Argentina team meeting held: “Let’s get together and move forward”

By
Roy Nemer
-
293
Lionel Messi Argentina
Argentina players in training.

There was an Argentina team meeting held on Friday evening in Russia following the team’s 3-0 loss to Croatia.

With many rumors coming out that the players wanted Argentina coach Jorge SAMPAOLI out, there was a meeting which was held on Friday evening. The meeting involved the Argentina players, as well as AFA president Claudio TAPIA and Jorge SAMPAOLI as well as his coaching staff.

Reportedly, the message at the end of the meeting was “Let’s get together and move forward.”

This would likely squash (at least for the moment) any rumors of the coach leaving.

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293 Comments

  1. This is what interesting in group F.
    If Germany beats South Korea 1-0
    and Sweden beats Mexico 1-0

    both very realistic result right?

    That means all three of teams will have 6 points and exactly the same goal difference of 3-2.

    But Germany will be the one eliminated because of Boateng red card.

    The same with us. Iceland got no yellow, we got 3. If we won 2-0 and they won 2-1. Our goal difference will be exactly the same. We would also be eliminated unless Iceland players gets more yellows or red somehow than our players after the third match.

    • Nope.
      Sweden will be eliminated because Germany beat them. Also, Germany put 2 goals on Sweden.
      Tiebreaker rules include number of goals:
      Number of goals scored in the group matches between the teams concerned;

      • No. Mexico won against Germany. Germany won against Sweden. If Sweden wins against Mexico as mentioned. It’s going to be as mentioned above.

  2. It’s apparently official. Argentina team is on autopilot now with alienation between the coaching team ( including sampaoli) and the players. This is really bad considering the upcoming crucial match that we have. If we play well and win against nigeria, then we know who is the real problem here.

  3. Irrespective of what happens in this World cup, we need to start from scratch even if it meant Messi retirement. Whatever causes impediment to our development should be cut loose. I have no problem
    With Sampa continuing as our coach for Next 4 years. If I heard it right, what Sampa planning with youth development is something that i positively look forward to. Let the youth develop until he matures in Argentina. Have clauses in the contract for players aged between 14-22. Look at Rakitic, perfect example of youth development. By the time he developed fully he was a starter for Barcelona. Even here in India, we have contract in place for young talents. We have a u17 team who plays in our national league.

    Regarding Messi, he was the Best I have seen play football. What he did in the last game was unforgivable. Even brats Ronaldo and Neymar wouldn’t do it for Thier country. Clearly lack of character. God asked Messi whether you want to play for glory he said No instead he chose his heart. Even God failed Infront of his loyalty. But he is not GOAT and greater than Maradona atleast right now.

  5. Messi to play in midfeild with 3 other midfielders
    Dybala to play at Messi position
    And any of striker
    Possession football and counter attack to start in midfeild

  6. Is every body going to be ok if Argentina gets knocked out in the first rd?

    I’m more so scared they dont learn from this and ccontinue to depend on a “star” player.

    Our attacking prowess will look strong in a couple of years. This is a great time to gather and rebuild

  8. If Argentina goes 2nd we meet france, if Uruguay goes 1st they meet Portugal wholikely seeds behindSpain. Uru vs Portugal could be interesting.

    I believe Belgium is the team to beat. Belgium vs Spain in the final or ARGENTINA vs Spain in the final! Or Germany VS Spain

  9. The REF. CLEARLY turned a blind eye to the obvious PK in favor of the Krauts and then a total NO CALL from the VAR who according to the announcer didn’t want to override the REF>>>>>whats the freaking point then.

    Anyway, so maybe FIFA wont hesitate to lend a helping hand if ARG needed a nudge in the right direction against Nigeria !!!

    • with all honesty, do you think Argentina deserves to qualify over both Iceland and Nigeria with this style of play and spirit? Do you really think this team is 2nd best in the group? We are talking at the moment not 10, 20 years ago.
      Qualifying and moving to round of 16, facing France with all their midfield stability and attacking ability, with defenders who can score at any time too, you think it’s a good idea for the team to face more defeats? There is no chance this team can beat France, and don’t tell me this is football, no the team is so slow, no counter attack, can’t move the ball fast enough and allow the opponent to adjust and figure out all passes go to Messi. Very predictable, if Croatia figured this one out, you think France is not capable of isolating Messi from the game? This is still one man team and all teams are able to stop his game right from the start. Mascherano, Biglia, Di Maria are not the answer, nor Otamendi , Mercado or Rojo the answer to our defense impotence.

      Let the team leave now with less harm and damage and enjoy their short vacation.

      • To be honest we weren’t that bad against Croatia in the first half. Yes 3 man defense was causing some trouble in the flanks due to Croatia playing long balls to exploit our one defender less backline but we were doing okay even without Messi’s zero interest to do anything at all. Yes we were not that threatening but we weren’t that bad also. Tagliafico Otamendi Masche and Mercado were dealing comfortably with the Croatian’s counter attacks.It was Caballero’s howler that changed the whole game. If we go with Mercado-Otamendi-Tagliafico-Ansaldi backline and Masche as our 5th defender we shouldn’t be that vulnerable in the back.Tagliafico had amazing last game as a CB . I haven’t seen such performance from our CB for a while now. It will all depend on Messi now. If he wants to win we will win if he has givenup we will packup and head back. Its his biggest test of character.

        • Exactly, same with the Spain friendly. ARGENTINA will or should always be a strong attacking prescense. But they have to focus on Defense and over all collectivity

          • By hook or crook, I really don’t care, FIFA is corrupt always was and always will be. We thought the previous moron was bad, just look at the new one who increased WC by 16 countries, SIXTEEN!!! qualifying for the WC is supposed to be special…..say goodbye to that and hello MORE MONEY. I heard infantanto or however the hell you spell his name was more than happy to accept free flights from Putin…….need I say more?
            Let ARG qualify and anything is possible.

        • Don’t like Masche anymore

          He was in 6-1defeat against Spain
          3-0 Against Croatia

          He is not good
          Though no way next game will feature – Masche Biglia dimaria Rojo aguero higuain

  10. Guys what do u think about that ?????

    What about di Maria if play in midfield like in Real Madrid ??

    Armani
    Ansaldi fazio otamendi taglifico
    Lo celso,banega ,di Maria
    Messi, aguero dyballa /Pavón

    Or 4-4-2
    With dyballa and higuain in front messi as playmaker
    Right midfield lo celso left di Maria

    • He played in real Madrid like ages ago when he was 22 years old. He’s 31 years old and about to retire. You describe him as a young fast fresh winger but the reality is he was. It’s time to give room for other generation.

      • Di Maria was always a liability, he has literally done nothing for Argentina in months. He should benched to make way for fresh legs.

        • Ummm… are we talking about the same Di Maria that was the star against Chile’s 2-1 defeat? The same Di Maria who was the only player trying in the absence of Messi against Bolivia? THe same guy who assisted Messi his first goal against Ecuador to be in the WC to begin with?

          Di MAria and Messi click! That’s a fact! Messi doenst clikc With Meza, Pavon, Enzo none of them.
          My line up would be…

          Armani
          Mercado-Fazio-Otamendi-Tagliafico
          Di Maria-Mascherano-Banega
          Messi-Aguero-Dybala

          MAD HAS to play in order to have any chance to!!! Messi+Aguero+Dybala=🔥

          • Liability doesn’t do it justice …consistency is the issue with Di Maria.

            However, you do make a compelling case for him.

            Maybe his experience can help, depends which Di Maria shows up, what Argentina team shows up….

            This ARG team

  11. the team needs to give their everything on the pitch, they should play like they are playing the last game of their career. I dont know why i feel so motivated with this opportunity of qualifying, the players must be motivated like hell! If we somehow beat nigeria and qualify I have a feeling that we will rock the world cup and smack every other opponents that come in our way. Get ready to fight!

  13. Rather than just technical problems, team now has pychological problem that need to be solved too. The relation between players and coach, between players (I still can’t capture the use of ‘senior’ here means just part of the players which is seniors that boycott Sampa or because they happen to be seniors they represent the whole team). Also to encourage the players who are in a let down, especially messi, there has to be a way, it could be various: the family time way, maybe some physchiactric coming, etc dunno.

