Jorge SAMPAOLI set to meet with Mauro ICARDI on Friday

By
Roy Nemer
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52
Argentina's Mauro Icardi (R) is marked by Venezuela's Mike Villanueva during their 2018 World Cup qualifier football match in Buenos Aires, on September 5, 2017. / AFP PHOTO / Alejandro PAGNI (Photo credit should read ALEJANDRO PAGNI/AFP/Getty Images)

Some positive news for Mauro ICARDI as Jorge SAMPAOLI is expected to speak with him on Friday.

A report by TyC Sports states that Argentina coach Jorge SAMPAOLI will speak with Mauro ICARDI. It appears as though ICARDI’s chances of making the World Cup aren’t totally dead in the water. With Sergio AGUERO’s fitness being an issue with his latest surgery maybe SAMPAOLI is considering taking a healthy and very much in form ICARDI.

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52 Comments

  1. Should have we waited Aguero’s injury for calling icardi? Finally sampaoli will meet him. Now we are happy. We need lamela on middle or wing. “Keep higuain benched please sampa”… Messi – icardi- dybala – lamela- di maria – martinez- otamendi .. Who else we can depend on? Dynamic players ? Our middle needs experienced players.

  2. Wonderful news! Currently Icardi is fit & in better form and for that he is the best choice for the no.9 role.
    He is someone who scores from half chances and such players are vital in & around the opposition box.

    I hope Icardi is called up for the friendlies and allowed to start a game.

  3. No Higuaín and No Aguero please. Enough is enough is enough. Just these five:

    Messi
    Dybala
    Icardi
    Pavon
    Martinez

  4. Good news for the fans. One of the Sampaoli’s best side is he have an open eye and mind with flexibility, trying at his best to brings the best players in his team. The urgent priority is finding the good striker and CDM, the on fire executor and a player who can link between mid and def. A wise decision to brings Icardi rather than Higuain. Say farewell to Masche , Rojo, Mori and Biglia

    • 2014 WC our defensive/box2box midfield department was packed with the likes of Masch Biglia Enzo Augusto Gago(he had a great partnership with messi during the qualifiers )…and our defense was the most miserly in the whole tournament… Its because of our strikers horrible misses (Higuain & Palacio) we lost!!

      • augusto and gago was not there in wc squad.actually our midfield was shit all tournament long.because of defensive solidiraty we reached that far and offcourse masche as a dm was superb but we lacked any creativity in the midfield.actually we didnt deserved the wc such a defensive team should not win the cup.we want to see free flowing fluid football in midfield and scoring all the chances.if im sampa i would pick messi aguero dybala icardi and martinez this 5 forwards.8 midfielders and 7 defenders and 3 goalie.

  6. Kid
    I appreciate your passion for the national team. That said, anyone that thinks Higuain will score in a critical moment is not being realistic or rational. There is no evidence he can step up in a big moment, so why would he be able to all of a sudden?
    The guy is fat slow uninspiring and can only score in meaningless play. And those are facts

  9. Anyone tired of Huigain advocacy in this site? I am. I also believe we need to axe Augero and Bigilia. One is injury prone and lazy and other is just not good enough. On Huigain, Juventus coach Allegri implied that Huigain has to improve his mentality in bigger games. That says all about the state of Huigain. I cannot believe some people are still advocating for players like Huigain, Augero, Biligia. As Einstien said “trying same thing and expecting different results is insanity”. We should try with player who compliments Messi as he is our only hope. GOD BLESS.

      • Higuain should not start a single game he can be a impact sub.i hope aguero will be fit for the wc

        • Yes. That’s a very logical & valid approach. Messi, aguero, icardi , higuain or Martinez. Obviously aguero should be selected if he is finally 100% fit & looks like he has the time for recouping.

          • actually aguero is not playing for 3 months leading to the world cup makes him more fresh just hope his recovery process turns out good and he gets fit before may 18 training camp then without match practice will not be big concern as arg will play 2 friendlies he will be sharp come wc

    • Well Sampaoli is smart enough to not depend on Higuain.. Now after selfiero is gone he will have to select Icardi… Blessing in disguise i would say!!

