Unconfirmed Argentina eleven, MEZA over PAVON to start

By
Roy Nemer
-
223
Maxi Meza Argentina
Maxi Meza playing for Argentina.

Unconfirmed reports by Fox Sports are claiming that Maxi MEZA will start for Argentina ahead of Cristian PAVON.

It’s no secret that coach Jorge SAMPAOLI will make changes for Argentina’s second group stage match against Croatia but one of the main question marks was which of Maxi MEZA or Cristian PAVON would start. With Angel DI MARIA out of the starting eleven, one of the two are expected to start.

However, per Fox Sports, Maxi MEZA will get the nod ahead of the Boca Juniors man. Here’s what they claim is the starting line-up:

CABALLERO; MERCADO, OTAMENDI, TAGLIAFICO, SALVIO, ENZO, MASCHERANO, ACUNA; MESSI, MEZA, AGUERO

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223 Comments

  2. Guys a humble request. Please share any decent link for the match. It’s raining here and signal is weak for satellite TV. Thank s Much!! Vamos Argentina

  4. The line up looked disastrous at first, but I am slowly able to see the reasoning behind this.
    I think the 6-1 loss against Spain has made Sampaoli a bit pragmatic.
    The rumored line-up is decent. The creative burden obviously falls on Messi, but it looks very good defensively. So I am looking forward for a very good defensive performance from Argentina.
    Just like the Iceland game, I think Sampaoli will bring in Banega/Lo celso in the second half if the goals don’t come.

    Having said that there are still things that make me scratch my head
    a) Why is Lo celso all of a sudden, out of the line up, after being in the training XI, so long. I hope there is a solid reason to this.
    b) Is there any plan at all to integrate Dybala and Messi. Hopefully there is. Dybala is younger, and has to sacrifice, if he wants game time. Messi the GOAT played on the wings to accomadate Suarez in 2014-15 season. I hope Dybala is ready to do the same.

    I hope Sampaoli sticks to 3-5-2 and uses Ansaldi and Fazio. The good thing is he has many versatile players at his disposal.
    Ansaldi [ RB, LB, RCB, LCB, R/L WB ].
    Mascherano [ CDM, CB ] – when full backs are attacking, Mascherano can act as the 3rd CB like Sergio Busquets at Barca
    Pavon, Di Maria – can play either wings or as wing backs.

    Vamos Argentina. Having some really good vibes regarding the game.
    Let’s go.
    I predict a 3-1 win with Messi brace and Aguero 1

    • A) I think that Sampaoli was trying to get Lo Celso more defensively astute during training, but in the limited time couldn’t get it together for him. Thus he went with someone who, let’s be honest here, can be creative and defensive in Italy but not with Argentina.

      B) I always get the feeling that he wants to try to play Dybala and Messi, only when there is no apparent risk for putting him on (ie when they’re ahead by 2 goals). The qualifiers didn’t give him a good platform to try as the results indicated but due to pressure and failing results he couldn’t experiment as much.

  5. Listen to this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YUJ-IPBGPxs about last game

    We all know what happened in the last game. Few positives

    1. I do see Sampaoli changing things. He is the first one to take Di maria out and also drop him now.
    2. Sampaoli needs to talk to Messi about taking penalties. Neymar took the PSG penalty in 6-1 win in the death.
    3. Sampaoli needs to tell others what to do. Give it to Messi only if he is in a favorable position

  6. I believe my beloved Argentina will play to their full potential and then noone stands a chance, let alone Croatia. As albiceleste fan from my very childhood I want to see them win the world cup. But if they fail, my support wont change because I love the name, the jersey, the emblem. So, be positive guys. We will win today.

    Vamos Argentina

  7. This is definitely a good formation:

    1) balance approach:
    Mercado Otamendi Mascherano Tagliafico/Salvio Enzo Meza Acuna/Messi Aguero (442)

    2) attacking approach:
    Mercado Otamendi Tagliafico/Mascherano Meza Enzo/Salvio Messi Acuna/Aguero (3331)

    3) defensive approach:
    Salvio Mercado Otamendi Tagliafico Acuna/Mascherano Enzo Meza/Messi/Aguero (5311)

  8. To give u guys perspective

    The players here would be better than team now

    Colocinni c.diaz Heinze
    Lucho Mascherano
    Zanetti Solari

    DELGADO Messi ROSALES
    Aguero

  9. Everybody has an opinion and there is absolutely nothing wrong with that but Unfortunately the trend around here as of late has been how people try to outdo one another in predicting disaster and why? just so they can come back here and say “SEE, I told you SO”.
    I’ll speak for myself, aside from the obvious shortcomings of this team, I really do not give a damn what this guy or that says about the team.

    I’m an ARGENTINA supporter through and through, my support for this team is ironclad, unconditional, unequivocal, unshakable, and absolutely without any reservation.

    All you wanna be fans, it is either you’re in a 100% or you’re not, standing on the sidelines with one foot in and the other out doesn’t count, and please do not confuse “calling it as it is and constant negativity”, they are TWO and different.

    and as always LETS GO ARGENTINA, show all the low-life haters where THEY CAN STICK IT.

    • Hell Argentina for LIFE ! My love for the magicians in sky and whites will NEVER EVER fade even slightly. I completely agree with you. My best best wishes to the team and Sampa. I trust Sampa and want him to have the team for 4 years at least. He will do good. He will bring back true Argentinian style.
      VAMOS !

  10. 3-5-2 is one of the best and old strategy against 4-4-2. Croatia lone striker will be isolated against our 3 men defence plus Modric and Rakitic will be overpower by Masche,Enzo and Meza plus imagine Messi will drop in midfield now and than. Their wingers will be force to stop Salvio and Acuna from overlapping. Sampaoli formation and player selection is excellent imo. Meza over Pavon gives us more balance. Pavon is a winger and striker and Meza is a hybrid midfielder can play anywhere. Pavon is better come from bench bcoz his speed and tricks will be lethal. Don’t curse and get crazy. Get crazy if Sampaoli doesn’t bring Pavon or something as a sub. Only disadvantage today is this formation needs more time and so is our players.

    • I agree. I also view this team as you did. Hv written. Meza over Pavon is a good idea.
      Acuna & Salvio will be very crucial. I hope they will give their 100% to the match.
      I have no doubt about the commitment of Masche n Enzo. They will give more than their capacity to this team.

  12. i hope today the team will play as Argentina.
    i want to see the team fight hard in to the pitch.

    i want to see the Argentinian heart fighting inside field.
    nothing less than that.
    if the players play with Argentinian heart then i am sure we will win.

    make us proud for one more time today.

    VAMOS ARGENTINA !!!
    VAMOS A GANAR !!1

      • Well said ddr1123 -> If Argentina plays, Messi play. It should not be the other way round. Everyone need to step up.

        We saw that against Ecuador. Let’s go, guys! VAMOS ARGENTINA!!

  13. Ok chill out guys..
    This is a sport,.not a real war.

    Everything can happen, football is not math, I ve said it, and I ll say it dozens of times.

    Every mind has his own thinking, strategy, lineup choices, preparation issues etc, but when a match is played, sometimes game is decided by little things and a guy named “luck”.

