Argentina vs. Iceland – World Cup match thread

By
Roy Nemer
-
267
Lionel Messi Argentina
Lionel Messi for Argentina. Picture via Nicolás Aboaf.

It’s been nearly four years since Argentina last took to the pitch at a FIFA World Cup but today, the dream restarts.

Jorge SAMPAOLI has announced his Argentina starting eleven for the match against Iceland and it’s the one he has been trying in training all week. Willy CABALLERO will be the first goalkeeper not named Sergio ROMERO to start for Argentina at a FIFA World Cup since Roberto ABBONDANZIERI in 2006 against Germany.

Here’s Argentina’s starting eleven:

CABALLERO; SALVIO, OTAMENDI, ROJO, TAGLIAFICO; MASCHERANO, BIGLIA; MEZA, MESSI, DI MARIA; AGUERO

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267 Comments

  1. Comment:yes bross u r ryt cox it making sence that lo celso for bigilia’ bigilia always slowing down our midfild. N we need dybala for helping within creating chances many more.. And taking some of set picies.

  2. Comment: we need at least three changes marcado for salvio dybala/pavon for di maria and the most one we need is armani for that shaky cavalero

  3. We may Cry, we can think, we can make our own starting XI but nothing is in our hand. Things may work or may not work our coaches will not change.

    For me the biggest culprit is Sampoli and his team selection. Over confidence, declaring the team 72 hours before the match. I cannot see any improvement in our game if we compare with Tata Martino (yes better than Bauza off-course)

    – For how many years our midfield means Mascherano and Bigila? I doubt whether Xavi-Iniesta played those many matches for Spain together. Whenever Bigila is not in the team we played better. What was his contribution today other than slowing down the midfield and making few back-passes? In Copa 2016 we were superb throughout but just before the final Agusto was injured and Bigila back in the team, same story continues, we were poor in the final again. For the last 6 months Sampoli was building midfield around Lo Celso now just 6 days before Sampoli changed his mind and put Mascherano-Bigila together.
    Is this Sampoli’s decision alone? I really doubt. How Bigila is always a starter?

    – Otamendi and Rojo started only 1 match earlier against Spain and we know the result. But again Otamendi and Rojo, not Fazio. Whenever Iceland attacked, we paniked. Can’t imagive what will happen when Brazil, Germany or Spain will attack us. May be this is our best possible option. Willy failed to clear a single ball comfortably. Very very poor, suddently I am missing Romero the most.

    – Tite needed just 2 games to utilize Coutinho and Neymar together, even though their playing position almost same and it’s more than 6 months Sampoli failed to find a way to use both Messi and Dybala together. Is Sampoli even tried to use them together? No, because Dybala was not even selected for several matches and just before World Cup because of criticism he had to take one of Dybala and Icardi, he decided to go for Dybala.

    How Sampoli can be so dumb to include Bigila and omitting Dybala? That cannot be his choice alone..

    – 10 out of 11 Iceland players are more than 6 ft tall then why Fazio was not in the team? We played with one Center-back in defense.

    – In Practice session I have seen how short of confidence Willy was. In training he doesn’t even have any clue where Messi or Dybala was placing their shots in the goal. Only Armani blocked few shots, I have seen. Despite conceding 5 goals out of 5 shots against Spain, still Sampoli started with Willy, who is really slow, has poor reflexes and short of confidence.

    – Di Maria – Only 22 seconds on the clock Di Maria lost his first ball position and from there he never recovered. Not even tried to linkup with taglifico whereas as soon as Pavan came he linked with taglifico as well as tried to link with Messi and other forwards. Why always Di Maria?

    Now Messi, if you look at the highlight of the match, then one cannot say that he was that poor other than miss-penalty and free-kicks. Messi had his moment and on some other day he would have scored at least 1 goal. But what disappointed me the most was his body-language. He started well despite he was tightly marked. 15/16 minutes on the clock he wanted return ball but I believe Meza (or someone else?) failed to place the ball the way he wanted and I saw him throwing his hand out of disappointments then entire first half and early 2nd half I saw Messi head down, walking on the ground. 2nd half when Messi was coming looks like argentina was losing (score was not level). However that’s usual scene for Messi and nothing more to add here. That cannot be a body-language of a leader. Yesterday I saw Ronaldo and today Messi…difference was visible of a leader.
    When Messi plays poor, remains under pressure and looks demotivated, he should not take penalty or free-kicks. When he came to take the penalty he was not even in the game, rarely involved. That was poor penalty, no power and trust me even I realized where he will shoot. Kun should have taken that penalty and Di maria should have taken at least one free-kicks. He only involved after that penalty miss. I am sure if he had taken that penalty around 80th minutes, he would have scored that goAL.

