in counter attack style
      Sampaoli is concerned about Higuain Aguero etc etc
      He has no time to read opponent
      Hope he will have clear idea about Nigeria Iceland Croatia

22. I have been reading everyone’s post here and though i am disappointed with the way we lost against Spain, I do however feel sometimes losses teach you more than victories and that too though this loss came against a charged up Spain team which happens to be a world cup favorite it actually might have come at the right time. Just imagine us losing like this in an actual Quarter final game against a top class team ? Now hopefully Sampaoli provided he has learnt something by watching the tapes he probably would have figured out some of the root problems Argentina had in this game …
    a) We were lethargic in midfield with no creativity and the double pivot of mascherano and biglia does not work.
    b) Spain pressed us hard in the final 3rd of the pitch knowing higuain or any or our midfield players will not beat them on the counter with pace.
    c) Argentina played sloppily at the back with the defense having no sync whatsoever.
    d) Like it or not Argentina is dependent on Messi since players like him come once in a blue moon and the key is to build a team with actually helps him in the final 3rd with enough creativity and ball hawking skills.

    So it is back to the drawing board for Sampaoli and his group and after he analyzes the videos on what went wrong and what went right (very few i guess) and once he takes the emotional aspect out of the match he probably would need to understand these are the potential fixes needed with immediate focus on the following:

    1) Please bring back Enzo Perez, not sure what he did wrong in any of the matches he played lately, he can certainly be a vital cog in the back end of that midfield.
    2) Please ensure that Lanzini, Lo Celso, Banega and Parades continue to get selected and gel with Messi because i believe not dybala or nor aguero come the world cup would be the key for Messi’s influence on the game but in fact it would be our creative midfield trio of these guys that would ensure that Messi has what it takes to open up defenses at will like he does at Barcelona.
    3) Ensure that somehow and someway Dimaria and Aguero stay fit come the world cup because though these guys have their own share of detractors i am sure no one is this forum would deny the fact that they link up really well with messi in the final 3rd and if fit can also score vital goals come the world cup.
    4) Also ensure that Acuna, Fazio, Otamendi, Taglafico and Mercado form the core of our defense, picking the other defensive probabilities should be based on form and fitness and playing time in clubs period !!

    Having said all this here is the potential probable 23 for the world cup i would pick if i had a say:

    GK: Romero, Caballero, Guzman (3)

    Defense: Mercado, Pezella, Acuna, Taglafico, Busto, Fazio, Otamendi (7)

    Midfield: Lo Celso, Parades, Lanzini, Banega, Pizarro, Di Maria, Enzo Perez, Angel Correa

    Forward: Messi, Aguero, Dybala, Icardi, Perotti

    • Players must be selected according to performance…

      Argentina should approach E.Garay once more

    • we need to drop banega the shithole.at least give a chance to pastore you have seen all but adament on not giving chance to pastore and lamela.
      plz bring musacchio
      to sampaoli.

23. Higuain,Mascherano,Biglia should be dropped.Mascherano is done I do not how Sampoli could never judge his flaws after having so much time with him in pitch or training.Biglia’s back passing is boosting the confidence of opposition players.Higuai is good bit he is not one on one kind of striker he is poacher.Lamela,Battaglia Dybla needs to be called.They are young they can play in various positions.Young players can adapt to any system.

    • Don’t think mascherano and biglia will be dropped…..

24. Let’s take a look how Sampaoli changed his tactics during the past 6 months:

    – In the beginning, he played 3-4-2-1, with Dybala-Messi behind the forward, Di Maria as left midfielder, Maschereno as libero and Banega as regista.

    – The pair Dybala-Messi didn’t work well together, he put Di Maria in a more advanced position and let Acuna play the left midfielder. Besides he called back Enzo Perez, who allowed better transition between the defense and attack. Much better in the last 2 games, Acuna became one of the best players.

    – Not satisfied with the quality of play, Samp switched to 3-3-3-1 during the 2 friendlies in Nov. He used Lo Celso as the CM, along with Enzo and Kranevitter/Banega. This 3-men midfield allows to practice the possession football style that Samp always dreamed of. However in order to have Di Maria in the 11, he sacrified Acuna and put the 2 wingers in a more advanced position. This led to the defeat against Nigeria because the midfield did not offer enough protection to the 3-men defense. The CBs are not fast players.

    – Against Italy, he switched to a 4-men defense with 2 true fullbacks. He still keeps his 3-men midfield, 2 AM behind the forward. Unlike what many fans said here, it’s not a 4231 but a 4321. Lo Celso played the central role. Samp believed that he is the link of Messi on the pitch. It worked quite well for the pair Lanzini+Di Maria. This system, comparing to the previous ones, gives a better balance.

    – Against Spain, it went to 4-2-3-1 with 2 holding this time. Maschereno, previously as libero, played in his natural position. Biglia is the CM who link, Banega as 10 and Lo Celso as inverted winger. We know the result, a real punishment.

    So we see that Samp put really lot of effort to try to make something. But unfortunately his methods are wrong, hard to test so many players and systems in such a short period. He is not a coach of a club anymore, he does not have his players with him on a daily basis, at some points, he need to fix his idea.

    – Using Lo Celso as the key of the midfield, why not? He is a decent player(with huge potential) but not great yet. He can have his job done as long as he is not used as holding like with his club PSG previously. But don’t expect him to become Xavi immediately.

    – Should keep using the 3-men midfield but more diversified players. Against Spain, we lost because of slowness and wrong placement of Maschereno+Biglia. Besides they are too similar. We need more energetic players who can press high. The trio against Russia Kranevitter+Lo Celso+Enzo was doing quite well, I don’t understand why he did not keep it against Nigeria and those 2 friendlies. It offered good protection to the defense.

    – Banega’s worst games with Sevilla this season was those when he was in playmaker position. Like Pirlo, he need time and space to adjust his pass. He is not fast enough to play in such an advanced position.

    – I like Lanzini. He did well against Italy. Meza, what a suprise, for sure he will have better chance than Angel Correa and Perotti in the final list. I wonder if it will be him or Pavon.

    – Dybala belongs to those players who can make difference in very short time. So a perfect sub. In any case, he should be part of the team. Higuain may waste lot of opportunities but he is a hard-worker. Martinez is a talented player but he did not have enough playing time to prove. Up to Samp to choose what profile he need the most. I guess he will take 3 forwards with him. Aguero and 2 other guys. I think he will play safe and include Higuain, hopefully Dybala for the last place.

    – Rojo, it is not a surprise. He hasn’t played much with his club since 3y. Don’t expect any miracle. Samp should call back Pezella. Garay will not come back. For those who don’t know, he refused already when Argentina struggled in the last few games during qualification. Probably too much pressure. Shame.

    – 4-men defense is a must. I still have doubt on the fullbacks. Tagliafico did the job without brilliance and Bustos had an average game against Spain. I know it’s unfair because he played against Asensio, Alba and Isco. To me, Mercado is not a better option as RB because I think his best position is CB.

    – After all his great performance, Samp should keep Acuna in the starting XI. Ideally LB.

    – Cabellero should be part of the list.

    So I will go for a 4-3-2-1: Romero-Bustos,Otamendi,Fazio, Acuna-Lo Celso, Kranevitter,Enzo Perez-Meza/Lanzini,Di Maria-Messi.

    But let’s be honest, lost 6-1 two months before the WC, I don’t think this team can go far because I don’t believe in miracle. If they must play at their best level and try to achieve the quarter final it’ll be already great. They probably need to replay against Spain if both of them finish 1st place in their group.

    • Recently I read this article on Ole . Ezequiel Garay is claiming that he never resigned from NT , on the contrary he is surprised for not getting a call..
      https://www.ole.com.ar/seleccion/garay-seleccion-renuncia_0_1985201573.html

    • Garay never refused to play for ARG; A Interview is posted in Ole;

      • Hello Kitty, If Garay has not refused to play for Argentina then do you still think can he play for Argentina?? can I have that link what Garay said in Ole so that I could look at it???
        If He plays then he can be the good addition to the Back.

        • Here is the link

          https://www.ole.com.ar/seleccion/garay-seleccion-renuncia_0_1985201573.html

          As per this, Garay never said “NO” to a callup from the National Team;
          and most importantly he is willing to play for NT on callup

    • I agree with your 4-3-2-1 combination as it adds more stability and building a team around if not all but most of those pieces you suggested. However i do not agree with your assertion that Argentina need a miracle to beat spain, it was after all a friendly and if Sampaoli hopefully based on his reputation of adaptation learns to sync his team around the mistakes they made and correct them in these 2 months we should be fine. On their day with the right pieces Argentina is more than capable of beating Spain or Germany.