    I do hope that our players don’t have the negative thinking that many of people here have, because if they do have, it’s already a first lost. Just enjoy and fight to the end. It’ll not be the end of the world even if we lose. But better think all the good things before any bad thing comes, rather than thinking bad things, when nothing really happens, yet.

  14. To all negative minded mentally ****ed people in this blog. I want to say you that Messi will do a hatrick today.

    Brazil also played for a draw, Germany lost their first game, Colombia were beaten by Japan , Spain, Portugal all didn’t play as expected but these Argentina fans are crying like a baby because their team made that much chances only to.be blocked by parked bus. Still we scored a goal. Noone sees that.

    There must be a limit in negativity. Leave this blog and don’t post comment if you can’t say positive about team. You people are coward, faithless and mentally ****ed. Just hate these negative minds.

    Vamos Arg.

  15. What i can see here is fucking amazing everybody is expecting us to lose where are argentina fans those whom still singing until the end vamos argentina it s totally different from those years when palermo failed to score 4 penalties in a row and you were listening to fans singing.
    Anyway i m so confident today especially for benching biglia di maria cause they are our draw reason . Tonight it will be so different as i read in our first game messi doesn t have bad luck 2 times in a raw.
    But we still need a lot of work in defense because i don t want to pass the group stage only we need the star guys

    • umm well i don’t believe we will lose. this is a game between 2 sides both have strengths and weaknesses we are not playing a machine that plays absolutely perfect so why be so negative…..

  17. Have been an Argentina fan since 82. Was too young during 78, heard from Dad about Mario Kempes, Luke, Pasarealla. Was devastated by the red card to Maradona against Brazil in 82, the 1-3 loss. 7 years on this site. Its been a long journey.

    I did not have too much expectations from this time, for various reasons. However, never thought we will not win against Iceland. It feels like the qualifier. I thought we will win the last 2 home games. But had to wait till the last Ecuador game. That we fell behind, then the Messi hattrick happened.

    What worries me is our ability to keep clean sheets. I don’t feel confident we can ever keep a clean sheet. Sabella managed that. We were lucky last world cup or I would say luck was on our side, moderately speaking. The Iran game easily could have been like the Iceland one. Sabella shut the door after group stages. For today I just feel we cannot win 1-0. In a world cup or any tournament clean sheet and defense is important.

    We cannot lose tonight. And I wish the Nigeria vs Iceland game was before us. I hope for a draw tomorrow between those two.

    “Offense Sells Tickets, But Defense Wins Championships.”

    • with the last sentense you say everything my friend.

      i hope today we win.
      the truth is that for first world cup in my life i don t feel so optimist about the team.
      i never felt like this. always i was optimist.

      i am little younger than you and i remember the 1990 world cup and after.

      anyway.
      i hope we win today.

  19. Rune,
    yes if it is meza instead pavon of playing that posiotion then i think u are right about that is very suicaidible ! and i wonder too what happenned to lo-celso and fazio which would be very needed in this game because mandzukic aerial threat ! Banega could be a game changer too with his shooting abbility,but once again very disapointed like allways to put all the pressure on Messi to deliver by our coaching team or who ever is in charge of it, actually i do not care anymore who’s is running the show, but i think that u are right about that once again we will see Messi dropping away too deep and then kun will get isolated, and after that it will be game over, which this time i think is rightfully very deserved because all this madness with who’s is playing and in which position ! even though i will still keep on suporting argentina until the day i die ! Nice goal by eriksen btw and hopefully denmark will beat the shit out of the froggy’s too !

    Rune,
    Oh my…..Meza in stead of Pavon just to put the icing on the cake! I give up. This is suicidale. Even Di Maria would be better than Meza in this 3-5-1-1. Messi will drop deap cause there is no creativity in midfield, Aguero will be isolated, and that is it! WHERE THE FUCK IS LO CELSO, SAMPA, you stupid cunt??? At least Banega is needed. Mandzukic will have a field day against Tagliafico. WHERE THE FUCK IS FAZIO, SAMPA, you piece of shit???? I am so tired of this shit! Anyone can see that this is suicidale. Only Messi can save us, but he will not this time….he had his chance four years ago….this is CR7’s World Cup. We got to the final last time, we will be humiliated this time. We are ment to suffer.

  20. I am confident. Today Argentina will win in a big margin. BIG..!
    What if everything went wrong?
    Argentine losing today is not the end of the world. Still, Argentina will qualify if we can beat Nigeria. Chances are high…!

  21. Oh my…..Meza in stead of Pavon just to put the icing on the cake! I give up. This is suicidale. Even Di Maria would be better than Meza in this 3-5-1-1. Messi will drop deap cause there is no creativity in midfield, Aguero will be isolated, and that is it! WHERE THE FUCK IS LO CELSO, SAMPA, you stupid cunt??? At least Banega is needed. Mandzukic will have a field day against Tagliafico. WHERE THE FUCK IS FAZIO, SAMPA, you piece of shit???? I am so tired of this shit! Anyone can see that this is suicidale. Only Messi can save us, but he will not this time….he had his chance four years ago….this is CR7’s World Cup. We got to the final last time, we will be humiliated this time. We are ment to suffer.

    • Pavon a class winger, instead of meza would add creativity to the midfield? Which already has two fast wingers & 2 CDMs ??

      How is that? Can you elaborate.

      • Pavon in stead of Meza as the left winger. Did I mention Lo Celso, did I mention Banega? They are midfielders. And we need a creative midfielder. Was that really hard to understand from my post??? I know the post was a bit emotional, but read again.

  24. Kitty,
    This could actually be it and if so then it’s a real tragedy and explains pretty much all the rest what has been going on for so long and reading those Messi’s mothers words from ESPN then maybe Messi is too kind to everyone to get involded in shit like this ! I mean who would like to get in to something so stupid and stubborn as this in the end specially if u want to kind to everyone ?
    So if someone should put end to shit like this is the coach in first place and maybe that’s why all of the coaches that we have had during after Basile and maybe even before that have been just puppets of what u are posting here under below in your comment ?

    It has to be either someone in the coaching staff/permanent job holder who have authority to put in some players for the starting 11 or Mascherano & co who r putting their inputs into coach’s head so that they r comfortable playing on the pitch;

  26. No personal attack but i hope today Sampaoli tactics and plan pays off. He saw the problem and he isn’t afraid to change it. He is one of best using 3 men line for me. He knew we have to neutralise Modric and Raketic and that’s why he playing 3-5-2 outnumbering Crotian midfield. His great mistake was he didn’t use his theory in match against Iceland. If he was doing what he wants we could have won that game with nice football and players would get used to with it. Crotian coach manged only two game i think and Sampaoli 13 so i guess something working in his favor plus we have HULK ohh i meant Messi.

  28. Pressing can be defined as creating tension with the intention of getting the ball back. This is sometimes confused with pressure, which is the tension itself. Pressing is the application of the pressure with a specific intent.

    So, what distinguishes pressing from a defense that doesn’t press? Intent. When pressing, a team is actively trying to win the ball back through pressuring the opponent and by moving out of or within its formation. When a team isn’t attempting to win the ball back, but to contain the opponent’s offense – then that team’s intention is to defend the goal by stopping the opponent from creating chances without taking the ball from them.

