Poll: What do you think of Argentina’s 2018 FIFA World Cup squad?

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Now that we’ve had close to 24 hours to look at the squad, let’s take it to a vote!

We’ve heard all of the comments about the Argentina team. Mauro ICARDI has been left out, Lautaro MARTINEZ as well while Gonzalo HIGUAIN gets picked for a third consecutive tournament. Depending on what you think of a few players, that can be seen as a good thing or a bad thing.

However, there are probably certain things that we can all agree on. That Argentina may have finally found a long term left back in Nicolas TAGLIAFICO. How there’s actually a decent base of goalkeepers, the inclusion of the likes of Federico FAZIO, Manuel LANZINI and possibly a few others.

With all of that said, let’s take it to a vote. What do you think of Jorge SAMPAOLI’s Argentina 2018 FIFA World Cup squad?

[poll id=”11″]

63 Comments

  1. Wonderful game against Haiti. Biglia the sloth didn’t start and when Masche is supported by Meza, Lanzini, Lo Celso, its more than enough. Marcos Acuna is another brilliant option available. So far the backline looks more convincing than before with Salvio, Otamendi, Fazio and Tagliafico putting in a better performance. Banega is better as a super sub. I think this should be the final backline and midfield that should be starting in the WC. Apprehensions are slowly starting to get relaxed in these friendlies, so I’m more optimistic about this team than say, when the Spain and Nigeria friendlies happen. Even if we were against Haiti, at least the team looked and played as a unit, and that I didn’t see for a long time

  2. We have te following problems:

    1) Defenders: No Fazio backup – it must be Pezzella and not rojo (played few mins this season) o mascherano
    2) Midfield: (A) Biglia right now is not ready for a world cup, he doesn’t fight for the ball.. he doesn’t create… plus he is injured – so no back up no t even for him… and
    (B) Mascherano is a decent substitute, not a 90 mins player anymore he is not able to steal the ball against any team and we saw that during the whole qualification for the world cup.
    (C) Banega is not a player for the national team, he is too “lagunero”… desappier for long long times with no reason…
    (D) WHen sampaoli tried to play with the 3 “best” midfielders Mascherano-biglia-banega together agasint Spain, they did disappear, didnt fight the ball… where like witness on the fields… and even before sampaoli that happened with those players.

    3) ATTACK: Aguero is a question mark, we dont know how he will be back after all that time, Higuain is not playing good at all (in the last 10 argentina matches.. just one goal, with the juve almost half goals then Icardi). If Aguero has a problem we will have to play with Higuain and we all do know how he is playing (started to decrease hes level, constantly, since 2015), Icardi should’ve been in this team too.

    We do have too much people playing on both sides (tagliafico/acuna/ansladi/di maria/mercado/salvio/pavon) all this one are specialist on the sides so we all aspect the to try toms crosses for the strikers… unfortunately aguero is not good heading the ball… higuain not even with he feets… Icardi it is… but he is home for stupid reasons (club de amigos and Sampaoli that has not really much personality).

    Im not talking about other players that i would love to see in the team, im talking about the best ones out of the team. I dont remember a world cup where we had great players out of the team all in one time.

    In 2010 of course cambiasso and zanetti or riquelme where out.. but mascherano and veron were great players before during and after the cup… never happened before to bring ppl out of shape against the better ones in shape out of the tem as happening now. Thats crazy.

    So this is the 1st time for me to be really sad and feel like we have no chances at all to win the cup. No quality and aggressive midfield… just one possible striker + Lio Messi (the greatest player ever).

    Thats a bad pre world cup feeling, and im talking about that because this feeling has a reason, and the reason is “er are not goignt to the world cup with the best possible players, we are going to go with a group which wants revenge, even if some of them are really out of shape”. I hope not but this seem the 2010 spain 2010 ….

  3. i believe we will not have any problem to reach the quarter finals. the problems begin there i think. probably we will face Spain. but this time we will be prepared very well for them. i trust so much Sampaoli. we take valuable lesson in the friendly match.

  4. 26 People here thinks our team is terrible. The likes of them, are the once spoiling the community with their Shits all over.

    I request all this cry babies, to leave this page.
    Please go to Spain or German or Brazil groups & do your business.
    And inform them How terrible is this Argentina team.

    • i vote that our team is decent. just i respect even those 26. don t be so strict. maybe they are young people or they can t understand football as much as they have to for understand better. there is no other team with the glory of ARGENTINA. Spain? that national team came in map 2010. before was nothing. Brazil ? sponsors and marketing team. Germany? who want to support one team that stole at least 2 world cups with the help of referees? VAMOS ARGENTINA.

