A figure in Alejandro SABELLA’s 2014 World Cup back line, Ezequiel GARAY took to the media to discuss his Argentina National Team situation.
Lots has been said regarding GARAY’s lack of call-ups to the National Team. In fact, his last match for Argentina came in the first match of 2018 World Cup Qualifying when the team lost 2-0 at home to Ecuador. Rumors were circulating that GARAY had refused call-ups in the past but he has set the record straight.
Speaking with El Desmarque of Spain, here’s what the Valencia man had to say:
Ezequiel GARAY
“It’s a question for the Argentina coach. I intend to do things well at my club and after that it depends on the coach. It doesn’t depend on me to decide who goes and who doesn’t.
“A lot of things were said. Did you hear anything coming out of my mouth? No. Listen… I never gave up. I always believe it’s a dream to be able to play for you country.”
[…] since Ezequiel GARAY stated that he has not turned his back on the Argentina National Team, there have been rumors that coach […]
Now that a few days have passed people are rationalizing our royal ass kicking. Are we that blind that we don’t believe our eyes? The team played like shit and we were thoroughly out coached.
The problem lies squarely with Sampaoli and unless he can surround himself with some tacticians we will get our ass kicked against good teams again.
Argentina has about 100 players that should be up for consideration to go to the World Cup. I would say about 12-15 of these players are already set. These would be as follows.
Messi
Aguero
DiMaria
Romero
Otamendi
Tagliafico (see Sorin’s comments)
Lo Celso
Meza
Lanzini
Dybala
Biglia
The rest are up for grabs assuming he doesn’t bring the fossils like Mascherano Higuain Banega and a few more.
So basically he has to choose 8 -12 players that are mostly situational or tactical players to round out his team assuming you don’t count back up goalies.
Sampaoli’s problem is he has no idea what style he wants to play. SABELLA on the other hand knew EXACTLY how he wanted to play. He was going to be a defense first team and count on his forwards to create something in a special moment. The only thing he didn’t count on was Higuain choking over and over again.
All these prognosticators say there isn’t enough time, but they are wrong. There is plenty of time. With today’s analytics, they can extrapolate work rate, distances covered, tackles, etc. Our problem is we can play anything we want, but Sampa is confused.
Some time ago someone on this forum made a BRILLIANT comment about Sampa and him coaching Chile vs Argentina. They said that Chile is like shoping in a small grocery store with limited ingredients so you can only cook one way, Argentina is a big grocery store and picking the right ingredients and deciding what to cook is a lot harder. That is exactly what has happened.
I don’t think we played shit.only our defence played shit.i think we played really well.whatever the result suggests its not true scenario.I think it’s more of a fragile mentality which sampa has to address they loosing concentration in 2nd half specially.conceded 3 goals in 19 minutes against Nigeria and 4 goals in 22 minutes against Spain all in 2nd half.
We give up 10 goals in 2 games and thats not shitty? Tell me the last time Argentina gave up 10 goals in 2 games under 1 coach. You clearly don’t know the history of Argentina football.
Logic says that we shoud use the world cup as a preperation for the next copa
All what i have in mind for the last 2 days is peckerman youth team 2001
We need speed guys (not demaria) kind of speed , and we dont have it
Biglia?mascherano?banega?gago(yep)even he might get called to completely fuck it up ?higuain?rojo?
If we have 3 messi playing with these names we wont win a shit .
Just go with 4-5-1 and pray
gago at least skillwise way better then the other three but pretty injury prone.
Garay is all class, he’s strong in the air, skilled with the ball, great at reading the game and also great at set pieces not to mention that he’s already formed a fruitful partnership with Otamendi (copa 15). To take Rojo over Garay is just lunacy.
I agree, the biggest factor is understanding, his previous work with Otamendi is a no brainer, if he is remotely interested BRING HIM! Even if we put another world class defender next to Otamendi it will take many matches for them to gell.