    Well every coach or technical director should have a method already to solve this matters. The point is, it’s not just technicql matters that are need to be prepared.

    We are still on course, though a bit rocky, a win is the target, the number doesn’t matter, first(it’ll give some pressure rather than motivation). I think when confidence is gained, determination and concentration could come back by itself. For now, the first stage (bringing Armani in) already restore a part of the confidence back, I think.

  14. My friend in Argentina just sent to me a clip of what the media, tv shows, and hosts in Argentina are saying about Messi. He was described as the worst player last game, they said he was just walking around because he was missing his closed friends (the ones who are not playing), he showed bizarre body language at the beginning of the match hinting to the fans that he’s not happy with the starters and he misses his buddies. Also, in the clip the fans at the stadium spitting at players and Sampaoli after the second and third goals. After match, messi left the stadium with a security big guy not responding to any of the media and running away with the defeat. Awful clip that shows the Friends Club needs to go. People in Argentina are asking heavily that Messi and co retire from the national team and that he’s not welcome to do more damage him and his friends, nobody in Argentina wants him to stay with the team. I guess this is the end.

  15. Meza should have never been selected for the world cup..People here hype him up because he ran and dribble pass Pique and Ramos during a meaningless friendly game.. Levante defeated Barcelona 5-4, tell me how many of those Levante attackers made Spain 2018 world cup roster? An Iranian player nutmeg Pique and made him look average, is that Iranian player now a world beater? Meza selection was a JOKE!! What did he add to the midfield and the overall team? I would have even taken Ricardo Centurión over Meza if I to go back and choose between either one. We have Meza starting for Argentina while Croatia had Kovacic on the bench..

    As I said the other day, all the semi big teams and the big teams best players are midfielders..Kroos delivered for Germany…Look at Mexico, Hector Herrera has been the man in midfield for them thus far. A fluid working midfield is what holds a team together it’s not about having ”7 or 10” of the best strikers in the world. Please just get Aguero out of the starting XI, the guy has no presence in the box whatsoever. There are too many small players on the roster..Higuain, Fazio and Rojo should all start on Tuesday..Argentina need more physical imposing players on the pitch (especially in the opponent 18 yard box), and I would also like to see Ansaldi starting at RB.

  16. Who still believes in argentina?

    I do not know why, but I believe in this team that they still can win the World Cup.

    • Ever heard the saying, ‘doesn’t know shit from shinola”, that is what that it. They might know Hockey, Shiity fakeass Canadian version of American football (CFL), basketball …………….the WC story about Messi or some player is on a list of subjects they cover and they have 1-2mins to talk about. We have about 20 if not more shows like that in the U.S. and they’ll just say whatever they think is right with ZERO background.

    • I agree on the points he talked about and was spot on for saying:
      1) Messi will hurt his legacy in this world cup- He should have retired from NT last Copa
      2) Ronaldo can play with any player and shine
      3) Aguero is overrated as a striker- way overrated

      I don’t agree that Messi is fraud, but I think he has no leadership skills and winning a WC requires a leader to collect the team and play cohesively putting aside all differences. You can’t win the world cup by selecting your old buddies, it fires back at him now.

      • One more.

        They are comparing international. He puts a graphic up with 3 lost finals for Argentina and 1 euro cup, 2 qf exits for Portugal. They both conclude ronaldo is better because of that.

        Without the euro cup ronaldo isn’t even in the discussion at international.

      • OK, lets examine the FACTS>>>>>>>Did Christina win the 2018WC? NO? will she, NO she wont. Where was she in the 2014WC??? watching MESSI ON TV.

        Did She contribute To Portugal winning the EUROS? NO, where was SHE? standing on the sidelines and did that because SHE knew the camera was going to be on her.

        SHE plays with anybody and wins? horsehit, RM is the best club in the world, they have enough talent for another superstar team and where is Barcelona? an aging Club barely hanging on but they seem better than what they are because and yes you guessed it? MESSI

        GO back and watch every RM win in the finals and you’ll see their ridiculous luck, I say ridiculous because how many times are they gonna have things go their way, from missed PKs by other teams, injuries to other team, boneheaded plays in overtime by the other teams…….etc

        Finally, Ballon d’Or, Messi as it stands Now should have won it 6 times and her highness 4, WHY? that crooked mother fucker sepp batter extending the voting bt 2 weeks when it was all over and done and the winner was Messi and then OK lets say She won it fair and square because She carried hER country on hER back and put them in the WC…….i’m sorry didn’t MESSI DO JUST THAT???? DID HE WIN IT? no NEED I SAY MORE.

        Next time some idiot tells you that conceited Mother FUcker in the supermarket, bus, street, school, work……..wherever IT MIGHT be tells you is better than MESSI, you tell him or her THAT.

    • That sportscaster is Portuguese Canadian and loves ronaldo. I used to live in Canada.

      To him, ronaldo is like messi to argentines but I find that ronaldo fans like a certain Type of player. He doesn’t like Argentine players, he basically thinks ronaldo is the best. I bet he wears his underwear.

      I can’t resist, Aguero had more goals then ronaldo before he got injured half way through the season. If you think goals is the best thing to use (as most ronaldo fans do).

      Also, ronaldo can’t play with anyone. No payer can, that’s ridiculous.

      The trouble with all these comparisons is that they are endless. And a complete waste of time. Anyone who thinks Messi is the greatest ever if he wins the World Cup this year is mistaken. No controversy, no story, no clicks no money. If Messi scores 10 goals and gets the golden ball they will say well he did miss that penalty. Or.. he did miss three finals and lost, sure he’s got a World Cup but what about the other finals. It’s just a waste of your life to get consumed by this type of comparison

      You decide whose best and keep it yourself!

      • Friends club??? Legacy????

        That’s the biggest bull shit ever.
        Messi didn’t give a fucking care of legacy even one tiny bit.
        All he really wanted the world cup from deep within him, and that’s the only point. As everybody in the team would, as anyone from any country would, normal. The fact that he’s one of the best player that have graced the game is one thing that made difference. No media ever report anything about Ronaldo, even his shit performance in previous world cup (I don’t remember even Portugal reaching what stage of the cup). Or his so-so performance at euro 16. That’s all because he’s no Messi. And I don’t think he give a damn care about Ronaldo either, how he perform to this moment, he shouldn’t give a damn.

        Friends club??? Good for telenovela but never enough evidence in the real world. Not even a nice try.

        Never clicked any of the media propaganda bait. Let’s just focus on ourself and enemy. Hopefully, the Argentina team too, never read those media and never show any of it, during this WC. If it’s over then it’s over, so will all the 30 teams will in this WC. Only the departure time is different. Even reaching finals, being the last 2, is still considered a failure from those chicken heads, if the trophy is failed to be brought home. How would any other stages give any difference in your head. Still a failure, ain’t it not??

        But be glad, after this WC, be it successful or not, Messi and co are finally leaving, and you guys will have to be creative in finding a new topic for read.

  18. If I had to choose between Messi and Sam, then Bye Bye Sam.
    Let the AFA get a proper manager for a change, a PROFESSIONAL who knows how to conduct himself on the national stage, a proper manager who knows what he is doing and not one that throws a dart and hopes to hit something.

  19. Argentina in complete mess. Now apparently players asked Sampaoli to step down. He might manage till Nigeria only. Man….i can guarantee you i saw that happens small team in the tournamen before .Like some African teams in the tournament. Our team is now a joke of the World Cup

  20. Besides fighting spirit the reason Germany could still overcome is because they made changes at halftime and brought on Gomez who then occupied the centrebacks and allowed Werner to attack from the wing instead of being ineffective through the middle. Then after they equalized they turned the screw and brought on Gundogan. Just one of Kroos or Gundogan would be our best midfielder and they had two on the field creating chances. Sampa’s first change is always like for like then he panics and takes off midfielders. If say we had brought on one of Banega or Lo Celso when Cabellero made his error then the game might never had gone out of hand.

