A first half which saw Argentina dominate possession (nearly five times the amount of passes as Iceland had) but despite those numbers, both goals came in the first half. The first big chance of the match fell to Iceland after a defensive mistake but Argentina were let off the hook.
All eyes were on Lionel MESSI who was tightly marked by three Icelandic players meant that Marcos ROJO was allowed to roam forward and drive in a strong pass into Sergio AGUERO. The ball landed on AGUERO’s feet who did very well to hold off his marker, span around and struck a rocket of a shot into the top corner to give Argentina a 1-0 lead. That goal was AGUERO’s first at a FIFA World Cup.
Jorge SAMPAOLI’s men continued to have possession of the ball and moved it around but it was another defensive mistake by the back line which allowed Iceland back into the match. Willy CABALLERO was unable to hang on to the ball as a cross was sent into the area and the defense stood standing still as Iceland drew level.
The second half started the same way the first one did, that is to say with Argentina in control of the ball. A cross sent into the area by MESSI saw Maxi MEZA get fouled and the Albiceleste were awarded a penalty. Lionel MESSI took it but had his shot saved by the goalkeeper.
11 – Lionel Messi attempted 11 shots for Argentina vs Iceland (the most he’s ever attempted in a World Cup game), but he still didn’t manage to score a goal. Frustration.#ARGISL #ARG #WorldCup pic.twitter.com/YDZBP9aowj
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) June 16, 2018
Ever BANEGA, Cristian PAVON and Gonzalo HIGUAIN came in to try and help SAMPAOLI’s team in getting the three points but it wasn’t happening. Iceland held on to a 1-1 draw and Argentina are not in an easy position heading into the second match.
AGUERO JUST SCORED HIS FIRST EVER WORLD CUP GOAL. BANGER pic.twitter.com/lqOKUST76R
— World Cup (@FlFAWC2018) June 16, 2018
mascherano and biglia useless. like we where playing with 9 men.
for you people, if lo celso was brought in for biglia instead of banega. you would have said. lo celso played a very good game. but because its banega. he cant play for argentina.
in my opinion, banega played a good 30minutes when he was brought in. in these 30minutes he touched more possesion than any other player in the ground.
next game i would start with lo celso and banega both together.
a coach, when you are going to play against a team, you study the team that you are going to play against. it was obious that iceland where going to play a direct game. and a counter attack game. so why play with mascherano and biglia? non sense.
Its not. The idea was to secure the middle (to prevent counters) and to attack up the wings. The issue was not Mascherano and Biglia (although Biglia was poor for his standards).. the issue was that Dimaria and Salvio didnt do SHIT on the wing to create danger. Pavon did more in 20 min than Dimaria did all game, both offensively and defensively. And Salvio is not good enough at dribbling or crossing to risk his awful defending as a right back. Every attack of any danger came from (mostly Messi) down the middle.
Hopefully Sampa will bench Dimaria for Croatia and start Pavon, and use a real Right Back like Mercado or Ansaldi.
I completely agree with you. Other change I would like is Lo Celso in place of Biglia.
Looking at different possibilities…we will still go through the group after playing a draw against croatia and a win against nigeria..for me 5 points will be enough to reach next round what do you think guys.
mascherano and biglia useless. like we where playing with 9 men.
for you people, if lo celso was brought in for biglia instead of banega. you would have said. lo celso played a very good game. but because its banega. he cant play for argentina.
in my opinion, banega played a good 30minutes when he was brought in. in these 30minutes he touched more possesion than any other player in the ground.
next game i would start with lo celso and banega both together.
If Messi influences team selections as suggested why doesn’t he select attacking midfielders like LoCelso so that he doesn’t have to drop deep
Because he doesnt. Its a myth of the shitty Argentine media for click bait.
Despite tremendous struggle in scoring goals the coach did not feel that a player like Dybala may be introduced……no pace at the middle yet Celso remained on the bench…..Very funny…..Kun had a very good day today….. mach also…..Messi looked under pressure and disturbed…..passing among the payers was good……may be the dressing room environment is not calm…..
U can’t expect Salvio to be a good defender he is a right attacking midfielder
Croatia will score 2-3 goals vs us so we need 4-5
That’s why asked for paredes that never been given a solid chance ,if paredes were born in brazil he would have been the conductor of orchestra but we have banega biglia,it shame banega gets chance to play for argentina,sampaoli could’ve easily selected pablo perez over biglia With pablo perez and paredes you can employ double pivot both are fast.It’s really sad after an awesome season armani got overlooked.
we missed pablo perez, parades and centurion.