Argentina is a tournament team. We always have been. Don’t worry. Our boys will pay for the short. The blue and whites stripes are añways respected
I’d hate to be in a Sampa’s shoes . I like Bustos and Tagliafico. Bustos was left out to suffer. He’s damn good. Messi in he lineup would change his work Load, Higuain would be gone…Hes too slow and heavy. I like Lanzini…and lo Celso. He’s young but I can see him shining at the WC. He’s a talent.
I was talking to my brother earlier and he was saying the result against Spain was a good thing for Argentina. The media will give Argentina little chance to win the World Cup. He also said Messi already overcome two of is jinx this year; scoring against Buffon and scoring against Chelsea. So what’s left for Messi? Winning the World Cup in 2018. Messi will win the World Cup in 2018 and I think the World Cup is set up perfectly for Argentina to prove the doubters wrong. Moreover, if this Argentina B team had won or tied Spain everyone would be saying Argentina is the number one favorite given that, their B team just tied or won the game against Spain without the likes of Messi, Di Maria, Aguero, Dybala etc.
we will bro… we will… our faith amidst all these let downs will not hinder our climb to wear the crown. We will win The World Cup 2018.
Kid, I see Argentina’s Being villains of the WC. That’s the way we like it. We’ll squeak through each round undeservedly. And we’ll win it’s thTs how Argentina wins buddy. I’ve been a fan for 30 plus years…thtas how we do. Messi mágic….that’s what will it….Hes destined. Lo Celso will be one of the players of tourney. We rugby tackle buddy. That’s Argentina way. Hard tackling and a flash of brilliance from number 10 is always the way. We’re winning it.
You are right.
Now all nations including ARGENTINA PRESS rules out wining WORLD CUP
ND NO PRESSURE FOR MESSI AND CO.
MESSI WILL WIN WORLD CUP COZ MANY REASON
1- SAMPAOLI DINT SHOWED HIS REAL GAME UNTIL NOW. HES TESTING PLAYERS TO PLAY BETTER WITH MESSI
2- TIL 60MIN ARG PLAYED WELL AGAINST SPAIN. POSSESSION WAS 50’50
THAT MADE RAMOS AND COSTA TO PRAISE MESSI, IF MESSI WAS THERE ARGENTINA IS MORE POWERFULL. ND COSTA ALSO ADMIT SPAIN GAMEPLAN WILL BE CHANGED IF MESSI WAS ON THE PITCH, THAT IS ALBA WONT BE ATTACKING 90MIN IF MESSI PLAYED
3- ARGENTINA ATTACK IS MORE DEADLIER WHEN MESSI PLAYS. HE MAKES OTHER PLAYERS AMPLE SPACE WHEN 3 MAN MARK MESSI. AGUERO
,DYBALA,LANZINI,ICARDI,DIMARIA CAN FINISH BECOMES FREE.
4-HIGUIN CANT BE OUR FINISHER SINCE HES BAD OMEN IN REAL MADRID AND JUVENTUS. LOST ALL UCL FINALS
5- SELECT ATTACKING MIDFIELD PLAYERS(LAMELA,AUGUSTO) AND DEFENDERS SHOULD HAV PACE(FAZIO CANT BE TRUSTED IN BIG GAMES)
@KidultHood, I have the same feeling that Argentina and Messi will win 2018 world cup but I don’t know how but my intuition says since 2016 Copa America loss, Argentina will be world champion in 2018. Let’s pray and see. I really hope that It comes true.
if he still wants to Play for the Team it is a MUST to pick him! a fucking must!!!!! is sampaoli crazy? garay and otamendi look good on paper. rojo is hardly playing, mori as well and fazio is so slow he even wouldnt be able to stop me from breaking through to the goal
“he even wouldnt be able to stop me from breaking through to the goal”…thats make me laugh bro
We were knocked out in 2010 because of our defense… We reached the final in 2014 because of our defense… Garay.. Demichelis.. Macherano… Biglia… Rojo..zabaleta… they were all in top form throughout the competition.. … Our defense almost won us the final but our strikers let us down and lost the match…and WC
Sampaoli should pick garay.. He is far better than rojo and mori.. Garay otamendi and fazio will make our defense far better than what it is right now..If garay wants to come back again.. Select him!!
but the question is will sampa pick him?? if he picked then our half problems in our defence is sorted.