  21. Well, i don’t know from where to start..
    People are blaming messi, the players, the team, sampaoli but you know what.. I understand them all! I even undertand some posters who even though they were way too irritating even to myself because of their negative comments and you know why?? Because watching my beloved team lately has become a fucking torture at least to myself! I remember myself being excited before the start of previous world cups but lately this is not the case! The trophyless drought, it has been 25 years for us to win an international title, it is way too much to take and the worst of it is the neverending crisis and mess we are getting through!

    Personally, i don’t like judging people, even now, but if i had to put the blame to someone it would go to everyone, from afa to sampaoli, to the players and messi of course! Every single one of them have played their own part to this neverending tradegy! So the players now want to choose their own formation and want sampaoli out?? I thought that the players were happy when sampaoli took over! Nobody owns this team and even though i love messi he is not above argentina, argentina is above everyone and they are all rensponsible for turning this legendary team into a fucking circus! For me NOONE, from the players to the coaching stuff don’t deserve to be near the nt, let alone wearing the beloved sky blue and white shirt or even a uniform that represents argentina!

    Oh and something else! Simeone is criticising now?? Why?? Does he even care??? Where was simeone when his country needed him the most?? As far i consider, he chose money instead of helping his country therefore he should better show the least of dignity and stop talking no more!

    Although i have no hope for the remaining match, that what makes me really sad is that our beloved team is in a neverending crisis! I thought that when sampaoli took over that we were up to making a new stary but it seems that i was mistaken sadly! The only thing that i hope and wish for, is this neverending crisis and torture to end finally so argentina make a start and leave all of this behind! I wish we finally make a start and never look back!

    I love this team with all of my heart and i will always do and support it with all of my heart!

    Argentina for ever!

    God bless you all!

  22. If there are people here that speak Spanish (or castellano) as Argentines say I urge you to listen to Radio Rivadavia for all the latest news.
    Tapia has taken over the team and that was the compromise because he told Sampaoli that he has lost the team. He cannot ask him for his resignation at this moment but Sampaoli is gone for sure, unless he wins it all (in my opinion).
    The reason we don’t have “the next crop” is because of corruption in the AFA and the club teams greed.
    Take the case of Juan Foyth. He stands over 6 foot tall, a talented central defender. Only 20 or 21 years old. A bright future until guess what..we sold him to Tottenham. He is now getting zero playing time basically and riding the bench. Big club no play. How does he get better? He doesn’t. The same can be said about many others like Zucolini who is now back in the Primera, Vietto, even Angel Correa who has not gotten playing time until very recently. If you stop selling players until 22 or 23, this would never happen. Now Lautaro goes to Inter and he has to sit behind Icardi most likely. Ocampos is another name that comes to mind. And I am sure Pavon is next. Players need to play regular minutes to master their skill. You may disagree with some of the names, but the point is still valid.
    This is international football nowadays, and that is why you have so much parity.
    In the past country was bigger than club, now clubs are substantially bigger than country. At least the ones with money.

    • Totally agree. For the sake of the Argentine leagues level of play and for the NT, having some kind of financial penalty to teams that sell domestic players before X years of age would go a long way. Its no coincidence that Argentinas dominating 70s, 80s and 90s NT coincided with River, Boca, etc being competitive teams to the elites of Europe.

      Clubs now only focus on making goal scoring forwards, and selling them off to the highest biggest in EU.

      Look at Spains wiining NT in 2010, it was peak Barca + peak Madrid. Look at Germany 2014, its core was peak Bayern. I firmly believe that until we get domestic players as the core of the NT (and not the other way around) we are doomed.

      1 month of training before the WC and sporadic games through out the year (not mentioning 3 coaches) is not enough to build tight chemistry between players. We cannot compete that way.

      Ugh, this is so depressing.

  23. the fact that somebody pretend the Argentina fan and posts his hate to my national team
    is something really beyond imagination.

    i could never do something like this.
    this show how sick human somebody can be.

    i guess he can t be Brasilian because even they don t like us
    they have proud for their national team and is not so possible to pretend the Argentina fan.

    so my brain goes to English. they hate us enough much to do something like that.

    my friend….. LAS MALVINAS SON ARGENTINAS !!!

  25. Suarez, Costa, Ronaldo, Greizman, Mbappe, Pogba, Modric, Rakitic, Coutinho, Kroos, Hazard, Lukaku, Kane all have stepped up when their teams needed them to shine.

    Your turn Messi and happy birthday!

  26. Wish our team could have German mentality – play as a team, fight as a team. No one is superstar, every player wants to help each other. Wish I could support this team, but I couldn’t.

  27. i think either i’m not able think any more realistically, even though i wish i could, but i’m getting propably more confused than our idiot coach and shitty players acording to their performance’s during this tournament, even i think luck was not on our side against iceland an we should have truly win that game, but because our shitty goalie and defense+ middfield sucked really big time not to even mention the game against croatians because for me the difference between our team performance against iceland and against croatia is totally uncomparable, even we allready fucked up against iceland mostly because of our shithead coach simply chose the wrong players to start specially with rojo,biglia,di maria and deffinetly our weakest link was our shakyleg goalie which he truly showed against croatians and also way much before this tournament had even started, but still the diffence against iceland and vs croatia is so huge that those too games cant be compared at all simply because allready during argentina’s national anthem one could see specially from Messi’s face that that there must have been serious issue and problem with coach and our player even before the croatian game started and everyone who watched that know’s the rest of it, so that is why i cant simply compare those 2 games at all, because at least against iceland we could clearly see that Messi was much more motivated than against croatians ! And offcourse we should have won against iceland, but because our shithead coach fucked up big time selecting specially biglia,rojo, di maria and deffinetly our weakest link shakyleg willie or what ever everyone prefers to call him, personally for me he was so bad allready even the tournament had started and all those training sessions where he was allready failing to deliver, i simply cant understand why our coach or our players selected him to be our starting goalie, and in the end it doesnt really matter anymore who was the one to blame for that, but we should have never played with him ! offcourse against iceland our defense looked very weak and so did our middfield too and if u add di maria who did absolutly nothing in that game for us and then we scored we and couldnt defend our lead at all and then Messi failed with that penalty too which wasn’t the first time, so in that point someone else should have taken it, but offcourse it was Messi who had to take it ! This is also one thing that we dont know for sure if it was instructed by our shithead coach or by Messi himself, but either way it didn’t go in so then we all knew what would happen with Messi specially, because we all have seen it so many time’s before even with barca that he just get off his head when things fall a part and try’s to cover it only by himself which is nearly allways impossible, though i have seen him to succes with it, it is quite rarely that it happen’s even with barca where he are surrounded by better players than ours, but still i don’t think that our players are performing that bad with their clubs and specially Messi so there simply has to be everytime when argentina plays a serious coaching issue, because we simply fail to deliver everytime, but now offcourse we have seen propably the worst performs ever by our team ! so it very difficult to know what has been the main issue and problem behind the scenes, but it must have been there allready at least way much before the iceland game too and clearly against croatians the players just wanted show their shithead coach that unfortunatly they are the one’s in the end who decide everything which ofcourse should never be the case specially when it come’s to nationalteam football, but unfortunatly i personally belive that money and wages in today’s club football has changed so much everything that existed before the bloody money era took over the game ! But we can’t simply change that unfortunatly anymore so nowdays specially in club football the players are unfortunatly again the one’s who decide all in the end ! So if they want their coach to be removed or they want to push a move to another team which they prefer the most then eventually they will get their wishes through ! And now we can see the same trend starting to appear also in the nationalteam football too, which offcourse is very sad thing to see, but again it is too late to change it because it has allready happen before forexample with the french team at southafrica and now with our team in russia ! So in club football this thing is nowdays allready so common that most of the coaches just let their players to decide in the absolute end and let their desire’s come through because they know they cant fight against forever so they rather let their players either to move to another club or their will quit their jobs by themselfs if not removed before that allready by the players themself ! It has happenned to so many big football club teams in recent years with either so many star players of clubs themselfs or with their mighty coaches too, offcourse the are still many coaches that simply dont let this kind scenario to take place at all by allready only selecting their players based on that it will never happen with certain players who are truly committed to their clubs an first of all to their coach like forexample simeone or pochettino from argentine coaches, and i think klopp and pep also know this like most of the coaches should also now this by now, but even mighty mourinho got forced away from chelsea and there are so many examples of this shit happenning to specially to coaches so in the end they rather let their star players to decide and rather let them move to another club than keep forcing them by staying at their current club ! And then when the shit really hit the fan the players forces their coaches to leave etc…So by now every coach should eventually allready know this and if they wish to be coach then they should either select players who are truly committed to their coach or not take the job at all ! Simple as that ! And this i think is our biggest issue at the moment because clearly everyone can see that our selected players by our coach dont want him to be the coach, so then in the end it all end’s up like this what has happened now and i do not belive that the issue is over and everything is fine again, no way ! it simply cant be fixed so quickly or fixed at all between with our current coach and by the players he so called selected to this tournament. So in the end i must first blame him for his stupidness and then after that ofcourse our players to refuse play with under him who are now forcing him to leave which offcourse is totally crazy, but somehow understandble though not accepable at all ! What i really mean by saying this, is that this thing that has happenned between our players and our coach is understandable because it is clearly the outcome of everything that has happened when our idiot coach took over and said that this is Messi’s team by stating that he allready guranteed and selected our players to this tournament by having Messi and the friends to take who ever they want to take this tournament with them and then after that he realized propably unfortunatly little bit too late that what he had actually said and promised, and after that he wanted to show that even saying that this is Messi’s team he is still the one in the end who decide’s which players he will select to this tournament ! So from that point it started to be an empty promise to Messi and to his friends and then then eventually the confusion started to grow more and more every day until this thing happenned against croatia. So in the end it was just a war between the stupid coach who gave away his team Messi and to his friends and turned his mind and started to act like a boss who totally lost it all from the beginning because anyway promise is a promise so if and he did was so stupid in the first place to give away his team to Messi and his friends then he should have sticked to a that stupid promise, but offcourse he wanted to bring his own influence to the team too which is totally understandable also, but unfortunatly he made a huge misstake by giving the whole team to Messi and his friends and once he did that then he should have not even been the coach at all and instead of playing and acting like the boss of team he should have named Messi and his friends to be the coach of team, which offcourse he or AFA could not do because everyone would have laughed at them like everyone is laughing at us right now ! So gongratsulations to our puppet coach and to AFA as well by selecting him as our coach and letting him to give away the whole team to Messi and to his friends, very well done and very smartly played, indeed ! I mean how more stupid can our coach get than this ! This clear evidence that tere is something seriously mentally wrong with our coach and this also explains by his shapeshifting from another side to another constantly ! The guy is just simply unstable with his own mind ! And that is why Messi and the friends got propably allready pissed of long time ago and started to saying things like this team is not strong enough to win the whole tournament and semi’s will do ! also AFA said this because what else could they all say if they all knew that in which kind of situation they were facing with their mentally unstable coach, who made an empty very stupid promise and then after that wanted to change it ! This lead propably to a war of playerselection and in the end they had settle for draw with player selection so either side could choose their own players which lead to an unhappy team which eventually lead to this situation we are right now, wow what a fucking mess they brought on us as true fan’s of argentina !

