Willy CABALLERO is set to start for Argentina as is Gonzalo HIGUAÍN against Haiti on Tuesday.
In the first of two friendly matches before the start of the 2018 FIFA World Cup, Argentina will host Haiti at La Bombonera on Tuesday night. Per a report by Ole, coach Jorge SAMPAOLI will go with this eleven:
CABALLERO; TAGLIAFICO, FAZIO, MERCADO or OTAMENDI, ANSALDI; LO CELSO, MASCHERANO; DI MARIA, MESSI, LANZINI; HIGUAIN
While not confirmed, this does appear to the line-up which is being reported in the media.
Why is Franco Armani not #1? He should be the first choice keeper. Caballero is not all convincing to me as a keeper.
messi wont play against Haiti and Israel. this is stated by sampaoli. he doesnt want to risk any injuries. arg 0 – 0 hai, isr 1 – 0 arg.
Dybala for Higuain
DiMaria is only good in midfield, so I’m happy.
I still have my doubts about Higuain, though
I am very much satisfied with this line up. I know Maxi Meza, Cristian Pavon, Dybala, Aguero deserves in starting line up. But we can check how this team specially vulnerable players like Higuain, Mercado and Mascheranho performance in 60+ minutes is very vital for them. It’s enough minutes for them to show if they are in best shape or not for WC. Only good performance can boost thier confidence which was immensely lacking.
Other young players like Tagliafico, Lo celso and Ansaldi will be the player to watch how strong thier defensive abilities and pace with movement.
Defence will not be tested against a poor Haiti side
Bad news: Carvajal is expected to be fit for WC.he will just miss the Portugal match
no problem. we will beat them with him too:-):-):-) we will take our revenge 🙂 in same time i don t know why i have the feeling that Portugal will take first place in that group and we will face them in quarter finals.
How is it a bad news?
If you need to win a WC then you have to beat the best teams with the best players.
I want all top players participate in this wc to watch some entertaining matches that last in my memory forever. I hope Salah recovers soon.
Never ever wish an injury for a player, even the ones you hate the most.
just to inform that Javier Mascherano on 8 June he will be 34 years old. not 84. i repeat 34. so he can play if nessecery 7 more quality games. his last 7 quality games if he is healthy with the help of God. in our national team as in every football team is needed players with experience. to take the team from hand when things get hard and difficault. Their experience is used too in many other situations inside and outside pitch. i mention all this for all those they speak bad about Mascherano or other players that their age is more than 30.
But he is terrible right now.he deteriorated quite fast.he feels like he is 40 plus
if truly he is in so terrible condition as you saying then sure he will stay in bench from Sampaoli . and he will do well. we will see of course next days. i wrote up those things because i have read last days many bad comments which is not fair for Mascherano and generally disrespectful.
We can’t be so sure about that.
He played bad in a Match against spain. That is true. Nigeria match he was in CB role. That decision sampoli reversed… But in Midfield we should give him more time.
In this 23 players there is no match for Masche, if he do his best… He can play quality game in 3_4 Important matches.. will see.
He even struggled in china also.you expect him to perform against Spain Germany brazil France etc?? He was superb 2014 doesn’t mean he is also good in 2018. 4 years is a big gap.
While being a diehard Masche fan , i also didn’t want him picked for Russia seeing the Nigeria & Spain match. But now that he is selected , hoping for the best. I am sure coach has thought this through. Maybe for the last 30-45 mins in knockout matches of 120mins where he can play against tired opposition . Masche also lands good long passes which our speedy wingers can leverage. Above all he has always been a fighter . The negativity & writing him off can end up pushing him for a memorable impact sub role. He was definitely fine in china . One key tactic which Sampa will not repeat is to play Masche- Biglia – Banega in same playing 11 ( Spain mistake ) as midfield becomes very slow & outrun. Somehow i feel Rojo will also prove detractors wrong & redeem himself.
i think sampaoli select Dybala as 3rd striker or messi sub. with Messi+forward attack Argentina is one striker less in turnement. Icardi or lautro should be the squad
There may be situation where Messi-Dybala-Aguero all we need near penalty box.
“Meza & pavon will be our secret weapon this year.i hope atleast one of them becomes starter”.
I hope too
Why Franco Armani Not play In World Cup?.He is the best Goal Keeper.
nobody saying that Armani will not play in world cup. we don t know yet. we will see.