    • Some players showed good glimpse in previous friendly and qualifiers
      Enzo
      Acuna
      Mercado
      Lanzini
      TAGLIAFICO
      Meza

    • Some players showed good glimpse in previous friendly and qualifiers
      Enzo
      Acuna
      Mercado
      Lanzini
      TAGLIAFICO
      Meza
      Locelso

25. Gonzalo
    You are 100 percent correct. But as sad as this makes me Argentina will never win because of Messi. No coach in the National team is big enough to get rid of his friends that are washed up, and nobody wants to look at him and say if you are the captain you better get your ass on the field. It doesn’t help that Messi come and defend Higuain and next game he is called up. Nobody in Argentina is big enough to tell Messi and everybody that this is my team and you are a player, and I decide who plays based on ability, not based on anything else.
    The old guard will never win anything. Most of them aren’t even starting on their club teams. These players are an embarrassment to the shirt. Many people here are not old enough to remember this, but Maradona became a legend after he won with Argentina, not before. Sure, he was great in Napoli but very few people know this because there was no internet back then. Even last night, the shit head Sampaoli is talking about Messi’s reaction in locker room and how Messi feels and this fucking guy didn’t even play. Who gives a shit how Messi feels! If it bother him that much get your ass on the pitch and help! This is how messed up Argentina is.
    As I say many times, this team needs to belong to other players now. In 120 days Messi will no longer be relevant for Argentina national team and just like some idiots on here said Mascherano can play in this World Cup they will say the same about Messi for 2022. But EVERYONE loses battle against time, and Messi will not play in next World Cup and if he does it will be on the bench as substitute. The future belongs to Dybala Alario Icardi Lo Celso mammana tagliafico Lanzini Meza and a few others. Better to give these players opportunity to take over than to keep on bench and give these old losers one more chance to lose and embarrass the country

    • I said many times we are victims of Messi’s Paradox. Ironical paradox is there: we have best player in the world and one of 3 best in history and this is the reason why we can’t grow as a team. Everytime when he is there around our players are doing 50% of his abilities. They are hostages of his magnitude. We are praising Lanzini now for a lot of initiative activness and so on against Italy but sincerly doubt he will be the same along with Messi. He will be rather mediocrre attendant as others who just feeds Messi 5 m long passes. Then we are most predictable team on the world. Pass to Messi is common DNA of our players.

      Now 15 years old kids will shout at me for ‘hating’ Messi. The never undrestand that’s not critic of his own. IMO Messi (and coward coaches) is the obiective reason why we can’t build balanced team but he is not guilty, it’s not his fault.

      It’s just like with mother and children. Till the time when childrens know mama is there around they will not do the things 100% and by themselves. Mama must go or just step back to see chilrden growing. Now Messi is there to pull our chestnuts out of fire but not to win WC. He is there to save us, kinda Deus ex Machina, when we desperately needs a goal and when we are on the verge… As it was in group stages of WC or against Ecuador. And then pople always say: you see that, you see that! He is the only one to depend on. He is all our team. But that does not work in most important games of tournament.

      This is palliative. Word “palliative” derives form Latin ‘palliativus’ which means “under cloak, covert”. And that is very good to describe the situation as this cloak hides the shameful issue that we still have not a team. Completely.

      • No way this Spain or Germany generation is more talented than our players. But they have balanced teams without one superstar. Now we need purge to refresh mentality of team. Players with losers stigma must go.

        • Really,you think we can compete player for player with Germany and Spain ,even in midfield and defense.For me personally,that is a ludicrous statement but to each its own.

    • Very shocking results

      This is Argentina national team

      That’s why its very much mentally collapsing loss

      No matter messi dybala aguero icardi dimaria not played ..

      It Hurts a lot

      People are laughing at
      Very bad last 24 hours for me

      How much it has affected our players
      OMG

26. Ascaibar,Lanzini & Lo celso has to be in the squad.

27. Maxi Meza vs Spain:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F7VRcA3Qed4

    • Great potential. Speedy and skilled.

28. I hope and trying to believe that it was POKER FACE from us to Spain. Without Messi,Di-Maria & Lanzini i hope they didn’t read too much of our game. Yes it was big big shock and embarrassing to watch. It HURTS. But it could be blessing for us in many ways. Sampaoli has take so many big decision. I am extremely sorry to say that Pipita is over for NT. He is a great striker but for Argentina his mentality gets change nowadays. After yesterday game his confidence and mentality will get low even more. For my opinion we cannot take Aguero & Higuain both to the WC. I would take Aguero and leave Pipita. In midfield Sampa has to take big decision too. What he is trying to do isn’t working. Lo Celso,Taglifico,Lanzini good find for first 11. Meza, Bustos,Perrotti should be call again. Dybala & Icardi has to get another chance. I am sure it won’t be 6-1 again if we meet Spain. It good that that happened now. I pray for our players good health. Lanzini already made the squad even he is going to be starter for sure. All he needs to stay fit.

    • Doesn’t sound good and may be false

      But if it is true I am happy bro

29. And as Ghostdeini have said: the new players are not guarantee of success (tho old guard are) in this WC. But if I had to lose I’d rather to lose with youngsters because they may learn something for next tournaments.

    • Gonzalo
      You are 100 percent correct. But as sad as this makes me Argentina will never win because of Messi. No coach in the National team is big enough to get rid of his friends that are washed up, and nobody wants to look at him and say if you are the captain you better get your ass on the field. It doesn’t help that Messi come and defend Higuain and next game he is called up. Nobody in Argentina is big enough to tell Messi and everybody that this is my team and you are a player, and I decide who plays based on ability, not based on anything else.
      The old guard will never win anything. Most of them aren’t even starting on their club teams. These players are an embarrassment to the shirt. Many people here are not old enough to remember this, but Maradona became a legend after he won with Argentina, not before. Sure, he was great in Napoli but very few people know this because there was no internet back then. Even last night, the shit head Sampaoli is talking about Messi’s reaction in locker room and how Messi feels and this fucking guy didn’t even play. Who gives a shit how Messi feels! If it bother him that much get your ass on the pitch and help! This is how messed up Argentina is.
      As I say many times, this team needs to belong to other players now. In 120 days Messi will no longer be relevant for Argentina national team and just like some idiots on here said Mascherano can play in this World Cup they will say the same about Messi for 2022. But EVERYONE loses battle against time, and Messi will not play in next World Cup and if he does it will be on the bench as substitute. The future belongs to Dybala Alario Icardi Lo Celso mammana tagliafico Lanzini Meza and a few others. Better to give these players opportunity to take over than to keep on bench and give these old losers one more chance to lose and embarrass the country

    • Exactly; It is better to lose with youngsters rather than with these old players; Now no one have high hopes on these old guard winning the WC; Then what is the purpose of playing with these club stars; Giving farewell to the old players & Messi?

      I would rather want ARG to fight with youngsters and learn from their mistakes; come strong in the future tournaments; For Messi Fans, Messi can play Copa America and win the tournament in 2019

    • Yes
      Lossing With same higuain is not good
      Rather played Lautaro martinez from the start of the game ….
      But it is good
      I had wished and prayed for higuain to miss easy goals may not score ..so icardi dybala can be included

    • Agreed, this philosophy worked for Germany. Remember their team in 2010 WC? Pretty much a bunch of kids (Diego stupidly called Thomas Muller a ball boy) but they played superbly and even though they lost, that same team came back 4 years later with more experience and the rest is a 4th star on their shirt.
      Argentina already has a group of talented youngsters in lanzini, paredes, celso, meza, pavon, Icardi, Dybala, Bustos, Acuna, A.Correa and Mammana. Not all of them have been called up but they’ve all been called up at some point and aren’t strangers to the NT and so a solid foundation can be built from it.
      Cervi, Battaglia and Ascacibar haven’t been called up but I think they should and seeing how quickly Ascacibar and Cervi adapted to their respective leagues I would wager that they’ll adjust to the NT quickly, especially with 4 weeks of training.

      • Yes I forgot about Angel Correa, he’s one promising player who plays for a big club. His form in 2018 is amazing. We need him as a starter.

30. 2006 wc problem = mascherano, maxi rodriguez, cambiasso

    2010 wc problem = mascherano, maxi rodriguez

    2014 wc problem = mascherano, biglia, gago

    2018 wc problem = mascherano, biglia, banega

    even you replace higuain with mbappe, nothing changes.

    even if messi played yesterday with mascherano biglia banega altogether, nothing changed. because these 3 men will pass the ball to messi and do nothing.

    solution =
    goalkeeper = whoever.

    back = whoever.

    midfield = gaitan, lucas ocampos, t. correa, perroti.

    forward = whoever.

    no creativity in midfield. you died.

    • 2014 worldcup no problem bcoz we lost in extra time in the wc2014final game..