Argentina will never get the taste of glory as long as they set the team for only one player. Its a game of 11 players!
Exactly! i guess if we had the midfield of croatia, our brainless coaches will instruct them to pass the ball to messi and sit back to watch the show LOL.
4-4-2
———————————Armani——————————-
–Ansaldi——–Otamendi————–Rojo/Fazio—-Tagliafico——
——————–Mascherano——Meza————————
—–Lo Celso——————————————-Pavon————
————— Messi——————–Aguero/dybala—————-
We have nothing to lose.
After today’s blunders from Rojo he should be done now. Fazio and Mercado ahead of him and no Salvio please if he can’t create nothing against a bus parking team he is useless!! Its a do or die game and I pray they will not choke like the generation of Battistuta Veron Ortega like 2002
Fazio also blundered.. its no better.
I agree with GhostDeni (as usual), only thing I would say is locelso central and meza wide.
[…] MESSI, Sergio AGUERO, Javier MASCHERANO and Jorge SAMPAOLI all spoke to the media following the team’s 1-1 draw against Iceland at the FIFA World […]
One can call it tragedy but Iceland draw Portugal in Euro opener 1-1 scoreline even same player scored in both Euro and World cup. Ultimately Portugal won the tournament and CR 7 lift his first international title, in world cup this will be Argentina a d messi
Three points were must in this game. We could have done it somehow. When considering our performance we are lucky to get even this single point.
Now, it will be very difficult for Argentina to win the group. I pray Nigeria-Croatia match ends in a draw. I will be happy if we can somehow get into KO stage.
I think we will lose against Nigeria and draw against Croatia if we use the same team. I repeat if we use the same team…!
Now all the pressure in on Messi. Everybody will blame him if we crash out because of his penalty miss. We lost 2 points there. Nobody will remember his hattrick against Ecuador.
I agree, the coach has to be brave and make some changes. I believe Pavon must start ahead of DiMaria, Lo Celso for Biglia. Argentina is always let down by coaches! Why not give these guys a chance! The team needs fresh blood and we are not short of talent. Messi needs someone to make some quick interchanges with. Biglia, Benenga and Di Maria no longer have the energy. Let Pavon and LoCelso step in. Daybala must come on instead of Gonzalo! Ansaldi can be a good option on the left back. He is more creative than Tagliafico. I have watched play both on the left and right back for Inter and currently Torino.
Bielsa once said that Sampaoli is better than him because he is more pragmatic. Well, I didn’t see that today, Sampaoli is so married to his ideology that he prefers Rojo who barely played all season to Fazio and Caballero who was a bench warmer for Chelsea. A pragmatic thing to do would have been playing Fazio and Armani/Guzman and not a stupid double pivot.
The scary part was every time Iceland got the ball in our half they looked like scoring.
Sad but very true…
Where to start. I am dissapointed by our match today. I was always against biglia but this time I thought may be he will do his usual tackling(the one thing he is good at) and salvio will be constantly attacking but nothing. Di maria dissapeared and messi took a weak penalty. I dont think there is any positive thing from our side’s display apart from we didnt loose the game.
Coming to substitution i dont think there is much fault with it(including higuains).
Hope we win next two games and reach peak form in knockout
Vamos Argentina
Some people are talking about Icardi as must here.
I really don’t think so he could change anything there. Aguero looks sharp but our opponents know how to isolate our strikers.
If you are so scared of defense then play Messi on the right and Lo Celso in the middle. Keep the double pivot. And move around. Keep swapping positions. If we commit the same mistakes again and again and expecting different results is stupidity.
That is not stupidity, that is insanity. As Vaas Montenegro from the videogame Far Cry 3 or Albert Einstein would say, the definition of insanity, is trying and doing the same thing over and over again, expecting the results to be different everytime. Samp is on another level of insanity, still playing the shit midfield from the qualifiers
…………………..Armani
…………..Otamendi….Rojo
Ansaldi……………………………Tagliafico
…………..Lo Celso..Mascherano
…Meza…………………………….Pavon
……………..Messi..Aguero
Rojo was very poor today that pass to Caballero and plus he got nutmegged after biglia’s miss pass which resulted in a goal. When you score first against a bus parking team you can’t afford to concede in next 5mins but yes Rojo and Biglia managed to do that!!Biglia and Rojo have to be benched !
Bigilia and Rojo should fly home
Rojo is not in form. He didn’t play much of the season because of injury.
I think Fazio will be a better choice.
I’m not sure Fazio will be better but ok. I thought maybe it’s better to let Otamendi and Rojo play one more time together. Maybe some thread of understanding between the two will start with minutes.
