Gonzalo HIGUAIN could get the nod ahead of Sergio AGUERO versus Iceland at the 2018 FIFA World Cup.
Argentina coach Jorge SAMPAOLI looks to have found his starting eleven for his team’s opening match. In place of the injured Manuel LANZINI would be Maxi MEZA and HIGUAIN would start ahead of the Manchester City man. Here is what TyC Sports is reporting to be the rumored eleven:
CABALLERO; MERCADO, OTAMENDI, ROJO, TAGLIAFICO; MASCHERANO, LO CELSO; MEZA, MESSI, DI MARIA; HIGUAIN
That would mean the starting goalkeeper would be Chelsea’s Willy CABALLERO while Manchester United’s Marcos ROJO starts instead of Roma’s Federico FAZIO beside Manchester City’s Nicolas OTAMENDI. In midfield, it would be the same pairing as the one versus Haiti, it’s Javier MASCHERANO with Giovani LO CELSO. Maxi MEZA in for LANZINI with MESSI, DI MARIA and HIGUAIN spearheading the attack.
Hope Higuain gets his goal quickly in 1st half of 1st game
Vamos Argentinos
Man, why there’s more negativity than usual here?
Argentina will peak at the right time, the team will look beastly…not even Germany will stand a chance… Vamos Argentina.
If any of you think any of the players selected in the squad is sh*t, keep your mouth SHUT.
We don’t want fu*king negativity here any more.
I wanted some players not to be selected incl Higuain, Biglia etc. However, once Sampaoli selected them, I have supported them 100%. Because I fully trust Sampaoli. I know that if these players were selected, its because the coach see they are the best available. If Higuain is playing instead of Aguero, its because Sampa thinks Higuain is better than Aguero due to many circumstances which include team tactics, opposition, fitness, height etc.
This is also an answer to Friends club allegations. Everyone knows Aguero is Messi’s close friend at the NT. If he is thinking about friendship on the pitch as some *morons* here think, Aguero would have played as #9 all the time.
Today morning sampaoli start Aguero as 9 later on higuine came as a sub & also biglia start later macherano replace him.
No biglia was a sub today.mascherano played as a starter
Is meza better than Salvio?????
Look at the stats
Salvio–19 games —9 goals and 4 assists
The stat is simply comparable or even better than lanzini……..
He has better speed than lanzini too….and can help in defence in the right….
We have mascerano, locelco ,messi who can stablize centre of midfield……
Meza– 17 caps — 3 goals and 4 assists
Meza is also good but salvio is highly experienced and better scorer..
What do u guys think?????
He was pathetic whenever put in NT in his favourite position, as an attacking winger.
Example was the crucial match against Ecuador. He was visible no where.. had hardly any contribution.
But now he did well in RB role against Haiti..
If he can repeat that in RM or RW role, he’s a decent bet..
But i will stick with Meza, one he is a fresh player, & highly creative unlike salvio..
But ya defensively Salvio will be a better pick, if we go by thump rule
salvio or ansaldi as RB and meza in Place of Lanzini Would be Perfect
My Starting XI would be:
Armani
Ansaldi. Ota. Rojo. Tagli
Masche Lo Celso
Dybala. Messi. Pavon
Aguero
Sampouli prefer Heiguine to Aguero because Aguero is not 100% and save Aguero for ko. I prefers fazio to rojo and salvio to meza.
The problem with Higauin is that he is not enjoying his game. He has too much fear in his mind. Even the forward players of Zambia and Uganda will not fear team like Brazil and Germany Don’t know why Higuain want Argentina let down??? Is thier any ego that killing him that he think himself he is better than Messi because he was a former real Madrid player and cr7’s friend. He didn’t realise same real madrid kicked him out becuase of his poor performances.
In fact, Higuain was doing pretty well in Real, playing both a winger and striker, scoring a lot of goals, although he wasn’t a starter on the beginning. He started to mess up later, from the World Cup final.
Which kind of attacking football sampoli is playing with mercado he should start with either ansaldi or salvio.
He is going with defensive stability.you can’t always attack only.you have to maintain the balance.
Messi needs someone flying down the right wing
And Salvio was the guy to replace lanzini down the right to over lap Messi
Meza will just cut in and hold ball up
I also prefer FAZIO over Rojo
Seem Sampaoli picking the team vs Spain
Well so be it. Good luck to him. Hope he finds form during the group matches. We can have many opinion but its sampa’s team and he is the best judge.