    Positives for us,

    – It was draw and qualification is still in our hand.
    – Kun looked sharp, Mascherano was far from over.
    – This happened in the first match not in KO round.

    Anyway now for hope Croatia and Nigeria will draw and against Croatia changes have to made,

    – Armani for Willy (Must)
    – Lo Celso for Bigila (I am sure now Banega will come)
    – Pavan for Di maria.
    – Ansaldi for Salvio (not that Salvio was poor but we need players who are used to play as full-back)
    – I won’t mind if Dybala can be tried in place of Meza (again Meza is also not poor but Dybala will free-up Messi’s space)

    But I won’t be surprised if same team starts against Croatia.

    [Apologies guys I am finding it really hard to say a single positive words today…]

    • Comment:yes bross u r ryt cox it making sence that lo celso for bigilia’ bigilia always slowing down our midfild. N we need dybala for helping within creating chances many more..

  4. Sampaoli must make changes in this team.plz bring Armani,Fazio,Enzo,pavon. These players are essential for Argentina otherwise we don’t have any chance.I am die hard Argentine supporter from last 25 years.we are having identity earlier as a team. Tata Martino departure make our team in complete disarray.look how pathetic we are playing..diva Maria and biglia are very bad in today’s match.Sampaoli failed me today.we are very slow in the buildup play.There are no acceleration from Argentina play.Hope Sampaoli fix the problem straight away.

  5. this is one man team. this team cannot win the cup as well this team won’t cross next stage.

    can you bet any of this group people. I am sure there is no confidence on messi himself.

  6. As I was predicting yesterday,argentina suffered due to lack of creativity in the midfield.Argentina drew because of wrong team selection.Players like biglia,cabellero,di maria,rojo are not required any more.I can bet the scoreline would have been different had that lunatic sampaoli included lo celso,pavon,fazio,armani in the starting line up.Messi is a human being,he needs support.Let us face the fact that it is a team sport.Messi missing the penalty should not be the only talking point.Sampaoli is totally responsible for this flat display.Why not lo celso in the team inspite of such impressive performence in the prep matches?But I must say messi looked really weak.Hopeless performence.

  7. People are talking now about Ronaldo yesterday and Messi today. Two completely different games. Very strangely, it’s actually easier to score against Spain than it is against Iceland. Spain plays an open game whereas Iceland put ten in the box the entire game. Number of points for Messi: 1. For Ronaldo: 1. Personally? Ronaldo 3 Messi 1. But we have a long, long, way to go. This game is a blessing in disguise. The blessing is in this, no more wasting precious time, and slot, for players who should come off the bench, if at all. DiMaria, for instance, is useless. In addition it’s better for Messi to miss a penalty now than later. It’s better for him to have a scoreless goal now than later. Everybody, everybody, played an extra tune up last week. Argentina has not played since forever and it showed. Nothing is, will, be easy at the World Cup. Iceland tied Portugal 1-1 at Euro 16. Euro16 winner? Portugal. Vamos Argentina!!!

    • Yes very physical and strong Iceland team. I didn’t c argentina play bad but we need Mercado in to be physical. Pavon the 9 minutes he played he did really well. Mascherano 7.5. Biglia poor. We need lo celso in. I think he will get the nod next game. Vamos argentina let’s win this shit let’s be positive.

    • Excellent, I love it. Use all your guns. You have them use them. Pavon an Dybala have to start. That formation right there, you give them time, is unstoppable. UNSTOPPABLE.

  10. I again say that biglia is useless piece of shit I miss lanzini the most…. But there is Still a solution to it…. Let’s pray that lo celso starts the second game…… For me he is the mast creative player after Lionel Messi in the squad…… Meza watch lost in the game….. He should be replaced immediately……. Salvio should be replace bye Christian ansaldi……. There is no doubt that mascherano is still one of the pillar of of the team….