    For example, Mourinho’s Inter Milan in the second leg of the Champion’s League semi-finals against Guardiola’s Barcelona didn’t want to win the ball. They only ever had the ball because they had to – because if Barcelona lost the ball trying to create a chance it meant that possession had to change into Inter’s hands. Mourinho’s men immediately rid themselves of the ball in transition in order to avoid any sort of disorganization which would stem from being counterpressed or losing the ball after a counterattack. Mourinho said after the game that he didn’t want his side to have the ball:

    “We didn’t want the ball because when Barcelona press and win the ball back, we lose our position – I never want to lose position on the pitch so I didn’t want us to have the ball, we gave it away, I told my players that we could let the ball help us win and that we had to be compact, closing spaces.”

    Pressure is one characteristic of the atmosphere around the ball which creates conditions in which the opponent can no longer properly control the ball and is ultimately forced to lose possession. Pressure forces an action to occur rather than allowing it to occur based on the will of the opponents. When an action is forced in a pressured atmosphere, every aspect of that action is made more difficult. An action consists of both a decision and the execution of that decision – if these two aspects can be manipulated correctly, the opponent will lose the ball.”

    Sampaoli used to have a system where there were triggers that signaled for 3 players to press the player with the ball and also cutting out passing lanes , thus putting the opponents on the back foot this system was sucessful with chile and sevilla hope to see this today ..
    I hope with croatia we dont just have ball possession 78% wuthout any movement from our runners and mid field .
    Lets see sampoli brand of foot ball ( big fan ) and not some mish- mash messi- dependant slow wtf next type … i would take a win any which way .. my concern is why is he not playing his brand of football once i see that will feel more confident for the comming games ..

        • they all 3 played well… just didn’t have any finishers… and god helps those who help themselves but when u don’t have finishers then u don’t have finishers….

        • Nothing wrong in praying, specially when it is about a south american team and its supporters. He is not asking others to pray or believe, only mentioning his belief. why it bothers you ?

        • Why should God help to win saudi, Iran or Morocco or any other muslim country to win world cup and win everything. Allah never said such things. If that was the case Then muslim powers over everything in this world. But the fact is the worldly life is a trial and test.
          Secondly you did not get what he (adv) said though he was unclear of his statement. He pray for God’s mercy to win his team. Nothing wrong in that at all. He didn’t ask you or anyone to pray for his team.

  31. Caballero
    Mercado – fazio- otamendi-tegliafico
    Meza – perez- lo celso – pavon
    Messi. – Ageuro

    Sub: banega , macherano, dybala

    Would be better……

  32. Mr.Baldy – the best to happen to this blog in a long time!!!!! (after our in-house joker The Vickerman went missing).
    .
    Hope our players and coach get into business today.
    .
    Argentina – this World Cup is yours.

  33. This is a question that has been bugging me .. i am from india and i know first hand that for our hockey selections at state level there were prefrences given to certian players based on their domicile and ploitical connections, i have read tgat AFA are quite corrupt is it the same state of affairs in argentina for the national team … are they selected based on the clubs they play for ??
    The second one is how can most of the argentinean coaches make these huge blunders for team selection formation etc when laymen like us can see it clearly ..
    Sampaoli was a damn good coach at chile/ sivella .. espically his stint in spain from the first game he had his identity and players etc may here have given him the benifit of the doubt coz he took over a team in disarry at wc qf .. but he had the month long prep before the wc which is as good as any european pre season prep .. infact i remember the pundits saying he has drilled the team to play this high pressing high ibtensity game will they last all seasin playing like this .. the conclusion was he was a good tournament coach but using the same syle for a leauge willl burn the players out ..
    My point is .. why was he not able to instill the same work ethic and movement like he did at sevilla .. his style vs ice land was completely the opposite .. does AFA have a particular brand of football that coaches have to play ..
    Anyone ??

    • It has to be either someone in the coaching staff/permanent job holder who have authority to put in some players for the starting 11 or Mascherano & co who r putting their inputs into coach’s head so that they r comfortable playing on the pitch;

  34. I have a feeling that our coach believe in numerology and too much consulted with paranormal; As the players selection reflects that. But i will keep my prayers that Arg will win tonight and for the rest of 6 games left. Keep the spirit high

  35. Now it looks like a troll argentina group..to enjoy the trolls we have so many other sites and options available then why do need to visit this site.admins and moderators are doing nothing to stop them..
    Meanwhile trollers are thinking that they are doing a great job and all the members are laughing and enjoying their out of the planet jokes…!!
    Continue jokers…well done so far….

  36. why so much pessimism??? have some faith! i think messi needs to score that will settle him down and give him confidence, sometimes he tries too hard like against Iceland… that penalty miss affected his game and he was trying too hard to make up for it. Other thing i think argentina would benefit from is mixing up the free kick takers and penalty kick takers, all gk’s will have studied where Messi hits his freekicks and penalties, so someone else should take sometimes. Apart from that all i will say is we will win and so no need to fret and get worried and talk shite.

    • The last WC it was a european team never won a wc on SA soil .. just saying .. .. this is foot ball it all boils down to prepatlration by the team as a whole and individuals for that game on that day.
      Anything can happen .. having said that
      I do see messi scoring as he has 1 bad game ( below his standards ) in 30 and us winning as i am sure sampaoli is prepared this time …

  38. Hope our newfound MMA partnership will destroy the croatians tonight. Glad Enzo got the nod as he brings more stability and tenacity in the middle. Just sad that Lo celso hasn’t been considered in the starting lineup yet. I was hoping so much for him to shine in this wc.

  39. Happy with the inclusion of Perez. We need that stability and balance in midfield. Especially against Modric and Racktic.
    Messi will drop deep to initiate the attack. Meza will need to be mobile and Aguero to play off the the last defender and get into poaching territory.
    Draw will not be so bad.

  40. Hope Sampaoli start
    Dybala as sub today

    We have to defend very tight
    Not to concede goal

    Will Armani Start today ??

    ——————-Armani ——————-
    Mercado- Mascherano -Otamendi
    Salvio———– —Enzo———–Acuna
    Messi——–Locelso——-Pavon
    ————– Aguero————–

  43. Nothing much to say.
    We will go MAD tonight that’s for sure.
    Whether its pissed off Messi putting a GOAT tier performance MAD, or seeing MAD actually on the pitch MAD, or we actually win the match MAD, or group stage elimination MAD
    Depending on your optimism, you take your pick my men.
    The directors of my biopic have forbade me from disclosing the starting lineup as they think it’s a spoiler. Go figure.
    Yes, SAMPAOLI- THE DIARIES OF A BALD MAN will release soon, after we win the World Cup on July 15

  44. Yes, Intekhab
    Unfortunatly so true !

    Meza, Lo celso and Pavon must be in starting 11 to win. If Sampaoli want to save his assholes.
    Most disgusting inferior coach that ever Argentina find.
    This coward is doing mistakes after mistakes.
    First selecting Lanzini, Biglia, Rojo for nothing except by name.
    Secondly not selecting in 23 players, Icardi and Enzo Perez who will boost to the side.
    Thirdly whatever he selected he don’t know whom to play for comfortable win. He don’t understand the quality of players even if he was with them in training for more than thirty days. Such a crazy man

  45. Meza, Lo celso and Pavon must be in starting 11 to win. If Sampaoli want to save his assholes.
    Most disgusting inferior coach that ever Argentina find.
    This coward is doing mistakes after mistakes.
    First selecting Lanzini, Biglia, Rojo for nothing except by name.
    Secondly not selecting in 23 players, Icardi and Enzo Perez who will boost to the side.
    Thirdly whatever he selected he don’t know whom to play for comfortable win. He don’t understand the quality of players even if he was with them in training for more than thirty days. Such a crazy man

    • He’s clueless coach and with all honestly we are not ready for this world cup. I don’t mind him stay if he builds a better team for 2022 though tactically he’s weak and he doesn’t know when and who to come as subs.

