Argentina training session from Saturday night

By
Roy Nemer
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38
Argentina team training
Argentina National Team players during training.

Argentina coach Jorge SAMPAOLI put out the same ten players on Saturday night as he did earlier in the week.

With the match against Haiti on Tuesday, Jorge SAMPAOLI looks set to have found his starting outfield players but questions remain over the starting goalkeeper. Here were the ten in training:

ANSALDI; OTAMENDI, FAZIO, TAGLIAFICO; LANZINI, MASCHERANO, LO CELSO; MESSI, HIGUAIN, DI MARIA

Eduardo SALVIO was brought in and replaced Manuel LANZINI.

This is the same ten players which were tried on Friday. As mentioned, still no word on who will be the starting goalkeeper.

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38 Comments

  1. —–Messi——————–Aguero—————–Dybala
    —–DiMaria——————Biglia—————–Pavon
    ——-Fazio——-Mascherano—Otamendi—–Tagliafico
    —————————Caballero———————-

  2. To me – we have a good team, Sampa did great job selecting players. Its a superb total combination of young guns and experienced vaterns. I wish them luck and hope they can learn quickly what Sampa instruct them to do in the field. Sampa is a professional coach – he knows what he is upto and what to do. He definitely has plans. He has selected players who can play multiple positions. And I like the idea of choosing super offensive 2-3-3-2 formation, it means Argentina is gonna play super passing, quick transition, high pressing, attacking football and I love this idea. We have players for this kind of football so we should be ok.

    People here says – our defense is weak. Well look at Man City. Do they have very big big names in their defense? Nope. Ota and Fazio is fine. They’r gonna do great. Ansaldi and Tagli is also great. They are fast and skillful, they’r gonna be a shock for other teams like Rojo of 2014. Our subs are also well selected. Marcado may be not as much skillful as Ota or Fazio but he is strong like a beast.

    For the first time in a decade I’m really hopefull with our mid. LoCelso, Lanzini, Meza, Pavon all are master class players. I’m sure after the WC Pavon will among the top of Hot List players seeking by big European clubs.

    Our Attack was always superb but was totally one man Messi dependent. But this time with Kun and Dybala he’ll be able to move free and play his game as he plays in Barca. Guys you may not agree with me but Higu is still good choice for us for the plan Sampa has right now. He need plays who can contribute in attack build up. Kun, Dybala, Higu all are like that. Icardi, no doubt one of the best forward right now, is not like Kun or Dybala or Higu. He is more like a Poacher. He rarely contributes in build ups. Sampa is gonna play super passing build up play like Spain. Think why Spain still a huge force without having a stricker like Icardi. They are making and choosing players like Kum in the forward. Icardi is not fit for the system right now. I think Sampa was in pressure to call Icardi so he is in 35 list, otherwise he may not made the list.

    So guys have some faith and wish our team luck. Get behind them as always. We love Argentina so we are with them, right!!
    Lets make it possible…
    Together for a dream…♥♥

  4. Why isn’t Sampaoli able to construct a team with both Messi n Dybala playing in the first XI?
    To be honest,I felt a spark whenver they played together which can really be a fire under Sampaoli.

    • We struggled to qualify for the World Cup due to lack of goals from our attacking players. Prime reason being Messi isolated in the front or Messi too deep in our half to collect the ball and hence a mile gap between midfield and strikers. The reason Suarez has been scoring tons of goals is due to Messi playing upfront and hence drawing defenders away from others. To have Messi playing close to the opposition’s post we have to have good CMs and FBs that is why Sampaoli has selected more attacking and less defensive minded players which affects the balance of the team but Sampaoli wants play attacking football which is our strength. With the selection of new and young players like Lo-celso, Lanzini, Meza, Pavon, Dybala , Salvio,Acuna we shouldn’t have problem creating chances and to convert those chances into goals we need Messi and Aguero upfront our two lethal goal scorers.

      As per media reports Sampa’s playing x1 could look like with Messi playing false 9 role.

      ————-Caballero
      Ansaldi-Otamendi-Fazio-Tagliafico
      ————–Biglia
      —-Lo-celso–Lanzini–Di maria
      ————-Messi
      —————-Aguero

      Opponent teams may go for Bus parking strategy against us but this team can still create plenty of chances but my concern is will lo-celso ,Lanzini and Di maria provide cover to our defense when counter attacked? Ansaldi playing in the right full back position will certainly help Messi and Aguero. Keeping the possession of the ball is key for us with only 5 man defending . Lo-celso and Lanzini are going to be crucial here!!

      • those 3 may not be great defenders but will press hard so counters will be neutralized i hope.sampaoli should work on locelso’s defensive work he sometimes gets nervous and makes mistakes.

  5. Does anybody happen to know what formation Sampaoli is using for this lineup? This looks like a 4-3-3 which I don’t like since it has Messi in the wing. He’s way more dangerous behind the striker in my opinion.