    The solution for next game….

    ……………….Armani………………..

    Ansaldi…..Otamendi…….fazio…..tagliafico

    …………Mascerano ……… giovane lo celco

    ……….Salvio. ………..Messi………..dimaria

    ……………….aguero……………

    Or,
    ………………..Armani………………….

    Ansaldi…..otamendi…..fazio……tagliafico

    ……………mascerano…….Enzo Perez….

    …….. Lo celco……Messi……..dimaria……

    ………………….aguero………………….

    THIRD CHOICE

    ……………..Armani……………………

    Ansaldi……otamendi……fazio….tagliafico

    …………mascerano………lol celco………..

    Dimaria…….Messi…………….Pavon

    ………….aguero…………………..

    Which of the following u guys prefer???????

  11. I think the biggest problem we have, we choose who to pass the ball to, not the opened player. Meza made a few run no one passed him the ball, biglia was terrible he’s done, overall he was a good game, RB need improvement, mach and meza was great but meza didn’t wanted at the started by some player, u can just c it.

  12. This start is very similar to Copa America 15 vs Paraguay 2:2 (we had to win, but nothing succeeded) then came the strongest team on paper Uruguay…

  15. Pavon Pavon Pavon, this young gun is spectacular. And he’s young, fresh leg. Bench DiMaria please, he’s done. Pavon And Dybala together can be unstoppable. Sampaoli need to be bold and agressive. Do not waste those two, AND YOUNG, phenomenal talents.

    • Fortunately we do have the talent to turn things around, just need to have them in the starting lineup. Hopefully this was a wake up call as our transition from defense to offense was way too slow, allowing Iceland to get all their players behind the ball. I knew this would be our toughest match given the defensive posture of Iceland. Croatia and Nigeria will be more wide open and better suited to our style if we play the right lineup i.e. Lo Celso, Pavon etc

  16. Guys our performance and shortcomings were starkly obvious here. This is the consequence of not playing another friendly game to tweak our formation and correcting player selections. It was a mistake to deploy the double pivot strategy just now against a minnow team or even any other team since we will move like snails at the centre of the pitch. We need another central midfielder to slot in to provide more passes to messi and the wingers and to attract defenders to him. To me biglia should be out of the argentina team immediately and should be replaced by Lo Celso. Even Banega provided some threat and broke their defensive organization. Mascherano had a GREAT game. Meza was lost and didn’t know about his role in the team. Salvio should stay on the right ( kinda liked his marauding runs to stretch them) while Di Maria should be replaced by Pavon. Aguero held the ball well upfront. Messi should consult a psychologist to try and remove his nervousness for the next game cause we desperately NEED him for the next 2 games. We should win the next 2 games if we play with a better lineup. Croatia game should be an open game. Never lose hope this early. Vamos !

  17. anyone who thought that this game was gonna be a walk in the park is delusional, park the bus teams are the hardest to play against. Defence really needs to wake up and stop going to sleep especially after scoring.. happened too many times that we have conceded within 5 mins of scoring. After first half we should have upped the pace in the second half to get behind the icelandic defense… but we were too slow.. hopefully now this game is behind us some of the nerves will settle… am not sure i see the point of playing biglia…and di maria….should be a sub. I know a lot of peeps won’t be happy after todays game…but if u start off too well u end up going out so better to grow into the tournament…. fingers crossed!!!!!

  18. Masche is good passer and as I was hoping he can step up in tournaments. Then we need movement. Lo Celso and Meza are guarantee of the things. Lo Celso may give also good cross passes in penalty box and Meza must run there off the ball as he did on penalty situation. Meza has potentiall to give the cross runnings as once Lavezzi but first of all he must forgot (Lo Celso as well) Messi is there around to take the initiative and play more “egoistic”. “To be Messi attendant” it’s permanent – greates risjk for our young players

    • Meza was trying to make those runs, but no one tried to deliver the ball; Only once Messi spotted and resulted in penalty; Meza too had an avg game;

  20. Use all your guns. Pavón, Aguero And Higuain up front from start. Messi just behind them. And bring in Dybala in the second half. Only pessimistic people will panick. Team looked fantastic against an extremely negative minded squad. Iceland played some of the ugliest Soccer at this stage. Vamos Argentina!!