Higuain as Messi’s too much beard. Our players should shave because this will better for health
:-):-):-):-) you are funny my friend:-):-):-)
The problem of these blog most of fan here don’t have any knowledge about tactical and they want each of their fav player in the squad… pls don’t teach Sampaoli… let the guy do his work… for me this team has versatility than 2014 and also in 2014 we have too many defensive minded player which didn’t work out at all. So those who are asking for PAVON in the main eleven to them there is called sub in the football. So keep calm and pray to god and support the team.
of course i am not coach that is why i never post starters for 11 etc but i really enjoy to read opinions of fans about players. if makes happy people speaking about players and tactics etc it is something it can be funny. everybody have right to say one opinion and enjoy little bit. don t be so strict my friend 🙂 when the day comes and our team face Iceland everybody will support whoever 11 players will start wearing the glorious albiceleste uniform.
Yes. What is a world cup without fun. 😂😂
Simply a practice game, no more and no less and let’s hope everybody will be healthy, fit and ready to play in the world cup.
Believe it or not, I just found out that Mohamend Salah was injured since I didn’t watch the game, Ramos is a dirty player, seen him try to hurt key players on many occasions and I hope he gets his just do very soon.
”This friendly is complete meaningless one.it will tell us nothing just a big win may increase our morale that’s it.i don’t think Haiti can test our defense a tall .would like to see a better opponent maybe Egypt or morocco or Iran or Senegal etc could have been better opponents for friendly match.”
Yes, same as how the friendly game against Spain was meaningless. Football is universal now, the small teams around the world have players participating in top flight European and lower tier leagues, so it makes what would have been one sided affair 30 years ago much more competitive games today when big teams go up against the so call smaller teams. Moreover, this is a sending off game, what else do you want? Argentina vs Germany in a meaningless game? Of course Haiti is no match for Argentina, but the point of the game is to give the team a morale booster heading into the world cup. Playing Haiti is safe, the last thing Argentina need is a blow to Messi or any of the other players before the world cup. Remember the friendly game against Honduras (played in Argentina) before the 2016 Copa America? During that game Messi picked up a nasty ankle injury and almost miss the 2016 Copa America. Another thing, Haiti only lost to Spain by 2-1 several years ago in a friendly (This was a very strong Spanish team): https://youtu.be/xKxtqa5K_lE…Several weeks later this same Haiti team drew with Italy 2-2: https://youtu.be/17sLWZI-ZAY…. I’m not trying to prove anything with these results, what they do show us is, no team can be taken for granted in modern football. So at the end of the day, a sending off game is just a feel good game for the home supporters and players, nobody was expecting a serious challenge from Haiti, and playing at the La Bomboner in such a partisan atmosphere will likely cost Haiti a huge defeat to begin with before a ball being kicked.
Argentina tried to organize a game against Costa Rica but the Costa Rican Football Federation decline the invitation. You know why they did? Because suffering a big defeat to Argentina at the La Bombonera or anywhere else would not be a good moral booster for Costa Rica going into the world cup which is why they probably decline the invitation.
So you think any of Egypt or Morocco or Iran or Senegal would fly half way around the world just to play a meaningless friendly game against Argentina in Buenos Aires only to possible lose by 4-5 goals before their 2018 world cup campaign? Strategically going into a world cup, none of this would have made any sense for Egypt, Iran, Morocco and Senegal. No national team is this naive man. Argentina don’t even have the money to convince any decent team to travel half way around the world just to play a friendly game in Buenos Aires.
I’m sure the AFA tried to arrange the farewell sending off game with several European countries, but here is the thing, they probably decline as well, and for good reason too. I mean, no team from Europe partaking in Russia this summer would have flown all the way to South America just to play in a one off ‘’meaningless’’ friendly game before an important tournament as big as the world cup. And as for the European teams who didn’t make the world cup, none of those players would want to travel to South America after a long club season spoiling their long overdue vacation.
The AFA asked one of either Bolivia or Nicaragua and they also decline. Now what is the AFA supposed to do? Haiti was available and they accept the invitation, let’s appreciate the Haiti game and move on people. Why everything has to be so negative?
Seriously, who would consider playing against? The likes of Chile, Ecuador, Paraguay, Venezuela, Panama two weeks before the 2018 world cup? Any of these team would be a risk; they would try to injury the Argentina national team players on purpose. I didn’t list Honduras because they’re at the world cup I believe, and they too like Costa Rica wouldn’t want to lose by 4-5 goals before the world cup. And even Honduras, as I explain earlier, is a dirty playing team when going up against Argentina.
Let’ just appreciate the game against Haiti, at least we get to see our favorite team in action scoring goals and putting a smile on all our faces. To me playing against Haiti is much better than playing against an Argentina B/C team. It would be weird seeing Argentina playing against Argentina going into the world cup (I believe the AFA did this some world cup cycle ago).