Higuain isn’t same like 2yr ago, he lost his prime. Biglia although lost his prime but macherano is finished. Therefore Biglia and Aguero will be the starting lineup without a doubt. But both player coming from injury and may not be at 100% so Higuain starting is justified as no Icardi or lautro in the squad.
Everybody here talking about Higuain vs Aguero. What strikes me is how Rojo came higher in the pecking order.
Maybe rojo impressed sampaoli in training.he maybe not happy with Fazio
Probably has to do with speed! Sampaioli is counting on Icland defending deep and going om the counterattack and Rojo is faster then Fazio.
The thing that intrest med the most is seeing how Messis position will be. He always goes deep to collect the ball, hopefully with Meza and Lo Celso that will not happen.
Also Aguero and Pavon coming in as subs against tired Icland Defense is great, there speed will do wonders.
Sampaioli is starting the game with Mercado instead of Salvio shows he is taking a cautious approach.
This team will keep growing as the tournament proceeds. Brazil i believe has peaked early.
Lets support the team no matter what!!! Vamos Argentina!
Yes lets be behind our team putting our choices aside. Lets do it together. I wish Sampa all the success in his tactics.
Comment: yes but we ppl /argentina fans we madly want success dats y we always terrified huguin as iyr 1st choice.. For me i do prefered dybala a head of higuian.
It was almost certain that, Higuain was ahead of Kun in this new 2_3_3_2 set up of Sampoli. I don’t think this is limited to a few games or It is because of Aguero’s injury…
Many people have reported about it, that Messi choosing the best tactical lineup where he can play his most favourite role, the second striker to a Number 9.
I am not saying Sampoli won’t change this, and Aguero won’t start matches in later stage..
But it’s little difficult for me to believe, sampoli will change a vital position in the line up, that is No 9, unless something scary happened.. because he’s the only no 9 we have..
Idea of Kun coming as super sub is exciting, he’s not the old aguero any more, he has a new energy after the surgery. I am certain that, Higuain will show justice to his own ability, and to the trust Argentina put on him.
Vamos.
Well said and keep up the positive energy. They probably think this is my account too.
Incorrect, Sampa came out on record and said that his starting 3 (if all fit) are lio, maria and kun. The only reason kun isn’t starting (if the rumors are true that is) is because he’s not fully fit.
I was very hopeful that with this decent squad we could challenge for winning it if defence is sorted.but looks like again we will fall short because of our manager stupidity.all the managers pakerman to bielsa and even sabella made wrong choices in the most important time.now sampaoli also doing it by starting higuain.higuain is finished has no passion left in him.he may do wonders in practice but his mental block can damage us in actual world cup.use dybala if you can’t use aguero at least try dybala as forward in training
How many World Cup goals have Aguero score? How many World Cup goals have Higuain score? I’ll leave it at that. Higuain winner vs Belgium was an important goal, the winner that took Argentina to their first semi in over 20 plus years. Higuain is just better, he scores at world cups, he can hold up play and Higuain assisted Messi for the first goal against Bosnia Herzegovina back in 2014 during Argentina opening game. Show me Aguero contribution over Higuain at the World Cup? The last Copa tournament Higuain scored more goals than Aguero, scored in both the quarterfinal and semifinal. Higuain is a tournament player period. And don’t even bring up the UCL because Romario, Bebeto and Ronaldo never won the UCL.
Aguero coming from the injury that’s the only reason Higuain starts Iceland games. In KO round, Aguero will be starting unless Higuain is in excellent form.
Higuain was always going to start ahead of Aguero, he has been doing so in the last several tournaments, it has nothing to do with Aguero injury.
aguero is far far better than higuain……. he will score final minute goal…. but higuain… is a choker…. this tournment hero will be lo celso, messi, aguero, otamendi…. i will tell the reason sampoalli chooses higuain over aguero,…. iceland will defend deppely… with aguero will be surrounded three or four players… higuain height is difference…. then only match higuain going to start in this world cup…. i am 100% sure….
I’m a fan of both Aguero and Higuain but you are free to carry on arguing over them though. What I stated was facts between the two players not made up fiction.
Every team will put 2-3 players to mark Messi
In such situation I don’t think Higuain is better than Kun
Not so long ago Kun was in your staring line-up ahead of Higuain. What happened again?
i love every argentine player…. in 2o10 higuain playing for madrid at top level… in 2014… aguero had injury problems… in 2015 aguero started…. against uruguay… he won the match with header… and injured in training… higuain got the chance…. in 2016… higuain come with seria a record.. thats why… he gets the nod… ahead of aguero…. how many matches higuain played… in world cup;.. with a starter… and aguero as a starter… higuain played many… thats why he scored 5 goals…. one against belgium…. then… in group stage… round of 16 and semi and three finals…. and 2010 he scored hatrick… apart from that…. higuain is just nothing…. but still he has the chance against iceland…. i am damn sure he wont score… but aguero this time…. had very less injury… and tactically… he learned lot from guardiola and i hope many of them improved… mache also under sampoali.. in his midfield position… he always gave 200% on argentina shirt… he is the best tackler the game ever had… lanzini injury…. heart broken news for me… but… we have meza and pavon…. and kid… your facts are wrong…. aguero more talendted than higuain…and better finisher… too..