      • Yeah like when you played di Maria and Biglia starters and then sending Higuain to save the sunk ship. Like choosing Caballero to be your goalie, but I can’t blame you coz you probably don’t know the goalie is 25% of team success simply because he’s the only player who can use hands. Basic football baldy!

        • 😎😎wc Russia u forgot to tell baldi to loosen up his pants on the side lines.. maybe that’s what was restricting his movements last game ..baldie u seemed very static for your other wise hyper side line action .. baldie remember the pants ah 😂😂😂

          • His pants will get loose automatically and dropped down to his knee from sever diarrhea when he parks the bus against attacking team like Croatia.

          • Don’t worry, the only bowel movements you need to check is how my booty moves when we put 3 past that Kovasonofabic and his team
            I’ve got my fresh set of pants ready too lol, Kutzy boi.
            Practiced my dance moves and celebrations in advance

      • The horrible coach you talked about at least made the team play entertaining tango football and reached quarter final, so brag after you reach quarter final like he did.

  46. San Isidro,
    I’m affraid and shit scared of this scenario were in it right now and that like u said as true born argentianian fan whos’s been supporting our team at least for 3 decades or propably more than that, most of the people here don’t know the true identity of which argentinian football has been based and why it has been powerhouse before, but not unfortunatly anymore(only sabella understood this tha’s is mostly the reason why we were in the final in brazil 4 years ago) because of our shithead coaches and AFA etc… have wasted all our talent and i truly hope to be wrong and i would be very happy to be wrong this time, but we will see…after the game what will happen ? Though i do know that u and other’s who have been supporting argentina for more than decades also know like myself that the so called younger generations on this website mght have even seen only the so called Messi era which is indeed very great specially with barca ! And also i do know that all of you so called oldie’s know like myself that with right players and right coaching we could easily be a mighty powerhouse again because still there’s so much of talent coming outcevery year from argentina, maybe though not many middfielders like before and maybe that’s is also something to do with because football has developed so much from of our glorydays when even mighty brazilans who were dominating us for example in italy 1990 for the whole game until diego gave that wonderfull pass through the brazilians to canniggia and that is why this pitticular game is one the purest masterpiece of alltime football history(specially when it comes to defending) but offcourse there are so many other great examples too and personally even when i have rewatched 1978 so many time’s i just simply cant get that same feeling like u and others have had when u guys saw all that tournament in live, i wished that i had born just 2 or years before and could have the same memories like i have from 1982, 1986 and 1990 for example but unfortunatly i was only 2 years old that time obviously even my father made to watch the games i cant remember it in the sameway like all of u who have seen it in live ! And now it is totally a different situation where we need a win against croatians and should not even think of drawing ! And i’m also so pissed because again there is some idiot in charge who is still affraid of croatians and that make’s our players obviously affraid too and is pure madness to once again rely on Messi to do it for us, ok he’s done it many time’s, but he has also failed many time’s and only because First : there’s never right abroach to match itself because bad tactics and wrong player selection, everybody who saw the match against iceland knows the impact of pavon only he should have at least come in allready after halftime, personally i would have like him to have been allready in the starting eleven, but how many minutes did our coach gave him in that match, not that many, but still he contributed so much more than others specially diva which should only play now if pavon or dybala or meza or some one else never mind who it is, only biglia and rojo and our shaky goalie willy should maybe come after if situation will get so bad that even diva could not play( i’m talking about injurie’s now nothing else) but knowing diva’s injuryprone body it could happen with him at any point during the games which i hope he does not play any more at all, never again with argentina itself ! But ok now there might and hopefully will not be any diva or rojo or bloody biglia but still shaky willie is there for sure and again they are thinking that Messi will deliver and do it all for us, i truly hope so too but why only rely on him if there are others too! Is like giving all the keys for croatians just to block Messi once again and then we all allready know the rest what will happen, if miracles don’t occur ? So is sampa so superstious that he only relybon on miracles to occur or is he just simply so dumb like all the precissors before him exept sabella, well i think we all know the answer, right ? But i do understand that specially people who have only watched Messi era, thouhg which is the right era we are in it right now, think that Messi is the best, which offcourse he is, but even the best cant compete alone against 10 other opponents or just 3 of them will do or maybe even 1 or 2 of them, but this doesnt really matter because for sure they croatians will try to take him out of this game, period ! and when he is taken out then we need dybala or pavon who can shoot the ball in and score for us, offcourse our goal can come from set piece or a corner but why to relybon such a things like to only rely on messi whenbwe do have pavon and dybala in the team or even ansaldi might be better option to this game than salvio, i dont know, but what i do know is that if there is no pavon or dybala then our scoring chances are allready limited quite much and then we are again relying on messi and kun who has so far scored only 1 worldcup goal for us, ok it was screamer, but still even higuain has scored more goals for us, but i do not want him to start and i didnt even want him to be in our 23 man squad at all, but it is what is and like u said we are back to days of Basile, period ! Good luvk for our boys and personally i do not care who scores for us against croatians or if it will be an own goal from them until we just win that game, period ! But after that there have to be much more contribution and better player selection for our starting eleven anf all of our players must rise above their level if they want really win this tournament, period ! Good speed to argentina and please all mighty let those miracles to occur that sampa is relying on !

    I love it when guys like you ask people to kindly “leave” this blog because I don’t agree with your dreams.
    I have been on this site close to 8 years my friend; long before you and long after you.
    I am sorry that your enthusiasm overshadows your logic on this matter.
    Yes I will root for Argentina to win. But I am not foolish enough to not use my mind.
    And for all you weak minded individuals that think Argentina is Messi and Maradona take a hike. Argentina is bigger than both those guys. That 1978 World Cup title had nothing to do with any of them. But I am sure since most of the people on this site weren’t even born before 1986 they would have not a single clue. So keep rooting for Messi. And guys like you and kid can brag about us “coming close” to winning something. Yes, we have a cabinet full of trophies Messi has won for us. Reality check

    Good question. Let me preface this answer by telling you I am an Argentina fan, and I am an Argentine so as to not doubt my loyalty to my country.
    Based on what? Let’s see. We have an awful shaky goalie who acts indecisively. We are playing a Croatia where their strength is their midfield. We are playing with Salvio and Acuna and Mascherano that were brought for defensive reasons. Remember salvio for sure defensive and ACUÑA as backup potentially for Tagliafico. Enzo is a workhorse but not our most creative midfielder. Who is going to link up our midfield with Messi and Aguero? No Lo Celso, Pavon, Dybala.
    Last World Cup we had Garay. We played a 4-3-3. Two real center backs. This time, one center back, and an awful goalkeeper.
    All this said, I will root for my country, but come on man if you can’t see the problems with this football then I don’t know what you are looking at.
    I hope I am wrong. I hope I have to eat my words. But I fear I am right and tomorrow at this time we will be feeling a terrible feeling.