My Lineup (😂) against Teams like Spain
4_2_1_3
Caballero ;
Ansaldi— Otamendi—-Fazio—Tagliafico
__________Biglia—–Mascherano______
_______________Lo Celso__________
Pavon________Messi ________Di Maria
With ball,
2_3_3_2
________Otamendi—–Fazio______
Ansaldi____Biglia____Masche
Pavon___Locelso_____Tagliafico
Messi —maria
I will never play mascherano and biglia together. If we have more defenders in the field doesn’t mean we will defend better.
Agreed
We’ll defend through possession and Masche + Biglia isn’t it.
Penalty is very important as well. In tournaments.. remember copas? Now teams are conceding very less in knockouts.. it will be key.
Caballero will be an asset in penalties.
We woud have won atleast one copa if willy was the keeper.
If our Defenders do at least 75% of what they did in 2014 & Masche–Locelso clicked well, we will be unstoppable.
Because our Attack options are the finest of the last 25 years. And sampoli is second to none in utilising attacking potential.
I hope masche will die to cover our backline..hope it works..
i agree with you. as about Mascherano he is born leader. be sure he will give his blood for the success of out team. our attack options is very very good true. just not the finest of the last 25 years. of the last 10 years yes.
Mascherano is finished
Mascherano will be finish with national team after world cup. now he is the person that keeping the spirit up in dressing room. if you are fan of Argentina long ago
you know what means Mascherano for our national team from 2006 till our days. he is useful not only about DM.
I give Sampaoli some credits for bringing Meza, LoCelso and Ansaldi but I can’t explain the presence of Banega is the team. He can’t be a starter, he can’t be a sub, he not young so he can learn so why waisting a spot?
He can be a good sub, to Lo Celso, if we are ahead..he can bring balance & possession in his fine form.
And he is a type, who plays well when team playing well.
Banega isn’t physically strong, he is not a good tackler, he is very slow, and on top of that he makes heartbreaking errors in the most dangerous areas of the pitch.
He is good-for-nothing!
Banega can be a good sub as he has shown against Italy.
Some of the fans here don’t respect our players at all
Many teams would like to have Banega in their squad.
Yes. True.. he is one of the best in his fine form.. he does play well wen coming from bench.
if Sampaoli use Caballero in friendly against Haiti then it will be nice to use Armani against Israel. to test both of them and decide about Iceland game.
Caballero was already tested in a friendly game that made the headlines on sports channel so was Mascherano who reached the end of his career. Higuain was tested in million games and his misses are being used in football coaching for kids.
Argentina believes in recycling players even when players themselves admit they are washed out and worn out.
So Sampaoli sticks with Higuain as a starter despite his fucked up mentality and age leaving out Aguero “who we thought is fully recovered 2 months ago”, Dybala, Pavon and sends Icardi home. Maybe he likes to entertain the world again with his misses and chokers.
Same with Caballero, we didn’t use him as our keeper in his prime last world cup, we pick him when he’s all washed out and thinking of his retirement resort.
first of all Romero injured and this is the reason we arrive searching now his replacement. nobody expect that. i prefer to see Armani as starter but for some reason Sampaoli testing Caballero. if he prefer Caballero sure something he is seeing more than us in trainings. that is why i wait to see the end. as about Higuain that he will be used in friendly does not mean that he will be starter in world cup. every coach just like Sampaoli have to test all his players. every combination of attackers. all 23 players have to be ready in world cup. everybody should be used and prepare to be ready when it will be necessary. as about Icardi he did well he didn t take him in world cup squad.
Messi talking about meza & pavon.
https://www.tycsports.com/nota/lionel-messi/2018/05/28/messi-y-sus-elogios-para-meza-y-pavon.html?utm_source=home&utm_medium=bloque&utm_campaign=Mundial
It seems Messi has now realized that these young talented players are the ones who can help him win the WC.
Meza & pavon will be our secret weapon this year.i hope atleast one of them becomes starter.
messi doesn’t need stars, he ruled the world with pedro alongside him. he just needs players who will work with him.
Where’s Pavon? I bet you that both Pavon and Meza will be bench warmers.
Yes both will be bench warmer but I would prefer Meza in place of dimaria
I h
I have one question in my mind. If some of our players play very very badly in this 2friendly matches, will sampaoli change his mind and drop those players and bring in some other players. Has there been any possibility of changing underperforers of friendly match. Can sampaoli do so?
no only injury can change players.
If any of them play badly and make tactical errors, he won’t even play in the second friendly, let alone the world cup.