    but what else can we do than support our brilliant team until the very end?
    i quess nothing else, but i personally don’t want this kind of shit happen to us again, again and again so first i must say that i want our coach to retire which higly unlikeky because he’s clearly after the money like everyone else in theese days, unfortunatly ! and then if he dosn’t retire then i quess there have to be anotherkind of way to get rid of him whichboffcourse bankrupted AFA can’t simply pay because there’s no money so either our players who do not want him as coach have to walk away which propably would have been the case anyway in the firstbplace when they all agreed that this is Messi ‘s and his friends team, but allthough i want most of them walk away in the sameway i do not want forcexample Messi to walk away like this, because even he might be the head of this so called mob anyway we would not have even qualified if we did not have him and i personally think that if barca been able to get the bestvoutnof him with several coaches then why we can’t find a ciachbwho can get best out of him and at least we give him one more chance at next copa america, but maybe only just him from this so called mob of his ? also i cant belive that he will be so stupid to insist for other members of this so called mob of his to continue with argentine ! it is all so bizarre and really weird that a guy who only want to win worldcup and nothingelse for his beloved country will act like this if there would not be more it, that is why i’m propably more confused at the moment than our unstable idiot coach who must take the responsebility and retire imeatdly or there have to be another way of getting rid of him by not letting AFA paying his releaseclause, i dont know what more to say than something really stupid like maybe the so called mob should payfor getting rid of him,lol ! and bloody germans got so lucky again even they might have been better than sweden it sill hurts to see them getting a late winner with ten men against sweden specially at 95th minute of the game ? i think propably mighty fifa must have played their role in this once again like yesterday brazil also was just able to score at the last minutes of the game and everytime i see that blody smile on face of that infantino it just make’s me want wommit ! it allmost looks like that smile has been tattooed on his face forever ! what a fucking disgrace !
    Still i keep on fooling myself and belivieng on that miracle, thouhg i know it won’t happen ! oh my god what a great confusion ! one more thing which i would like to say is that if Messi should walk away so then should our idiot coached who ruined everything from the beginning until the end specially playing willy as our goalie or even if wasn’t his decission he should still equally walk away too ! Inunderstandvthat there might not be any coach intrested to take over if Messi keep’s playing which i highly doubt, though i wish him a better end like this, but maybebit’s time to look at the mirror and fnaly face the reality, but i cant bare to watch our idiot coach still in charge of our team, somehow we have get rid of him and find someone else even there not might be anyone intrested at all after all this fucking chaos around the team ! but i truly wish that someone of the local argentine coaches will come forward andcat least try challenge sampa and that the majority of argentine people would make him eventually step aside witout escaping with that bloody release clause, i mean if AFA still have not paid tata and maybe even not all to sabella yet, let that bloody bastard just wait for his bloody release clause until he passes away, period!

  28. Veron’s Words on Icardi’s Exclusion:

    Veron, who played for Inter on loan from Chelsea between 2004 and 2006 and made 73 appearances for Argentina, said he struggled to see why La Albiceleste would leave the 25-year-old forward behind.

    “From the outside it is difficult to judge his exclusion from the World Cup,” Veron added. “I would need to be in the head of Sampaoli.

    • Icardi is not what we are missing. He’s great and all, but if he was that caliber in midfield he’d be playing. Argentina has the best strikers, someone has to get cut

  29. Happy birthday messi, Argentina failed to win because messi not turned 31 now Argentina is going to win every match only 1986-87 born captain win the world Cup

  30. To AFA from Friends Club:

    Yes let’s go together, play together and stay together in the NT and Forever.
    We know that the only solution to get you more humiliation is by retaining Biglia and Di Maria back to the starting line up as we have to get all Friends Club on board. The only exception we will give this time is our need for Fazio as a guest and we are able to negotiate recruiting your goalie “Armani” hoping to convert him into the Friends Club if he follows our rules accordingly.

    We are here to negotiate and explain to you that Messi didn’t play last time on purpose just to make new players look bad and give you pressure to retain all old players who are part of this Club Legacy and for the sake of our solidarity we protested when Biglia was benched unfairly despite the fact he’s been with us kissing ass for years now.

    We do apologize for what happened on field last time as Messi was more concerned to prevent new players shine, prevent Dybala from changing the game, and he was busy communicating with Barca staff to cancel the deal with Griezmann and keep the starting spot for his buddy Suarez although the latter plays shit and passed his prime with Barca.

    Messi gives everything for his friends, and you should acknowledge that, unlike Ronaldo who is arriving to be more pragmatic and accepts to play with the best and makes sure the team doesn’t depend on him. Forgive Messi because he knows now that Ronaldo will get his 6th ballon d’or and probably this tournament golden boot, but he’s not as loyal as Messi to his friends. We know that we are playing as ugly as di maria and Mercado’s faces, but the truth is that we want to play together even if we are slow, can’t run, all 30+, and get hammered easily by a weakest team, but what it matters is our solidarity and our plan to play for fun, enjoy the camp experience and make sure fans suffered with pain. Messi knows since Rome humiliation in CL that he’s not a leader anymore and has no character on field.