31. That is quite incredible how some people (very few) can still find some ‘reasonable’ or emotional reasons to argue after the 2 games for old guard instead fresh blood. They do that just because there was not Di Maria and Aguero.
    But there were Higuain, Romero, Rojo, Banega, Biglia, Mascherano. And all they fucked up.

    Yet very sophisticated and funny logic of some people let them to see Di Maria as winner just because he was not her and there. Di Maria was there against Italy and still our team start to scoring when he was taken off. He is integrate part of our curse. Aguero will be just like Banega in decisive moment. Invisible man. I don’t want to say the 2 games are final prove the old guard is done because that’s not true. This has been proven long ago.

    Instead the new players showed their worth for NT. Generally they were really good. Not all and not both games but the potentiall is obvious. Yes, the friendlies were his time. Lanzini, Meza, Lo Celso, Paredes, Bustos, Tagliafico, Caballero, P.Perez to some extend. Everyone (apart MOTMs Lanzini and Meza) had important mistakes in the matches but that was nothing what you can’t put on inexperience and initial fear. Paredes in Zenit is not doing normally such inexplicable passes that lead to conceeding goals as he did against Italy. Bustos has not problems with easy ball control in his club. They did the things as rookies…

    But the discriminative distorted logic here and probably also in our coaches heads is that players like Di Maria may have fucekd up 9/10 games (and one very good) while if you are new player you may error only one time. You must click in first game or be burn. That’s completely insane logic because if there’s someone who deserves time, trust and patience it is young player.

    Sampaoli just should play the players I mentioned above. Game by game. They are worth to work with.

    • …………….……Caballero

      ……………Otamendi….Fazio
      Bustos…………………………….Tagliafico
      ……………..Battaglia/P.Perez
      Lanzini/Lo Celso…………Paredes/P.Perez

      Messi……………………………….Meza
      ……………………Icardi?

      • There’s also option with Meza on box-to-box (as someone noticed his pace reminds Enzo Perez of Benfica times) and Dybala instead as LF. Battaglia as RB (when you play against tall teams – Bustos short) while warrior-like Pablo Perez used as No.5

        • the mrntality of pablo perez needs to spread all over the team.i always said saw spark on him ,
          paredes–p.perez.–meza
          midfield would be awesome.but sampaoli like shithole banega,biglia

          • You midfield looks great indeed. Maybe best of players currently called up. Perez’ sacrifice should be an example for the rest. Warrior who has also noticable technical skills and grat vision.

      • I agree with you except for bustos. He is too green now..maybe battaglia (or mercado) for time being

      • what about this line up ?

        …………….……Caballero

        ……………Otamendi….Fazio
        Mercado…………………………….Tagliafico
        ……………..Battaglia
        Lo Celso…………di maria

        lanzini……………………………….Meza
        ……………………messi

        • Bustos instead of Mercado and would be near perfect

        • Battaglia is too late in the project to get selected atleast based on what Sampaoli has assembled so far. I am thinking he might consider Pizarro and Enzo Perez for Defensive Midfielder role. Here is what would be our best 8 midfielders that we can carry to world cup atleast based on form, fitness and likely substitution options:

          Lanzini, Pizarro/Parades, Enzo Perez, Lo Celso, Di Maria, Meza, Banega, A. Correa

          • Enzo Perez was introduced later in 2014 abd he did great so it’s not too late for Battaglia. We need destroyer. Enzo is not type of pure No.5

          • I respectfully disagree with the whole “it’s too late for this or that player to be selected”. There is an entire month where the team gets to practice and build chemistry and then 3 first round games to implement what they’ve learned on the pitch.
            Is it ideal to call up a player for the WC when that player has never played for argentina before, ofcourse not but when it has been sadly proven that some of the players you already have aren’t good enough then you have an important decision to make; either stick with the tried and hope Messi pulls miracles or try to add 2-3 players like Ascacibar and Battaglia and trust that their talent, tenacity, athleticism and motivation will help the team out even if they come off the bench.

    • Are there any game before world cup

      This is now or never, throw higuain out and old guards too And also injured and bench warmers too should be excluded from wc2018 23 squad

32. Too many Barcelona fans on this forum and less of Argentina fan. I try not to be rude here but this Aimar guy need to watch is mouth. Why these people from Asia like to be so rude on the comment section? It’s the same on YouTube especially from the Indian users. There was no positive from the game against Spain it’s that simple, you put any other player on the pitch for Argentina and the result would’ve been the same. Dybala started against Nigeria and absolutely did nothing, Argentina lost the game 4-2. How would Icardi change this result? Is he goalkeeper/defense? In 2006 Argentina had world class mids in Riqueleme, Masche, Lucho, Aimar, Cambiasso etc.Also world class defenders in Ayala, Heinze along with solid players like Sorin and Coloccini. Argentina just don’t have the same level of talent today outside of Messi, Di Maria, Higuain and Aguero. The same defensive and midfield mistakes Argentina made against Italy was punished by Spain yesterday. If you’re a Argentina fan and is happy with this result then spin all you want. People here hype these Argentina young players too much but in Chile, Sampaoli had a more technical and better ball playing team especially in defense and the goalkeeper position. Keep thinking players with less than 5 international caps and little experience is going to come in and lead Argentina to international World Cup success. This was a bad result and no wonder everyone over the web is calling Argentina national team a “JOKE.” Ole, ESPN, YouTube is saying the samething, this Argentina performance was a JOKE. Nothing positive , outside of Messi and Di Maria nobody is scared of this Argentina team on the pitch.

    • KidultHood
      i’m 200% with you on that. we don’t have the same level of talents outside Messi, DiMaria,Aguero, Higuain. That’s our problem.

    • not so long ago Kidulthood was arguing that the generation of 2006 is nowhere near to that 2014. Self-contradictions as always.

    • “Argentina just don’t have the same level of talent today outside of Messi, Di Maria, Higuain and Aguero”

      We saw yesterday Higuain’s level of talent. Indeed the rest of our players was nowher near to him.

      • How on earth can someone call Higuain a talented player? I really don’t know what kind of football those people watch.

        The guy is simply the worst player I have ever watched. He is even worse than Winston Bogarde (he once was the worst I have ever seen play football, but now Higuain is).

    • Positives —
      TAGLIAFICO (his form is very good at Ajax )
      Lo celso (proved he is not overrated at psg)
      Lanzini (good player as MAG and He became close to messi)
      Meza (eye catching talent from Argentina )

33. I have selected my prefer starting lineup for the world cup. I have also explained my rationale below.

    Romero

    Mercado Otamendi Rojo Tagliafico

    Mascherano Lo Celso

    Dybala Messi Di Maria

    Icardi

    Goalkeeper:
    I prefer Romero over Caballero for the starting spot as Romero has more experience with the national team. Both of them have limited playing time with their clubs.
    Of course i would prefer a keeper who is a first choice keeper with a big european club, however, we dont have one.

    Right back:
    Mercado instead of Burtos for me.
    I choose Mercado because he has more experience with the NT and he has experience playing in europe, which Burtos doesnt have, Burtos can still be the backup right back since he has played ok in the last two matches

    Left back:
    Tagliafico, i dont think we have any better choice, he has played well in the last two matches anyway.

    Centre backs:
    Otamendi is a must, even though he is responsible for the last goal we conceded against spain, he is still our best defender.
    For the other CB spot, if Rojo regains his form with Man Utd in the remaining club matches, i will select him to start. It is a disaster for Sampaoli to select him to play spain as he has not been playing for some time. But his experience with the NT is valuable.
    If Rojo cannot get fit before the world cup, i would prefer Pezzela of Fiorentina. F. Mori is another possibility if he can regain his form.

    Defensive midfielders:
    For me, Mascherano is a must, he is old, but he always gives 500% for argentina, he cares more than anyone.
    Lo Celso will be another DM, he has been a regular for PSG and he has played well in these friendlies.

    Left wing:
    Di Maria
    He is always a threat when he is fit.
    But we must plan for a decent backup for him as you know his legs are made of glass. Perotti or Papu Gomez are good candidates.

    playmaker:
    Messi

    Right wing:
    Dybala. He has to be there, he is our second best player.

    striker:
    Icardi. No Higuain becos he has too much pressure on his shoulders with the NT due to his past failure, he will miss those open goals again in important matches, we really cannot use him even though he has better experience than Icardi and his skills is better.
    L. Martinez just does not have experience to play in the big stage, thats why i have chosen icardi.

34. I saw the following on ESPN.COM and the man hit the nail right on the head and this is exactly what is needed to be better prepared for the wc.

