Argentina versus Peru could be at La Bombonera

By
Roy Nemer
-
38
La Bombonera Boca Juniors
Photo courtesy of Google

Argentina’s final World Cup Qualifier could be played at La Bombonera.

Following the team’s 1-1 draw against Venezuela, there were already talks about the team playing next month’s ultimate World Cup Qualifier at home in Boca’s La Bombonera. The team has played all across the country in the past few years but in Buenos Aires, it was always el Monumental. That could soon change.

According to reports, the AFA and president Claudio TAPIA will ask FIFA and CONMEBOL if the match against Peru could be played at La Bombonera. The formal request is expected to be made Wednesday night.

There have been talks and rumors as early as last year that the federation wanted to play at the mystical Bombonera but nothing was ever done about it.

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38 Comments

  4. Was just waiting for folks to complete the bashing of Sampaoli and Messi. Just to get the data on the points with and without Messi we are 17 points in 8 matches with Messi and 7 in 8 without him. Probably this data is skewed per some of the Maradona or Ronaldo fanatics who just want to thrash Messi at every given opportunity. I am not here justifying Messi or Sampaoli’s performance. Look at the matches vs Uruguay and Venezuela, both of them parked the bus. Compare this to the match in the world cup vs Iran. Many of the folks here considered Sabella to be the best coach in the recent past. Iran parked the bus and had the better chances to win the game thru counter attack and they nearly did it. In the 89 min Messi had to score from outside the box for us to win. Iran was ranked 50 plus in FIFA ranking in 2014 vs Venezuela today who are ranked 43 odd. The point I am trying to make is when a team parks the bus, the first goal is of critical importance. It doesn’t matter if it is Barcelona, Real Madrid or Argentina. Barcelona at the peak had failed against teams that parked the bus

    In the match against Venezuela, the first 30 mins was some of the best football played by Argentina against a team that parked the bus. Just it did not result in a goal. Now the strategy of Sampaoli has been to attack from the left and provide aerial balls to Icardi in the two matches. The issues that manifested against Uruguay:
    1. The biggest curse for Argentina – the inconsistency of Dimaria. He was outright pathetic against Uruguay compared to the cameo against Venezuela that did not result in a goal. All coaches want him in the team for his workrate. For a counter attack he is the best option that we have had due to pace. If you ask me his inconsistencies far outweigh his value to the team. He is not in the team because he is Messi’s buddy. He is there because all coaches feel he has the pace and ability to participate in attack and defense.
    2. Playing Dybala and Acuna out of position
    3. Biglia and Pizzaro being slow in moving the ball forward
    4. Slow defenders not suited for 343 formation and the formation itself is questionable
    5. No support for Messi on the right
    6. Shaky Romero

    My take on the Uruguay game was Sampali was playing for a draw rather than a win. Being his first competitive game I could understand he experimented quite a few things and some worked and some did not. We were able to play possession game and had multiple opportunities fall to DiMaria whose inconsistency killed us.

    Getting on to the Venezuela game, the good part was Sampaoli made the necessary change. He moved Messi to the middle and played Dybala on the right where he is more comfortable. With Banega replacing Biglia, there was a bit more urgency on the attack. His game plan nearly worked till DiMaria got injured. In the first half we played great except we could not score. But the issues started manifesting in the second half when Banega was moved to support the left flank and this completely isolated Messi. This was followed by pathetic substitutions.
    There were 3 clear chances that could have been capitalized. First was on a counter attack where Messi released Banega. Banega just did not have the pace to reach the ball. Had it been DiMari or Aguero that would have been a clear opportunity to score. The second was a pass to Bennedetto. These are the balls which Batistuta used to score week in week out. I do not want to comment on Benedetto but as a striker he was supposed to take a shot at the first instance having clear path forward. The third was for Pastore. Keeper did well but maybe on another day this would have been a goal. From my perspective Argentina have multiple areas to improve which is obvious but there are a few positives which is being seen with Sampaoli
    1. He learns atleast something and makes changes
    2. He is working on leveraging our strength which is attack
    3. He has had the guts to make changes to the team. Atleast some new blood

    I had written two years ago the South American qualifiers are the most difficult with the gap between teams have narrowed considerably. Also I feel the talent in Argentina is at a all time low. This is manifested in the tournament performance across all age groups. We have one person who is keeping us in the top ten of Fifa teams. The choice for some is let Messi go and let us get exposed and in 4 years the real Argentine football will come up. In all the junior tournaments we do not even get of the group stage and in some case do not even qualify for the tournament. You can keep dreaming. If I remove my emotions for Argentina football, I think they have done fantastic reaching two copa finals and a world cup final with the limited talent available.