    We stick to the same contract terms with you, after we get hammered by either Nigeria or later by France, we will announce we are retiring from the NT, but we will return back for Copa America to meet again and have fun together. We will make sure not to involve young players so top clubs keeping their eyes on potential players or buy them for their clubs won’t get impressed with our young players. We will keep this plan as a priority.

    Last note is that we will not accept any unacceptable behaviour from you like benching Biglia, Banega or the player of the tournament Di Maria.

    Also, make sure that our friends Higuaín and Enzo Perez along with our new friend Meza all three introduced as subs in the 2nd half, this should be added to the existent contract as an amended item.

    Finally, we would like to train like girls with easy drills and making circles and pass the ball randomly with lots of laughter and chatting because that is the trademark of our Friends Club, and we agree to go together, play together, and stay together, and Viva Forever.

    Your Circus Department
    Friends Club

    Signature: Mascherano and Leonel Messi

    • Just stop it, friends club won u20 world cup, Olympic Gold, reached back to back 3finals and this friends club will make Argentina to next round where younger generation failed in u20 or Olympic and nearly exist Argentina from group stage. Friends club rocks

    • Shut up with your nonsense. Meza has been average, Pavon is not ready to start a World Cup game. Acuna is poor, Salvio cannot play as a WB, Tagliafico isn’t experienced enough. We need experience in this situation. Di Maria is very inconsistent, but he’s a World star and players fear him. He is quick, has lots of energy and at least is a natural winger. Banega will be the link between midfield and Messi. Biglia will play to steady the ship but hopefully Lo Celso will come on to replace him. Rojo is bigger and stronger than Tagliafico and Fazio is a proper CB, although he is very slow. I imagine Argentina will play slightly more counter attacking against Nigeria because Nigeria will attack and Argentina must sit deep because of our lack of pace. Di Maria will help with this.

      • I actually think that Nigeria will
        Lose. If you think about it they have more at risk than Argentina. Argentina were out two days ago. Now they are back in. The mental side of losing has already happened for Argentina.
        Nigeria need to play more open to win. I think counter is the best way to play them. They need to win, Argentina is halfway to the airport already. Sit back relax and you’ll get your scoring chances.

        Also, they are coming off a big win with young players. No way it hasn’t gone to their head.

        I am not saying wc final. But I do think they beat Nigeria. Although I also think Iceland go all out for the win and perhaps beat Croatia. Either way I’m not sure what happens after the match.

        Sampaoli is definitely gone. No young player will ever trust him after that international error on formation and players he made.

        I think he probably ruined his career. Sad. He thinks he has a vision of something but he doesn’t, his ridiculous quotes on ‘I don’t plan it comes to me’ are ridiculous at this level. Anyone who think he’ll make a good coach in 4 years is out to lunch. Worse than that though, is I don’t think any good coach would ever take this job now. The media have destroyed the teAm and made this looks like the worst job to have.

        For that reason I think he might stay. Sadly Argentina probably have no good coaches for 5-10 years. Because if they get someone good the hype machine will begin immediately and infect the psyche of team.

        • Also.

          Playing for a Bad coach on the national team can ruin your career (thinking Meza, Otamendi (with Maradona), caballero).

          The stage is so big it can make or break a player. Too risky, have a bad game against Boca? No one remembers next season. Have a bad game against Croatia, no one forgets. Word cup is like a career in one tournament.

          Unfortunately I think regardless of your opinion on Messi’s efforts, his legacy ishurt by this World Cup. He didn’t even need to play in.

  32. players give it all on pitch, run, tackle, sweat, change games, put everything their for their countries, and play like men. We have a diva bitch standing in the middle of the field watching the Croatians shredding us to pieces and staring with a grumpy face: “I don’t wanna play, bring back my buddies, or else I will retire”, “I feel hurt after missing that penalty facing below average goalkeeper”

  33. 2min silence who thinks Germany depending champion out from the group stage like Italy or Spain earlier, Neuer is 1986-87 born at least reach at semis

  34. As long as Germany is there I have assurance that neither of Brazil or Portugal will win the world cup. I’m no fan of Germany but at the same time I didn’t want to see them going out in the group stage which would allow Sweden to give Brazil one foot into the quarters. Before the world cup started I said I had a feeling Germany and Brazil would meet during the round of 16.

  36. Both BRA and GER had got their last minute goals. Are we due ours soon? We really need to display that kind of doggedness and tenacity and never-say-die please……

  37. this is the fucking difference between fighting and giving up fucking team we have
    germans with 10 men struggled till the end they earn their fucking hold up
    we guys got 11 slapping face on the field crying and acting like little girls it s a fucking man sport you have to struggle on to get and deserve a win
    argentina players are focused on who will play did sampaoli or lio whom forced to play this guy
    journalists are shit too
    two games and none of construct play had been shown come on stay bed if you re not able manage your mental

    • Or not. Germany looks so bad. They have no striker. Muller what is up!? Kicks one into the stands. Brazil can beat them no problem.

      • Brazil could barely get by Costa Rica and the players were even emotional after the game. Imagine playing against Germany in the round of 16, the same team who defeated them 7-1 at the last world cup. Brazil boy band (pop star) team will break against Germany if they should meet in the next round.

        • That’s a good perspective but I also think if they are to meet Germany it’s best for Brazil in round 16.

          Less pressure. Basically once your in knockouts anything can happen. Germany look beatable, also it seems
          They have similar problems to argentina now with the coaches fighting. Regardless if they meet in round 16 I think they win and Brazil gets a huge confidence boost.

          I’m with you though, no portugal to win it. I could live with almost any other team beside Portugal.

  40. Tonny Croos You beauty (wish we had somebody like that) , Germany what a team man. Courageous even when it is 10 man they r attacking. WOW. Now beware of the Germans if they get past the group they r hard to stop till Semi / Final. Actually will need the Germans for taking out Portugal(Hate them) Well we have to learn something from Germans, NEVER GIVE UP. Great.. Wrong blog by the way to praise Germans but fact is fact..

  41. This is how you need to play. Fight till the end. A champions mentality. Germany won with one player less.
    Argentine players play with a weak loser mentality.

  44. It’s crazy how Boateng is Germany most dangerous player in attack. As I type this he just got a red card.

  46. The guys who are crying for Sampa exit are the ones who considered him as Argentina’s saviour.

    Sampaoli:

    “We thought Dybala is a great player, but he is not”

    “This is not my team, it’s Messi’s”

    The above quotes tell you enough how useless the guy is.

  47. Sampaoli not going to call the shots is the best news for the biggest game of this tournament for us. This is great news guys. The friends club is going to play their heart out against Nigeria now!!!! After all the decisions of Sampaoli from World cup roster selection , team formation and player selection to the timing of subs in last 2 games , trust me guys We are better off without this imbecile coach. This guy’s brain when under pressure stops functioning. I am with the friends club on this!!!They got us to 3 finals they are at-least good enough to get us to round 2!

    • I hope that you are kidding. That kind of things are good only …… NEVER! what f.cking friends club ??? Surly it must be a joke from some shitty jurnalist. Come on guys. Be serious. Even though sampa is clearly not made things better he is still our couch. There must be order in the team. I dont like this situation. Be awere of conciques. We have all in our hands. Just stick together and be focus. Only we by our self can spoil this chance.

      • Do you think Sampaoli can bring this never die attitude like the Germans? He lost the dressing room even before the world cup started when he selected those 23 players. After first 2 games he and Willy caballero should just predent to be with team and do nothing!!!

        • Maybe you are right, but still making clans is forbidden. Its disaster. Its better for arg to go home but with trainer than to idomt know go forward with so call friends group. Its about system you are presenting to all others and for generarions to come. Germans are strong not because they have only talent in their squad but because there is allways hierarhy (surly wrong spelling, sorry for that) and no one ia bigger than coach. For example, there is no way that some german player will ever say any thing similar to his coach lile kun do. It is not possible. And its not right thing to do. We need discipline and responsible players, not chokers and angry lads.