    “This is a great loss, Spain did Argentina a favor. Of the game had finished in draw Argentina would’ve thought they’re ready for the WC and end up getting trashed at the finals. It is a blessing to be trashed in a friendly momths before by a team that’s standing in their way to the trophy.
    Now the coach would realize the damage leaving out Dybala who is the next best thing. Spain and Brazil have great talents and the coach manage to field them and have them play together. 
    Sampaoli excuses of not being to play Messi and Dybala together is a joke. That guy Meza has potential and i think he should have a spot. I’ve seen many positives in that humiliating defeat and that should lead to a better preparation”

    • The sun came up and the pain is still being felt, learn from the loss and move on ARGENTINA.
      Lamela is one player that can add much needed creativity to the midfield as others have mentioned around here and like I said better now than in the WC.

35. zabaleta – otamendi – garay – Rojo

    ——-pablo perez – bilgia

    messi——lanzini—-di maria

    ———–icardi

    • No Demichelis ?????
      Omg

36. ##Sorry for long post
    I am really happy for this defeat as an Argentina fan because this is our real situation against a quality team. We must be depressed but also learn from the mistakes and close the gaps…
    I don’t understand what is the point of calling young players if the coach don’t give them a chance for useless veteran like Higuan…
    ### Higuan should be thrown out from the NT right away even if he scores 100 goals in upcoming Juventus matches. he is complete shit for NT and also down other player morally by missing easy chances.
    #### Sampoli must find out a way to fit in Dybala and Messi together because there combination is our best chance to win anything out of the tournament.

    • Well said #rajeswar

      Sampaoli should have tried young guns whom he have called instead of same players

37. The next world cup will be a disaster for Argentina. Until now Sampaoli has not played 2 games in row with the same formation. this guy does not know what he’s doing. Besides,he seems to be arrogant. With the likes of Lo Celso,Meza, Tagaflio the team will be a joke. I’m not saying they are bad players but it’s too late to throw them into the NT for a world cup. I’ve been saying this for the last 6 now,Argentina has no skilled players at the international level besides Messi,Aguero,DiMaria,Higuain,Masch.If we look back for the last 10 years who can name an Argentinian player at the international level other than the ones I just mentioned. No skilled right or left back. No skilled midfielders like Aimar or Iniesta,even like Isco or De Bryune. So how in the world you want Higuain to be good? How you want Aguero to score goals like he’s doing with City? Just put Higuain with the Spain NT or Aguero with the Belgium team and you will see how great goal scorers they are.The chauvinism will not win us the world cup,common sense will and ,unfortunately Sampaoli doesn’t seem to have it. When you don’t have creative midfielders,when you don’t have right or left back that can overlap to create space,as a good coach you invent that. HOW? an average midfielder can play the role of a right or left back in 3— 5—2 formation. So, I would play with FAZIO__ OTAMENDI ROJO . in midfield Banega in the far right and Perotti in the far left, both with average skills to create some space. Masch as a 6 and Lanzini and Di Maria as creative midfielders. Messi coupled with anybody,Aguero or Higuain , Dyballa ,or Icardi anyone. Believe me this lineup would work. A mixture of average skill players supporting the BEST PLAYER in HISTORY, like in 1986.

    • Banega was great against italy

      And got hidden in field against Spain

      What happened to NEver Banega

38. Even Chile beat Spain!!

39. Mascherano almost cost us WC qualifying..his record shows one tackle against Robben and 2000 years ago did something good in Germany!! a Chinese league guy making NT for Argentina just sounds ridiculous. Leave this old family guy and bring some1 who can at least run!!! fak these morons!!

40. It’s soul destroying losing like that. But it was a reality check for us. Just shows we are a year behind the big boys.

    I feel I keep repeating myself, this world cup has come a year too early for Sampaoli.

    Too many negatives to dissect.
    I have long winded reasons to explain but don’t have the capacity….But these players need to be dropped:
    Mascherano, Biglia and Higuain.
    Can’t believe I am saying this about Mascherano.

    I hope this defeat hasn’t had a mental effect on the younger players last night.
    I hope it’s spurred them on to come back stronger.

    Finally…I would forget about this world cup. I would use this to bleed in the younger players and give them opportunity to experience tournament. Maybe that might get them prepared for the copa america next year.

    One more thing…..I am sick and tired of being called the Leo Messi team. As much as I believe he is the greatest of all time, I find him to be a shadow over our team. This marriage with Messi and our dependency on him has not done us any good. We won’t learn.
    The obvious blame is the constant restructuring of AFA and the changes in management.

41. Croatia and Nigeria will kick Argentina’s ass hard with this slow weak defending capability. 6 shots on the target and all of them are goals !! I still can not believe that !!
    i am still in shock. i could not sleep well at night.
    Sampaoli has very big job on his shoulders and he does not have enough time.
    get rid of Biglia , Mascherano , Rojo and Higuain. we do not need a no.9. we have messi who is the best goal scorer in the world. how cares about aguero or higuain when you have messi. bring dybala back. he is a must and can play as sub to messi.
    and lastly , I think Sampaoli should forget about idea of possession and domination football. just play with extra caution and park the bus against strong opponents.period.

42. Remember this is less embarrassing than we defeated two last reinging world champions. We won Spain 4-1 and Germany 4-2 right after their crown. We beat Germany before and after last WC, 3-1 and 4-2 respectively in their home soil yet scored no goals against them in the last two WCs and conceded 5 goals.

43. Relax dude.

    I think I am the only one who is happy with this loss. Why?. In the last 7-8 years or so, Argentina had always been known of “the king of friendlies”.
    I am pretty sure if based on friendlies alone, we would have the best record among all countries. We beat the likes of Spain 4-1; Germany 2 times, Brazil 4-3, Portugal, France, Italy, and pretty much everyone in the last 7-8 years.

    Look at Germany, they suck at friendlies. Losing against us 2 times in 2 games.. Always never show their true cards. even yesterday they hid their best players to intentionally lose 1-0 to Brazil full team w/o Neymar.

    The super team Golden State Warriors also lost badly their first game against the Spurt last year.

    I will quote what the commentator says at the time: “The Spurs are not that good and the Warriors are not that bad”

    Golden State Warriors ended up winning the NBA.

    Now I will say the same thing:

    Guys, Spain is not that good and Argentina is not that bad.

    • Honestly I would be happy if i thought for a second that Sampa would learn a lesson from this demolition but sadly I don’t think he will. Watch how 2 out of the masch, biglia, banega trio will start in the WC and Higuain will be going to Russia at the expense of Icardi and maybe even Dybala. I really hope I’m wrong because if he learns the right lessons then even a humiliating 6-1 drubbing would’ve been worth it.

      • When playing teams like spain/germany etc we should try to exploit their weakness, Against spain play hard working midfileders great at pressing (biglia/masch/banega wont do). drop the forwards, over load the wings with wingers who comfortable play passing with midfileders (perotti/pavon/acuna/lanzini/meza etc). Leave the scoring to false 9 (messi)

44. Lanzini and Lamela in midfield will give much creativity. Both player are kind of player who does not lose the ball easily unlike others.Sampoli should call Lamela if he wants high pressing game.Old ones are not good enough.Higuain is not a one on one type of striker he is a poacher he has his limitations. Lamela should be called.Sampoli also should care about players who gonna to injured midway so have good replacement for them.Mussachio as CB can be tried

    • yes as i said below … Lamela should be called. .. higuain is useless

    • Mussachio is not starter at A.C. milan

45. If Sampa is hellbent on playing his high line pressing and possession game…then why doesn’t he include a player like Lamela? He is perfect for that style. Di Maria is very good defensively, his pressing and running, he will run his socks off….and he is also one of maybe three of our players that can dribble past one or two oponents on a good day…that is why we need him. But would Lamela do this job worse than Di Maria? He is slow so we would lose Fideo’s speed…but he would not give away the ball as much as Fideo, I am sure. And of course we all know that Di Maria, like Aguero, will never ever last 7 games, they will be injured sooner or later. We need to plan like Di Maria and Aguero is just a bonus, they will not play many games.

46. We still remember what Higuain did last Worldcup … he made us lose the world cup .. because he is weak in scoring… Icardi is much better than him … more fast can score better… Dybala also is am important key, Pizzaro must be called again… Messi cant go alone without 10 players helping him ,Sampaoli must wake up before its too late… He must call players like Icardi and Dybala . get rid of higuain he is a nightmare to Argentina… Erik Lamela i doing great with Totenham … he must call him for attacking midfielder or a winger …

47. This is Argentina for gods sake not Peru or Ecuador. Winning the World Cup is not for the glory of Messi. It is for the 44 million passionate proud and loyal people living in there and the billions of diehard fans who’ have been shedding tears for generations to live the moment of glory that hasn’t been repeated since 86.