    • Aguero just won Premiership top Xl… along with otamendi and both are critical to our success at the World Cup… remember no #9 links with Messi as well as aguero…not higuain, not icardi not Martinez …

    • You probably dig deep into Wikipedia to come up with this one.🤔 Don’t worry the joke will be on you not Higuain. 😉

        • I’m good on my side bro. How about you? Well, I’m not advocating for Higuain as some savior, never stated he has to start every single game at the World Cup. As a squad player Higuain will offer a lot for Argentina at the World Cup. Football is tactical, the coach should choose players which best suit is game plan on the day. Stop beating a dead horse bro, the anti Higuain comments are getting way too predictable. Greets😁

          • I’m doing great bro! It’s clear that you want Higuain to lead Argentina’s attack line and you are a big fan of him as your comments are telling me all the time.

            Higuain had his time with Argentina and failed to make any notable imapct and he is a big flop in my eyes and the in eyes of diehard Argentina fans all around the world.

    • Messi has to be smart this time. Just stop playing after the classico. End of story….Only then he can perform every game and then Argentina has a chance.

      • After classico barca has only 3 games and if barca wins against deportivo la caruna they will be crowned champions even before classico.Argentina camp starts in 18th may.i don’t think messi should start all the 3 matches but he also needs some minutes under his belts as his injury don’t heal with just rest.with this injury he is already properly rested and a burned out case is out of equation

  13. Possible 35 and 23…!

    1. Sergio Romero
    2. Wilfredo Caballero
    3. Nahuel Guzman \ Franco Armani

    4. Gabriel Mercado
    5. Nicolas Otamendi
    6. Federico Fazio
    7. Nicolas Tagliafico
    8. Marcos Acuna
    9. Ramiro Funes Mori \ Marcos Rojo \ German Pezzella
    10. Eduardo Salvio \ Fabricio Bustos

    11. Lucas Biglia
    12. Ever Banega
    13. Giovani Lo Celso
    14. Manuel Lanzini
    15. Angel Di Maria
    16. Javier Mascherano \ Leandro Paredes \ Matias Kranevitter
    17. Maxi Meza \ Enzo Perez \ Pablo Perez
    18. Diego Perotti \ Erik Lamela \ Emiliano Rigoni

    19. Lionel Messi
    20. Sergio Aguero
    21. Gonzalo Higuain
    22. Cristian Pavon \ Paulo Dybala
    23. Lautaro Martinez \ Mauro Icardi

    • No garay? Inclusion of Mascherano as an option? Meza shud be a certainity in the team not an option after his amazing performance against prolly the best 2 teams in the world.

      That is an atrocious squad to say the least.

    • 1)Taking acuna & salvio as defenders is not useful. They should come in as flank /wing midfield.
      2)Funes mori should not be picked as clealry he won’t be match fit. If his club coach is still not picking him in playing 11 clear reflection that he is not ready. Maybe ansaldi or insua as lb backup to tagalfico as rojo also will not be ready & back to form. RB will be bustos & mercado in final 23.
      3)I don’t think sampaoli will pick lamela or dybala or rigoni or masche ( sadly true)
      4) position 23 I think will be between higuain & Martinez. Icardi will make it. Higuain as a sub & also playing group matches is a sensible idea. Higuain in big knockout matches is a bad idea ..but aguero & icardi can be the options there.
      5) the one player I feel could have been played into team but ignored by coach is ascacibar. But unfortunately it is too late.