MERCADO GARAY OTAMENDI
3great CB can helps to include 1 EXTRA midfield player to control our possesion game
Totally agree. This 6 1 may have been a blessing if it put heroism into Garays heart.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=eExdsvmrMYs
Ricardo Ortiz’s analysis for the game against Spain. I recommend you to watch if you haven’t watched it before.
Great defense 😊. Some of the points valid too..
The big question is will sampaoli take the risk & bring in battaglia, lamela ,acorrea icardi & dybala( at least as a super sub) in final 23 instead of biglia, higuain, masche…
It’s 4-2-3-1 for sure & spots to nail is CF,DM, RB, RM/RW ( assuming Messi is going to float in system). I do not know why …but strongly confident that Argentina will surprise everyone at wc18 & play some delightful football.
One positive thing for this 1-6 defeat is that everyone is ruling us out, Messi and the team have much less pressure now.
Another thing is that Dybala may have a chance to get the wc call now.
My thoughts exactly. Due to immense media pressure of being favorite, last world cup Argentina did not performed well. We were too cautious. I remember Holland was ruled out of group stage during 2014 world cup but only to thrash Spain in group stage and on their way to Semi Final. After Ecuador performance Messi has less pressure than before and add to the media’s ignorance, it could turn out to be good for Argentina. If Argentina somehow wins the WC, it would put Messi beyond anyone(not that he has to win WC) but just to shut his haters.
I second that. Also I think it’s a deliberate ploy by sampa to not play Messi in Spain game. Spain will just not be able to decide how we play in full strength. Hope Messi also reduces la liga playing time to keep himself super fresh for June. I still believe in sampa & just that he came in a year late. Only confused why he played banega -biglia- masche together. Shld have just put in Pablo Perez , meza , acuna
Send out all the seniors masch and biglia are old Nd they are very slow. Give the chance to meza acuna. And higuain also not playing good his service also not required for the team better chose dybla and the inter captain. Forward should be Messi. Aguero Martinez pavon icardi dybala . MF are perotti acuna Di Maria lanzini. Celso banega and meza. Defenders are garay taglifico Mercado otamendi another 3 I can’t decide
It’s not that garay comes & we have closed all problems. He is no where near his 2014 form. At the best a decent defender today who is losing sheen with age. I don’t see a massive improvement over fazio or pezella. If rojo gets some match time with ManU, he will come out of the rustiness he displayed against Spain.
You Clearly have no Clue. A Die hard Valencianista here and can affirm he has been our best player along with Kondogbia.
The streak of losing games since december end and not winning started when Garay got Injured and was not available. Not too mention he is a leader in defense which we don’t have right now (otamendi is very good but he is no leader).
You know what guys I rewatched the Argentine vs Spain game again even though it was a heavy lost I see a lot of improvement in the first half alone if Messi was there Argentina could of scored at least 2 or 3 goals there was some open spaces Messi could have capitalized from to me the first half wasn’t bad at all the madness happened in the second half.
I am also hopeful. Overall lanzini, meza, lo celso are good additions to midfield which is our core problem. Banega played out of position against Spain. As deep lying playmaker he is overall good. Our final midfield looks like meza, lanzini,biglia, di Maria, banega, lo celso, acuna, acorrea.
Garay is solid defender with calming presence he is also good penalty taker.
Garay is the best argentina defender. He is playing well for Valencia at the moment. He is tall and reads the game very well.
Di Maria is the worst player. He loses possession in 8 out of 10.