    The arrogance of having Argentinean coaches with their stupid outdated mentalities like will never compete on an international standard, because we are not selecting our best.

    This result should pull the trigger toward a serious action from all and whoever involved in AFA including the players to have the guts and pride of wearing this jersey to patriotically represent their country. The way Simeone does it with his squad.

    Players who have no shame and talking selfies spreading their laughters all over social media instead of regretting their situation being injured whenever they get the call us a disgrace. Aguero should be ditched out and never get called again.
    Higuain who has the willing to do but lacks the ability should appreciated and get released from national duties all along with the outdated ones.

    I really don’t get it when call up a player like Correa as an immediate back up and never gives him fair minutes to show what he could provide is complete stupidity, so as the case with Lautaro and what justifies it in your case having your starters injured while leaving the best backups at their clubs. Let alone what makes it worse, being the last official experiment you have in your calendar with 2 months to go.

    Sampaoli is a so arrogant in a very pathetic way. When started with a very good approach building team all over the trio of Messi, Dybala and Icardi. Yes, it was a prospect for the future and would’ve worked great if gave them more minutes together to buildup chemistry which is he’s duty as a coach. Instead, he kept on proving that has no f idea what’s he doing out there.
    In addition, he insisted on his stupid 3 back line plan when it didn’t work from the beginning and realized if too late.

    I know he is going to fix it now and wake up after what allowed to happen, but I hope the players are mature not to be mentally destroyed and man up and fight for whatever is remaining.

    Spain in the last World Cup got humiliated by the Dutchmen and with and list with 5 in front of the whole being the title holders leaving in such disgraceful way from the group stage!! This is way worse than what happened last night.

    Sampa you should take it from there and take advantage of the every single resource you have.

    This hit could be a double edged sword after all if we have real men wearing the jersey.

48. Pedro Pasculli, Ayala, Valdano and others said what we have been barking everyday but this baldyfaisl to get it.

    I really hope he learns from his mistakes and changes players and tactics just like he did after 3 man defense.

    Higuain, Biglia, Mascherano, Rojo should be out permanently. They are horrible and bring nothing to the team.

    Banega should a bench player. He constantly bottles against good midfields.

    CB – Garay should be begged to come back. he has been brilliant with Valencia this season.
    RB – Mercado vs big teams and he should just defend his ass off no attacking. Bustos should be part of the squad.
    LB – Tagla & Acuna.
    no. 9 – Icardi/ Messi. Aguero is a nothing for NT.

    Play Lateral wingers and pack up the midfield and put messi at no.9 Closer to the goal.

49. Sampaoli is supposed to get rid of higuan, if he does not and higuan goes to the world cup, than I don’t know.

    Biglia and mascherano can not be on the pitch for Argentina at the same time, because they are not what they were, especially mascherano.

    For rojo,i will not drop him but for now he can not be considered as first choice. Remember rojo haven’t had months of game time and sampaoli knew that but he want to see for himself what is it that rojo should work on.

    For bustos it’s very simple, the kid is inexperience and it was very clear.

    Finally, now everyone can see that Argentina needs players such as Roberto pereyra, Erik lamella, pastore even though pastore haven’t had much game time but I feel sampaoli should with him to try and get the best out of pastore just like he tried higuan.

    • i also think we need pastore but sampaoli will only give chance to the raw lo celso.whats the point in that

      • Lo celso is better than pastore both in club and country

    • As I told you before Pereyra is a very injury prone and pastore is about as useless as the rest of messi’s friends i.e. weak mentally and physically, inconsistent and pretty much a sad waste of talent. I would take lo Celso over him any day and twice on sunday.
      Lamela on the other hand is a yes, he has the skill and the athleticism to execute some of Sampa’s tactics.

      • Listen here buddy, how good was locelso against real Madrid in champions league and psg other big games? Go and look for yourself.

        Yes locelso has potential to be a world class player one day but Argentina can’t rely on him for creativity and dictating the game. No. He does not have enough experience and this story you talk about pereyra being a injury prone,please man, how many times have messi been injured and for how long,the same with aguero and even Erik lamella?

        When players get injured it does not mean their football careers are over okay.

        • So rely on biglia masche

        • I never said Celso was the answer, rather that I would take him over pereyra and pastore.
          Celso is a talented, athletic, hardworking player and I see no problem having him on the bench.
          As for his performance against RM, well he’s a 21yr old, playing out of position against one of the best midfields in the world so yeah he did badly but if I remember correctly so did the rest of PSG

          Quote:

          [this story you talk about pereyra being a injury prone,please man, how many times have messi been injured and for how long,the same with aguero and even Erik lamella?]

          Ok we had this conversation before, pereyra is injury prone, that’s not an opinion it’s a fact!!! Whether you want to accept that fact or not is your choice and please let’s not compare his injury history with that of messi’s because Lio’s injury record is quite minimal compared to most players.
          As for Aguero, well I don’t want him or Maria in the team purely because of their injury/fitness issues.

      • Agree, LoCelso and Lanzini (and I hope Lamela soon) are the future of our midfield. We need a physical pitbul to take Mascheranos throne and we are complete.

        • Ascaibar,Lanzini & Lo celso

          • Ascacibar is good

50. Same old story from me……..Kick out Biglia ,Mascherano and Higuain

51. i dont want to critisize the players… what is the difference match between italy and spain.. fazio and otamendi understand each other well.. and kept the line very well… and italy fear to attack… bustos and taglifico take that advantage.. argentina put pressure most of the time…. florenzi de seclico had the back. foot… but the tactics are very good when we hold the high line spain dont get into the penalty area… thats why he choosed rojo over fazio…. but he is the main reason for many goals and mache comes inbetween he went wide on the left side.. when midfield loose the ball… it is difficult to hold the line… and when we started pressing we created a chance.. if we took that… we are a different team… that is less pressure for bustos and taglifico… spain took back foot… i really impressed by locelso he made some one two and open the spain defence… he will have bright future.. and his one two with meza created second chance meza should put that yearly… we know argentina league no one read that pass.. but spain ramos read well put sliding tackle.. otherwise we would have taken the lead… with messi… spain has to defend deep… if we give messi the ball infront of spain back four… ramos and pique will know… they will cry when messi gets infront of him.. its 99% they have to get yellow or messi will score a goal… thats is sampaoli plan… unfortunately… we dont have messi in that match… mache forget how to play in defensive mid… biglia back pass king… those two guys… never pass front pass when they are in pressure…. that is why we lost it… if we had pizzaro or parades… they hold the ball very well… they will try atleast… but sampaoli knows his stlyle of play only few players can play with his pressing style … biglia and mache wont work….rojo better passer and have face… his game reading is poor… we dont have another center back… these kind of match mache should play as a center back… maybe he will struggle against eugudar and iceland… against big team… high line defence mache played with barca.. otamendi did with pep … but rojo… he is with fucker mourinho he dont know attacking football… its hard for garay and pezzalla and rojo and mori…. to play highline defence… it will not come in a weak… we have better position at the halftime we played well… but when times goes on… mache and biglia pressed less and jacking.. and higuain i am tired to talk about him… ultra waste… if he press well may be we can get few more chance…. i dont know if bustos and taglifico injured we dont have proper attacking full back… salvio and acuna will struggle …. in midfield we need energy more than expereince… some of them say locelso is fault for first goal…. but its not that case.. he went to get the ball/// where mache want the ball to his feet.. mache should go towards locelso and play one two.. then locelso can easily avoid those error.. but mache not busguets… but pizzaro would do something better.. when we play the highline goal keeper needs to ready… cabellero and romero… not neuer and terstagen… sampoali have many difficulties.. honestly he dont have the player to play his system…. some of them say then we need to change to defending… if we goes that way … messi will be burn out… we dont get best out of messi…

    my suggesion is keep going sampaoli… but please understand drop these players..
    higuain and biglia and mache from midfield… cabellero made mistake in the goal kick… because of midfield no movement otamendi is world class …if others wont support he will make error… because of his teammates… watch differently…

    rulli/cabellero

    —-bustos————macherano———-otamendi/fazio………..taglifico

    this is the back line… mache –otamendi pair against germany or spain… other match we can manage with otamendi and fazio pair…. bustos the only and taglifico are some decent full backs we have… salvio and acuna defensively week….so we have to go with bustos and taglifico.. they are not world class but… argentina dont have any… that is reality…

    mifield… please bring pizzaro he is tall and atleast better than biglia and mache on that position… he will also make mistake but… not much than the biglia and masche….. or put parades no 5

    pizzaro/parades
    /
    ———–locelso———————————–lanzini—-

    these players must… one place is for dimaria/meza/perroti/gomez/correa

    forward messi—————————auguero…..