  21. Biggest culprit today! SAMPOLI: while playing against a team like iceland which park their bus @ defence, a long shooter like DYBALA, is indispensable and BOX TO BOX play like the one tried today is useless. second, by including BIGLIA and Di Maria in first eleven at the cost of Le ceslon and Pavon , coach killed mid field creativity. A sure penalty of PAvon not allowed by stupid referee… IF SAMPOLI DOESNT CHANGE PLAYERS IN NEXT MATCH, WE WON’T REACH PRE-QUARTER.

  22. Messi should not take penalty any more. 2nd half play not bad.At least we attack unlike France Uruguay but luck was not with us.This should be the last match of biglia for Argentina. If messi scored from penalty match would be different. Ronald always lucky, messi always unlucky this is like two sides of coins. Portugal draw 1-1 with Iceland win the Euro, can Argentina win the WC by draw 1-1 with Iceland?

  23. How many times was Aguero alone on the box against 4 or 5? Why are no midfielders joining in attack?

    All balls to Messi is so damn predictable.

  24. Actually that was similar to games against Bosnia, Iran or Switzerland 4 years ago. No clue, no plan.
    But this time we have not good defence to go far.

  25. I can’t wait until Mascherano, Biglia, Messi, Di Maria, Banega and Higuain will retire in 10 days.
    No way they can defend rakitic, modric, perisic and mandzukic…..
    It will be a slaughterhouse next Thursday!

    The “team” plays as slow as possible it seems. On top he brings in Banega?!?!?!?! What the fuck, Sampaoli has gone insane….. group stage exit i hope. I can’t bare to see Argentina lose 6-1 in world cup against spain or some other team.
    Our defence is non existent!!!!!

        • Negative support in my eyes is this milkshake person wishing retirement on players, believing it’s going to be a slaughterhouse next Thursday, and hoping it will be a group stage exit! That in my eyes is not a supporter!! Criticise tactics or player performance but the negativity he mentions is stupid and not from a true fan

    • You’re fucking insane to include Messi. Can’t stand ungrateful supporters like you. Masche also played really well today, he deserves credit not criticism

  26. We also had one of the worts preparations to a WC ever. Key starter injured out of nowhere, friendly match canceled and nothing to replace it. We are basically where we should be during test matches but instead it was the first WC match. No match sharpness in the final third, only compounded by Sampaoli’s idiotic lineup.

  28. For all the doom and gloom, i got news for you, Spain lost their first game against Switzerland in 2010 and do people know the end result ? Well lets leave our analysis after all the games have finished please.

    • Stop this non sense; Spain were in top form, they are well oiled machine at that time;
      I know you r trying to cheer up everyone;

  29. Hope this is the end of biglia-masch experiment. or he can just let them play two more games and retire anyways. Messi messes up when pressure gets to him. Game needed a player like Locelso to take control of midfield and allow Messi to stay between the lines. This is 2002. It will be over soon. Take care of yourselves.

    • Stupid coach baldy!not learn from match before!double pifot dm biglia and mascherano so weak,maybe the weakest in this worldcup. Biglia doesnt deserve on world cup, he can not run,cant defend well, bad passing,bad vision,bad team work,so slow, bad decision,he destroy argentina football,,what this stupid baldy sampaoli see from him?,, mascherano got better n better but not too good in defends. But he is the best dm that argentina bring on worldcup. We have armani why baldy cabalerro on first gk?armani much better than him. Banega not good enough he always make wrong pass, his pass to slow,, dimaria got better but thats not enough,, the most important Why i called sampaoli are stupid because lo celso the most important player beside messi not played..why argentina never got a good coach? Why?why?damn

      • Defence looked very Scary

        If we did not concede at 1-0, we may have scored more
        But the defence including double pivot did what ???

    • What I don’t get is any blind man could see that but he went for a double pivot against a team which only plays long balls, set pieces or rebounds. Time will tell if he’s too proud to learn from his mistake or if he’ll try that lineup again.