    We have officially entered Alfio Basile territory right before Maradona was hired.

    The bad news is we will all be suffering heavily tomorrow. Our best hope is a tie. But most likely we will lose.

    The good news is we will start with a new fresh coach, the post Messi era, and loads of young players to try without the likes of biglia dimaria Higuain and countless other turds

    That’s a very intelligent comment from you.
    On this forum you will find very smart football fans and you will find some people that root for their team blindly. We are going into the most important game of the last 3 years without all our brightest and best talent. And a shitty goalie as well. Maybe a miracle will happen and we will win. But these uninformed blind fans will be the same to bitch and complain after a lousy result. They say be positive before and then they post their horse shit line ups after all is lost. It’s insanity to start the game with this lineup. Maybe we will get lucky and Lo Celso and Dybala and Pavon get a chance at 60 minutes because God forbid Sampaoli never makes a change at halftime.

    • agree With you
      Been fan since 1990 and this is by far the worst squad we’ve had

      We older fans have been through more heartache with losses in big tournaments

      People here are not logical and are easily offended

      We only have 2 natural centre backs with otamendi and Fazio with the latter dropped

      Players like Garay Icardi even zabaleta not given a thought

      I don’t see us getting out the group and not share peoples optimism . I hope I’m wrong and we win

  47. The result in the first match have added a lot of pressure, but it will also make the players very determined. We’re gonna witness an excellent performance especially from Messi. He looks angry and determined. That’s danger for Croatia. We are gonna win 3-1.

    If we could do it against Ecuador away at high altitude, even after going 1 down in the first couple of mins, why not now? Remember, the man who scored a hat trick and took us over still play for us.

    Unfortunately people have short memories. They now wish if we had Ronaldo, who flopped big time in the past 3 tournaments, and performed quite well individually in the opening two matches instead of Messi who makes the team tick.

  48. Jorge Sampbaldy: questions for you
    Why do you always have fancy formation with attacking power 3 days before the match but the night before the match you shit in your pants, cancel your plan and retain the defensive 352 formation?

    Also since we saw you did shit in your jeans against the mighty Iceland, so do we expect an emergency dhirrea this time when you face a stronger team like Croatia?

    • OH, WCRussia pops up again with another personal attack on Sampa. He cannot defend his logic in his previous post. No insults, dialogue, make a cogent case for your assertions. Come on, WCRussia…defend your last post…but again, you are entitled your opinion…I guess.

    • 1.When did I say I didn’t do that. Our line up is the same, its just adaptive! My boys have to drop back to defend as well! And this time, I’m keeping the lineup secret, so you can never know what I’m playing haha!
      2. Nah, had my pills. No way i’m getting diarrhea. Even ate less today in preparation for this match.
      Watch me dabbing on y’all haters and doing the Argentine Samba in my brand new pants today after we crush those arrogant Croats to a pulp.
      HATERS GONNA HATE
      THEY SEE MY BALD HEAD ROLLIN’ THEY HATIN’

      • Well you played with 4 defenders plus double pivot last time and got your ass draw by a small defensive team. Even if you defend with 8 men which you will probably do, it will be decided by the hands of the guy between the posts, who’s also another useless baldy.

        • My bro Willy doesn’t deserve this hate lads.
          The Iceland keeper taught him a part time filmmaking course after the match, he has been inspired by that and he will do well
          Come back to this post when Caballero saves 3 Brazillian penalties in a row and goes on to become a professional filmmaker!
          Also, the reason we drew Iceland is that we listened to too much of Vanilla Ice before the match.
          I thought ICE ICE BABY! would be a good motivational song for the boys, but it unfortunately backfired.

    • 😎😎wc Russia u forgot to tell baldi to loosen up his pants on the side lines.. maybe that’s what was restricting his movements last game ..baldie u seemed very static for your other wise hyper side line action .. baldie remember the pants ah 😂😂😂

  49. I am expecting a 3-1 win for Argentina. Hope my prediction will be right. There is no way Croatia could beat us when we play with desire and self confidence. This result could be the turning point of Argentina in the tournament.
    Vamos Argentina.

      • Who will score the goals for You? Messi will go deep to get the ball from all defensive midfielders or even defenders. Aguero will be trapped in off side position and locked out alone. Who do you think will be able to get you 4 goals?

  50. Where is Lo Celso?

    I was quite impressed with Meza’s performance against Spain. But I still think Lo Celso is ideal to start the attack for Messi and others.

    Some people have commented that he might be injured. I don’t think so. Why would they hide an injury?

    I really wonder how did he go into oblivion all of a sudden?

  51. I love you, Argentina.
    How you create, how you dribble, how the game pauses between touches, especially on those left feet.

    Let the machines play. Let the machines talk. I love you, Argentina. Nobody can play how you do!

  52. ALL THIS SO-CALLED LINE UPS SOME ARE ADVOCATING OR CALL FOR ARE BASELESS. ANY ONE OF US CAN DESIGN OUR OWN LINE UP AND PREFERENCE. HAS ANYONE ON THIS BLOG ANALYZED THE CROATIAN TEAM, THEIR SET UP, STRENGTH AND WEAKNESSES? PROBABLY NOT. AND THAT IS WHAT SAMPA IS PAID TO DO. LET US SIT BACK AND WAIT UNTIL AFTER THE GAME OR FIRST HALF. I HAVE MY OWN LINE UP AND PREFERENCE BUT I HAVE NOT ANALYZED THE OPPONENT AND DO NOT KNOW WHAT THEY WILL PLAY…ALL SPECULATION ABOUT CROATIA WILL PLAY IS A MEDIA FALLACY.

    • For Croatia there attack starts through modric. He is responsible for build up while rakitic acts as a CDM. Modric will pass it out to he two wingers while. The fullback overlap to get crosses for mandzukic. I think we should play a 4-3-1-2.

      • So, how does Argentina counter the overlaping of the two wingers…what does the 4-3-1-2 brings…how is Modric neutralized? What do you anticipate their set up to neutralize Messi–that plays on the mind of every coach who come up against Messi

    • He’s paid to get draw against no football nation like Iceland while having best players in his disposal. He’s paid to assign worst goalkeeper today in World Cup tournament. His job is to be indecisive between formations, player selections, and game plans.

      • This is purely an opinion based on emotions–Iceland could have drawn against even Brazil…Switzerland did. So, if Messi had scored and Argentina won, would Sampa be paid for wining against a no football nation…? OK, so if Armani was the goalkeeper and Iceland scored 3 goals, will you make the same assertion…there is no logic in your argument but you are entitled your opinion. What is your so-called incisive formation…tell us. This is what I mean by raw emotions on this blog..