We apparently lack that one more friendly cancelled.
Mascheramo played well today. I still feel salvio as RM will be better than meza. Meza can be a sub.
Yes.
Pavon foul was more clear than the Ronaldo’s one not to mention the handball!!
Totally agree but referee doesn’t even check VAR otherwise we will get penalty on that and the hand ball one in first half.
You know what if want to know how I feel about this game then just watch the comments I made A DAY BEFORE the match started!!! The writing’s was the wall like a neon sign, Rojo sucked as did the double pivot.
Sampaoli showed a level of incompetence that hasn’t been seen since the Maradona coaching days and to top it all off 2 out of his 3 subs were a total joke. Add to all that messi having a bad day and meza’s debut being a total disappointment and you sadly get a bad (as expected) match.
Kun scoring and Pavon lighting up the field were positives and there are still 2 games to play so lets hope this turns out like 1990 rather than 2002.
You are right. Some of us were telling the same.
Meza will be good against Nigeria and Croatia as they play open games.
After today’s game they know our average defense won’t be able to stop their counters and our midfielders losing posession every now and then . They will park the bus. Its a proven fact we have hard time scoring against bus parking team and this stupid baldy still went for Biglia. If we had held on to the lead for atleast till break we could have added few more as iceland would have to come at us with full on attacking mode with time running out but No Bilgia the hard working guy and great player had to do it!! Yes if baldy has brians he will drop him and play lochelso no Banega . I am not going to be fooled by Banega’s game today any one could have come in for Biglia and we would look better.
How many of you great Positive thinkers here believe that if it was a club competition and If the coach Guardiola or Mourinho or Klopp woudl Dimaria start for us againa?? This guy for 75 mins did absolutely zero couldn’t get a single cross or pass right.. Pavon came with 12 mins remaining and this young fucker almost got one in But no Dimaira will stilll start!! There is a reason Mourinho didn’t even bother having Rojo on the bench he is a b grade defender and he offers nothing. Hell Bauza the dumb old skeleton dropped Rojo man!!
Yes you guys are right Baldy is overrated . Why would you even play Salvio if you didn’t create even one good chances today. Mercado or Fazio should be our CB and no more fukcing high line defense with average defenders… Ansaldi should be our Right back … Locelso and Masche the man and Meza should be starting with Messi Aguero and Pavon and Dybala should be subbing for Pavon . Dybala is good enough to play as a winger. Croatia and Nigeria both are going to park the bus again but Croatia will not waste chances like Iceland did today. Biglia can’t play for us again.Send Enzo or a fucking defender to close games now If we make it out of the group which seems very hard now. I can’t beleive I am saying this but when Banega came in we looked so much better .Messi needs to really work on his PKs . He shouldn’t take them any more. It has to Aguero . Next match Salvio out Ansaldi in, Rojo our Fazio or Mercado in, Biglia out Locelso in Dimaria out Pavon in!!
I don’t understand how VAR was used then for Peru but not with Pavon.
Referees will be against us & we know why.
Messi trying in to break through wall of Icelanders in the middle was sign of helpllesness and desperation well known from Copa finals. We need players movmement off the ball and quick passes instead Messi monopoly for holding the ball.
He needs to drop the lebronesque attitude.
The success of Messi with Barca employs quick pass interchanges. He tried to do that all match long but there was no return passes from useless Di Maria , Biglia or Benega. Benega is too slow to play for Argentina. Pavon is the man. Unfortunately, no Paredes for Biglia but look, Lo Celso can get the job done. This coach reminds me the pain of Jose Pakerman and Maradona!
I rewatched parts of the game. The lack of creativity outside Messi is staggering. Biglia is just slowing things down. And as in the past 8 years players are looking at Messi in stead of offering passing opportunities. If we field the same team against Croatia we will lose and exit WC im 1st round.
Start Armani that’s it. Play Banega & Pavon from Start or may be use Lo Celso too instead of Meza , try Dybala who can be an impact player & Don’t use the Biglia – Mascherano Combo ever again and enough of Di Maria now tired of him. Lets see what Sampa gonna do in next match, Luckily its only a draw. There r no time for mistakes now . Do or die next Match.
Caballero is the best goalkeeper Argentina have in this moment. I don’t understand how you can support Armani, who spent almost the whole carrier in Columbia and started for River a few months ago. Caballero was starter in most of the matches for Man City in 2016/17 season and achieved much more than this River’s local player. Lo Celso is 10 times better than Banega.