    Coming to the next set of matches my take:

    1. Change the system to 4-3-3. This will be the major change Sampaoli needs to look at
    2. Get defenders like Mamanna who are more athletic instead of Fazio. Fazio would have been perfect in Sabella system.
    3. Remove Pizarro and Acosta.

    I would go with

    Romero

    Mercado Mamanna Otamendi Tagliafico

    Mascherano Banega
    Messi
    Dybala Icardi Pappu Gomez

    I hate Romero but I do not want Ruilli to come in for a critical qualifier. I am sure Sampaoli will be working on getting some changes done. The reason I am going in with Mascherano is there is no substitute for experience.

    Let us wait and see.

    By the way I am sure the days of thrashing Peru or Venezuela are far and gone. In a south american qualifier if someone manages to score 4 or 5 goals, it means they have a perfect game. We do not have the luxury of playing Gibraltar or Farore Islands or Luxemburgo

    • I am not sure how many believe in luck in football. After the Portugal win of the Euro championship I think it is now taking a far more front seat than it ever has. The point I want to make is the referee for the match was a Chilean. 99.9% of the referees would have given a penalty for the trip on Icardi. I guess the result was what it was meant to be

  5. Ecuador was really poor in their last game against Peru. They all went for glory and didn’t look like they want to win. Waiting for announce the squad,let’s see if there any surprises.

  6. I am stressing about a lot of things these days, First my beloved ARGENTINA qualification issues, then this MASSIVE hurricane/tornado bearing down on Florida and possibly into Georgia where I am and just last night I found out about the Equifax data breach (143 million Americans affected), these fucking morons are supposed to protect our identities instead of having it stolen from under them.

    Stay tuned

  7. I see THE SCARECROW affect on Mundo family after game against Venezuela. Few of our very members got affected badly by that fear of Peru. The FEAR TOXIN making our members to hallucination and that’s why they making Peru as bigger opponent than usual. A BATMAN is definitely needed here. Hopefully on 5th October i can confront some of our affected members and they get better. Till than stay scared 🙂

    • @MMH, you are absolutely corret. Many of our friends on Mundo are scared more than usual and started painting Peru’s picture bigger than it really is.
      I have a big faith in the team and although I worry a little bit, BUT I am confident the team will be at the world cup.
      On Oct. 10, smiles will be on all Mundo members’ faces.
      Vamos Argentina!!!

      • Ofcourse i am disappointed and worried too but since the Venezuela game i watched the game 2 times again and just finished watching game vs Peru now and i am sure we will beat them. Yes we have issue could not score. Unlucky! But saying Peru will kill us and beat us easily is FEAR TOXIN talk. Let them come we are ready.

        • Did you watch any of Peru’s recent games? If yes, what are their strengths besides their pace? And what are their weaknesses? Although it’s very early but I heard Sampaoli considers to call Pavon, P.Perez, and Gago for the next qualifiers.

          • Yes i did.The one was away game 2-2.After game against Venezuela Sebastian Becca stayed in Ezeiza to analyse the Venezuela game plus last two game versus Peru and other stuff. They analysing and might consider drop Dybala from first XI(romour). Sampaoli had brief convo with Messi and they might go for 4-3-3 in next game. All the technical stuff and Sampaoli working double shift and their ass off. Sad that they getting criticised only after two games amd with a freaking stupid situation. Anyway i like the idea of 4-3-3,i think 3-4-3 maybe not for us (just opinion). Bytheway i didn’t disrespect anyone but i still 200% sure we will beat Peru. Let’s not be any injury there. I was watching Peru last game against Ecuador. Peru like to play with long ball and shot from distance we have to watch out corner and free kick. If we play our game they won’t have time for attack though,they have to defend whole 90 min