  5. i am not happy with this selection.sampaoli team is having big problem.there is no cb back up as well as no back up of biglia…pezella and pizarro are must but this idiot goes without backup..

    • Mascherano can be the back up to Biglia. I don’t remember a squad with more than 1 proper back up to no 5.
      Ansaldi,Mercado,Rojo,Masche.. all can play as CB.

      4 back up ? Terrible ?

      Gentle reminder, our Starting CB of 2014 was the greatest of all time, Federico Fernandez . And the backup was Demechellis, the ultimate destroyer (of our hopes)..

      This team is much better.

        • mascherano and biglia both ar them are in terrible form.biglia was also injured recently. if u look rojo form and playing minutes this season you will understand these 2 areas are very week for our team. pezella and pizarro are must for this cup but our coach thinks differently .its curse from very long time every coach have weird selection no logic to select certain players.

          • Actually biglia is in red hot form before the injury.ac Milan fans considering him best midfielder of their club.he even starting to make forward passes which is not his strength.but after coming back from injury in Atlanta game he was not good mayb he was still not fit.i believe fit biglia with a young and hardworking midfield is our only bet

  6. I see folk are apprehensive on Aguero’s condition. He has had the required time to heal and get back to match fitness. The Haiti and Israel game will gain him his sharpness.
    He will be edgy against Iceland but at optimum level v Croatia.
    He said it himself…I’ve got a new knee!

  7. The squad is good. The only omission for me would be Biglia. In his place I would’ve picked the young (inexperienced but ambitious) Asicabar.

    I’ve said this before (on repeat) it is a great shame this world cup has come now. It’s just too soon for Sampaoli. Just shy of maybe 2 to 3 competitive games to get his ideal team.
    But…..Tite at Brazil didn’t have that time and he hit the ground running with little changes to the roster.
    Just for the record….this is not Messi’s last world cup. 2022 will be. Where he will be deployed as more a centre mid. Creating from deep. Which will allow Dybala to probe further right of attack.

    Hoping for a good response from all the players. If they give their best and leave it all on the field then there are no regrets. That’s all we can ask from them.
    Like always…..We will back the shirt, this team to the end. Because this is the only team and entity that matters.
    Vamos Albiceleste.

  8. So much negativity flaring this page off lately. Italy in 2006 WC were mediocre before Semifinal. They just managed to get past Australia in R16 with a bit of luck. We all saw what happened after that. This team will be different. We need to attack and score early goals so that we can cover defense and protect the lead. i have full faith in Sampaoli’s tactis..Vamos Argentina !!

    • we just expess our concern about our defence. matches against Nigeria and Spain should teach us.
      we should keep the mentality of Sabella team and remember what happened 2010 against Germans. mascherano was running for cover all midfield area alone. i trust Sampaoli so much too. Vamos Argentina

  9. Sampaoli said that he wants to play in 2332, then it means that we will probably have the following starting XI:

    ——–Romero——–
    —-Fazio–Otamendi—-
    Salvio—-Biglia—-Acuna
    Lanzini–Lo Celso–Di Maria
    —-Messi—-Aguero—-

    And so the backup will be:

    ——–Cabellero——–
    —-Mercado—-Rojo—-
    Ansaldi–Maschereno–Tagliafico
    Pavon—-Banega—-Meza
    —-Dybala—-Higuain—-

    This is very similar to Spain system(or that of the current version of Real and Barca). In my supposed starting XI, it seems very risky but actually not:

    – Acuna and Salvio can both play as advanced fullback like they did in the past with NT and they did it well.
    – Lo Celso has decent defensive contribution with his club. For sure he is not a DM but a versatile CM.
    – Lanzini is used to play intensive PL matches. As his club West Ham is purely based on counter attack, he is becoming quite good in high pressing now.
    – Di Maria was a great midfielder 4 years ago. After injuries, he becomes less consistent. He can now only focus on attack.
    – Aguero has become a different player with Guardiola, more involved in pressing and in creation. I see him quite fit in this system. But not sure if he recovers totally from his injuries.

    So I guess Sampaoli may finally use Pavon-Dybala or Dybala-Meza instead of Aguero-Di Maria during the later stage.

    Can they play like Spain? Well, it took Spain years to achieve to train players able to play compact and constantly moving without the ball.