Messi said that his body functions better when he plays twice a week. I think his last competitive match was on May 20. That’s some time ago. I hope he’s going to get back to his rhythm and be better in our next match.
It’s a tie, not the end of our dream. Spain and Portugal are in the same boat as us. For all the buzz Ronaldo got, and rightfully so, his team only got 1 point, same as us!!
Kun scored for us today! It’s the right time he found the back of the net. We’ll need him! His partnership with Messi will be our key.
Mascherano was so dependable. He’s the same as when I went to see him in NJ in our final loss to Chile. He reads the game well and instills a sense of calmness. So many balls went through our Old General today! He delivered!!
I believe we are going to go through in our last match against Nigeria. Messi and our beloved Argentina are going to come through. By that time, our new boys would get over the nerves of world cup and we’ll function better as a team with the right players.
Our coach will wake up after this game. Be patient guys! Hope is in front of us!!!
Good point, the second friendly would have helped in this regard.
Portuguese (who likes Argentina) here:
Portugal and Spain are not exactly in the same boat as Argentina. Argentina drew against theoretically the weakest team in the group.
Next game against Croatia will be tough and I hope Sampaoli makes same changes in the midfield. Can you imagine Modric-Rakitic running circles around Mascherano and Biglia? Or Perisic attacking Salvio?
Wake up Sampaoli…Biglia and Di Maria just can’t play
Maschareno was the best player on the field.
Spain is also doing myriads of passes but you may see there some plan; the passes are leading to opportunities. Our passing has no aim. It’s like groping in the dark.
And in the end they also lost the victory. Just as Argentina.
They looked really good most of the game unlike Argentina. They didn’t looked helplessly against solid defence team as Portugal.
Well Portugal defended.. but they did not park AN ICEBERG. For most of the game Iceland had 10 players in their own box. This game was more like Iran last WC, which Messi won via na outside shot.. its very very very hard to win against teams that will defend like this.
VS Croatia, they wont.. they will attack us, and this will give Messi and co space to counter.. I am confident.
The issue is Nigeria might also defend deep and counter us.. and if we need those points.. we are in serious trouble.
Yes, it’s freaking obvious. Spain’s passing was much much more intricate and smoother. Ours was forced and no evamtuall This draw is going to be dangeous for us and it may just turn back to haunt us towards the end of the group games. I HOPE NOT.
And I hated the commentary – they kept comparing and praising Ronaldo while sticking it up Messi’s. Hated it.
this team is like a drug addict.
the people who truly love and care for a person who is addicted to drugs want him to become clean but sadly most of the time that person doesn’t listen to them because the truth hurts but listens to people who are miserable themselves , misery needs company they say.
the teams fate is not in our hands. There is nothing we can do. just HOPE!
Hope that we make it through the group phase and then everything can happen if we fall by accident into the right formation like we did last time.
We need to calm down a little bit, it just a first match and luck doesn’t want to be with our team and Messi, let the other team or journalist look down apon us and write us off from first match, but don’t worry we will bounce back stronger against Croatia and Nigeria and up until the final match no matter who will play against us, this world cup is for Argentina and Messi, I’m sure and will support the team till dead, no matter what.
VAMOS ARGENTINA
its your dream. but my heart saying 2018 fifa cup is for portugal
I’m being little superstitious but Portugal drawn against Iceland in the EURO and lift the cup – lol.
This Iceland got some monosters in their squad. So physical in their game and they can do counter attack so well that any team will have difficult time against them. If our defense was little better than that then we could have full 3 points. I guess Croasia and Nigeria will be easier oponent then Iceland.
I’m hopefull, Spain lost their first game on 2010 and won the cup, that defete made them see their holes, hope we see ours now. But I’m really happy to see the dedication and willingness of players to win this time. They tried in every way but luck was against us for this match.
Hope we do better in next two games and qualify for next round. Hope, Croatia and Nigeria draws also.
If I am not mistaken, besides drawing against Iceland in their opening game, their talisman Ronaldo also missed a penalty
Please don’t announce the team before match day.
Please Please use good and impact Sub
From what I can tell in this WC, only Argentina and Brazil do this. The team should only be known 1 hour before the game.
Pavon was fouled in the box as well!! That was another penalty !!
It was more penalty than Penaldos for sure.
Agreed. Whats the point of VAR if they ignore such clear fouls.
Yah pavon foul was more than 1st penalty
Where is VAR?????
The truth is against an Big physical park the bus opponent… only a striker like icardi would score or defensive mids who can push up and score from 18-20 yards out. We don’t have icardi so we at least need Banega and loCelso shooting when Dimaria, Messi, Aguero etc push the defensive line to their goal..