  8. No Risk No Gain…
    Sampoli can go….
    —————–Romero———————
    Marcado—Mascarano—–Otamendi
    ———-pizzaro—–Peredes———–

    Salvio————-MessI———Maria
    ———Heguin——-icardi————-

  9. I think if Peru plays their regular game on that day, they might score 1 or 2 ,we may not be able to stop them.We have to
    make sure that we convert our chances and I am sure that we will create lot of chances. Here,I feel Higuain
    could be a good choice, as his conversion rate against these kinds of teams are good.Icardi may come as a sub. I also feel
    that for these remaining 2 high voltage matches bringing Lavezzi may not be a bad option. These last 2 matches are more of a nerve game
    than skills. Still If some how we manage to qualify, with these set of mid field and forwards who are still learning and growing, I feel it will be
    be a huge burden on Messi and rest of the team as we have seen in 2014.

  10. Argentina need two or three players with the heart of Juan Martin Del Potro according to the legend Kempes. I really agree this with Kempes because our players need to be very brave and make some very strong decisions to qualify for the World Cup.

  11. Hi guys,

    Firstly, I’m more than happy to be part of this very big Argentina fans family.

    Secondly, I know this is the worst time to be an Argentina fan, But as you all know so many teams have had the same problem, and Brazil is a good example of that when they struggled in the 2002 World Cup qualifications and then reorganized and won the world cup in the end.
    I read so many of the comments here and most of them were very negative and that doesn’t surprise me coz it’s part of the human nature.
    Now, the team needs support more than ever and there is a feeling inside me which tells me the team will qualify, no matter how, and will highly perform at the world cup. Maybe I’m very optimistic about the team but if Argentina qualifies you know Mr. Sampaoli will have a big plan for the world cup and will build a strong side that can compete every big team.
    Vamos Argentina! A big Argentina fan since 1998!

  12. There is hope and it is still possible.

    The team is playing well. During Bauza it did not look like we could score. It did not look like we make 3 passes. But now it is different. Tuesday we could have easily got another goal. It was possible.

    When it comes to the Peru game, here are my thoughts

    1. I think we will play well and get a few chances. Whether we will score or not is a different question.

    2. Peru can park the bus. They are almost certain to qualify if they can get a point against us. Their last game is Colombia at home. Colombia would have already qualified by then. So Peru always has a chance even if they lose to Argentina but will be sure if they get a draw. They can play on counter and might as well get 3 points. Can Argentina break a team like that?

    More I think of it, it seems highly possible that Argentina will not qualify. I am finding it very difficult to believe we will get 4 points from the last 2 games.

    • I had signalled this fear in my earlier post. The number of you here reiterating it is freaking me out. This break till the final round of games is going to be nail biting. ADM’s likey out now. Any more injuries will be greeted by more self doubt and negativity. If GOAT is also out (and I know some here will view this as here’s the chance to reduce Messi dependence while others will say hey don’t curse him), I wonder where our creativity is going to come from to unlock Peru….. Peru is most certain to do the same plan as Venezuela…

      • Hope you are right my friend. We need to get 4 points to make it happen. Critical is again the Peru game. I do have one confidence, which is this Argentina can keep the ball for long period of time. So if we go to Ecuador to play out a draw may be we can do that. The Peru game is super critical.

    • Peru will be a tough opponent and they have some pacy players, BUT everything depends on how Argentina play and what players the coach puts on the pitch. I think 2 games – competetive games – on the touch line were good experience for Sampaoli to figure out the issues of the team and I hpe he will tackle all those promlems.
      Some of us are worried more than they need, so guys pls pls pls have a trust in the coach and the team.