    • Guardiola’s City has played 2341 regularly this season. It’s a solid system defensively. The full backs and No.5 need to be good.

      • Yes all that Spanish football influence is huge in the modern football. So many teams are trying to play like them. I personally love that kind of football, anyone could be the playmaker, with fullbacks and wingers playing a more central role and striker can go anywhere outside the box. It’s actually the modern/improved version of Bielsa football style.

    • salvio and acuna wont play as starting fullbacks.and there is a chance that armani starts because i think romero is not fit enough.lets wait and see.

      • Why not for Salvio and Acuna? Argentina played well when both of them were on the pitch. They are the only ones who can defend and attack, dynamic and agile.

  10. It is what it is now. Let’s support and remember, there is always next world cup where we won’t see Higuain again. Go Argentina !!! Go Messi.

  11. Last time masche biglia double pivot was protecting our defense well…this time i am not sure…certainly missing a CM for the knock out stages….with pizzaro/enzo i would have been more relaxed….
    No more will power to suffer a 2010QF like scenario….

  12. Our key weakness revolves around the no.5 position. To be honest, none of our DMs including Pizarro, Battaglia, Biglia has been impressive lately. Pizarro and Battaglia looked defensively incapable. Biglia is good at defending but his inabilities on the ball is worrying. Sampaoli opted to take Mascherano as a backup for Biglia and the CB role. This is a huge gamble. The last time Biglia and Mascherano played together we conceded six goals. Biglia’s limitation on the ball can be compensated by allowing him to drop between two CBs and using Ota, Lo Celso’s ball distributing ability. But the possibility that Mascherano and Biglia might play together (in case of an injury to either Fazio or Ota) is scaring me.

    • • let’s wait and see how lanzini, locelso and banega does in the central midfield of the park with respect to creativity. I also thing that biglia and mascherano will always lay deep to make the defence stronger. How it all going to pan out…I guess we gonna have to wait and see.

      • but like I said banega needs to bring he’s goods, because he’s the more senior player with respect to creativity in the central midfield of the park and he has some defending to do as well in that area and similar for lanzini and locelso.

      • Banega will be a handful coming off the bench. His talent is undeniable. Its his laziness and inconsistency that hurt. I want him as a sub.

  13. Why do not people understand this, it’s not about the players, whether you’re playing a good tournament, it’s more about tactics.

    Let’s take a look at the player Sabella WC 2014 Sabella. Rojo, Perez Biglia Lavezzi Palacio Romero Demichelis.

    These players were mediocre to good but not world class.

    It was the philosophy of Sabella. And remember, 2014 we got better from game to game.

    Should Sampaoli play offensive and aggressively, it will be very difficult to win the trophy.

  14. My only concern is Huigain. I was watching 2014 Qualifiers and that time too, Huigain missed too many chances and he was casual as well. I really hope Augero is not injured so that we dont have to rely on Huigain. I hope Sampoali put Messi upfront if Augero is injured.

  15. I think this the best we could do. I feel two factors would decide our campaign.
    One how the players gel with the tactics Sampaoli employs ?
    Second how players like Banega , Biglia plays ?
    If the midfield can have some control our defense will hold up i think.
    The is enough talent to go to semi final in my opinion. But of course it is very clear that Sampaoli wants to play a somewhat attacking midfield heavy football. Masch will surely not start.
    Its funny i remember us discussing in 2014 how we were playing boring , football , lack of passing game hurting us to break down parked buses etc. (I am fan of Sabella)
    But i guess we have to start somewhere. I feel we have a good coach win or lose. He can stay and take us back to our roots.

    Also i hope this post (my first here. Previously always only followed updates) will be a good luck charm.

  16. Well for me it’s a decent squad, the starting squad it self (Romero, Mercado, otamendi, Fazio, Tagliafico, Biglia, Banega or Celso, Maria, Lanzini, Lio and kun) is not half bad and can make it to the quarters and possibly even the semis if Messi goes into beast mode against Spain.
    The true glaring weakness is the bench with Pipita subbing for kun (who will most certainly get injured), masch coming in for Biglia (replacing a bad player with a worse one) and Rojo for either CBs. The whole thing is sadly a ticking time bomb.
    I’ve never ascribed to the ‘friend’s club’ theory before, but seeing a choker like Higuain, an out of form Rojo, an inconsistent Banega and way past their sell date Biglia/Masch being selected ahead of far worthier options like Icardi, Pezzella, Garay, Lema, Paredes, Enzo and Battaglia makes wonder whether there is some truth to the whole thing.