        • @eman1 You are so on point. These people only give hundreds of lineups because they feel they are playing video game which comes with ZERO responsibility. These people will be the first to shit their pants if you ask them to bet their month’s salary / pocketmoney on their “dream” linups .

          Bottom line they do not have any idea of the pressure of responsibility.

  53. So it’s 3-5-2 finally. Teams like Belgium and England have performed well in this tournament playing back three. I hope mascherano-enzo-meza combine is good enough in midfield. There is no way Pavon can come into a 3-5-2 starting lineup. But LoCelso should be playing in place of Meza. The current formation will have Messi again having to drop deep to initiate plays.

  54. As per new reports;
    Sampaoli finally decided on his tactics. It’s not 343, it will be 3-5-2…! 8 Players to defend in this formation..!

    Caballero
    Mercado-Otamendi-Tagliafico
    Salvio-Enzo-Mascherano-Meza-Acuna
    Messi-Aguero

    While attacking it will be 3-1-4-2..! Probably, 6 players to attack..! You can expect Mercado and Tagliafico also joining when the opportunity arrives that will leave only Otamendi and Mascherano at the back..!

    Mercado-Otamendi-Tagliafico
    Mascherano
    Salvio-Enzo-Meza-Acuna
    Messi
    Aguero

  57. Some things are bound to happen.
    Caballero will suffer if Croatia attacks.He is old enough to not start the game he is no Buffon.Meza will have difficult time if they park the bus.Acuna should play on left wing,Pavon on right wing and Snsaldi as left wing back,Lo celso as central midfielder, Salvio as right wing back.Dybla and Di maria should come as sub.That will be the perfect squad for 3-4-3 formation.

  58. I sound like a broken record by now but starting Willy is like giving yourself a handicap in a fight for no reason. And not even the kind where you tie your hand behind your back, but the kind where you saw off your leg and try to stand on one foot. You might keep balance for a while but eventually you would topple over.

    The importance of the GK cannot be overstated. When Victor Valdes ruptured his ACL, Barcelona were forced to start old jokester Pinto for the rest of the season. He was similarly shaky, had poor handling and caused panic in the backline. Barça ended up going trophy-less that season and since then never had an incompetent backup again, instead pairing ter Stegen with Bravo and Cillessen. We are not winning the World Cup with Willy unless we score 3 goals every game.

  59. As a former goals keeper I would like to see caballero pack his bags back to Argentina ,he is to old for this type of competition we need a young Goal keeper that can use his hands more than his foot.
    But no matter what anyone said is totally out off our hands .
    Good luck to Argentina tomorrow and beyond.

  60. Comments about Sampaoli is baseless..Even Bielsa did not want to take over the team..so i think we should support Sampaoli and wait for the match day..hopefully the substitution are made correct..

  61. Caballero was good some 4/5 years ago but not anymore. His movements and his handling of the ball is very very circumspect and I haven’t seen him hold onto the ball anytime he had to handle it…He’s just plain horrible and at this point, I think it’s just better to put faith in Armani and maybe even Guzman as they played games consistently for their clubs this past season. Caballero is a calamity waiting to happen…

    I don’t understand why the heck this coach comes up with some surreal lineups when it’s just best to make the best 11 play the game and sort out the issues and focus on game management.

    Armani
    Mercado, Otamendi, Fazio, Rojo/Ansaldi
    Mascherano, Lo Celso, Enzo
    Dybala, Messi
    Aguero

    • Without a good defense you can have two goalkeeper it would not make any difference. De gear is world best defense but two stupid goals on the first game, but media pop him up, claimed Ronaldo is great, Germany lost the first game, Spain draw, France plaid a terrible game, the media the will come and top the group.

  62. I am worried about two things: first the aerial game of the opponent & the other one is the behind scenes influence. Not just the local media but even the international media is after argentina. Today i listened american show & the presenter accused messi of cheating by using Hgh as teenager. It is not accident this is happening for few weeks now it is an all out assault on argentina.
    Go figure it out why this is happening.

    • US has sh1t commentators on the game and a majority of those news hosts are total scumbags. They typically favor Israel and are a pathetic bunch of zionists who would do whatever it takes to push propaganda for their own benefit. Don’t ever pay attention to that BS called news in US…

      • I am an American-Argentine Supporter. And I totally understand the US media – now going after Messi. Our Media is Pro-Israeli. If Messi played the Israel friendly our Media would have had Messi declared the undisputed World Champion By Now.

  63. Why keep Caballero in goal?! It does not make any sense. They kept their best keeper Rulli at home, that ship has already sailed. They still have two younger keepers who are regulars for their club teams. Instead they insist on this washed up 36 year old who clearly is not capable enough for this level of football as he showed last week.

    Banega made a big difference after he came on in the last game. I would have expected him to start. But I will give them the benefit of the doubt since he is recovering from an injury.

    They have two brilliant young players in Dybala and Lo Celso. This is a make or break game. It should feature their best players. Argentina have a problem with finishing. Why not feature one of the top scorers in Serie A? He will be a more potent threat instead of Meza or Pavon.

    • That’s a very intelligent comment from you.
      On this forum you will find very smart football fans and you will find some people that root for their team blindly. We are going into the most important game of the last 3 years without all our brightest and best talent. And a shitty goalie as well. Maybe a miracle will happen and we will win. But these uninformed blind fans will be the same to bitch and complain after a lousy result. They say be positive before and then they post their horse shit line ups after all is lost. It’s insanity to start the game with this lineup. Maybe we will get lucky and Lo Celso and Dybala and Pavon get a chance at 60 minutes because God forbid Sampaoli never makes a change at halftime.

    • Brazil won a WC with taphael one of the worst keeper. Did you saw your he goal De. Gear (the best goalkeeper) took from Ronaldo, am not a goalie I wouldn’t took these goals

  64. I guess on that panel, i am talking to a bunch of midget here. I can’t understand that you are building a team without a player taller than 6 feet. Otamendi is barely 1.83 meters. On the opposite side you have Mandzukic, Perisic and at least 2 other defensors who are well over 6’0. This 2006 all over again when Loose scored on a cross because he won the aerial dual against Ayala. Definitely not impress, beautiful football and midgets don’t win championship…defense does how many time does someone has to repeat that for god sake

    • I guess on that panel, i am talking to a bunch of midget here. I can’t understand that you are building a team without a player taller than 6 feet. Otamendi is barely 1.83 meters. On the opposite side you have Mandzukic, Perisic and at least 2 other defensors who are well over 6’0. This 2006 all over again when Loose scored on a cross because he won the aerial dual against Ayala. Definitely not impress, beautiful football and midgets don’t win championship…defense does how many time does someone has to repeat that for god sake

  65. As i have said yesterday sampa looking to accommodate enzo and meza to pack the central zone..he looks unsatisfied with masche/enzo or masche/meza because both lacks a little bit of something or other.
    Next thing is to include pavon in place of salvio which will make this squad more attacking and it would be a big risk….but dont writeoff it too.,.lets see

  66. All I know is, there is no point of criticizing the coach right now.. I’m so worried about tomorrow, I can’t think of anything else..

    I don’t want to have an end to the world cup tomorrow.. if we lose, we are out.