    yes he is injury prone… but he is good with his feet… he is not choker like higuain…

    aguero had big injury before 2014 thats why he is not fullly fit.. and 2015 he scored against uruguay…1-0 win… and he had knock on that match.. tata replaced auguero higuain comes in semi and final we lost it…. and 2016 higuain come with record breaking seria a top scorer… tata gives no 9 to higuain.. aguero benched… auero played sup… he is not a sub player… he will at his best when he play regularly /// thats what happend in 2016… if auguero is fullly fit and inform… he will show his worth in this world cup.. if he injured my obivious choice is icardi..;.. icardi can do well against team like iceland and crotia…. against spain and germany we should go with aguero…

    we dont have best player on every position but when messi is there… opposition team will fear… and messi will control the game very well than anybody.. look back costa and ramos comment…. those messi hater including maradona….will cry after messi gone from the national team… hope sampoali learn the lesson… one possitive argentina won world cup champion spain 4-1…. now they beat 6 –1 hope we will win agianst spain in the world cup… if they come our way… messi will take queater easily… and semi and final is difficult… players showes some huger…. and with messi its possible… no matter what everything will be good at world cup… who knows spain can be eliminated in the first round dont loose your hopes… bye gues…. i will come after may 15th

    • mercado in place of bustos

52. Nigeria and Spain scored 10 goals against us. We better prepare for humiliation than victory at the WC.
    It’s gonna be more like 2010 than 2014.

    What a sad prospect. I have been a fan for decades and always looked forward to the WC. This time it is a different story. We will pay the price for failure and fear to replace our aging stars.

    • if only spain and germany gets knocked out before facing us we have a chance otherwise its game over with this kind of defence we may out from 1st round itself.many gase sampaoli too much.now he become stubborn,egoistic so our fall is near.mussachio never been called we had a good option in mammana but he is out injured.otamendi is not worldclass just surrounded by world class players in city.i said it long back i dont trust bustos defensively.he should not be in the starting eleven.even mercado will do atleast he will be solid defensively.tagliafico is ok.he can play in lb spot.now pezella may get a chance those 3-5 weeks until 2nd round match is vital.only now we can hope in those training camps our defence will build chemistry and solid in back.

53. The problem Sampaoli has is that he needs to reconsider his midfield and defence and he needs to be firm with his final 23. The reason why we lost so bad is due to the fact that we had a non-existent midfield and a schoolboy defense against the best midfield in the world. The defense was already a risk and then there was no cover. It was the same story with the same midfield against Nigerian. Even if Higuain had scored the opener. How sure are you guys that the game would have been a different story? Against Nigeria, with same midfield culprits, we were 2-0 only to end up conceding 4. It would have been the same story last night, Spain would have found a way to come back as there was no challenge in the engine room to break up their play. Injuries aside, I don’t think the team that played Italy would have been humiliated like the experienced old fossils.

    • we need to play 4-3-2-1 paredes lanzini locelso dimaria meza all played well.

      • bro ko celso is too raw i don’t think we need to take him to worldcup ,its not a friendly .

      • I don’t care about formations as every team regardless of lineups or formation need to learn to tactical adapt to opponents during matches. I want to see the younger players mixing it up with Messi, Di Maria, Aguero.

54. guys can anybody give me a youtube link for the full match of argentina vs spain??

55. Higuain and Mascherano should be dropped.Mascherano is done he has shown us against Nigeria and Spain.Higuain although a good striker but he is gonna to miss chances continuously we can not afford that.No time to experiment now we have quite good bunch of players but vital ones are injured.We need defensive stability.Bustos is very young,in his position Salvio will come but he has shown good performance.Banega,Biglia should go to Russia but not two of them in same line up.There are some positives in form of Lanzini,Meza,Taglafico and Bustos

    • no positives for bustos he was even weak in italy friendly also.lo celso was a positive he brings some creativity

56. We’re going in the WC without

    – a proper CB pair. Fazio is tall, great in the air, but a liability with his lack of pace and passing abilities. This also explained why Sampa tried Rojo today, he has a decent pace, aerial abilities, and passing. But after today’s game, he’s clearly not the best option. Pezzella is the next option, and like Fazio he’s not a very good on the ball. I can’t trust Mercado to pair up with Otamendi, based on this year’s performances with Sevilla, but I think Sampaoli will have to resort to that option vs the quick and technical teams. I really wished the Juan Foyth was getting more mins at Tottenham, he wouldve been the perfect partner for Otamendi despite his age and lack of experience

    – A good RB. I believe Bustos should stay in the starting line up. But after today, anything can happen. Sampaoli might choose to go back to Salvio and Mercado as RB. That wouldn’t solve the problem imo. However, something needs to be done.

    – A proper DM. Biglia should never be a starter on any team that’s trying to win a WC. Sampaoli has been favoring him since day 1, and that will be one of very tough decision for him. Pizarro has put on better performances with the team, and yet he’s the one that got omitted. At this point, it might be too late to try the likes of Marcone, Battaglia, Ascacibar and others since they’ve never been selected before. Mascherano has to gooo, I really dont know why Argentina like to settle for their old guards. Enough with the whole experience bs, these guys aren’t up to it physically, or mentally. It’s bringing more harm to the group mentally than it does good. We need to bring Enzo Perez back. After his perfomances with the NT, there’s absolutely no reason why Enzo Perez isn’t be on this team, and yet you’re making room for Mascherano (like wtf are you thinking lol). Quit experimenting, keep the guys that perform well and stop giving these old guys multiple chances!!!

    – a No. 9 Aguero isn’t always healthy. Higuain is completely done. He cant cope with the pressure soo stop wasting your time calling him. IDK what the situation is with Icardi. I respect the fact that Sampaoli think that he doesnt have good chemistry with the rest of the team. That’s okay. But why not give Lautaro more playing time? Last time, he put Joaquin Correa as a fw, he scored; soo what more can you asked of him? Why not continue with him? Last time he gave Alario a couple mins, he scored sooo why drop him? Sampaoli has his own agenda and a list of players that he simply favors. Unfortunately, the luck hasnt been on his side. The same players that he’s been forcing havent been able to deliver. Again today’s defeat was a reality check.

    Beside these positions, I think we’re at okay or better with the remaining ones. Those seriously need to be addressed.

    • after seeing the 2 matches im sur otamendi-fazio should be our cm.otamendi also was weak yesterday.we need good dm.i would put mercado or salvio in rb position no time to find a proper decent rb.bustos is weak he is only 5’6 and very bad in defending.i always saying u cant play 2 complete newcomer in wc as a defender.their first job is defend.

57. I have aquestion for you guys? Why do we have to play 2 forwards if we know/think they will miss a lot. Why not clog the midfield with midfielders (who also has a eye for goals) and drop the forwards. That way we can dominate possession and leave the scoring to messi. If sampaoli absolutely need to play possesion based game why not do it this way? What do you guys think? What are the pitfalls?

    • Sampaoli doesn’t have balls to do that

    • doent work like that u need serious talented midfielders to dominate possession just drop higuain and play messi aguero dybala upfront even icardi our forwards actually good just they always prefer higuain who always misses

58. Soo I just found today’s result funny to say the least. It’s a reality check. I think today’s team for the most part was gonna be our starting eleven at the WC. Well with Messi and Di Maria and maybe a few tweak in the defensive mid (Mascherano), defense (Rojo/Fazio) and fullbacks.

    Now he has to go back and reevaluate the team. This defeat will definitely affect this team mentally. This also put the coach in a tough position. At this point, I don’t know if he’d still feel comfortable dropping some of the key players such as Biglia, Mascherano, and so forth. But if you wanna win the WC, you have to be able to beat teams like Germany, France, Spain and Brazil. and with these players, It’s almost impossible to do so

    • messi will be in banega position goalkeeper will be romero fazio may partner otamendi bustos mayb replaced by mercado or salvio masche will not be there mayb banega or paredes or some other player dimaria will be there and aguero will play in place of higuain.actually it will be complete different lineup

59. I forgot to mention that Bustos is not ready yet for this World Cup. The only defender out there was Otamendi, it felt he was doing full back and central defending. The rest are rubbish. Mezo has a good counterattacking run but he has no international experience. Still he’s better than Higuaín.

60. Our front 4 should be
    =====Icardi====
    Perroti==Dybala==Messi==

61. 1) Stop telling me that Sampaoli knows what he’s doing. He’s not in Guardiola’s league. His Chilean team suffered against the Weakest Brazilian team last world cup although he had better players.

    2) Please don’t bring Aguero when Higuaín flops and vise versa. They both play shit for the NT.

    3) Stop asking for your savior Diva Maria, he can’t survive more than 10 min of useless run on pitch before breaking his weak limbs.