    • Masche is good passer and as I was hoping he can step up in tournaments. Then we need movement. Lo Celso and Meza are guarantee of the things. Lo Celso may give also good cross passes in penalty box and Meza must run there off the ball as he did on penalty situation. Meza has potentiall to give the cross runnings as once Lavezzi but first of all he must forgot (Lo Celso as well) Messi is there around to take the initiative and play more “egoistic”. “To be Messi attendant” it’s permanent – greates risjk for our young players.

    • Di maria was very safe with the ball, nearly never lost it, but Di maria without risk and mistakes will not create danger, imo Di maria has to start against Croatia too beacuse the experience (we saw Dembele and Mbappe vs Australia), one last chance, then Pavon

    • Very very bad. I am so suprised about our game. Come on guys ?? i cant imagine that we dont have not even one midfielder. Masche is distributing all balls in all attacks ???? this is not game we need. And than defence…… so slow, so bad tehnique. I am so sad because we have to play against my homeland team and, belive me, they are very very good. If arg continue to play like this modric and co will blow as like water ballon. Di maria, biglia….. i dont think they can do much so for me they dont deserve much attention. I dont know maybe locelso and pavon will do better. But generally speaking, it is not over but we have to do much much better than this. And Leo….. please rise this team and bring us glory. Nothing is finished and if anyone can do it, you can

    • But we should have won this. We got them. Iceland players were in panic attack all game. We really should have gotten 3 points after all that press, we were the better team. Messi is not good in penalties lately and he knows it, why didn’t he give it to Aguero who’s in a less pressure position?

        • Let’s give credit when it’s due. 2nd half we played in their half, all 11 players were defending. Yes they were panicking. Messi let us down with his reckless penalty, he didn’t prepare for it like Ronaldo does his breathing technique before taking a penalty.

      • Caballero is the best goalkeeper Argentina have in this moment. He was good, he started for Man. City in most matches in 2016/17 season. I don’t understand people who support Armani. He spent almost the whole carrier playing in Columbia and started for River just few months ago.

  35. Guys calm t.f. down… we’re down but not out. Perhaps sampi needed this wakeup call. Perhaps everyone had to see and experience this ‘humiliation’ to shake ourselves up from the dream and live an actual life as world cup contenders.

    Messi and co will shake this off and if we score the lead against Croatia, things will start looking up again and who knows..maybe we will make it to R16 afterall.

    If not enjoy the world cup for the love of football.

    I’m praying for a draw in the CRO v NGA. And who knows if we qualify as 2nd maybe we meet Iran in R16.

    Who’s with me..hmm? 😉

    • “Perhaps everyone had to see and experience this ‘humiliation’ to shake ourselves up from the dream and live an actual life as world cup contenders”

      Don’t you think it’s too many such humilatations (after Spain, Nigeria) to be so calm?

      • I hear you man… I’m trying to be positive against my emotional state.. but if change doesn’t come then it is forced upon us… all I’m saying is that is what is happening.

        Hope is a fluffy white cloud and has no place now. Only change, commitment and execution.

    • How many wake up calls one needs; Against Venezuela, Peru; Drubbing from Spain & Nigeria;
      Seriously there are some doubts, Sampaoli doesn’t have control over the players nor the plans; Some players seems to have higher authority; I don’t see any difference while playing with Sabella, Martino, Bauza and now Sampaoli. That’s 4 Coaches and are Successful with various other teams;

      Back to Masche – Biglia pivot & for that he says, seen lot of improvement in the training; Seriously?? Just within six days of half day sessions has changed the players ability?

      Iran in R16? If we r second in group we have to face France; 1st have to face either Denmark or Peru

  36. Building a team through wingbacks is pointless in this age unless ou have Marcelo and prime Alves. Play a normal defense withe Mercado and Tagliafico then you don’t need Biglia in the team “defending”. Its that simple. Lo Cleso and Pavon in and suddenly the team will play above walking pace.

  37. Biglia Meza Salvio and Messi are responsible for this draw.Small national stands tall against powerhouse.Sampoli is idiot why he used Salvio as right back, his plan was to provide width and make crosses to parked bus team where all player are tall and physical.Augreo should have taken penalty I never saw him missing penalty.He always goes for grounded corner of the net where goalkeeper finds hard to reach whereas Messi wants to manipilaye the goalkeeper. Messi did not look interested in playing he was not enjoying.That is curse for Argentina.There is no good dribbler in wings Lanzini I missed you very much.Ansaldi should have been started.He is good dribbler and against parked bus team he would be good.Di maria is not that good so Acuna should be tried at least he is consistent with his game unlike Di maria.Meza was worst.I do not know what he was doing whole match and substituted at 80+ time.
    Sampoli is such an idiot man.