  14. Aguero & Icardi are currently best strikers in the world while both higuain and suarez are finished, therefore both kun/icardi in n the squad fit aguero >>> any striker in the world where icardi is killer next should be higuain v/s matinze one has experience other has fresh energy lets see but Icardi must considering aguero injury if messi, Di maria and kun remain fit and in form in world cup then mark my words Argentina win the WC 2018

  15. On here some people cheer when certain Argentina international players get injured as long as it fit their little agenda. It also sad to see how people cheer for the failing of certain players so that their presumably pie in the sky player can be selected for the world cup. Aguero and Higuaín are both going to the 2018 world and nobody on here will change this reality no matter how many millions of comment you write on Mundo before now and the start of the tournament. Well, no one is stopping you from beating the same old dead horse over and over again. It’s this simple, if you don’t like Aguero and Higuaín on the team then no one is forcing you to watch Argentina play. Everyone is a football genius, but somehow Sampaoli don’t have a clue to what he is doing. Anybody can put some names together via the world wide web and pretend to have solve Argentina world cup winning formula. A taxi cab driver or a train conductor can also be a genius online coach because it’s easy to put players together on the internet and pretend you have a winning formula. You can buy the best players in world for every position on the football pitch but that doesn’t mean you will win the world cup or UCL with such a team.

    Aguero have never scored important goals against Bayern, Man United, Real and Barcelona? SMH, and this guy call himself an Argentina supporter. Did you know that Aguero played for Atletico Madrid before moving to City? Aguero have scored several goals against both Barcelona and Real Madrid while playing in Spain. Aguero scored a hat trick against Bayern Munich, yes and it’s still matter even if Bayern had ten players. So Italy world cup 2006 win should be discredited because they played against a Zidaneless ten men France team during the final? Your logic makes no sense. If you never know, Aguero scored against Barcelona while playing at Manchester City. Aguero scored plenty of big goals against Chelsea, the better version of Chelsea football club over the years. The biggest club goal Aguero scored was his two separate season EPL title winning goals. Nothing will top this achievement given that Manchester City had never won the EPL title before Aguero heroics. Aguero scored in the semifinal against Brazil at the 2008 Olympics tournament. Brazil had players like Ronaldinho, Thiago Silva, Marcelo, Diego Alves (GK), Lucas, Ramires, Alexandre Pato, Hernanes, Diego, Rafinha representing their country. The 2008 Olympic win was a big win for Argentina just as how it was a big win for Brazil in 2016. As for Aguero not scoring against Germany and Spain, these teams are from UEFA, Argentina don’t get to compete with UEFA teams unless it’s the world cup or some friendly organize game. Since people want to make this a big deal, how many goals have Cristiano Ronaldo score against Germany, Spain and Brazil? Zero!

    Aguero ability is not his link up play with others (including Messi) in and around the opponent goal area, if you’re a professional football player and you can’t do link up play and moves with other team mates then you have no business on a football field. Aguero strength his is sharpness and awareness inside the 18 yard and 6-yard box. Heading is the weakest part of Aguero game in the 18-yard box due to his height but he still manages to score a decent amount of headers due to his awareness and positioning inside the opponent 18-yard box. If you get the ball inside the opponent 18-yard box, the likelihood of Aguero scoring will be high. 90% of Aguero Manchester City career goals have come from inside the 18-yard box and 6-yard box area. The key to Aguero scoring for Argentina is getting good reliable support from the flanks (both sharp and precise low crosses and semi high crosses) into his path whenever he makes his move inside the opposing team 18 yard and the six-yard box. This was the case against Russia and Nigeria several months ago when he scored both of his goals from inside the 18-yard box. You guys can be hard on Aguero all you want, but if he doesn’t get decent to accurate crosses inside the opponent goal area he will be ineffective at best on the pitch (this goes for every other Argentina striker). Aguero strength is inside the 18-yard box hence the reason why Argentina need to work on the flank build up plays. It doesn’t matter if you have great midfield players, if your flanks are ineffective the likely hood of scoring is minimal. This is the reason why European club team’s best players nowadays are on the flanks. If you shut down Marcelo and keep him from going forward, the likelihood of Ronaldo scoring for Real Madrid will be minimize, but as soon as Marcelo start making his traditional overlaps into the attack, it gives Ronaldo more of a chance to score. If not Marcelo, Bale is also effective on the flanks with his pace and crossing. This was the case with Messi at Barcelona in the era of Pep with Dani Alves playing at RB. Jordi Alba is pretty decent but not at Alves (in his prime) level in terms of talent. Marcelo complement Ronaldo at Real Madrid the same as how Dani Alves use to complement Messi at Barcelona.

