Argentina to play friendly match later this month

22

Argentina is expected to play a friendly match later this month.

One of Jorge SAMPAOLI’s demands when he first took over as the Argentina National Team coach was to be able to play some matches involving domestic based players. Just over a month into his reign as coach and it looks like SAMPAOLI is about to get his wish.

Jorge SAMPAOLI today met with AFA president Claudio TAPIA regarding the situation and per reports, it appears as though a preliminary list of players will be announced in the next few hours. The list is expected to contain domestic based players with the team playing on July 20 against either Paraguay or Ecuador.

This match would be before Argentina’s upcoming World Cup Qualifier against Uruguay on August 30 in Montevideo.

22 Comments

  1. Love the idea of a domestic team friendly because there are a heck of a lot of young, skill players in the primera.

    This is the lineup that I’d like to see:

    —————————Rodrigo Rey/Andrada

    Diplacido/peruzzi——Barboza——–Tagliafico——–Dubarbier

    Gonzalo pity———-Nacho———-Enzo————–Acuna

    ————————Pavon———–Benedito

    Andrada was excellent in the 2011 U20 WC and seems to be reaching his peak, a good possible 3rd option GK (after rulli and Romero).

    Diplacido was IMO the best RB this season ahead of Peruzzi and Gomez but Peruzzi has the advantage of already playing with the senior team in competitive games.
    Barbosa has been the most impressive CB in the primera this season IMO and has a remarkable game reading ability for someone so young, not to mention his knack for scoring goals. If he keeps up this form he should book a place with the NT for russia (if Argentina hopefully make it).
    Tagliafico is a LB by trade but he played CB this season and he was equally as good and such versatility is very welcomed.
    Dubarbier is on the wrong side of 30 but I can’t deny that he’s been amazing. An alternative, younger option would be J.Silva.

    Gonzalo pity is known for his talent but his inconsistency has been an issue in the past, however this season he finally realized his potential on a consistent basis.
    Nacho’s inclusion is self explanatory and infact I think he’s good enough to start with the senior team ahead of Banega and Biglia.
    Enzo perez is now a River player and so he can (and should be included) in the team as Nacho’s more defensive minded partner.
    Acuna is another self explanatory inclusion and like Nacho I think he should be a starter in the NT, infact I think he’d make an equally good left back if Sampaoli decides to do alittle experimenting.

    Beneditto and Pavon are the fowards and although Pavon isn’t he best finisher, he’s a fantastic playmaker and he and Beneditto have struck a fantastic partnership this season.
    Another option is Alario but I think he and Beneditto are too similar.

  2. “Pizzaro for Banega would be great. I’ve been complaining about Banega being a starter since Tata times. He doesn’t offer much to the team. Yez he is a great paser but too static like Riquelme. Midfielders are required to cover a lot of ground. Pizzaro, Parades and Nacho offer better mobility and more versatility than Banega”
    I feel like Guido is more Biglia typo player. A pure tackler and hustler. I agree with you about Banega bit slow but we need a good passer from deep too. I would go with Paredes despite he is young. But against Uruguay Sampa not taking the risk. So i guess he going for two 5. We might see a tactical change though.

    • On the contrary,I think he is going to take risks and going to attack Uruguay from kick off. He will want his team to take the game to the opponents. It’s not in his DNA to sit back and try to figure out the opposition. I’ve only seem set up his team to stiffle the opposition in the midfield against Argentina in the COPA final. But you might be right as Sampa said he will use different variations regularly. That’s why I don’t even want predict line ups.

  3. Facundo Colidio (Class 2000 – striker), another “La Joya” signs with Juventus for 5 million Euros which is a great amount considering the fact that he has never played with his club’s first team. Always happy to see new talents emerging!

  4. And this is the difference between a professional coach and a cheerleader coach. Sampaoli so far in a short space of time, has shown German-type professionalism.

    -He noted that the team was scared to play. So he put them through a lot of passing drills. All over a sudden we saw team football again.

    -He also realized the personnel needs change and started by breaking up the usual suspects line up. Opened up the competition places.

    -He wants to resurrect the rough diamond polishing factories (Youth development programs). I envy Germany,France, Spain even the damn England youth player pool at the moment. Argentina is the king of that. The Germans copied from Argentina in the early 2000s.

    -Now he wants a friendly to test local players to just to see if he sees anything he likes. Just for Uruguay clash. That’s seriousness. Tata never gave them a chance. And with Bauza, we’d know the starting line up already.

    I am looking forward to the future with a smile 😃

    • He took care of U20,19,17 already. Apparently Aimar took U17 coaching position but AFA can’t announce it untill previous agreement with the coach hasn’t finished yet. He is doing some project and encouraging even sparring players to adapt the system. So it can start from right bottom.
      I am looking forward too. Time to stop closing our eyes and assume things will be fine. Now someone actually dedicate his time and energy on NT for real. More importantly he knows what he is doing.

  5. The Uruguay game in August is going to be the difference between a comfortable qualification and a last day nail biter like 2010.

  6. Friendly is welcoming news just don’t like the idea of playing against a South American team. A European team would’ve been better, these local players need to play against other teams outside of South America/Latin America. There are already enough Copa Lib, Copa Suda, and WCQ games playing on the South American continent. Need something different and fresh to test your playing style and tactics against. But if I should choose between Paraguay and Ecuador, I’ll rather play against the Paraguayan team.

    • it would be good to play a European team but id say in reality its a 4 fold problem to doing this now being
      a serious lack of funds to get a team to Europe (afa are still bankrupt),
      the travel time to Europe/back
      Argentina “B” would not be a big money earner to any opposition and
      lack of time to plan it all.

      we take what we can at the moment and para would be fine.

    • I thought European oppositiin would have been a better option. Perhaps Sampa is looking at the WCQ and he wants S. American opposition as they will present a more realistic physical challenge similar to the usually rough Uruguayan football.

    • Agreed. The July date is however not on the uefa calender. Clubs won’t release players in the build up to the new season.

Comments are closed.