    Sucks…

    Let’s just pray for the best, I’m hoping messi and aguero can bring the W.. I’m hoping Meza will bring out the same player that we saw vs spain.

    • I am in the same state of mind.
      Been supporting Argentina since 86Mexico. I cant recollect a single time when i felt so negative before a key Argentina match ( even vs Sweden 2002 or vs Ecuador 2017 ). Cant help it when u hear we are going with 3 defenders , shaky caballero & not playing LoCelso & Pavon in starting 11.
      Just will try to go into match believing in Sampa , Messi & co . One thing is for sure , to be in next round – Mercado , Tagliafico , Cabellero , Meza & Perez need to play the match of their NT life TODAY.
      Vamos Argentina

      • 3 center is better than 4 whe opponent strength is the midfield, 3 defense on paper 5 on the field as son as your winger are fast, that the idea.

      • We need height in defense so drop Salvio for Fazio.

        Armani
        Mercado – Otamendi – Fazio – Tagliafico
        Lo Celso – Mascherano – Meza
        Messi – Aguero – Pavon

  68. We dont have much creativity without Pavon or Dybala go and see the highlights for Meza against Icelnad on youtube other than the fake penalty he didn’t do much was passing the ball sideways or backwards the whole game and lost the ball a few times

  70. Hi,

    I think the team still looks good without Pavon. The defense is so bad and Sampaoli want’s to close it..He is better than many coaches who will experiment in the final group matches instead of changing it when required.. i don’t know why many are feeling frustrated..

    I am frustrated only because of the “comment section”..i have to scroll all the way down..wish the forum had a single button to scroll down..

    • he will experiment till 2022. bcoz he doesn’t have the idea still. sabella won all the qualifiers because of midfield creativity by gago who has supported all the FAB4 during that period we had put many goals in opponents.
      but now see we are struggling to put single goal due to there is no midfield creativity. what messi is feeling there is no CM to pass the ball accurately in the box.
      only God can save Argentina where god has to play as a CM to supply the pass to front line.

  74. To all negative minded mentally ****ed people in this blog. I want to say you that Messi will do a hatrick today.

    Brazil also played for a draw, Germany lost their first game, Colombia were beaten by Japan , Spain, Portugal all didn’t play as expected but these Argentina fans are crying like a baby because their team made that much chances only to.be blocked by parked bus. Still we scored a goal. Noone sees that.

    There must be a limit in negativity. Leave this blog and don’t post comment if you can’t say positive about team. You people are coward, faithless and mentally ****ed. Just hate these negative minds.

    Vamos Arg.

    • I really agree with you. For me personally the moment the game was over I focused on one absolutes positive . No Loss, Argentina did not lose. Can you imagine??? It would have been a disaster had Argentina lost. And since the danger was real I was too relieved to look all negative. Vamos Argentina, wreck this shit upside down.

    • Hell yes man! I agree. I am tiered of the negativity as well! We will win! We’re not a bad team! We are much better than so many teams I’ve seen so far. The bar is always high for us because we have Messi. We can always criticize JS but HE IS THE COACH AND WE ARE THE FANS! Show the world Argentina what are we made of! Dance your Tango in Novgorod tonight! Win; lose or tie Argentina fan till I die!

    • If we hold the wings down well enough then most of the aerial duels will come from set pieces/corners. We should be OK if we do it right.

  77. With Salvio and Acuna will be more likely like a full back during the match, I guess it make sense to include meza rather than Pavon. It’s not easy to operate on the area where there are two pivot players from Barcelona and Madrid first squad.

    • Yes, well said. This game is going to be fought in the middle of the park, as we will be set up to occupy the wings and their stars are central players. Meza works with that in mind. I feel confident we will see Pavon and Dybala enter this game at some point.

  78. We have officially entered Alfio Basile territory right before Maradona was hired.

    The bad news is we will all be suffering heavily tomorrow. Our best hope is a tie. But most likely we will lose.

    The good news is we will start with a new fresh coach, the post Messi era, and loads of young players to try without the likes of biglia dimaria Higuain and countless other turds

    • If you think we will get suffered today then pls kindly leave this blog and start supporting Portugal , Brazil or Germany.

      If you think that ending Messi era and starting with new players solve problem and makes Argentina Champions then please kindly say that you are nothing but Messi hater. You are jealous . Without him we were not coming to this world cup. Fans like you have no place in this blog. Must be the limit in negativity. You are totally negative like an evil mind.

      • I love it when guys like you ask people to kindly “leave” this blog because I don’t agree with your dreams.
        I have been on this site close to 8 years my friend; long before you and long after you.
        I am sorry that your enthusiasm overshadows your logic on this matter.
        Yes I will root for Argentina to win. But I am not foolish enough to not use my mind.
        And for all you weak minded individuals that think Argentina is Messi and Maradona take a hike. Argentina is bigger than both those guys. That 1978 World Cup title had nothing to do with any of them. But I am sure since most of the people on this site weren’t even born before 1986 they would have not a single clue. So keep rooting for Messi. And guys like you and kid can brag about us “coming close” to winning something. Yes, we have a cabinet full of trophies Messi has won for us. Reality check

        • Regardless, you have an opinion and that is your right. But you are playing games saying that you will root for Argentina but your “mind” tells you otherwise. Based on what?? Last time Croatia faced Argentina they lost 2-1. Argentina is overall more talented. Croatia was grouped with Iceland and finished second, they just played against Nigeria and looked rather ordinary. So how can someone who says to be an Argentina fan, in the face of those factors, be so confident that Argentina will lose?? Vamos Argentina, Vamos!!!

          • Good question. Let me preface this answer by telling you I am an Argentina fan, and I am an Argentine so as to not doubt my loyalty to my country.
            Based on what? Let’s see. We have an awful shaky goalie who acts indecisively. We are playing a Croatia where their strength is their midfield. We are playing with Salvio and Acuna and Mascherano that were brought for defensive reasons. Remember salvio for sure defensive and ACUÑA as backup potentially for Tagliafico. Enzo is a workhorse but not our most creative midfielder. Who is going to link up our midfield with Messi and Aguero? No Lo Celso, Pavon, Dybala.
            Last World Cup we had Garay. We played a 4-3-3. Two real center backs. This time, one center back, and an awful goalkeeper.
            All this said, I will root for my country, but come on man if you can’t see the problems with this football then I don’t know what you are looking at.
            I hope I am wrong. I hope I have to eat my words. But I fear I am right and tomorrow at this time we will be feeling a terrible feeling.

    • I concur what Kidult Hood keep saying: Before this generation, and after Maradona, Argentina never went pass quarter final, no matter how talented players we had, no matter how great coaches we have, no matter how style we played. We got back to back 3 finals thanks to Messi and co.
      Good luck to you with the next generation. You may be happy with 2nd round or quarter final exits next 5 WCs.
      For us, we have faith in this team and will support them to the last minute.

    • To be honest, it might be only way. Wit him that offense, with the players we have, and I don’t care who we play against, we can score at the minimum one goal. The defense the other day looked scary, on the other hand. Brazil, Germany, Spain or France will put numbers on us with that lineup. So if that is the change he has made, I’m hundred percent behind.