    The notion that Aguero is best suitable to play alongside Messi in the national team is a myth at best. There is no evidence to back this up. There are only few link up play between Messi and Aguero that comes to mind and the one I remember most is the game against Switzerland back in 2012 where Aguero and Messi had a combination of one – two passes on the edge of the Switzerland goal area which led to Messi scoring. Di Maria and Higuaín over the years have been the best link up players alongside Messi in the national team. And I would also add Lavezzi and Gago (in their prime). Countless counter attacking goals for Argentina under Sabella were started by either Higuaín, Di Maria and Messi (Higuaín started the counter attacking move which led to Lanzini goal against Italy most recently). Two of Messi three goals (hat trick) against Brazil were assisted by Higuaín and Di Maria. Messi winning goal against Bosnia Herz at the 2014 world cup was a link up play between himself and Higuaín on the top of the Bosnia Herz 18 yard. The goal against Belgium at the 2014 world cup was between Messi, Di Maria and Higuaín link play. I remember a goal during qualifiers several years ago where Gago pass the ball out from the back to Messi on a corner that Argentina conceded, Messi then sprint with the ball up field, he then passed to Higuaín on the right flank who then return the pass back to Messi inside the 18 yard for a Messi tapin in the roof of the goal net. There is not a lot of games in which I can remember Messi and Aguero being telekinetic on the pitch together. Argentina need to get good service to their strikers inside the 18-yard box, it’s that simple.

    In Argentina too much emphasis and pressure are being put on the strikers. Football is consisted of eleven players, outside of the goalie, anyone of the ten other players can be a world cup final hero. It doesn’t necessarily have to be a number nine/striker who is a world cup final hero. The last time a number nine win a world cup for his team was back during the 2002 world cup final, Brazil Ronaldo. Argentina as a team should not be limited to their strikers and Messi, winning the world cup is going to be a team effort. Some times on your way to winning the world cup, goals can come from the least expected players; Like Grosso for Italy against Germany during the 2006 world cup semifinal. Lillian Thuram for France during the 1998 world cup semifinal against the best Croatia team to this day. Puyol scoring against Germany during the 2010 world cup semifinal. Hummel’s against France at the 2014 world cup. Argentina will need a total team effort in order to win the world cup. Players outside of Messi and the strikers who I can see scoring goals at the world cup are Di Maria, Banega, Perotti, Otamendi, Lanzini, Fazio, Mecardo and Lo Celso. Hope all the players on the roster chip in.

    Another thing, so Brazil can wait on Neymar who will be out of action for up to three months with no football whatsoever, but not Aguero for Argentina who will likely recover before Neymar? Aguero is one of world football greatest strikers and should and will be at the 2018 world cup. Aguero will be fresh and ready for the round of sixteen game, I don’t even think Argentina need Aguero for the group stage games. Aguero will be like a fresh new singing by the time the first knockout game gets on the way. People need to stop beating this dead horse with regards to Icardi and Dybla because they’re not going to the 2018 world cup. There is nothing special about Icardi, just as there is nothing special about Ciro Immobile who is the leading goal scorer in Serie A. Italy is still waiting on Immobile to score a goal against Sweden for pete sake. As I said before, I like Dybala, but he should have been the new face of Argentinean football yet he has been massively disappointed. This is why he is overrated in my book, at his age with the hype, he should have done better with Argentina. Young and raring to go! Too many flop games, flop shooting and flop dribbling on Dybala part for Argentina. Maybe next time Dybala, keep working hard though. Sampaoli will be talking to all 35 players, that doesn’t mean all 35 players will be going to the world cup.

    • Buddy your over the top analysis fail when you realize Huigain missed simplest of chances for striker of his level(according to his fans like you). Give one more chance, Huigain will easily miss that one too. Sad but truth.