Tagliafico didn’t make any jorde alba runs and is a liability in defense as well.. a lot of negative passes …
—we need one on one skilled players that can take on defenders and Penetrate the opponents box!
GOOD NEWS!
Now we will play with our back to the wall and we have very little to lose ! Start Pavon and Banega and let’s olay with Some urgency
That’s why we asked for Paredes who can shoot from distance instead of Biglia. Sampaoli could have easily withdraw Biglia when he was injured. Sampaoli didn’t utilize that.
Pavon > DiMaria.. I am ok with Tagla, but Ansaldi > than both Salvio and Tagla. Really hope mercado gets to 100%.
You are also right, we need more long range shots from mid.. its only messi trying.
Scary thing is Sampaoli is the one who has to calm players down.
Sad but now all the old Argentina players like Maradona will slam the team. Maybe deserve it but you can’t blame anybody other than Sampaoli for playing caballero biglia and DiMaria.
And If we are being honest, Iceland could have easily won this game with caballero in goal and many other teams would have easily beat us with him as the goalie
Dimaria was the worst one. He is useless how he is playing. He is a wing queen. He needs to build up play in the center with messi snd he needs to penetrate snd assist on the wing, which he did neither.. pavon in 20min out played him.
Biglia and caballero.. they at least tried. But agree, biglia looks slower thsn usual (injury) and caballero looks timid.
Yeah so many of the comments here are consistent – why Biglia why Banega why not Lo Celso why not Pavon why not Dybala why why why!!! It must so starkingly obvious that all of except Sampoli can see it?
And yes, unless ADM did a lot of off the ball running, just based on what I can see in the telecast alone, he has actually useless!! Not much incisiviness and creativity.
And Callbaero is really useless – just call you on major issues twice throughout the entire match and you can still blotch it.
You never know the value of something until you lose it, Romero who I always called the Best Argentina has to offer.
It is always the same story, some country out of nowhere plays against ARG as if their lives depended on it and then get destroyed 10-zero on their next game., shitty luck always seem to follow this team.
Kun scored finally, Masch wasn’t bad and Messi needs to focus on PKs and the ref. yet fair could have easily carded a few of their players.
The most frustrating thing about the double pivot is Biglia doesn’t defend and we already know he won’t attack so what use is he except a space filler? Bentancur trusted to start by Uruguay meanwhile Lo Celso who is older and arguably better parked on the bench.
But he walks nicely.
Baldy has balls. He persisted with Dimaria till 75th min. Fuck man are you fucking blind. This stupid man dropped Garay and Pezzella for Rojo !! Yeah Garay wanted to be back and Pezzella had solid season with Fiorentina but like you guys Sampaoli thinks the same BE FUCKING POSITIVE … NO NEGATIVE RANT…Rojo is faster and has world cup.experience. Fuck off!! POSITIVE MY ASS..
SulaV
Argentina always hires the worst Argentinian coach while others hire the best Argentinian coaches
Garay declined even after the tweet
just pass, just pass, just pass, No need to hit on goalie. No sense for it.
Fools who are always ranting be positive be positive be positive… The only positive of this stupid game was we fucking managed to score and not lose this game even though Messi had a bad game and choked today. Yes your God choked today. Now Nigeria and Croatia have to play a draw otherwise we could be out of this tournament before even playing the last game!!
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
You guys just don’t get it. You expect dybala to come off the bench before Higuain. Sampaoli said it million times dybala his last resort striker to use and only if messi is not there such as getting 2 yellows or injury precaution. So I don’t expect to see dybala playing at any point, probably in the 89th min. Aguero will remain starter and pavon and Higuain come as subs. Dybala will dress the players and iron their socks.
Now we need to hope for a Nigeria – Croatia result to be a draw;
I doubt it. Croatia will win this.
We were asking for some players to get a good result. Not because we are fan of those players. We are a fan of all Argentine players wherever they are playing.
First of all, Sampaoli lost it before starting the match. His player selection was wrong.
Second, Messi was completely off today.
Third, Sampaolo’s sub were wrong. It could have been Lo Celso and Dybala instead of Banega and Higuain.
I thought some of the players will try to penetrate instead of just pass pass…!
What Dimaria is doing..? Pavon done what Dimaria can’t in just few minutes.
Off the ball movement was very less. Everyone standings and passing…this is not training ground…!
As Lanzini out Dybala should have been there at least as a sub as he can shoot from distance.
Lo Celso is the one player who can play with Messi one-two. Much of the time Messi was alone.
Sampaoli has to think and act wise.