    4) Mascherano is done as a player. He should accept the reality with open mindness.

    5) Messi selects his friends to play in the NT whether you like it or not, fact check. I said it million times, Argentina will lift the World Cup someday when Messi retires as this eliminates both messi reliance and buddy cult-like squad.

    6) Banega is inconsistent, really depends on the amount of alcohol he drinks the night before of the match he’s playing.

    7) Rojo is in the wrong sport, not to mention in the wrong position as a central defender. He doesn’t deserve to play for Yemen, let alone Argentina.

    8) Aguero + Higuaín + Di Maria + Banega + Biglia + Romero = National Team Shit recipe & embarrassment guaranteed with extended warranty and premium insurance from not scoring.

    9) Messi needs to humble himself a bit and embraces other talented players like Dybala and Icardi, He’s not God after all. Ronaldo is racing him for goal scoring when the gap was more than 16 goals 2 months ago. He needs to be reminded that there are other goal scorers and other talents out there. Stop making excuses for your buddies. Enough is enough.

    10) Dybala and Icardi are a must for the team not because they will do wonder, but because they didn’t get decent opportunities plus they are younger than the old shit, also we don’t have other decent choices. At least we guarantee they won’t get injured after 30 min of play time.

    11) Sampaoli’s presence by the sideline irritates me, he doesn’t look confident and can’t hold his composure. His character sucks big time, no wonder the team is turned to be a circus before being penned by 6 goals.

    12) The team needs a real CAPTAIN big time !!!

    • Sampaoli is a idealogue type coach like bielsa, who is trying to impose his system on the NT (high line/ wing play etc etc). At the moment he does not have right players to play this system and trying new players for their suitability in this system. He is not happy with the players he has and is continually experimenting. I hope he changes mind as it is getting kind of late.

      Sabella was more pragmatic and tried to play the way that suit the players he had. But everybody in mundo was up in arms because they wanted spain like beautiful football. If we tried to play the way sampaoli is trying to play in 2014, we wouldn’t have gone far.

      • We were all rooting for Fabulous 4 … But aguero and dimaria back stabbed us!! Fab4 was sabella’s counter attacking genius plan

        • Remember they were Fab4 because they were young, now all of them hitting their 30’s, they can’t be our fab4 forever. It’s time to give chance for the young. At least they can run and put pressure on defenders.

          • You’re right. but the replacements should have been given chance much before where stakes were low. You don’t just drop them in the pressure cooker situation of WC.

        • Yes injury played a role. But I think that plan had a big flaw too. You can only counter attack if somebody attacks you. In group stage we got bus parking teams no matter what and that gave the rise to the perception of our ineffectiveness in attack. From KO stage, we pretty much defended with lot of players. Messi & co looked weak (yes injury was part of that) but the team won. If we play like that we still have chance. Building a new team to play sampaoli’s system is a long term project

62. Lo Celso is overated.
    I would play a 3-5-2 formation
    Fazio– Otamendi– ROJO
    Banega Perotti
    Masch— Lanzini—Di Maria
    Messi Aguero

    • I agree with 3-5-2
      But Lo celso has creativity in attack, his thru balls were amazing against Italy and Spain

      3cb

      MERCADO OTAMENDI FAZIO/MORI/ROJO

      MID 5

      1- MASCHERANO(CDM)/PIZZARO/PAREDES
      2- LO CELSO(CDM FOR PSG)

      3- DYBALA(RW)/PAVON,CORREA

      4- LANZINI (CAM)/SUB BANEGA

      5- DIMARIA(LW)/MEZA,ACUNA,PEROTTI

      FORWARD

      MESSI FALSE9
      AGUERO/ICARDI

      MARTINEZ/ALARIO BENCH

63. I would say a lot fans of the Argentina team are either blinds or don’t know football. You guys keep on BLAMING PiPita. The real problems of this team is a LACK of players with dribbling skills. Besides LEO and sometimes Di Maria, who else in, your team that can eliminate 2,3 opponents to create space for the forwards? after the 1st goal, Argentina had the ball but they never penetrated and several goal occasions because they were only passing the ball around. Just think if you had players like ISCO, ERIKSON, De Bruyne as midfields. To make things worse ,your right and left back have no skills, no overlap that could create more space for your forwards.You could have RONALDO, LUIS SUAREZ, or LEWANDOSKI in your team Argentina would still look like a 5th division team in a small country of football like TUVALU. YOUR PROBLEM IS TOO MANY PLAYERS WITH NO DRIBBLING SKILLS. In the last 10 years Argentina has produce 1 or 2 players that can play in any team in the world. I’m not talking about Messi, Di Maria , Aguero, Masch, Banega, or Higuain. Besides Dyballa, give me a real footballer from Argentina that make Real Madrid , Barca, Bayern Munioch , Man United, Liverpool, Ac Milan or Juventus go crazy in the transfer market? You need to take a step back and judge your youngters.In the youth teams they need to need how to develop their dribbling skills. So How come for the last 10 years none of the best right of left back are not Argentinians? How come none of the best midfileds are not argentinians? Please answer me

    • Unless you have messi/neymar/dembele/mbappe level of dribbling skills/ quickness it is virtually impossible in today’s game to eliminate 2-3 players out of the game because of the athleticism in the modern game. In spain only iniesta have that level of dribbling skill. Others like isco just dances on the ball, asensio is raw speed and needs lot of space. So you are exaggerating the effect of dribbling here. What they have and argentina don’t is experience at highest levels, plenty of playing time together etc. They (players from spain/germany etc) also have the basics like technique to control the ball with first touch and quickly passing it and always moving taking up new positions honed into them since their teenage years by the excellent club football infrastructure. Argentine players can only dream about such an infrastructure. This is why they have the best midfield. Tell me who is a good dribbler in german team? What other teams need to do is to neutralize their midfield superiority thru tactics. Sampaoli played a high line defense and tried to play very open. That’s why he got crushed today

      • 👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼

        • I personally believe higuain was good and not this much unreliable in past. In 06/07 & 07/08 season he won real madrid the league by scoring very crucial winning goals in very high pressure matches. At some point maradona was not selecting him for NT and I remeber people in mundo were going crazy like are now for dybala/icardi. In 2010 WC he was the highest scorer for NT. He was good for NT during qualifying of 2014 WC too. Something happened with his career in real when CR & benzema joined. He started to miss lot of goals in UCL and was shipped out of madrid. Since then he is also missing a lot for NT. May be it is all psychological.

          • I feel this is the risk for dybala/icardi also. If they come in to the team replacing aguero/higuain/dimaria they will be under lot of pressure too. Any mistake and the fans will blame them and want aguero and co. back. There seems to be no planning on incorporating younger talents in a gradual, phased manner like spain/germany. Its all ad hoc-ism and that’s what killing argentina

64. Big names that needs to be kicked out of the team….
    1. Higuain-> do you guys still have something to say?
    2.Rojo->2010 WC performance was a fluke….
    3.Masch-> he is done
    4.Biglia->he is also done
    5.Dimaria->Perroti is better than him and more reliable
    6.Aguero-> better take someone who will.actually play… Useless
    7.Banega-> This guy will sink our ship… He is consistent… Consistently bad…
    8.Funes Mori->he was an average defender.. Now he is shit…

    Calallero should be our starting goalkeeper… He is the best we have….Apparently People calling for Rulli don’t watch his game regularly.. He is too mistake prone… May be good for no3..
    Otamendi and Fazio should be our centre backs… They are the best we got now… Tagliafico and Mercado our full backs… ICARDI our no9… Sampaoli has to fit Dybala in starting x1… But Higuain.. Dimaria… Aguero… Masch… Rojo.. Mori…biglia.these 7 should be dropped immediately… Banega may be ..may be as a substitute…but it would be a big risk… Our youngesters are far better than.these pensioners…this game is actually blessing in disguise and hopefully Sampa will gather some balls drop these shitheads..

65. Romero you lucky bastard … Had he played the whole match… He would have lost his place in starting lineup for good…. Some us are saying Aguero and Dimaria would have made some difference…yes they would have scored more against us because of their sloppyness… Higuain… I have nothing left to say about this guy..

66. My 1st /2nd post here. At least sabella was a pragmatic man. New argentina coach is a radical ideologue. Him playing the high line defense with 30+ midfield and slow defenders is beyond belief. I’d accept if he is just testing players in friendlies. But if he is really planning to play this way in competitive matches in WC against superior teams like spain, germany etc. he should be sacked before the WC. Don’t want another drubbing like we had in 2010 in hands of germany because of inept tactics. With so little time remaining, we can’t go on indefinitely and try new guys in the hope of finding right players for his system. He needs to find a right system for the players he has already got.