  38. All those free kicks in the wall. A penalty miss. Ouch, Messi.

    Croatia game is now a must win.

    WC win with this defense is mission impossible.

    • I was hoping to see Lo Celso and Dybala in the second half. Not Banega and Higuain. Sampaoli sucks, I hope they will find their form against Croatia. But they aren’t Iceland and they have great individuals.

  39. Did I see this draw coming? Yes, I had a feeling this would be a terrible game. So not surprised at all. I will be very surprised if we make out of the group stage now. This is not a team, there is no plan.

  40. Compared to 2014, it’s much more fragile in defence. No more ideas in attack.
    His words: “we showed the world today that we’re still a world force in football”. Ok, you really need to work much harder Sampaoli.

  41. When you lead 1-0 against a bus parking team Biglia you fucking cunt you don’t lose posession and Rojo you fucking B grade overrated defender you don’t let the ball through your legs. Fucking Dimaria you are a curse to this team. Mascherano please forgive me for doubting you form is temporary class is permanent!!

  43. It’s only one game. Iceland could draw against anybody. They have zero talent. Zero. So they play the most negative form of Soccer. Against such an opponent I’ll say that Argentina won 1-1. I actually was more scared of losing, under the circumstances. The danger was there. Argentina looked brilliant, they created plenty of chances. Only one request: Please Sampaoli start Pavon next time. No worry, Argentina is just fine.

    • I must have watched some other game because Argentina did not create anything particularly dangerous. Just stubborn folks trying to break into the penalty area from center. No creativity, no quality, nothing. That Mascherano through ball to Messi in the 2nd half was perhaps the only original effort there was to create something.

      And Messi, how predictable he has become! Like Robben, stubbornly trying to find that position to hit with his left foot. Nope, not gonna work in 2018.

      And no, it is not only this one game. This has been going on for years now. No long-term NT strategy, just changing managers and picking “the right players” in hopes of quick success. Prepare for group stage or round of 16 exit (latest!) sir.

  44. Why do they move the ball so slow?; They cant even counter attack; Speed on the wings? Really?
    Very disappointing and feeling hurted;

  45. It’s 11 tall, strong and discipline defenders, what can you do? If Iceland didn’t level that early, the game would be very interesting.

    Sampaoli really underestimated the WC. It’s always like this, 11 defenders; you need really fast plays of skillful players to break their defence. Apparently the coach doesn’t have a plan or a failed plan.

  46. Sampaoli needs to rethink his strategy. Youth in the team is what is needed not old slow back passers. Its almost a blessing it didnt work otherwise he would use that line up again.

      • Hmmmm thank you please Gallardo. I would love if you’ll suck me. Need my address? It’s in Jerusalem though so people like you at cursed there. Sorry. No one, no land, no army has ever recovered from the Jerusalem curse so just accept it. Your team is going down.

        • Curse for what?? For refusing to be used as a political pawn?? There is no curse. Positively. If they lose it’s because they lose and not because of some so called curse that only exist in minds lacking rational sense.

  50. Now to all folks here with no world cup experience. Humble yourselves a bit and stop the nonsense like we will shred Iceland to pieces, we will put 4 against Nigeria, Spain and Portugal are inferior to us, etc. Reality check folks, team built around one player by players he’s comfortable to play with is not a way to win a tournament.

    • They will never be happy until we get knocked out. I still can’t understand why Sampaoli can’t understand that. What an idiotic decision to keep Looking Celso and Dybala out in this type of a match.

