It was an uneventful match as Argentina drew 0-0 against Uruguay.
If you’re a fan of the Argentina National Team, the hype surrounding this match nearly reached MAYWEATHER/McGREGOR levels. Jorge SAMPAOLI in charge of his first competitive match since taking over as coach, Lionel MESSI starting with Paulo DYBALA and Mauro ICARDI, Uruguay in poor form. It had all the writings for a memorable match. The outcome was a tight match with Uruguay defending in two big blocks of four with Argentina lacking creativity in midfield to really generate something and push forward.
The first half saw Argentina with much of the ball but as has become the norm the past few years, little to no creativity in the middle of the pitch moving forward. The center pairing of Lucas BIGLIA and Guido PIZARRO meant some stability in front of a three man back line but nothing moving forward. BIGLIA covered a lot of ground and actually played well. The only problem was that there was no creativity from him or PIZARRO.
It was a repeat of MESSI having to do a lot of tracking back to get something going however he uncharacteristically gave the ball away cheaply on a few occasions in the first 45 minutes. It wasn’t until near the end of the first half where we saw him combining with Paulo DYBALA where he got his first (and only) chance at goal (outside of a free kick in the second half). A lot of off the ball movement from Mauro ICARDI but with him being marked tightly by not only one but at times two Uruguayan defenders, it made life difficult, especially with no service from his team.
DI MARIA was, to say the least, extremely frustrating to watch. The back line came under pressure once or twice and had it not been for Sergio ROMERO (who he himself scrambled to control a ball), Argentina would have been down a goal heading into the break.
The second half saw SAMPAOLI’s men moving the ball at a faster rate in the first few minutes but that quickly stopped once we were ten minutes inside the second half. Lautaro ACOSTA, Javier PASTORE and Joaquin CORREA were the three substitutes for Argentina (the latter playing not even 3 minutes after being brought on in injury time). ACOSTA came close to creating something soon after coming on as he bursted down the right wing but his cross was cleared. He also had a bad touch on a pull-back which could have resulted in a dangerous chance for his team. PASTORE had a run inside the area where his pass found ICARDI but the Inter man went down in hopes of getting a penalty.
With Chile and Colombia both dropping points (Chile losing and Colombia drawing), Argentina only gains ground on Chile, with them now being tied on points with the Chileans.
Up next for Argentina is a match against Venezuela on Tuesday.
[…] the team’s 0-0 draw against Uruguay in Montevideo on Thursday night, the team took a chartered flight back to Buenos Aires. Argentina […]
Acuna should play on the left in place of Di Maria
right
If sampoli can drop macherano, he can drop Di maria too..why he plays good only for his club…i wld prefer either papu or piatti(roma)for that position.. Anyway first match under sampoli and a lot of improvements within few months..vamos 😍
[…] a press conference following Argentina’s 0-0 draw against Uruguay, the National Team coach came out talking about the match, Lionel MESSI, Mauro ICARDI and more. […]
messi win u20 2005 world cup for argentina ,aguero win u20 2007 for argentina .Both are best players award for respective tournament. It also true both kun n messi failed to perform in NT like club but expect them all Argentines are overrated be it icardi or dybala or barking for another new player
Stick with Romancing brother. Clearly football is not your “thang”
what i felt last 15min approach argentina want 1point from the match, Argentina can win the match with providing attackers instead of time wasting
sampaoli should replace icardi with aguero in 70th minute anyway aguego must start next game
Overall:
Sampoli in charge but we didn’t tried to win which really disappointed me and I don’t want to go to Ecuador to seal qualification. Our next 2 home matches are against Venezuela and Peru, looks easy but not that easy. 3 very tough matches are coming up.
Defense – Very poor ball clearance initially and looked Unsettled but Fazio and Otamendi grow up as the match progress.
Bigila – Good. One of my very few positives from the game but too slow and too many back-passes even when Uruguay went defensive.
Pizarro – He is not the midfielder we need, too many back passes, too slow on the ball. I will prefer Augusto over him against Venezuela.
Acuna – Not at all involved neither in attack or in defense. Heard a lot about this guy and this is his performance 🙁
Di Maria – Pathetic!!! Disgusting!!! Worst player by some distance. I will try J. Correa or Pappu Gomez here. Enough of Di Maria, it’s time for Angel Correa.
Messi – Nervous during initial 20 minutes but after that he was the only player looks like can make some difference. Involved a lot throughout the game but should involve Dybala more than Di Maria
Dybala – Playing out of position and confused. Argentina should involve him more and finding a way out to bring best out of Dybala and Messi should be Sampoli’s primary task.
Icardi – Isolated. Not a single time Di maria made good pass to him but should have been involved more in the game.
Acosta – Nothing much to offer even though looked sharper than Acuna.
Pastore – PATHETIC.
Positives to take away from the game.
– We had 74% ball position and actually our passing was good even though plenty of back-passes.
– Away from home, against Uruguay and we didn’t lose and completely dominated the game despite created very few chances.
– Chile lost and their next match against Bolivia in La Pez. Hope they will drop points there.
– We are still on 5th place and only 1 point separated us from 3rd spot and a victory from 2nd position.
– Next Match Day: Bolivia Vs Chile, Paraguay Vs Uruguay, Colombia Vs Brazil. So all our rivals will have tough matches.
Against Venezuela:
– Drop Pizarro for Banega or Agusto.
– Bring Mascherano in defense and Marcado in right wing.
– Let Dybala and Icardi play in upfront and Messi from behind, anyway Messi playing deep and it’s no use using Dybala in left wing.
– Do we have any replacement for Di Maria? If not I will play J.Correa in his position.
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