  13. This team is psychologically broken. No formation//tactical adjustment will solve this. For all of the brilliance of a coach, the chalk-board can’t win games without GROWN MEN to carry out the plans. Argentina need GROWN MEN to see this through. Dejen de joder, ya. VAMOS ARGENTINA, CARAJO!
    2) Mental fitness aside, playing Fazio as your center back is never going to end well (Masche is good for some criticism too, but he was a stopgap, he’s not going to be in this team going forward). Also, what is the point of having an offensively unbalanced team if Messi has to drop back and do everything. If Messi is going to have to drop back too then drop one of your forward moving players and solidify the back/middle of the park.
    3) It’s great to give this team new direction given the precedent of the last 1.8 years. But the priority should have been to qualify first and experiment later. What do I mean? 1) Play a back 4. 2) Don’t play Acuna out of position 3) Higuain is a proven goal scorer (even if he has botched 3 important goals in finals).
    4) I was optimistic about Sampaoli and while I’m aware of his aggressive style of play, I expected him to be a little more measured. Instead he’s put on a show with smoke and mirrors and produced very little through 2 games. I don’t expect him to revolutionize the way Argentina play overnight, but I did expect that as a serious coach he would realize that his first objective would be to stabilize things with respect to classification.
    5) That being said, the players have responsibility here too. And that second half performance against Venezuela at home is a disgrace. Icardi, Terrible. Pizzarro terrible. Acosta, missing in action. Dybala? Might as well have been spotted on the back of Milk Carton.
    6)For all of Di Maria’s faults, his absence in this team is the most significant after Messi (and previously Maschernao). No Messi, no Party. No Di Maria, no Party.

      • Oh yes, “No Di Maria, no party”. Unless you are talking about comedy. The team played good football longer than Di Maria was on the pitch. Acuna was active. He was the one who had assist, not Di Maria. Acuna’s crossing is just better. Things changed after goal for Venezuela.

        “No Di Maria, no party”? So where was the party against Uruguay? The only typical argument of Di Maria fans is: “if he was there”. Every player who was not part of lost is “winner”. Di Maria is winner only during his absence or in friendlies. Di Maria was winner after our lost finals and important games like against Venezuela just because he was out. That’s specific kind of winning that will always much incentive for people’s imagine as for “what if”.

        But what is the most stunning me thing is not that people still trust him despite he is poor 8/10 games in NT. I’m surprised they do not see obvious thing that his muscles can’t stand playing for 100%, id est most important matches. This situation is like deja vu, yet people still want to see him on WC. We may differ about his form and performances but taking for tournament such injury prone (or rather predictable) player is just waste of place and another myopia.

  14. I understand that we are all nervous about the Peru game but Peru should be the one more nervous since they are going into the Lion’s den and not the other way around.
    ARGENTINA thinks about that game as such and all will be Okay, they just need a change in their state of mind.

  15. The other option for us to qualify without winning anything is for Chile to draw against Ecuador at home and lose to Brazil in Brazil. Then we can get away with 2 draws.

  16. This qualification is going crazy. I can tell you this draw with Venezuela has now really put a serious doubt over qualification.

    If we do not win the Peru game, then we are 90% sure to be out. We need a miracle from there. Peru is a much better counter attacking team than Venezuela. They can easily hurt us and they will. They have bigger incentive to play for compared to Venezuela. This game is do or die. If we lose or draw we are out for sure. Anything other than a draw means, we have to go and beat Ecuador. I don’t see that happening.

  19. I was thinking how other teams can help us maintaining the 5th position. With this current team, even at least one win against either peru or Ecuador seems like big ask. If all the following happens we may end up in 5th

    Peru: 1(arg) + 1(Col) = 26
    Arg: 1 + 1= 26
    Chile: 1(Ecu)+0(Brazil)=24 or 1(Ecu) + 1(Brazil) =25
    Parag: 3(Col) + 1(Ven)=25 or 1 (Col) + 3 (ven)= 25
    Ecuador : 1 (Chile) + 1(Arg) = 22

  20. Angel Correa is in good form and can be Di Maria Replacement…We need to have Higuain, Agueor and Icardi in the line up..use them as required…no time to experiment, bring in the old guards and win the match…

    • Correa can’t hold Di Maria’s jock strap. After Messi, and (previously mascherano until last year) Di Maria is the most keenly felt absence on Argentina. You saw it in the first half as soon as he got injured. No Di Maria, no Party.

  22. A burlesque of an AFA…
    Typical of those useless AFA’s bums.
    Just change the location and all will go well.
    Not only that, but this was done in the past in 1969 exactly, against Peru. I’ll let people searching to know how that ended…

  23. I am in favor of the Bombonera. The public is much closer to the pitch than in Monumental and the atmosphere is more intense. However, Bombonera has 12.000 places less than River’s stadium. That is a lot money less (ticket sales) and what does AFA need? So this is not going to happen.

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