    I am hoping it is a 4-2-3-1

    GK
    Ansaldi – Ota – Fazio – Tag
    Mascherano – Lo Celso
    Lanzini – Messi – DiMaria
    Higuain

    • Sampaoli just trying things.still 19 days left so just chill.main training will happen in Barcelona.they will be practicing in Barcelona for close to 2 weeks before moving to Russia

    • It must be 4_2_3_1.
      I don’t see a chance Lanzini not playing in wings. A 4_3_3 with higuain in centre will be blunder.

  6. i think this will be in sampaoli mind..

    —————————–cabellero—————————-

    —ansaldi(salvio)—————-otamendi(marcado)——————fazio(rojo)——-taglifico(acuna)—

    =============================biglia(mascherano)======================

    ———lanzini(pavon)———————–locelso(banega)——————–dimaria(meza)———-

    ================messi(dybala)————————————aguero(higuain)===========

    while defending it will be 4-4-2

    ansaldi—————————otamendi—————————-fazio————————taglifico–

    lanzini———————–biglia—————————locelso——————————dimaria—

    —————————————–messi—————————-aguero——————

    when team need to goals he will change formation 3-5-2–

    ————————————————cabellero——————————————

    ————-otamendi—————————–mache———————————rojo————-

    salvio————–lanzini————————————locelso—————————acuna–

    ————————-messi——————————————–dybala/dimaria—–

    ————————————————–kun———————————————–

  7. as i am said lanzini—- and locelso—- is argentina xavi and iniesta…. quickly sampaoli realize that… both of them box to box midfielder… both are good with pressing tackling.. and intercepting… this what messi needed…. worldcup will be decide by these three players…. lanzini -locelso- aguero… these members are important after messi…. some of them worry about higuain… i dont care…. because… this time messi wont be man marked …. first time messi will get chance form others… i think that comes from lanzini and locelso and aguero…. many of them asked why messi not performed like he did with barcelona…. argentina never attacks with fullbacks and box to box midfielder… when messi gets the balll in barca… five barca players ahead of him… and he can have space…. but with argentina… when messi gets the ball… five opponent will be ahed of him…… previously… argentina center back are ball watching…. only mascherano plays with the ball… this time otamendi … fazio… can pass long balls…. what masherano did previosly..

    last world cup … when dimaria injured we have enzo perez… complete… change… 2014 bench was aweful…. but now.. if dimaria injured we have meza… pavon…. both are unknow weapon…

    i am sure first match is difficult… i believe this team will get better and better as long as tournment goes on… locelso and lanzini are better version of pastore and banega….. these two man key to world cup success… this time messi dont need higuain…. messi will score in the final…. mark my word… only concern is defensive mid… biglia or mache need to be sharp then ever… haiti… and isral…. i am expecting minimum five aganist them…

    • Agree, in the previous WC, when Di Maria got injured we were forced to use Enzo which he is not a winger. It changed our game and our team could not get use to it.

      This time if Di Maria is injured, we have Pavon, Meza, Salvio, Acuna.

      If Higuain or Aguero choke, we can move Messi to CF and Dybala to play Messi’s role (Assume Sampaoli is willing to do this).

      If Banega is not playing well we have Lanzini, Meza, etc…

      We have more options this time.

      It would be even better if we have Icardi. I think Acuna is not necessary since we have Ansaldi for LB/RB and Pavon, Meza and Salvio as wingers now. But anyway, it is too late to say this.

      • Great points there Arjunan and batigol. I like how this team’s cover is compared to the last tournament. Many versatiles are there to provide interesting backups.

    • Xavi iniesta was genius at their peak.lanzini and locelso are no xavi iniesta nobody could be.Argentina would be different from that Barcelona side.that team was something else.we are subsequently weak than that Barcelona team.but with sampaoli preferring higuain caballero we are going to struggle plus our defence is also quite weak if we concede 3-4 goals every now and then we cant win.

      • I don’t think Sampaoli prefers Higuaín more… I think it’s just a matter of precaution – Agüero has just returned from injuries so there’s no reason to start him in a friendly VS Haiti when the WC is right around the corner.

        Mascherano over Biglia – I think that’s just a matter of Masch still being the better player. Way better passer for sure and still a better defender in my opinion.

      • Victor Valdes is Barcelona golden generation goalkeeper is back up for casias in Spain but in pep system Valdes never benched, Kairus is good keeper makes error cost ucl final, neuer error cost Germany euro, Higuain contribute more than Icardi as a team player, cabarello is good with feet, now its upto Armani how he impress sampaoli ultimately nothing is bigger than system. Lo Celso has huge potential to be honest and Lanzini is better than benga no doubt.