If we have to win this edition of WC then we must be tactically wise. 1 game at a time approach would be needed. We can’t play same eleven in every match. An element of surprise should await every opponent who face us in the tournament. Dybala and Meza should be tried for a starting role against Nigeria (Messi should sit out a little compromise would be beneficial
and should come in the second half for 15-20 minutes). Technically we are a sound team along with Brazil however balance in the midfield and defense should not be overlooked. Keeping Messi and Di maria high up will certainly stifle wing play of any team. Pavon should be given license to run and dribble. He plays safely in the NT whereas in Boca he does his on things. If Pavon gets little more freedom he will be a beast. During friendlies he was playing pretty safe. He would have easily ran past Nigerians and bought chips and cola before slotting home. Want to write a lot of things but While typing this i got hunger pangs, going for dinner……
This friendly is complete meaningless one.it will tell us nothing just a big win may increase our morale that’s it.i don’t think Haiti can test our defence atall .would like to see a better opponent mayb Egypt or morocco or Iran or Senegal etc could have been better opponents for friendly match.
These friendlies are supposed to be like warm-ups. Don’t want to risk injuring anyone in a competitive game.
I see it more as a 4411. Actually Di Maria and Lanzini involve a lot in high pressing and interception. They also share the linking and creation tasks. As both of them have great long shot, they swap quite frequently their position for cutting inside. They need to drop deeper when it’s necessary because Lo Celso-Masch/Biglia is a bit light for offering sufficient protection to the defense. I am quite relaxed for Lanzini, his work-rate is actually quite high as he demonstrated with his club but I am a bit skeptical about Di Maria.He used to be a wonderful box to box midfielder with RM in 2014. Since then he hasn’t played in this position for long time as he focused more in attack, more often used as right winger.
Sampaoli should know about Higuain’s limitation and his efficiency. I think Pavon may replace him during the match when the opposite defenders are getting tired slower. Pavon’s pace is a great asset in attack.
Pavon will never play the #9 for higuain but will sub in for lanzini or Dimaria on the wing… mascherano will provide protection for the back 4 while loCelso will be box to box … it is actually a great mix and the key to our team balance and transition defense… mascherano / loCelso might just provide that… Aguero and then dybala are the other number 9s along with higuain..
Sit Caballero down – plz
What??
Armani over Caballero
i watched live training armani looks rusty and not so confident.messi was easily scoring aginst him.while in training caballero was great.he saved each and every shot of messi.so i dont know armani is actually that good or not.he can handle the pressure or not
Caballero is better with his feet which is key for sampaoliteam
Inexperienced players like armani will be huge risk. Just lije we saw in the UCL Final.. can’t take any chance. Caballero has big stage experience. He is one of the finest penalty savers.. good with ball.. long shots & distributions are good as well..
Any news on acunia.?
No injury; He will train normally from 2moro; Otamendi too;
Thank you for the info….he got me worried.
Argentina’s problem is that they can not transform from midfield to attacking position. They are just involved in lazy passing to each other and wish they could find a space PR opposition player make mistakes.That is not the way to be champion.Only Messi is involved in fast passing others ate just watching.Messi should play in right wing and Lanzini should play as no 10 in 4-2-3-1.if Messi plays in middle then that area is going to be crowded with opposition players as we know middle of the pitch is important as from the middle it gives you perfect angle to score rather than left or right where we see some dead angles.Di maria should not try to score he is good in making assist otherwise he is waste.Lo celso is very good at making final pass.Lanzini also likes to go forward.Fazio is good passer.I have high hopes on Ansaldi he can do almost everything.He is master of none but jack of all.
Dimaria will always run with Messi in transition but is isn’t our transition offense that is the problem! It’s our transition defense ! With the doble 5 of mascherano/ loCelso we might have found the balance that we need … dimaria’s health along with agueros is key for Argentina and Messi to not be solo on runs… also Lanzini seems a great partner with loCelso and Messi!
Pavon in place of Di Maria please.
Pavon will sub in for lanzini or Dimaria in minutes 65…
you never know.
Higuain again?
Mascherano ?
I hope, that this two player are not the first choice in the world cup.
And its looks like, caballero is the number one goalkeeper.
Caballero will be number one until he make some big errors in groups stage…!
If he performs like old Caballero…we will be champion..!
I watched the live training.he was quite good actually.he has technical ability and European experience just needs little bit of confidence then he will be ok.
Mascherano is still good enough given two things! That is isn’t our last defender, (which as a holding 5 he isn’t) and that he has a fast partner in the doble 5 that can allow mascherano to stay back and support in transition defense. LoCelso is that man!
I personally think Higuain and masche only start because biglia and Agüero may not be at 100% yet and he doesn’t want to risk them in a friendly against haiti!
Nice 11..this time I am confident about Heguin’s success…
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