67. My 1st /2nd post here. At least sabella was a pragmatic man. New argentina coach is a radical ideologue. Him playing the high line defense with 30+ midfield and slow defenders is beyond belief. I’d accept if he is just testing players in friendlies. But if he is really planning to play this way in competitive matches in WC against superior teams like spain, germany etc. he should be sacked before the WC. Don’t want another drubbing like we had in 2010 in hands of germany because of inept tactics. With so little time remaining, we can’t go on indefinitely and try new guys in the hope of finding right players for his system. He needs to find a right system for the players he has already got

68. The good news Iceland is utterly shit, absolute garbage, Mexico and Peru easily beat them, Peru with over 65% possession, Peru… a true counter-attacking team. And Croatia is very overrated too, Nigeria unpredictable.

    • I would say a lot fans of the Argentina team are either blinds or don’t know football. You guys keep on BLAMING PiPita. The real problems of this team is a LACK of players with dribbling skills. Besides LEO and sometimes Di Maria, who else in, your team that can eliminate 2,3 opponents to create space for the forwards? after the 1st goal, Argentina had the ball but they never penetrated and several goal occasions because they were only passing the ball around. Just think if you had players like ISCO, ERIKSON, De Bruyne as midfields. To make things worse ,your right and left back have no skills, no overlap that could create more space for your forwards.You could have RONALDO, LUIS SUAREZ, or LEWANDOSKI in your team Argentina would still look like a 5th division team in a small country of football like TUVALU. YOUR PROBLEM IS TOO MANY PLAYERS WITH NO DRIBBLING SKILLS. In the last 10 years Argentina has produce 1 or 2 players that can play in any team in the world. I’m not talking about Messi, Di Maria , Aguero, Masch, Banega, or Higuain. Besides Dyballa, give me a real footballer from Argentina that make Real Madrid , Barca, Bayern Munioch , Man United, Liverpool, Ac Milan or Juventus go crazy in the transfer market? You need to take a step back and judge your youngters.In the youth teams they need to need how to develop their dribbling skills. So How come for the last 10 years none of the best right of left back are not Argentinians? How come none of the best midfileds are not argentinians? Please answer me

      • “You could have RONALDO, LUIS SUAREZ, or LEWANDOSKI in your team Argentina would still look like a 5th division team in a small country of football like TUVALU.” Cmon man that is Nigeria and every african team, only athleticism without football IQ and with very little brain, collective of visionless stupids, WC-failure is coming as always with these limited footballers, tell me one black african player who can pass the ball? This player don’t exist…

        • THIS IS RACIST.

          • only the truth, OK Yaya Toure was the only one

        • Name one person who does not know the history of the beautiful game. It is CSABALALA OR BETTER YET CSABLABLABLA. You clearly show all racist are ignorant as hell. You mention Nigeria in your racist comment as an african team with “no football iq, very little brain, and collective of visionless stupids” . But its the same Nigeria that trashed Argentina 4-2 not long ago. And they have met Argentina in five different world cup and always make them sweat.Do your ignorant self a favor Look up Argentina head to head record against Nigeria.

69. Thank You Spain, My second Team. For showing Sampa how effective Higuain Is infront of goal. (As if no one knows) Thank You Spain for showing Mashcherano Biglia and Banega are old and slow now. Thank You for pinning us so bad that shows our high line defence is a catastrophe and we dont have power in Attack without Messi because Sampa decided to leave Icardi and Dybala the most wanted players in europe. Thank You beating us this bad that Sampa is forced to change players and tactics. A 3-1 or a 2-1 defeat would have been bad for us. Sampa would have taken credit for that. But Thanks again Spain for 6-1.

70. Comments above (and I would think similarly from the general public) show consensus on Higuain. Especially when we have good and reready options available in the form of Icardi, Dybala. And to be clear, we are not making the judgement on Higuain solely based on this match, but also based on mostly on the other critical times he puts on the national team jersey.

    My last comment in this forum was on why would Sampaoli still call up Higuain this time. To rate him? Is it clear now and has his question been answered?

    Just 70-80 plus days before the greatest tournament starts and we have to start calling back Icardi and Dybala when you had previously called them up, played two games and decided they wouldn’t work and went back to Higuain again only to find that he also doesn’t work. We are in a mess. The other big teams have gotten around 80% of their team sorted out and we havn’t. Guess we’re going to use the “team hasn’t got sufficient time to gel” excuse this time. Great.

71. Sampaoli was exposed today on two fronts; One lack of tactics and second player selection. Against spain if you play football with so much of open spaces, the result will be what we got today. Sampaoli was planning to take to attack with a 4-2-3-1 system when there was no one taking the role of a play maker. There was absolutely no team work in the midfield. Score should have been 4-2 in the first half in favour of Spain had all chances been converted. If Sampaoli feels we played a great first half he is mistaken. Rojo just doesnt fit into a center back role. As I had written earlier this was the time to have atlest 8-9 fixed starters but for me we have probably 3-4 max identified. We can forget this world cup unless Messi does some magic. As Pasculli rightly pointed out Messi has to be 10x Maradona to take this team through.
    – There is no fixed formation. Every game it changes from 3-5-2 to 4-3-2-1 to 4-3-3 to finally a formation today where none of the players had a clue
    – Too much of player rotation. he is challenging Maradona here
    – Defense is worse than what Batista had
    – Finally based on these games the team selection has become even more challenging. He will be forced to get the likes of Tevez

    I was hoping this game would have been perfect to test Perotti and Correa, who I feel will bring the toughness to the team. Meza played okay but he is just too raw for this worldcup. LoCelso can be a sub at the best. As of now the players that i see are starters

    —————– Romero( For me trash but there is no competition)

    Player 1 ———— Otamendi ——— Player 2 ——— Taglificio

    Player 3 ——- Player 4 ———— Player 5

    Messi ————- Player 6 ————– DiMaria

    Having followed Argentina from 80’s, I can tell, please do not have expectation from this team with Sampaoli as a coach. The worst feeling getting into the world cup was in 2010. Still I felt Maradona was the lucky charm inspite of being a stupid coach. We are getting into this worldcup in a situation worse than 2010 with 80% of the team undecided.
    We can still get some good attacking options. But attack has no meaning without defense and midfield.

72. Another sad day for Albicelecte. Just cannot believe with the horrible result. Anyway, it will be good lesson for Sampaoli to evaluate before the final bell rings. His selections, playing scheme still did not works well and have to be reformed with new bloods. Masche, Biglia, Higuain place in the team alongwith Di Maria and Kun injury problem have to reconsider before it is too late. Lo celco, Meza, Lanzini, Perroti and Dybala are more promising rather than the old guards.

    The first half played is average but the second half is beyond imagination that Arg can play that bad. Even Messi left and did not dare to watch it again. Spain is just outstanding and favourite.to win the WC. As a fans I have to stay on the ground and admit that it will be a miracle of Messi can lifted the wc trophy.

73. Bring back Lamela, Augusto Fernandez, Lavezzi and Gaitan,they will at least guarantee Argentina won’t get embarrass at the world cup.

    • The problem Sampa has solved is the front 4. You can play Meza Lo Celso/Dybala Lanzini and Messi as false 9.

      The back is a disaster. 10 goals against Nigeria and Spain.
      The problem is we miss a Garay and a healthy Mercado.

      And we have no defensive midfielders that are fast with work rate. And don’t say Paredes because he is slow as elevator music

74. Nice comments but does Sampa have the balls to leave out Mascherano Higuain Banega and the rest of the fossils? I think not

75. More than anything, Higuian situation has to be solved immediately. Sampoali or Messi personally needs to tell him that he is not going to the world cup. Had Higuain not screwed that chance or being too casual, the dynamic of the game would have changed completely. But once again he had to screw and play like nothing happened. I think we can beat lower team relatively easily however against big team, argentina should counter attack. However our first half was not bad at all. Had Hugain not choked, we would be beating Spain.

76. They are all spot-on escially pasculli.But baghdad bob(sampaoli)is still in denial.

77. This is what I meant when I said the high is too high and the low is too low around here.
    Everybody was high fiving after Friday win, praising wily who I admire but Romero is the better fit with height and experince.
    Does it hurt, yes it hurts like a mother f&**** but I’d rather see my beloved ARGENTINA lose a friendly now than in the world cup.
    The positives I was talking about are the fact that dybala and Icardi are needed on offense because there was not much firepower today to scare Spain and it was obvious.
    Mascherano and Biglia alone at midfield was plain stupid.
    This was an experimental squad to say the least and it showed.
    Let’s take the pain and so will the team and learn from it.
    HAVE A LITTLE FAITH GUYS, what does not kill you only makes you stronger.

    • I console myself that this is not as bad as 1-7 against Germany in the World Cup semi-finals. Try it. It works.

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