    Sadly I have no doubt in my mind that this team isn’t going to make it far let alone win the damn thing, but the time for moaning and bitching is over (for me atleast) and from now on I have do what I’ve always done and cheer our boys on. Vamos!

    • U guys r cursing our team by saying they will injured at certain point..bkoz Argentina fan they don’t won anything.stop saying they will injured

      • You think I want Argentina’s players to get injured???? This isn’t an opinion, it’s fact. Look a Maria, he was injured in 3 out of the last 3 tournaments Argentina played!!! Kun got injured in 2 out of the 3 tournaments Argentina played and he missed half of the WCQ due to injury. Lanzini has missed almost a 3rd of the premier league games with injuries and he missed the spain game due to injury.

        • This time it will be different..this is the first time aguaro played under a world class coach and about di Maria he gaves everything when he played for Argentina. And the best part of this squad is Argentina have backup of di María. And last World Cup SABELLA don’t have the ball to rest key players in final group match..

  17. Mediocre defensive players can be good when they play in a good system with reasonable tactics. I don’t think Garay+Demichelles in 2014 is better than Otamendi + Fazio in 2018. But they played very well due to Sabella’s defensive tactics.

    This year, Sampaoli clearly said he would use very attacking tactics. It is very dangerous, because Di Maria and Banega usually lose the ball so frequently and Biglia/Mascherano is not capable of covering the field when they play against faster team like Nigeria or France.

    I have a very bad outlook for our upcoming world cup.

  18. I think it is a good squad. One of the best that we can have. One real concern is scoring goals. I think Higuain can score a couple in group stages. May be Aguero will score finally. Problem is there is no #9 back up. That is why Icardi could have been an option. But I think this is what Sampaoli is thinking…

    The #9 is Messi. If Aguero is injured or Higuain to be subbed, Messi goes up and Dyabala comes in Messi’s position. I am not sure if that is what they will practice in the game. There can be 2 reasons for Dybala inclusion:
    1. Purely as Messi back up. If Messi is injured or rested he plays a few mins
    2. Messi plays closer to goal, like a false 9 and not a playmaker. Dybala takes that role. This is not always, but when it is a crunch situation. Dybala provides, Messi scores.

    Need to know what shirt Messi and Dybala are wearing in practice. If they are in the same team its some version of #2, else its #1. If it is #1, then we will have problems scoring goals.

  19. Why some are saying we are defensively weak.In the backline we have Fazio Otamendi Ansaldi and Tagalafico or Rojo.That is a good back line.All are good in defending tackling interception recovering blocking.

    • Yes. I hope Ansaldi will start over Mercado.
      Mercado should never be trusted. He’s the most vulnerable spot if played, worse than our No5 Position.

  20. we dont have any better so why bother? the problem is the tactics. sampaoli will play very attacking and thats the problem. he is exposing a highly shacky back line with an attacking mindset. we will concede a lot. a lot. we are very easy to beat. park the bus und counter attack over the wings. the right tactics for us would be not to attack but to park the bus and hope for messi creating something and winning 1-0. its suicide to attack with a defence like ours. imagine mascherano being overrun by by Players with pace. and then there is fazio waiting with Zero agility and Zero Speed. i predict at leat 9 goals conceded for us in our first and our only 3 games. 1-3 1-4 1-2.

    • Wow.. so you think we are losing all 3 games? And only scoring one goal each game? That’s a little harsh. I think worse case scenario in first 2 games is 1 win 1 lose.. Worse Case

      • but its not 2014 and its not sabella. would be the same to say “but we had Maradona in 86 we cant lose to iceland”. no Point in saying that.

      • Don’t give attention to cry babies.
        They will shit all over here, even if we win the Cup. They know nothing but Shitting their filth here & Crying for ever. Better leave these guys alone.

  21. Always saying that the defense is bad and so on and 2014 was so good. Come on, 2014 was the reason Sabella and not the players. I remember that in 2014 Demichelis played and a young player with no experience (in the national team) from Argentina League (Rojo). And in 2014 they said, yes the defense is bad, you will not be world champion …
    The only player, that was 2014 world class in the defence was Zabaleta

    And Garay was fine before Sabella, but not the same as under Sabella.

    So wait and think from game to game.

    • i agree with you totaly about Sabella s work and his phylosophy about defence. i just wanted from Sampaoli continue with the same mentality this work. anyhow i trust Sampaoli. i believe on him. he can bring us to glory.