  80. Guys Pavon or Meza both are great players. I am a big fan of Pavon. If he starts i will be the happiest here… But please guys this is not a moment to start blaming the manager. He obviously don’t have any Bias between LoCelso,Pavon & Meza.. so let him decide what is best for the team.

    In my opinion Pavon is obviously creating more threats than Meza. He can attack through both the wings. But the problem is we have Accuna & Salvio. Both are similiar styled in attack.. so the remaining players in the middle are Masche & Enzo. Wouldn’t it be better to use a player who can create chances through middle.?? Otherwise Messi will have to drop back for ball all the time. In my limited understanding of the team, Lo Celso Would have been ideal. But we don’t know what happened to that guy who till 2 weeks before gave me so much hope about this team..

    This would have been the ideal 3_4_3 if Lo Celso played.

    Aguero—————Messi ;
    _______Lo Celso_______;
    Acuna-Masche-Enzo-Salvio;
    –Taglia–Otamendi–Mercado–;

    But he is not playing, so I’m thinking Meza is a must in this eleven as a playmaker. The only way Pavon can be fit into the eleven is by replacing Salvio, Which i don’t think is wise…

    And in my opinion, Pavon (& even Di Maria) is better when coming off the bench against a tired defence. Like Bale of real Madrid lately…
    So me despite being a big fan of Pavon, won’t blame sampoli if he chooses Meza, Enzo & Salvio ahead of him.

    So we might be looking like this in our proud Blue & White shirts,

    Aguero—————Messi ;
    _______Meza_______;

    Acuna-Masche-Enzo-Salvio;

    –Taglia–Otamendi–Mercado–;

    Whatever be the set-ups & plans, whoever starts, whoever losses place… I wish only one thing, a Victory today.

    Viva Argentina.

    • I agree with your comments. Well thought out. Meza has quality and can grow into the tournament like any other quality player. Hopefully he surprises all the nervous fans.

  82. Sampaoli must be pounding his head on the wall after the first game because of his player selections(especially Defenders). Now he has 8 defensive players in the starting xi. With 3 man defense Salvio and Acuna are our wing backs and masch and enzo def mids. That leaves Messi Aguero and Meza in the offense. We are not the one parking the bus right Sampa?

    On the other hand, i would prefer this lineup over the one having Rojo Biglia and Dimaria. Its better to tighten our defense than leak goals right and left. I want Croatia to underestimate us play some attacking game. I am also glad Sampa is addressing our horrible defense concern that was evident in the first game. However i feel we are one attacking player short. Sampa is clearly counting on Salvio and Acuna to contribute in attack unlike Iceland game where Salvio was ineffective. Enzo also isn’t that bad when it comes to creating chances. Dybala and Pavon are going to be our subs depending on the game situation. Lets all pray Sampa’s strategy works this time and we beat Croatia.

    • Yes that’s the only thing we can do today. Trust the players & sampoli. I hope it will be a great game for us.
      We have some fantastic Match day 2s in recent past. (very bad as well in 2002 & 2014 (not that bad, though).

      5_0 in 98
      6_0 in 2006
      4_1 in 2010.

      I hope today will be another great day.

  84. Dybala = 22 Goals and 5 assists in 33 app in Serie A With Juventus.
    Fazio = In 34 matches played, has a pass accuracy of 84%, 77% Of tackles won, 74% of duels won for Roma.
    Mercado = In 26 matches played, has a pass accuracy of 83%, 66% Of tackles won, 53% Of duels won for Sevilla.
    Ansaldi = In 25 matches played, has a pass accuracy of 74%, 67% of tackles won, 58% of duels won for Torino.

    I can go o and on. But the trends here is that these players are crucial to the team they play (some more than others) and yet they don’t play for their national team!
    Dybala MUST play in order to have ANY chance of winning the World Cup!
    Fazio is a world class defender who, don’t forget, Messi couldn’t get passed in Rome during the champions league.
    The only debate would be who would play RB, between Mercado and Ansaldi. IMO Mercado has the slight edge.

    3-4-3
    Armani
    Mercado-Fazio-Otamendi
    Pavon/Salvio-Mascherano-Lo Celso-Tagliafico
    Messi-Aguero-Dybala

    – MAD (aka Messi, Aguero & Dybala) MUST play together and combine in order to present any threat against powerhouses like Germany, Spain, Brazil, etc.
    – Need life in the midfield along with accurate passing. Therefore, Mascherano to stay back and pull the strings, and Lo Celso to step up and provide support to the creators, Messi & Dybala.
    – Salvio or Pavon with Tagliafico on the wings to provide midfield control and be able to make overlapping runs on the Wings.
    – And the stablest defence Of three we have! Mercado-Fazio-Otamendi together can be tough to break down. With the wing backs making a line of 5, that line of 5 would be hard to break down with those three CB’s holding the fort.

    There is a chance!!! But the RIGHT players HAVE TO PLAY!!!! MAD attacking, Hungry midfield to support, and 3 great CB’s to form a wall, and Argentina has a DAMN good chance to win the a World Cup!
    Vamos Argentina!! 🇦🇷

  85. Sampaoli is trying to re-create the Ecuador game formation- which was actually the best game of Sampaoli era. There is balance to this team, there is enough in attack and enough in defence. How do you guys know Pavon can keep up for 90 minutes? Meza is good for tracking back and made lots of runs during the Iceland game. There are positives: Di Maria, Biglia and Rojo are out! This is a step by step process. If we win here, we might see Dybala, Pavon, Lo Celso start against Nigeria. And these guys might come on as substitutes in the game against Croatia so yeah, relax. Get behind the team for once.

  86. No Daybala (We got that- Messi doesn’t like playing with high profile players)
    No Lo Celso ( We got that- He’s not one of the alliance)
    No Armani ( We got that- Bald guys relate to each other)

    Now no Pavon, our last resort? Who would create chances and unease the Croatians?

    • This is silly. Messi has played with nothing if not high profile players. Dybala didn’t impress when he had a chance and the coach didn’t want to play him given the lack of time and the lack of good performance s for the NT

  87. Meza or Pavon. Don’t know. Can’t say.

    Who ever get the nod, we will :
    Defend with 7 (plus Pavon/Meza)
    Attack with 5 (plus Enzo)

    Acuna & Salvio will be very very crucial.
    They will decide our return date.

  88. Pavon has potential to win best young player award, Sampaoli give him chance he will prove, I’m 100% sure after world Cup big European clubs will be rushing for pavon

  89. My question is Meza is world class? Haven’t seen him playing good, didn’t watched Spain game but be it Haiti or Iceland not impressed me at least, Sampaoli sidelined lo celso due to meza

  93. Messi will drop deep
    No one is capable of scoring except Messi and Aguero

    No one else will score so Argentina will be very deep

    I’d rather have di Maria on left than meZa

    When Argentina are behind tomorrow
    We will see Pavon on for Meza and dybala for acuna and switch to 4-2-1-3

    Messi – dybala – Pavon
    Aguero

    Then we will score

  95. The only reasoning I can think of is that he is matching the Croatian midfielders (3 of them with defensive midfielder) with Mascherano, Enzo and Meza. This may keep Messi up top and to prevent him from dropping deep, but I have no idea for sure.

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