In this type of match where the opponent in sitting in the box dybala would have been a great sub coming from the right on his left foot …
Banega played well though…
Banega played lot better than Biglia.
Only vs parked busses.. banega has zero defensive dicipline.
Agree. Banega is another Biglia…!
But in this type of match surely Banega Better. Lo Celso should start ahead of these two in any of the matches.
i agree pavon definately has to start he has so much passion reminds me of mascherano. dybala has to be first option off the bench. lo celso too has to play no idea why he doesnt even make a sub appearance.
Caballero was very shaky today. Double pivot did not help. Rojo was not better that Fazio would have been. The only silver lining is Kun finally scoring. We have lots of work to do.
1) team formation is not favour for messi
2) there is no player to take the ball forward to box like messi
3) attalking midfielder should have skill when holding/ carrying the ball to box
4) concern is all the players are passing the ball to messi. no body is passing the pall when the player is getting free space in the box. messi was already marked by 3 man defence.
5) players are not using their sense ( di maria)
6) why sampaoli chose salvio? he is not moving inside the box. when he is moving inside the box it could shuffle opponents defence whoever marked messi.
7) we need skillull attacking midfielder it would be locelso/ lanzini/ centurion
8) after replaced biglia mascherano game was totally changed. he was well supported by banega and rojo.
9) samadhi should think how to shuffle opponent defence when marking messi.
Messi is no Ronaldo. He doesn’t get better with pressure. The weight of expectations gets to him. A good coach will take pressure off Messi by taking charge of the team. Saying that it’s Messis team doesn’t help ease pressure. It creates another burden on Messi. and the GOAT campaign was Ill advised before a tournament. Messi should have stayed out of it. Stay humble. Focused. Put the team first. Adjust yourself for the team rather than expect the coach to adjust the team to your requirement.
as a manager / coach you should take decision you should not depend on one person. this game is depend on 11 people not one person. if it is one man then why should you choose 11 people.
manager can’t escape while saying it is messi team.
sampaoli does not have the confidence on current players those players are not fit for his system. that is why he told its messi team.
in all honesty been following the conversation through qualyfing and to this stage, yes it was a bad result and a game of margins. with that said lets wait and see the response , theres no need to smash goals past everyone then get humiliated in knockouts. sampaoli needs to enforce the changes without favor. messi was heavily praised all through dont throw him under the bus after one game focus now needs to be on the team as a whole. everyteam that wins the tournament meets setbacks its how you deal with it that counts.
But what is important is that we need to LEARN from this setbacks. Not be stubborn and resistant to change. THATS IMPORTANT!
Playing the same team again vs Croatia is suicide.
Double Pivot has to go.
Dybala has to play a role, idk, a sub is fine but he has to contribute, otherwise you shouldnt have given him the ticket to Russia
Maybe start Armani in goal. Even in training Caballero looked sloppy.
Lo Celso must start at all costs, so is Pavon over the headless chicken.
If we still stick with this same team, we can throw our dream of Messi winning the WC on his last chance into the trash bin
i agree with you. in the coming croatia game lets surrender possesion because having it we become a liability to ourselves especially vs croatia and nigeria who will have more pace and precision from the break. i also think its not just messi dream to win its the whole team and maybe thats where argentia squad looses the plot its not about winning for messi but the team. what about mascherano doesnt he deserve anything given what hes done for the side. all in all im positive abit for the croatia game if we make changes and play on the break
Well said !!
I agree, well said. At least Sampaoli’s post match comments show he realizes the team needs quicker transition from defense to offense and more offensive variations. Hopefully this means some key changes in the lineup.
This is on you Sampaoli. Lo Celso on the bench and playing that incompetent snail Biglia instead of him. Pavon introduced too late Armani still not starting despite being a better keeper. Higuain? FUCKING HIGUAIN AS A SUB instead of DYBALA? Enzo Perez’s experience gone to waste by not putting him on the pitch at all and we lacked stability in defense and midfield thanks to that! No surprise our midfield sucked as, no particularly creative midfielders starting today with all the good players who could make a difference were all on the bench. I always thought that Lanzini’s injury would create a big hole, and so it did. No support to Messi, nothing has changed after all. Same, poor qualifiers form continues. Very, Very, Disappointed. This is like 2002 over again. Or even on the optimistic side, 1990 perhaps? Or maybe we played our international final playing style in this match and won’t repeat this again? We cant depend on another last grasp Messi hattrick to qualify now, this is the World Cup. Croatia or bust now for sure. Although for some hope, We lost to Roger Milla’s Cameroon quite similarly like this in 1990 but recovered well.