  22. This is a good squad. It is not worse than four years ago.
    Keepers are decent, the best we have right now.
    I am happy that Ansaldi is in, I have dreamed of his inclusion for years.
    We do have a problem when it comes to the CB positions…..Ota and Fazio…they are not enough. Pezzella, after a decent season, should be way ahead of Rojo in the pecking order. Garay would have been the best choice though.
    The biggest problem with this squad is the lack of a real destroyer, a true #5….Battaglia or Pizzaro should have been in the squad, even Paredes (I am a big fan of him) though he is more like a hybrid #5 and #8 could have been important in this tournament. Biglia, Banega and even worse Masch will be eaten alive against the likes of Brazil, Spain, Germany and France.
    Attacking midfielders, side midfielders and wingers….in these areas our squad is strong. And our forwards are very strong. I wanted Icardi, but I understand why Sampa opted for Higuain. His mobility and movement and his off the ball running and his tecnique and passing is better than Icardi’s….so Higuain is more suited to Sampa’s style. But maybe Sampa will regret it when we desperately need a goal and need a poacher to score from crosses in the dying minutes of a game….Higuain is not your man in those situations and we all know Aguero will pick up an injury during the tournament…I love Aguero and I hope I am wrong…but Icardi would have offered something different that we might need sometime during the tournament. Finally I am relived Sampa came to his senses and included Dybala.

    To sum it up: the lack of a top class goalie, a top class CB and a top class DM will prevent us from winning the World Cup…but of course 90% of us in here know this already. Most of us are realists.
    Anyway….enough lobbying, bitching and mouning…let us get behind the team and our shirt…let us support everyone picked…VAMOS ARGENTINA CARAJO!!!!

    • Armani is a top class goalie.according to mourinho Romero is world 2nd best goalkeeper behind de gea.we are shit in dm position.otamendi can be called top class CB.he was judged best defender of priemier league and helped maintain a record 100 point season for man city.he just lost form at a wrong time.his loss of form was more due to fatigue.with 1 month rest he will be refreshed and may perform well.let see

      • Armani is good, but of course not top class. He would not be playing in River at his age, if that was the case.
        I like Ota, he is the best we have! He has become much better under Pep, but somehow I do not trust him 100%. He is still a bit wild and reckless and will pick up cards…so he will probably be suspended sometime during the WC….and that means Rojo or Masch and we are doomed.😉

  23. This team is gonna be another Sampaoli Sevilla 2.0. Very attacking side and entertaining, but expect heartbreaks at any moment. But this time he has Messi to save him, (but also Higuain to miss clear chances like Bielsa’s and Sampaoli typically do.)

  24. i think that our team have major problem in defence. i think Garay will be missed. we can t win a world cup without good defence. unfortunately we have not. we arrive in final at 2014 just because our defence was great as much as ouf offence. i am not so optimist this year because of our defence.

    • Last time u people also said similar kind of things that our defence was not good with Demechilis and so on…at least I am. Not counting on u…u guys r just crying baby type fan.

    • Lets see hope Argentina rectify their defence.this training camp is important because of rectifying mistakes.a good defensive understanding takes time.2014 wc also our defence struggled at first in group stages.I think as the whole world can see how bad our defence was against Nigeria and Spain sampaoli would have seen it also and this 3 months he and his technical team must have thought about it and they certainly have some tactics in mind order to solidify the defence and we only can see that in wc only.they dropped bustos who was bad against Spain and Italy defensively.picked ansaldi to improve the fullback.dropped marchesin for Nigeria game.picked Armani for his form.picked caballero for Italy game.we can see some work and thinking going on.but our main problem apart from defence was always the dm position.there Sampa again picked old mascherano and old and injured biglia and no replacement whatsoever that concerns me.biglia need to be 100% fit before the Iceland game otherwise we may struggle in group matches as well.

    • Garay is an injury prone. He hardly played any game last year.. don’t make un necessary crying a habit. Be positive & look forward to support our team.

  25. What do you think guys about this eleven?

    . Romero
    Mercado Fazio Otamendi Rojo
    . lo Celos Banega
    Pavon Messi Di Maria
    . Dybala

    It is important to stabilize the defense, remember Sabella’s team.

  26. If you look at our forwards— It’s a great squad
    If you look at our Attacking Mid— It’s a good squad
    If you look at our Defensive Mid— It’s a decent squad
    If you look at our Center Backs— It’s a good squad
    If you look at our Full Backs— It’s a decent squad
    If you look at our Goal Keepers— It’s a decent squad

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