  48. Many years ago Kenny Dalglish was player-manager for Liverpool FC. Maybe Mascherano can do the same for the remainder of the WC.

    • mascherano is a shit player,will never be a coach of royal team like argentina.total useless sidepasser.

  49. 80% of the teams at this world cup are basically even with the exception of few other national sides. People here were expecting blow outs..This was never going to happen! Cabellero gave away three points to Croatia..

  51. Sweden leads Germany – I see the same Nigeria doing against Argentina…

    Argentina will play ugly and lead to more second half goals from Nigeria..

      • Yet Sweden is playing ugly and winning. I would take ugly and defensive over the way Germany is playing right now without a concrete idea on how to score a goal..I would take Argentina playing ugly and defensive over Sampaoli outdated wannabe tiki taka.

      • Results matter. Did you see everyone praising Cristiano? They played boring football at Euro. He didn’t play the final. That’s what it is. People will remember and talk when you won. No matter how..!

      • @Haiti
        Nothing is gained from playing brilliantly without any success.
        Portugal played like shit but they have really good chance reaching next stage now.

        Germany is the same as us, if they couldn’t win this game. Last game, Sweden against the team that is already qualified (like in Croatia position). Sweden only need a draw.

    • I truly wish Argentina will lay the smack down on Nigeria and these idiot critics of Argentina and Messi. Everybody is getting their slice of this pie from Cristian Ronaldo fans, Musa, the Croatians, pundits, ex professionals but I’ve seen now some people, Frank de Boer and Edgar Davids are talking sensibly about Argentina’s problem.

      I hope these critics remember the famous quote “he who laughs last, laughs the longest” !!!

  53. What Insider said is true.
    This is the link:

    https://www.tycsports.com/nota/seleccion-argentina/2018/06/23/golpe-de-estado-jugadores-vs.-cuerpo-tecnico.html?utm_source=home&utm_medium=bloque&utm_campaign=Noticiabomba

    For me this is not bad news. Sampaoli’s player selection is the worst among Argentina coaches I know. Mascherano has coaching quality. I believe in 10-15 years, he will coach Argentina.

    Honestly when I was in high school, I was an athlete. It happened to my basketball team too. We did not like the coach, but we could not sack him. So it was us the players making all the decisions. Guess what? We won the tournament.

    • translated

      Tras una reunión grupal, donde participaron los jugadores, el cuerpo técnico y el presidente de AFA, Claudio Tapia, terminó de estallar la bomba y fue el propio Chiqui quien le dijo a Jorge Sampaoli que ya no tiene poder decisión sobre el grupo.

      Ante este escenario a tres días del partido contra Nigeria, donde la Selección tiene la obligación de ganar para tener chances, hay que ver qué hará el entrenador, quien no tiene intenciones de entregar así nomás el cargo. Entre otras cosas hay una fortuna en juego. ¿Llega al juego? ¿Armará el equipo él? ¿Estará sentado en el banco? Hay que esperar pero seguirán pasando cosas fuertes.

      After a group meeting, where the players, the technical staff and the president of AFA, Claudio Tapia, finished exploding the bomb and it was Chiqui himself who told Jorge Sampaoli that he no longer has power over the group.
      Faced with this scenario three days of the game against Nigeria, where the national team has the obligation to win to have chances, we must see what the coach will do, who has no intention of delivering just the charge. Among other things there is a fortune at stake. Do you get to the game? Will the team put together? Will he be sitting on the bench? We have to wait but strong things will continue to happen

      • Tapia is basically running the team and it’s the end of Sampa. Tapia was running practice today
        And Tapia picked the line up and formation.
        This was the compromise over dinner the other night to save face for the country and prevent an all out mutiny

    • mascherano is utter shit couldn’t stand against pressure in any big match natural loser knows only politics nothing else plays for record needed to be kicked out of team ,playing enzo perez in place of him will be great .

      enzo-lo celso- banega.

  54. For those who believe in the theory of Messi friends, it is clear now that Sampaoli made the decisions alone otherwise Messi’s friends would have backed him up.

    • Sampaoil fielded his own team first time against Croatia. He lost. Players were poor especially Willy. He has taken the responsibility. But the senior players gathered against him..why? They think they would have won..! Willy will still make those mistakes. Sometimes results would have been even worse with Biglia, Rojo, Di Maria etc. They don’t care. They take this as a chance to hit Sampaoli. They thought they are out. They didn’t perform well. They needed somebody to blame.
      Now, players won. They will get their own team, whether we progress or not. Players like Mascherano forgot how he got chance in this world cup after his poor performance in the qualifiers. Sampaoli wanted a senior guy to lead the team (well he knows Messi cant) and united the dressing room. If reports to be believed, what he did is opposite..! He led some of the seniors against Sampaoli..! Mascherano should have controlled this.

      • i will love when simeone will kick this shit out of the team .he basically on team riding on messi’s back ,i strongly have a feeling this freinds club theory put forward by him(mascherano) and biglia because they know they won’t get chance even in korea nt.
        sorry sounds a bit harsh but what he did with willy and pavon after croatia match i won’t forget, this mafia politician still in the team,

  55. jochem loew what a fantastic coach he is introducing variety of new players. he is trusting them. even he left mario goetze, today he benched ozil, Khedira, hummels, gundagon.

    but in Argentina, sampaoli he is stupid.
    lo celso, dybala, pavon all please go to Italy, German, or Spain that country will give you opportunity you dont waste your talents.
    enzo perez, masch, biglia you are stupid. how you are all saying midfielder? just you shit learn from Morocco, Tunisia, Nigeria, France, Belgium how to take the ball forward. you are all cowards. if you are not willing to play good, you should not come to Russia, you directly say to coach we cannot play good football. so many players are wasting their talents because of yours.
    that is why big clubs are not picking you, they understand you don’t have skills, quality and active.
    you all have the shits but nothing coming out

    • Dude, think before you post….

      Low is following Sampaoli’s stupidity by replacing several world cup winners: Hummels, Khedira, Ozil with newbies.

      Low is getting dumb to me… finally after 15 years being smart.

      You don’t treat high profile players that way. That is not smart at all replacing 3 senior players with newbies. Germany have the same problem we have. Remember, big players have ego. This is real futbol not playstation.

      Actually Sampaoli is dumber. Why? At least Low’s newbies won Confed cup last year. Our newbies are no ones.

  56. The difference is not settled..! It persists.
    As per the new reports, Oldies wanted to kick out Sampaoli but Tapia could not agree that but he told Sampaoli he doesn’t have any decision making power to this team. What does that mean? From today it will be Messi’s and Mascherano’s team..? Who will decide the starting x1? Who will decide whos coming as the sub? What formation? Who will study the opponent?
    Everybody wants a farewell match ??
    I never seen the group of players especially oldies do like this…! Nobody showed on the pitch..but outside they are lions..!

  57. One early goal from Nigeria is enough to dismantle Argentina..that is the current condition of Argentina mental readiness..

  58. No nos hagamos eco de la mentira que circula, que @96Kichan se peleó con un compañero, les digo que es totalmente FALSO, alentemos cada uno desde nuestro lugar, nuestro futbol lo necesita mas que nunca.

    That is pavon agent denying that his player fought a teammate.
    I said it in another post the team is under assault from organized media who are trying to destabilize them. This started even before the first game.

    • There was a rumor that pavon fought Masche.
      Then masche posted a video today laughing with Pavon.
      Do you find Israel Inputs in whatever happening with Argentina?

      • Yes, those who understand will understand how media propaganda operations are conducted. Sounds conspiracy theorist but it does happen. No one has mentioned the Kun Aguero/Messi WhatsApp video that mysteriously surfaced from the Copa Centenario that got Messi in hot water with his wife and the recent new Panama Papers revelations. Both coming around the start of the WC. I know this is a futbol site but Psy Ops are real and Israel is one of the best in conducting them. AFA should have never gone down this path. No excuse for our play or predicament though but never underestimate the extent some will go to try to destroy us.