If Sampaoli still persists in that snail ass Biglia and the headless chicken instead of Lo Celso and Pavon, we are gonna do worse, even worse than 2002.
Also, WHAT’S THE EFFING PROBLEM? CAN’T DYBALA START UP FRONT AS A STRIKER or even come as a sub for Aguero?
Or when Messi looked so off color and tired, he could have shifted him off to midfield, sub Meza and send Dybala or Aguero up front instead to take set pieces
Instead, we use the same ass tactics which have been proved to be shit time and time again.
The Haiti friendly was such a false hope giver.
Now if Sampaoli doesn’t change this team no more, bye bye World Cup, bye bye Mundial!
When will Biglia returns the naked photos of him and Sampaoli on one bed?
I get the Iceland were disciplined, well organised, topped their qualifying group, more than a match for top European sides blah blah blah but seriously, outside of Leo we are nothing. The dependency on him to produce magic is obvious. Huff and puff and save for Kun’s sharp turn and power shot and Leo’s attemps, more sighs and bad luck (missed penalty 🙁 it was just not meant to be).
I’ve held back my comments when the 23 were selected, when the starting line-up was drawn, but I thought I was watching 2014 ALL OVER AGAIN – especially towards the end of the match – the same central core (Fab 4, Biglia, Mascherano, Banega). I guess teams know that whenever they play us the park-the-bus tactic is a must. How many times have we seen it? We must try to break that tactic down!!
I believe Lo Celos will start next game but I wonder Sampaoli will take the historical step and bench Di Maria. It would be really historical.
There is no way di Maria will be dropped. Messi favors him. Don’t put the blame on Sampaoli alone, Sampa and messi discussed the players he’s comfortable playing with. Di Maria is worse than biglia in my opinion but still there.
Ya that’s why Messi praised Pavon at every interview and even tried to get him to Barca.. messi and friends is a myth, dont be an idiot. Dimaria is there because seniority and thr coach.. hooefully he will wise up and drop him next game.. at the very least play him central and not on the wing.
Remember previous world cup, we did so well because Di Maria got injured and Enzo stepped in for him. Di Maria is a liability and shouldn’t have been in this 23 men squad. No wonder why he now has limited game time at PSG. Pavon, Lo Celso will take us forward. Meza deserves another chance. Daybala is our super sub! No Biglia, no Di Mari, Gonzalo please!
Messi commented after Haiti friendly, ” Let’s face it, I have a new partner in Pavon”. I think he was trying to apply diplomatic pressure to Sampa to play Pavon ahead of Di Maria, but hey this coach is thick headed.
I don’t understand that hype over Meza.
He didn’t impress today in any way.
Yes, he earned a penalty, that’s good.
But nothing more.
He was too static most of the game but has the potentiall to be like Lavezzi once. We need off ball movement as he did on penalty action. He may give the movement (standing is unnatural for him) constantly but was scared. Needs more time.
Pavon – Dybala – Messi behind Aguero would have helped alot today, particularly when u know Lanzini was injured and starting with Double Pivot of Masche & Biglia;
meza has controlled by sampa and messi. if we want to win the cup every player should play without no intervention of messi and sampa.
Messi pls be brave and lead like a leader.
I thought Messi was scared of injury or any other reason wasn’t trying hard untill he missed penalty
The problem is very simple, We have to play fast and aggressive football every (90X60) second. We can’t play just pass, just pass, just pass. We have to change tactics on the pitch immediately when that doesn’t work.
First people need to CALM DOWN. NOTHING HAPPENED here that was out of normal possibility. The problem here is player selection, and this coach is too small for big moment. I don’t give a shit what he has won before. It is like Maradona coaching team. Some obvious mistakes he refuses to correct and the answer is simple. If he corrects them we will do well. Otherwise we will lose.
1) Caballero is not better than Armani. ANYBODY who has seen him play and his recent form knows this. There is NOTHING TO WORK WITH SAMPAOLI.
2) we tie this game because of Caballero. Poor play at goalkeeper and all of a sudden no momentum and players nervous.
3) You cannot substitute one slow guy for another. Banega for Biglia is a JOKE. Unless Lo Celso is injured and we do not know, the moment is too big for Sampaoli, NOT Lo Celso
4) Dybala needs to play. If you are too stupid as a coach to figure out how to work Messi and Dybala than you cannot coach this team. This is basic requirement to blend your superstars so its not a one man team!!!!!
5) Messi plays best when he plays off of somebody. In Barca, it is Iniesta. Over here it was Pavon and LoCelso, but guess what? THEY DIDNT FUC***G PLAY!!!!