      • And which Argentina striker have performed in a bigger arena than Higuain in the last 20 plus years on the international stage and was successful? Higuain is not a failure because you or anybody here said so…You have no standing ground in which to call Higuain a failure. Higuain got one chance out of nothing which he missed during a world cup final which doesn’t make him a failure as you put. It’s laughable how you sit or stand where ever you at calling a professional athlete a failure. This is above your pay grade bro, you have no depth or high grounds to call Higuain a failure. I’ll leave it that cheers! A goalkeeper making a save is not a miss on the striker part, the point of a goalkeeper on the field is to keep the ball out of their goal, just as how you would want your goalkeeper keeping a clean sheet. It’s pathetic how people are trying to blame Higuain for Juventus losing out to Real Madrid. So why haven’t Juventus won the UCL prior to Higuain signing since 1995 or 1998 (not sure)? We’re talking about Real Madrid here, nobody gave Juventus a chance from the beginning. And who scored the goals and made an assist against Tottenham so that Juventus could at least make the quarterfinal? Wasn’t the game against Spurs an important game? How many goals have Lewandowsky, Suarez, Benzema etc. score in this season UCL?

        • Again as i said, you do not need 100 years of History that Huigain missed an easy chance. Put other 99% striker, they would bury it. Also Huigain has not performed for club level also in bigger stages. He has never score in tight CL contest. In fact it is Mendiukez who score more than Huigain in their important CL clash. As barca fan, i was watching Juventus vs Barca in 2017 CL game; when Huigain got the chance i never panicked as i knew he would miss. He is that terrible and we do not need your 1000 year history to realize that. IF ARGENTINA WANTS TO SUCCEED, HUIGAIN MUST NO GO FOR ME.

          • Messi and Palacio also missed easy chance in the finals back in 2014. So you only want to focus on the Higuain miss and not Messi and Palacio? Ok bro, you’re not selecting the roster so you have no say on who goes to the world cup and Higuain will be Argentina #9 in Russia. Why talk about the same thing over and over when everyone already knows Higuain will be at the world cup? I can assure you that Higuain will be one of the first player on the plane to Russia. You’re getting too emotional bro just take a deep breath.

          • Higuain missed 3 vital chances in 3 consecutive finals, 2 of which were laughable misses, deal with it!! The guy has done well for the NT for a certain time but in the last 4 years he’s been nothing but a giant failure and it’s time for him to step aside and let someone else have a shot.

    • I dont have any more faith in aguero or higuain. we all know in knock out matches these two strikers need 10 chances to convert a single goal.we also know we will not get that much chances in knockout games especially in world cup.they both are good for club teams.argentina needs strikers who put ball in to the net only in 1 or 2 chances or we say in half chances.Higuain is mentally weak and always choke in crucial moment,Aguero is simply Injury prone .so these 2 players are great only in club football.Sampaoli final squad selection will give all of us the kind of tactics we are going to implement during world cup. i just hope sampaoli select those players who will give there heart and soul for sky blue. vamos albiceleste…

      • Alam: All Argentinean players as far as I’m concern are mentally weak and have been choke artist since the 1994 world cup. It takes a lot of patience (years of patience) to be an Argentina football fan, if not, I would stop following the team a long time ago. Higuain is no exception! Icardi and Dybala were choke artist against Uruguay and Venezuela.

  17. Good News!! Hope he goes to Russia; Atleast as a sub he adds value; We need variation among our strikers and need someone good in the air & a poacher for the crosses coming in; Icardi’s link up play in yesterday’s match was also really good;

  18. Great news.
    Also, Rulli back in action from injury after two months. Its been a good game till now.
    I want Rulli too going to Russia to get a WC experience. Probably he will be Argentina’s first choice GK at 2022 WC, here in Qatar.

  19. Great news..Hope Sampaoli have balls to include Inform players.If Sampaoli wants great cup in Russia he must select Fit and Inform players.

  20. Looks like the injury to lazy aguero is the reason for icardi consideration. This also proves sampaoli is not convinced with higuain which is good news.

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