    • isrel is killing all the players life through trait media. all the world media’s are belongs to isrel.
      they already target nessi due to he denied the match

  59. Soy Argentino,
    Es un sentimiento,
    No puedo parar…

    Ole, ole, ole, Ole,
    ole, ole, ole, ola,
    Ole, ole, ole, ole

    CADA DIA TE QUIERO MAS !!!!

  62. Our team is suffering and more so are the fans.. who come here to find news facts and some hope.. and whatdo they get instead?:

    Folks that seek every opportunity to peddle yet another fictional lineup as though baldy is looking for inspiration in a forum of fans who are more concerned with measuring their 11 against someone else’s 11…

    even if ALL of us agree with a specific 11 it doesn’t do jack shit…!

    What we need to be saying to each other instead is something like this:

    ”
    we’re rock bottom.. going down further is not an option… I don’t care what formation you play Arg… play with pride and heart… the lion is sick so the rats and snakes wearing suits and other country uniforms feel like kings… and mouth off like little bitches…FTW…every one else wants us to fail…so let us take the cup… it is us vs. All of them, lads!
    let us take the cup, leave it on the field and walk away..show em…show em all…

    FTW…F It.
    “

    • “Pride and Heart” is all That really does matter. Please go out with some positive spirit -!
      Scoring finally against Nigeria seems very possible But how many of us really think we can keep Nigeria from scoring on us?????

      • They probably will score… if they do then we have to constantly outscore them by 3.. that should be the aim… its easily possible with our attack… we just have to WANTit bad enough…

  63. In India, we got a popular movie named “Munnabai MBBS”. In Tamil version of the movie there is one scene. Medical students come to the College for the very first day and the chief Doctor who takes guest lecture ask everyone why they want to become a Doctor. Everyone say that they need to serve the humanity or like treat poor without cost.. mostly all say the same thing like this.. the Doctor laugh softly and say ” I have operated thousands of people.. mostly successful and some total failure.. but while operating I always have the clarity..but if a situation comes and I need to operate my wife or child or any blood relationship..my hands will shiver.. I won’t have the clarity..I won’t operate them because am emotionally attached to them.. Doctor is not different from others.. just do your duty.. doing your karma is the way to serve humanity and having that thought is kinda obstruction..”. All our coaches do well for other countries.. because they are not emotionally attached there.. just professionally attached.. they got clarity.. but when it comes to handle our team.. sooner or later they are going to miss the clarity.. there may be exceptions but mostly they will be like this.. quality and low price are almost mutually exclusive..like Jack Nicholson in Shining Sampaoli is slowly drowning to insanity.. Sampaoli is the first reason for our situation.. experiments.. experiments.. the patient is screaming for help and Scientist Sam is busy studying the book of Science or experimenting to find the new medicine believing that will cure the patient forever..a person going more towards alcohol slowly drops his confident and that will be reflected in all forms of life.. whatever happens.. only wish is.. nobody including Messi should physically punish Cabellaro.. Messi.. check ‘Dynamic Meditation’ of Osho.. just close the room and just scream loud..cry loud.. laugh loud.. those depression inside you prevent your creativity..obstrcut your energy.. just expel them out.. but not sure who is going to guide you in those things..at least have a good sleep..if you miss.. still you are Messi.. it’s not the end of the world.. try to be Messi..

  64. Di Maria’s best form at PSG this year came from the right and closer to the middle. If you play him as a left winger all he will try to do is beat a marker and make a cross which rarely beats the first defender. Only way to play Di Maria on the left at this point in his career is as a midfielder.

  65. To AFA from Friends Club:

    Yes let’s go together, play together and stay together in the NT and Forever.
    We know that the only solution to get you more humiliation is by retaining Biglia and Di Maria back to the starting line up as we have to get all Friends Club on board. The only exception we will give this time is our need for Fazio as a guest and we are able to negotiate recruiting your goalie “Armani” hoping to convert him into the Friends Club if he follows our rules accordingly.

    We are here to negotiate and explain to you that Messi didn’t play last time on purpose just to make new players look bad and give you pressure to retain all old players who are part of this Club Legacy and for the sake of our solidarity we protested when Biglia was benched unfairly despite the fact he’s been with us kissing ass for years now.

    We do apologize for what happened on field last time as Messi was more concerned to prevent new players shine, prevent Dybala from changing the game, and he was busy communicating with Barca staff to cancel the deal with Griezmann and keep the starting spot for his buddy Suarez although the latter plays shit and passed his prime with Barca.

    Messi gives everything for his friends, and you should acknowledge that, unlike Ronaldo who is arriving to be more pragmatic and accepts to play with the best and makes sure the team doesn’t depend on him. Forgive Messi because he knows now that Ronaldo will get his 6th ballon d’or and probably this tournament golden boot, but he’s not as loyal as Messi to his friends. We know that we are playing as ugly as di maria and Mercado’s faces, but the truth is that we want to play together even if we are slow, can’t run, all 30+, and get hammered easily by a weakest team, but what it matters is our solidarity and our plan to play for fun, enjoy the camp experience and make sure fans suffered with pain. Messi knows since Rome humiliation in CL that he’s not a leader anymore and has no character on field.

    We stick to the same contract terms with you, after we get hammered by either Nigeria or later by France, we will announce we are retiring from the NT, but we will return back for Copa America to meet again and have fun together. We will make sure not to involve young players so top clubs keeping their eyes on potential players or buy them for their clubs won’t get impressed with our young players. We will keep this plan as a priority.

    Last note is that we will not accept any unacceptable behaviour from you like benching Biglia, Banega or the player of the tournament Di Maria.

    Also, make sure that our friends Higuaín and Enzo Perez along with our new friend Meza all three introduced as subs in the 2nd half, this should be added to the existent contract as an amended item.

    Finally, we would like to train like girls with easy drills and making circles and pass the ball randomly with lots of laughter and chatting because that is the trademark of our Friends Club, and we agree to go together, play together, and stay together, and Viva Forever.

    Your Circus Department
    Friends Club

    Signature: Mascherano and Leonel Messi

    • VAMOS ARGENTINA !!!

      VAMOS FRIENDS CLUB !!!

      we are with you.

      our opponents can continue CRYING CRYING CRYING !!!!

      and KEEP CRYYYYYYYYYYYYYINGGGGGG !!!

      • I see at least several users here part of the media conspiracy.
        To detect it is a piece of cake: look for posts that spreading hate towards our own players. Hates, not encouraging critics.

        • Do like I do man and ignore those posts.. there are few of posters here – all they do
          is ramble about Messi and his so called friends club.. A few of them even go to the extreme to discourage true fans from supporting Argentina because of their hatred of certain players. 🤷🏾‍♂️

    • Friends club??? Legacy????

      That’s the biggest bull shit ever.
      Messi didn’t give a fucking care of legacy even one tiny bit.
      All he really wanted the world cup from deep within him, and that’s the only point. As everybody in the team would, as anyone from any country would, normal. The fact that he’s one of the best player that have graced the game is one thing that made difference. No media ever report anything about Ronaldo, even his shit performance in previous world cup (I don’t remember even Portugal reaching what stage of the cup). Or his so-so performance at euro 16. That’s all because he’s Messi. And I don’t think he give a damn care about Ronaldo either, how he perform to this moment, he shouldn’t give a damn.

      Friends club??? Good for telenovela but never enough evidence in the real world. Not even a nice try.

      Never clicked any of the media propaganda bait. Let’s just focus on ourself and enemy. Hopefully, the Argentina team too, never read those media and never show any of it, during this WC. If it’s over then it’s over, so will all the 30 teams will in this WC. Only the departure time is different. Even reaching finals, being the last 2, is still considered a failure from those chicken heads, if the trophy is failed to be brought home. How would any other stages give any difference in your head. Still a failure, ain’t it not??

      But be glad, after this WC, be it successful or not, Messi and co are finally leaving, and you guys will have to be creative in finding a new topic for read.