6) Aguero should always take penalty shots. Messi does not need added pressure on him.
7) ALL world cup games are complicated. Iceland is not a bad team like Saudi Arabia, and they may even make it to round of 16.
8) If we end up second in the group, Brazil and France are easier for us than Spain and Germany. If you believe otherwise you are not understanding the game.
9) The line up should be. Armani, Mercado Otamendi Rojo Tagilafico. Mascherano Lo Celso, Pavon Messi Meza Aguero.
10) Sampaoli DOES NOT UNDERSTAND SITUATIONAL FOOTBALL. THIS IS MOST IMPORTANT THING. HE SHOULD IN HIS MIND BEFORE GAME HAVE PLAN FOR HALFTIME situation 0-0 1-1 2-1 1-2 scores and who to bring in. Banega today was joke.
11) If Meza and Pavon is out, than you should bring Higuain/DiMaria and Dybala.
12) Small details are overwhelming for Sampaoli during games.
Well said. Now it is upto sampaoli and the players to respond.
Couldn’t have said it better! You’ve nailed it.
It is Croatia or bust!
I think we will recover. Really not making excuses but trying to remain positive here. Iceland defended very well. Any team would have struggled like we did. Players were nervous big time. Pressure on Messi started way before the tournament. This is JS job to manage that. Obviously the latter didn’t happen and it showed when Messi missed the penalty kick.
Despite all that, I remain hopeful. Literally, the ball is in our court. JS should learn from the mistakes he made.
Vamos Argentina
100% agree with all your points.
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
If Biglia starts another game we will continue to struggle. As long as Sampaoli gets that through his shiny head we would be able to improve.
If Biglia starts again, we can kiss our World Cup dreams goodbye and throw it in the trash can. I was a staunch optimist even in the most toxic of discussions earlier in this group but now, fuck this. ENOUGH IS ENOUGH.
This snail shouldn’t be near this starting XI anymore
It’s a sad, a bunch of talented players always let down by shitty squad selection
2002- Relied on an ageing and off colour Batigol, and Bielsa’s cocky tactics failed.
2006- Riquleme subbed off for fucking Cambiasso and just like how Lo Celso was snubbed, young Messi and Tevez snubbed. Crespo being subbed for Julio Cruz the ultimate nail in the coffin
2010- Leaving Milito, Cambiasso, and not playing Veron against Germany, and playing Otamendi ridiculously out of position, a recipe for defensive disaster
2014- Sabella was a good coach, but selecting Palacio over Tevez was atrocious
2015,16- Still miraculously preferring Higuain despite all the misses
2018- Same old shit
20
Faviorite player of Mundo Biglia losing Possession by amazing Miss Pass, 2nd Best player Rojo is also popular in Mundo for being Lighting fast and world cup experienced gets nutmegged in the Dbox. Woww.. You guys must be very happy today. Our last game will just be a play off against Nigeria Croatia will hammer us . The End of Masche Messi syndicate aka friends group.
Madche my man. You proved a age old saying Form is temporary Class is Permanent!!
New players were played brilliantly…meza tagliafico pavon salvio All are brilliant except rojo Di Maria biglia…and today is not messi’s day…
No.
Meza didn’t play brilliantly and Salvio also.
Tagliafico played awful in first half. We got too many problems coming from the left.
I thought meza and tagla did fine.. it was salvio who sucked (dimaria was the wordt though). Salvio was garbage defensively (he is not a fullback) and he is not good enough attacking to justify the risk.
No. Salvio was poor, & dangerous to us.
Meza couldn’t do anything. Can’t blame him though, he didn’t have much space.
It seems people knows a little about Ansaldi or we don’t watch him play. No-one seem to be mentioning him. I watch Serie A and what a gifted wing back is Ansaldi. He plays with both legs, take on and subtract opposition. He’s a wonderful player, by far better than Tag, Salvio and Mercado. Guys that guy is gifted, he must play. For those of you who haven’t seen him play of late, YouTube is there, just Google is latest display.
A bit disappointed by Meza-Salvio, too static. Not much surprised by Biglia and Rojo. As I said, the players we saw 1 month ago will exactly be the same. Di Maria on the left is useless.
I really hope Biglia will not play anymore in this competition. Even Aguero defend better than him, there is a problem. Higuain did some good stuff when he played. When you have Lo Celso and Enzo on the bench, why not using them?
Maschereno is the only satisfaction. The level of this team is very weak.
The trolls disguising as argentina fans are unleashed today.
Painful
Bad luck continues…..
I never liked the away jersey.
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