      • Who the fuck is a player fan here???? People are fan of Argentina, the team, u put players that perform, simple, choose ur best performers and make a team and get results. On positive note at least we didn’t lose and what do u guys think Iceland is a cake walk??? This team is full of support and pride and they play as if there life depended on this game, no Shit they are gonna play all boxed in. Messi had a day off and there are still 2 games to play for so stop trolling and shit talking, we have 4 fuckin years to do that after the World Cup. So fuck sakes get ur act together. Like why would u be typing and watching the game at the same time???????? Like wait for ur rant after the Fucking game, while the game is on the hardcore, old school fans pay attention to every minor detail, not Fucking troll as the game is going on. Wait for this Shit after…….. fuck sakes we have 2 more games let see how this team handles this and what and how they respond. The key word TEAM. Not Messi or Pavon or any buddy else, the Team.

        • Yes, it’s very positive we didn’t lose. (Sarcasm) I hope we will beat Croatia, which is much better than Iceland, I mean, they have superstars.

        • Well said really, people lose rhyming sometimes. There are adjustments to be made but overall the team looked solid facing an opponent that put ten in the box. Croatia and Nigeria didn’t look that formidable either. I see Argentina beating both and winning the group and then the real fun will begin.

    • we need dribling kind of player near to opponent box. no body is there.
      2nd there is no right footed shooter.
      sampaoli should use maria in right side attacking midfield. Left side he can choose pavon in left side.
      CM he can use lo celso

      formation should be 4-3-3
      armani
      mercado otamendi rojo tagliafico

      maria mascherano lo celso

      messi aguero pavon

    • Icardi ain’t do thing. Who would serve the crosses? No chance created, blame the game plan. We thought playing widely would help split their defense but our players simply didn’t know how to play wide. No overlap run at all, too static.

  55. Sampaoli is a con artist. How on earth you build a team around player. If it’s not that player day it means the end. Wake up Sampaoli it’s the era of team work.

  58. Messi is passing only to Aguero and Di Maria. The only time when he passed to Meza was penalty. And of course Too many driblings.

  67. now banega in for biglia he is next usain bolt. AFA should pay triple wages to messi because of he is only playing in alll the position except goalie.

    I think this game will end up with isl 2 : arg 1

  73. I mean this is the first game and the first half, but I turn down my expectations, I’ve seen enough unfortunately. So you do not become world champion or even not manage the group stage.

  74. Sampaoli has to change something. This isn’t working well. I hope it’s a change in midfield.

    (I usually watch games at home but I’m in a pub today. Only 3 of us are Argentina fans and everyone else is a neutral rooting for Iceland. It feels like i can’t cheer for my team too loud.)

    • Too bad for you. You should build the habit, the ability, to root louder for your team even one against twenty. Fuck them, root for your team regardless. It’s called confidence.

  75. So many pregnant ladies on the pitch; The first 15 mins already set the tone; Nothing is going to change with these group of players;

    Messi looks like already disinterested;
    Mache – Biglia; the same old absolute crap;
    When Iceland attacks they look like scoring; More than ARG….

    Here are some pundits who said Lanzini injury is a blessing; Haha….

  76. Biglia couldn’t do what he was supposed to do. Bring on Lo Celso for Biglia at half time.

    And Pavon for DiMaria shortly after.

    We need some freshness in attack and speed in defense.

    I can’t blame Caballero, we have seen what happened to De Gea yesterday.

    He has helped in possession by coming out, not sure if Armani would be able to do that.

  81. nothing we didnt know beforehand, messi has to drop deep, no midfield and players who are error prone. Hope that sampaoli makes the right changes.

  82. Come on now. All errors happened were goalkeeping. The guy had no clue what to do. Too old to move and recover from pronated position. Bring on Armani

  83. mascherano should be there if he is not there almost island finish their 2:1. masch saved us. biglia, salvio and cabellaro three of them playing worst football. only messi, meza, aguero, masch, tagliafico are playing.
    this formation is not suitable for Argentina. they can play only of 4-3-3 formation.
    sampaoli is doing stupid things. if he want to experiment he can experiment on street football.

  84. Sampaoli take out Biglia and bring Locelso in and pavon for Useless FuckMaria now or pack your bags. Next game Rojo useless fucking shit out please!!

  85. Our defense is terrible. Every ball forward by Iceland causes panic. Rojo out Fazio in. Lo Celso for Biglia.

  86. bad team very bad messi is still walking salvio rojo meza biglia dimaria very useless hope wi will not lose that game we need more confidence and more talented players more men not great name

  92. Every fuc***ing poster on this site who didn’t go crazy 2 days ago when I said biglia sucks is now posting something. Classic. It’s like everybody including the coach gets stupid before the game and then panics.
    AND I got bunch of people saying “there is plenty of time for LoCelso” he is young.