      • they are not xavi and iniesta… but they have great potential…. paulinho looks beast when played with messi… you will see the diference… when those three combine… break all the defense with ease… mark my word…

    • You are absolutely right. I have also high hopes on locelso and lanzini. Current Argentina MF are always go for back pass and side pass. Other than Messi No one is ready to go for forward pass or taking the ball forward. That was the reason why we lacked goals in the last World Cup and after that also. But these players Lanzini, Lo celso, Meza are in a different league , they always look for fwd pass or dribble and go fwd. That’s what we lacked, just breaking the opponent defense. I was very satisfied with the way we played against Spain recently , We opened Spain’s world famous defense lots of time but unfortunately we didn’t capitalize the opportunity we got. This time Messi will be playing more closer to the box and scoring lots of goals. Vamos Argentina

  8. Obviously sampaoli never liked higuain but I can sense some pressure from within has forced him to include higuain.I don’t know is it tapia or messi I don’t know and we never get to know this.now we only can speculate

  9. “I have to say some guys here in Mundo are delusionals to say Higuain is not a chocker”

    @Julker, they are ready to believe in that no matter how bad finished-and-flop Higuain chokes. And at the end of the day they are also ready to come up with a very, very long post which has the following conclusion:

    1) Higuain is a world-class striker
    2) Icardi is a choker
    3) Banega is the greatest Argentine midfielder ever
    4) Batistuta, Redondo, Simeone, Crespo, Zanetti, Riquleme, Aimar, Veron, Ayala, Heinze, and Sorin = overrated players

    This is what they are selling in the market…………Hahahahaha

  10. Guys, Higuian chokes no doubt, but his hold up play and final passes are pretty good. It’s just that he can’t score. I don’t think Sampa counting on him to score after seeing his horrible misses. He can hold 2 defenders quite easily creating space and opportunity for others to go forward. He is needed to nuetralize teams like Nigeria and Iceland.

    • Malabari , i am also keralite.but how can u use such a good English. I have been trying years.I am not getting that words at times

  11. Both Di Maria and Higuain should not be included in the starting x1 ..tried of seeing their performances. Higuain can be used as a sub for Ageuro and Dybala/Pavon/Meza inplace of DiMaria..

  12. I think the weak links in the team are Mascherano and Biglia. One or the other is gonna play as the 5,hopefully they can turn back time and play at the level of 2014,because at a minimum thats the level they will need to play at for Argentina to have a good chance of winning the world cup.

  13. I have to say some guys here in Mundo are delusionals to say Higuain is not a chocker! After what Higuain done with Argentina it’s a crime to say he is the best no 9 we have!! Because he is not.

    Do you guys really think if Argentina reach another final in Russia, players like Higuain can be able to do a Gareth Bale/Manzdukich like golazos?

    Surely you know the answer very well!

    Argentina’s hopes in the penalty box area are mostly depends on the performance of Aguero. If Kun fail to deliver in this WC, it’s better to say goodbye before Semi.

    Argentina have to score in every match. Hopefully we’ll get some goals in crucial moments from our midfielders. Pavon /Lanzini /Lo Celso/Meza are those names in my eyes.

    • I still can imagine Higuain scoring somewhere in early stages but he is completely unable to be striker for Argentina in crucial moments. Whenever I see his eyes in important games I see fright in. The guy is just weak mentally.

      The fact Higuain was poor in NT so long time (even in friendlies) makes him just last man to trust in.

      And everytime when I realize he is once again with us on big tournament after all his horrible fails I feel things and reality not that real as if it were rather jumbled dreams.

      • Higuain has the ability to destroy teams like Iceland or hurt the Nigerian defence. But when he comes up against household name keepers, then he struggles or caves in. He hesitates by taking an extra touch in the box or he shoots wildly.
        Again and again this comes down to mental health for Higuain. He has never recovered from the nightmare of 2014 which consequently went into 2015 and 2016 copas.
        It’s such a shame. You all know when he began the impact he had for Madrid.
        The toll of those finals have really deep rooted itself within him.
        I struggle to like Higuain. For the pain that has been embedded into our souls it’s hard to forgive him.
        When he says he doesn’t care what the fans think…..That’s a cop out! He should listen and tackle it head on. He needs to get support and fight those demons. His response to the fans is to score the goal.. the goal that wins it all!
        I really hope this year is his year of redemption. He can then bury the burden engraved in his mind, soul and spirit.

  14. I dont think we should use Higuain in the XI with all due respect. He just cant deliver at the right time. Its tested. I dont have a problem with him in the bench just in case. Though I would have liked Icardi there. But decision is taken and I support my team. But instead of using Higuain we should use more of Aguero and Dybala nore to gel into the team and excel at the right time. Aguero I think is a better option than Higuain.

  15. ……….Argentina in 2022
    Rulli

    Bustos. Funes mori. Pazzela .Tagliafico

    —————–ascasibar———–

    Lanzini . ——- —- messi…—— —Pavon

    ——–dybala———————icardi——–

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