Not true, higuain started in 2010 WC that’s true but in 2014 they both started while in 2015 kun started and in 2016 Higuain started ahead of kun only because kun came in injured.
Also before kun’s injury and surgery Sampaoli went on record and said that if fit messi, kun and maria are the starting 3 up front.
There is no such certainty, except this group, there was a consensus among people who watching sampoli closely, that, he was going to use only a proper number 9 with messi.
Aguero having best chemistry with messi is a myth. No one knows messi better than Higuain in Argentina team. They have been playing together for centuries. Brought us to 3 consecutive finals(a rare n great achievement in world football).
Higuain had a great role in all 3 tournaments. Had sone fantastic goals in Copa. What happened in finals is pure bad luck for the team. I won’t blame only higain for that..
And said that Aguero coming from bench is really a grwat idea. It is better than losing him in the beginning of Kockouts again.
2 shocking misses in 14 and 16 and a bad miss in 15 had nothing to do with bad luck and everything to do with Higuain being one of biggest chokers in NT history. The fact that some of you still support him is truly bewildering.
That’s 4 years back.aguero always plays out of position in national team because of stupid argentine managers.best version of higuain was the 2010 wc version but now he is not the same higuain.4 years is a lot of time.besides in 2014 he only scored that goal against Belgium.last time higuain scored for Argentina was way back in 2016. This season in juventus also he scored only 16 league goals playing whole season.while aguero recent form is tremendous.he was scoring lots of goals for city and also for Argentina he scored for 3 consecutive games.he is also more talented than higuain and if sampaoli plays him in his natural position he will score goals and also create chances for others.he should be our undisputed starter.higuain has passed his prime.he was a great poacher when he was young but right now he has a mental block.he can press he can create chances but cant finish chances which is the primary job of a striker.
Higuain was voted Juventus best player this season by the fans. Answer my question though, how many goals have Aguero score at the two World Cups he participated in? And even in CONMEBOL World Cup qualifiers and Copa America tournaments Higuain have scored way more goals than Aguero ( we’re talking about official goals here not friendly goals). This decision was a very easy one for Sampaoli and Messi. With Messi lack of defending during a game, Higuain makes up for that on the pitch with his pressing and tracking back. The problem with Aguero is that the chance of him pulling his hamstring at the World Cup is really high, I hope it doesn’t happen, but it is a highly possibility.
I agree with Sampaoili that maybe he has a plan for Higuain I wont question his decision. I am behind tge team no matter what. But stats wont do justice with Aguero here. He was never given enough chances like Higuain in WC. Plus Aguero was caring knee Injury for a while. Aguero is way faster, sharper and accurate then today’s old Higuain. Sorry Kid your analyse does wont count in 2018. Its not the same Higuain. Plus he flopped 3 Finals. I just cant trust him but i ll trust Sampaoli and support our starting XI.
Argentina “flopped” in three finals not Higuain friend. Football is a team sport. Aguero didn’t score against Germany and Chile either.
Yes you are right Friend we flopped in those 3 Finals. But Higuain could have scored where he missed easy sitters. It could have been a different story if he made his easy chances and what the team had assisted him with. He chokes in serious situations and it has become a fact statistic. Cant argue with that. Long story short if Higuain can change that in this Final (I hope we wiil make it) i ll be one of the happiest person but it seems very unlikely cos he has passed his prime now. And the other 2 (Kun and Dubala) did not.
Quote: Higuain was voted Juventus best player this season by the fans.
Which fans? Apart from his midseason dip Dybala was way better and so was Douglas Costa for that matter
Quote:
how many goals have Aguero score at the two World Cups he participated in?
you mean 2010 when he was a sub or 2014 when he got injured? Look I didn’t (and still don’t) want Kun in the team because he is always a fitness liability but if and when he’s fully fit he’s unlikely to choke and s**t the bed like Higuain.
Quote: And even in CONMEBOL World Cup qualifiers and Copa America tournaments Higuain have scored way more goals than Aguero
Not true, in 2014 WCQ kun scored 5 from 7starts and Higuain 10 from 14, same ratio.