The team need at least 3 aggressive and fast defensive midfielders. Example: Brazil used 3 defensive midfielders against Germany.
Argentina team is not always a balance team, too many attacking midfielders.
“Brazil used 3 defensive midfielders against Germany”
I partially watched that match. Brazil’s midfield was so bad because of those 3 defensive midfielders. Germany completely dominated the midfield!
Although Brazil is a strong opponent but they are way weaker than I thought months ago.
@Dadir10 it was basically Dunga tactics Brazilian team that played against Germany. Brazil will struggle against Switzerland in the opening game. Switzerland is a team that sit back, defend and counter plus they have good technical midfielders and strong LB/RB players. Brazil is all hype, we’ll see come the World Cup, but I’m still not convince that Brazil is as good as the media is making them out to be. And I definitely don’t see how Neymar will be fit in time for the World Cup with his kind of injury.
@Kid exactly my thoughts. I always think that during that game, Germany could have gone extra gear if they really wanted and they were missing some of important players where as Brazil is pretty much same minus Neymar. I fear Germany team more than any one. They know how to play with and without the ball equally. I also think Spain will be hurt by counter attacking teams like Portugal. Even against Argentina, they gave lot of chances especially two to Huigain, one to Meza etc. I would like to avoid Germany than any one. They got Argentina’s number for long time.
@KidultHood, you are absolutely right!! Like you said, I don’t see Brasil that strong the way it is presented in Media.
That is what i felt also.
I think we can beat any team but it depends on if sampaoli plays pragmatic and chooses the right line-up.
@Kid, “but I’m still not convince that Brazil is as good as the media is making them out to be”
I have the same feeling!
It seems they will fall in the same trap Argentina fell in the 2002 WC though that Argentina team was far superior to this Brazil team.
We will not be pragmatic.sampaoli known for his flair and attacking prowess not for his pragmatic approach.he will setup an attacking formation no matter what
When you’re playing team like Brazil, Spain and Germany, you need to be solid and compact even when you not playing well. And that was what Brazil did against Germany.
Argentina always go to major tournament with too many attackers.
I could remember Argentina vs Bosnia 2014 WC. Messi, hugain, Aguero & Di Maria all started. This is not a balance team. This 4 cannot defend.
Against Spain I wanted to see how solid and compact team would be, just too open.
Messi likes to walk on the field When the opponent has the ball but i cannot accept that from Aguero and Di Maria.
Why does it seem like ARGENTINA is the only footballing nation with way too much drama when it comes to their players!!!??? if it is not this guy, its that, so on and so forth WTF!
From that idiot higuian, to maxi, to garay to Icardi to Dybala to Tevez to even Messi!!! etc etc etc what gives?
Call his ass up if he can still play, but then again, can he be any worse than Masche!
What the hell happened to Musacchio? is he still alive??
Playing for ac Milan
He doesn’t start for AC MILAN
But he is in their squad.just like yerry mina who is in Barcelona squad but not a starter
Hey Roy, Do you think Sampaoli would call him?? what do you think of his possibility?? For me Personally, I really want him to be in the Argentina 2018 World Cup Squad???
No Garay, you don’t get to fucking choose when you want to play and when you will not play. You are the scumbag who said you are not interested in playing friendlies or qualifiers, so keep sulking.
When did he say that? Do you have a link?
Keep aside the ego we need good defenders badly not like we have wealth of talent in defensive third.he should be included in the squad garay otamendi should automatic starter with Fazio as backup
@pupi: I don’t think he said that and hence he is clarifying his point.
I think it’s time to get all your ego aside and unite for common cause just like romario and Ronaldo did for Brazil
Yes, Sampaoli should call him. Being as the Defender, He played a key role in 2014 in order to reach Argentina World Cup Final. So, I really hope that he will play in 2018 world cup in Russia.
Well, we could really benefit from his presence again. Hope Sampaoli calls him up.
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