  93. Sorry, guys…..but this is a terrible team. There is no plan at all. The best we can get from this game is a draw. Iceland…..this is ICELAND!!!!! If we are this easy to shut down we will not make it out of the group stage. This first half was one of the worste I have seen from us EVER!

  95. This “midfield” is causing Iceland to play as equals when they attack. We know for 4 years it does not work, yet here is Sampaoli repeating insanity.

  96. Wow !!! I hope out guys recover from that .. we need more height at the back ..
    Is it not the gks job to hold on to the ball
    …. 300 to 70 pases and its 1:1 … says iy all

  97. This joke of an experiment with Salvio at RB should stop. He is not helping much in defence. Sampaoli trying to balance his lack of defending with Biglia has backfired so far. Iceland attacked three times and almost scored every time. Take out Biglia and Salvio and bring in Mercado and Lo Celso.

  100. Biglia and Caballero. Two pieces of shit split down the middle. Notice how far back Messi has to play with Biglia in there.
    These coaches are fucking brain dead.
    They need the psychologist. Not the players.

  101. Forget it !!!
    We are not ready for this world cup in my opinion!
    ISLAND XD is better than us in defense and attacking. 🙁

  104. The only thing Biglia knows how to do in attack is long ball or long shot. Meanwhile Lo Celso who can make passes between the lines is on the bench.

  105. biglia is very worst. he is not even take the ball forward.
    no one is helping messing to take forward the ball. I think lo Celso should be there instead of biglia to help messing for one to one tuch.
    very slow the ball movement is on the pitch

  107. Biglia needs to pulled at the half, I’m sorry. How could Sampaoli not see that Messi would have to come deep to get the ball with that midfield duo?

  108. sergio romero we missed you lot man. no one is compare to you. if you there, you won’t let them score.

    cabellaro is very careless.

    salvo is not good. he is not an option to play as full back. he is frightening to move forward

  126. I think Argentina will lose this game because of 4 stupid players (masc, big, cabellaro, maria) there is no support for messi, no midfield creativity.
    we needed lanzini kind of player. meza is not seems
    sampaoli getting nervous

  136. Comment:Eid Mubarak to all of u..Vamos Albiceleste..just win this match and make all of us happy .

  145. Ok, good luck you all🙂! We share a dream, today the journey begins. I really fear that we only will get a draw today….but my heart says we will win. VAMOS ARGENTINA CARAJO!!!!!

  146. My Predictions
    4-0
    Messi and Kun On Goal sheet.
    Trust me i wont be any less Happy if its a 1-0
    A win that i want.
    Vamos Albicelste.
    Are u guys Ready???

  153. Can’t wait, just an hour left for kickoff
    France were wasteful against Australia today tho, so many chances missed.
    And some questionable defending, especially by Umtiti

  159. I am so excited and a little bit nervous. waited for so long for this moment. I will be happy even if it is a 1 goal margin win.
    Vamos Argentina!!!!

  162. Had the video review technology been introduced 4 years ago, Argentina would have been champion.

    Neuer 100 % fouled Higuain in the second half in the penalty box, it was FK for Germany instead. That was one of the worst referee decisions ever.

    Btw this France team is nothing special at all. Well at least in the first game.

    Jose Mourinho predicted Argentina-Australia second round game. He might be right.

    • Agree man! We would have had the pk..

      France looks to have alot of individual talent, but don’t click together.. I would have never guessed 1-1.

      Let’s hope Argentina comes out like it was a final..

      Give it all baby!!!

    • Well Aguero elbowed one of the German players and should’ve been red carded so it all evened out at the end. I do agree with you that Argentina should’ve won though but not due to a refereeing decision but rather because messi, higuain and palacio should’ve finished their easy chances.

      • I don’t think they’re overrated since individually some of them are close to perfect but I’d blame deschamps for not being able to click them well enough. That is an extremely talented team you’re seeing.

        • vimal Great set of players, some haven’t been on form this season. They don’t shine together and have a poor manager who’s scared to leave people on the bench because their famous names.

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