In 2011 copa, kun scored 3 from 2 starts and Higuain scored 1 from 2 start.
In 2015 copa kun scored 3 from 5 starts and in 2016 Higuain scored 4 from 6 starts.
Their stats are very similar so ease up on the Higuain scoring “way more than” kun statement.
Ultimately I didn’t want either kun or Higuain to be at the WC but since they are I would take a fit kun over that choker any day of the week and twice on sunday.
Its 23 players squad…not 22…otherwise its was better to ask higuain to sit in messi’s room in barcelona which will be vacant until july 15th..i repeat july 15 th…
Its a long tournament and rushing half fit kun to the pitch against the likes of iceland is not a wise idea.lets see what higuain brings this time…luckily we have more mobile midfield this time and i am sure we will create a lot of chances against iceland and hope higuain will tap in atleast one.
If its not we have pavon,aguero,dybala waiting in the bench..its too early to panic…
It’s okay. Higuain won’t play all world cup matches 90 mins. It’s highly possible that we reach at least quarter final minimum so Higuain as starter against Iceland doesn’t mean much.
And Higuain isn’t really that bad in group stages. He’s only has bad luck in knock out, especially final. And if we consider probability theory, he could score at this WC, following failures in the previous one and copas.
Higuain is shit right now.he may cost us.
Aguero injured in first game is more conscious than Higuain starting. Let Aguero become 100% match fit and Higuain get confidence scoring goals in group stage, Biglia and Aguero will start ahead of mache and Higuain unless both came from world cup spot losing injury
Our chances decrease 50% with this news.
Kun is not completely match fit yet hence why Higuain is starting. Will likely come as a sub though…Anyhow, Caballero, Meza, Tagliafico and Lo Celso in the starting line-up, and Pavon coming off the bench, who would have thought it possible a year ago?
The news headline is not helping here Roy!! Its just going to add more fuel to the fire 😁😁😀😀
On a serious note, it makes sense that Higuain starts and Aguero comes off the bench in the first game as its impossible for Aguero’s body to last 7 games in 1 month. But if we can’t win this game because of Higuain’s misses then Aguero and Dybala should be ahead Higuain in pecking order. Its useless saving Aguero for the knockouts if we can’t make it out of the group stages!! I don’t want another 2002 world cup all over again!!
If we don’t win the first match then we may get knocked out in group stages also.it will be really tough then.is sampaoli taking Iceland lightly?? They are quite tricky Argentina need to be at their absolute best to beat them
Well I am sure Sampaoli did his calculations because he only picked 2 pure strikers as Dybala is not a striker he is a attacking mid/2nd-ish striker (but with good finishing skills) and Messi is going to play a false 9. But with Meza,Locelso & Dimaria in the midfield Messi won’t have to drop deep to collect the ball.Also Dimaria instead of passing can’t shoot when Messi is clearly at better position to score like in the Haiti game. Most important thing beside winning is the team has to get into rhythm by developing chemistry and play as a team not depend solely on Messi! If we can win all three games and Keep Aguero fit by giving him 30 mins/per game(given we win the first game) then Aguero will start in the knockouts and we all know there are very few strikers better than fit Aguero . Dybala also should be given some time on the pitch as we are going to need him sharp for the knockouts.But if Higuain chokes Dybala should start.
Bogus decision if its true.higuain can’t perform and if he scores against Iceland we may win the match but higuain will book the starting spot and we are doomed
Sampa wants Higuain to make a goal to build his confidence back. Kun and Pavon for Maria will be the subs on second half. As well we need a good runner to penetrate the Iceland wall. The most difficult match will be the first and last games. Stay Fit and blessed
I agree Higuain is already in the team why not give him a chance boost his confidence level. He has a chip on his shoulder he’s going to prove everyone wrong. Remember that!
He had that chip for years & he continued to miss chances. It is personality issue and that will not change.
Our main objective is to win.this team is not higuain’s property.
Did not like Higuain’s inclusion in the 23 to begin with now he is in Starting XI. Its not his form its his choking ability in Big Games that i am worried about. Mash and DiMaria might not be the same anymore but they are not chockers. They try hard.
Anyway it does not matter anymore. My opinion does not count. But my support counts. So Its time we all get behind this team together and believe in Sampaoli no matter what. We dont know whats in his mind so he knows better why he chose this team. I have my 100% support for Argentina.
Vamos Albiceleste.
At this point there is no reason to say that Higuain is this or that. There must be something that managers see in him that make him preferred to Sergio Aguero.
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