  66. Difference between El Tri and Albiceleate teams is that Mexico figured out a way to start having fun and play as a team after a mediocre qualifiers outing. Argentina may not find that magic with lack of talent everywhere, including coaching, with the exception of attack. If Sampaoli needed to have made a drastic change against Croatia, he should have had Messi play midfield, since he is the only playmaker to make a difference. Taking your best attacker out of position is not a good idea but Argentina could then have Dybala, Aguero and Higuain together on the field.

  67. Why this stubborn motherfucker sampaoli bald headed bitch doesn’t play Lo celso……only player that is creative in mid and can score too…….he was involved in 3 of the 4 goals against Haiti……he is ultimate starter at PSG….this MF knows well Abt it…..but this bitch chooses biglia, Enzo ……Fuck sampaoli…….I think this MF has some grudge against Argentina and wanna take revenge by breaking the team……..if I was in power I will immediately sack this fucker…..Why this AFA doesn’t realise this…….I think dey also watch football……really the AFA is so corrupt and doesn’t take necessary steps………Why the people in power cannot do anything……..This is WC it comes once in 4 years…….They are watching like let it be whatever happens happens……..fuck everyone…….

  68. 4-2-3-1
    Armani
    Ansaldi Otamendi Fazio Tagliafico/Rojo
    Banega Lo Celso
    Dybala Messi Pavon
    Aguero

    Or: 4-3-3
    Armani
    Ansaldi Otamendi Fazio Tagliafico/Rojo
    Banega Masche Lo Celso
    Messi Aguero Dybala

    • Better off

      Armani
      Ansaldi/Mercado-Fazio-Otamendi-Rojo
      Di Maria-Lo Celso-Banega
      Messi-Aguero-Dybala

      Di Maria+Messi=🔥 (ex. Ecuador 1-3Argentina)
      Need to throw everything you’ve got!
      Pavon, Tagliafico, Meza, Enzo, Higuaín they all had their chance! Now sit down and let the big boys handle it!

      • Not sure if Di Maria playing behind Messi would work well. Kind of strange placement for him. But what the hell – let’s fire at will!

        • Yea LOL
          I mean, Di Maria played as an LM when Real beat Atletico 4-1, always behind Ronaldo to support the attack, and he was the man of the match may I remind you.
          Moving him to the side where he’d be most comfortable wouldn’t be too much of a change.
          That way, Messi can’t walk like he’d like to, because Di Maria always likes to push up! If Di Maria cuts in, Messi goes out, if he goes out, Messi cuts in.
          MAD needs to play, said it before, I’ll say it a million times.
          Experience Trumps Youth.
          Let’s just hope Messi can get his head out of his *** this time and actually do something for once.

  69. All Tagliafico does on the field is either pass the ball back to Masche or one of the CB. This kid is not ready for the world cup stage.

    • Oh really?! WHich was the pass to Aguero in ’53 min? He is doing it even as CB the more as fullback.

      Our best defender or even player in this tournament is not ready for WC? You always make fool of yourself. Prejudice make you unable to admit evident facts.

      If Tagliafico is not ready for WC then Otamendi, Mercado and Rojo should not even play football.

  70. All Sampa had to do is repeat the same lineup as against Haiti and let the team grow from there. Add someone to replace Lanzini and then see how the team evolved going forward. Instead, Sampa doesn’t give anything a chance to build momentum even though football is all about repetition. Sampa’s mad scientist approach is what you do when you are the host nation who desn’t have to worry about qualifying or something you save for friendly matches. Then to top off his crazy lineups, he used an unstable Goalkeeper and this is the result.

  73. Why leave out Perotti, Lamela and Pizarro/Pastore for low level players like Meza, Salvio and Acuna.

    • Some fans here want entire 23 squad to consist of Argentina league players.
      There is a reason why 26 year olds are still playing in Argentina..
      BTW pizzaro is back to Mexican league.

    • Said that before here as well.
      But lots of pple seemed to not mind when those guys missed out n the squad was picked.
      Perotti is a great two foot winger n his ability from the spot is extremely handy.
      Lamela been a fan of since River but has developed into the fluid silky player i thought he would have. But this guy will give u his all offensive and defensive n still has a few tricks that can unsettle defences.

      Anyways I’m ranting like this matters now.
      One game ahead , let’s do this!

    • Come on! All your favourites are there. According to you we should go far having ‘class players’ like Marias, Higuainas… Don’t try to seek excuse.
      Do you feel threatened?! I can’t believe! Always full of faith in your bveloved generation.

        • All I saw was Messi pissing it all against Croatia more than the ‘nobodies’. The nobodies had not missed penalty. The nobodies like Salvio or Acuna at least fought. Where was AGuero? Otamendi was laughable. Rojo in first game? What did Biglia, the player that makes you feeling comfortable? Di Maria? He was so poor that benched by Sampaoli yet before second game. Higuain was not there against Croatia?

        • Tell me, Csabalala, I wonder, if they will qualify… they will go far? You always aiming high…

          • You will see what the difference, playing with low level players and you wait the miracle…argentine, portugal or holland league dont prepare for the WC

          • Hahaha, another one who want to say our best player – Tagliafico – is not prepared. He is playing best and still 3 man so prejudiced. It’s hard to admit player you hate is good, I see.

    • I think sampaoli’s hope was that these players run their ass off on the pitch so he can play with high pressing. This is the only explanation in my opinion. So messi or aguero don’t need to change their way of play and help in defense.

    • With any other coach, they’d be ready by now! That’s what happens when you DON’T Play friendlies!!!!!
      Low, Lotupegui, Osorio, Tite, etc, would have those players ready! Meanwhile we have an excuse of a manager to deal with.
      Now we have to rely on the veterans to click with each other, and hope Messi feels more freedom with them around!

      My Lineup:
      Armani
      Mercado-Fazio-Otamendi-Rojo
      Di Maria-Lo Celso-Banega
      Messi-Aguero-Dybala

      Vamos Argentina!!!

  74. Well, to be honest – I don’t understand why people like Enzo Perez are still being considered? You miss an open goal and still get a chance, that is the reality of this squad.
    Sampaoli was impressed with Pavon’s 15 mins on the pitch against Iceland but he is not impressed with Dybala who made an obvious difference when he case in. What did Higuain do? Why is he getting a start? Players like Le Celco who can build up the play are being left on the bench for people like Enzo Perez. I mean why? Sampaoli’s stubbornness is the reason behind the epic failure of this group. AFA should have fired him immediately. This is not a 1 day problem, this is a problem with the entire management. This is a big problem. I feel Messi doesn’t need to win a World Cup to show his loyalty to his nation. He can do something better. Contribute in building better international academies and training camps for the international team, use his influence with his friends to get talented Argentinian youth into better European clubs.

  75. Guys like Meza, Acuna and Salvio wouldn’t make the Mexico national team but they do play for Argentina..

    • Ras, Salvio ain’t so bad and play ok in both games n in my opinion one of the better players last game.
      Positionally he was bit lost but that more due to circumstance.

      • He was always against Salvio so he can’t admit Salvio was good. Second best after Tagliafico.

  76. I have analyzed the game vs Croatia and don’t see a reason to blame Messi. Messi, the player.

    Messi, the captain was terrible right from start, when the anthem was played (his face said we were going to lose) to the end, when the match ended (he went right away without meeting other players). He didn’t show any leadership skill during the game as well. Poorest performance from a captain I’ve ever seen. He must relinquish the captain’s arm band, to be honest.

    However, I can see Messi, the player was also getting a lot of flak and I don’t get it. We played 3-5-2 with Aguero & Messi up front. Our plan was to have those two up front (especially Messi) and get the ball passed to them as quick as possible and those two, especially Messi, can score goals. But the issue was, they never received the pass. Atleast, Sampaoli should have changed the formation at the HT seeing it didn’t work in the first half.

    Sampaoli should not have played 3-5-2 with those players. Sampaoli should have played 3-4-3 against Croatia if he wanted to play 3 at the back. Messi must not be played so ahead unless Lo Celso played (our second most creative player).

    Higuain | Dybala
    Messi
    Acuna | Mascherano | Enzo | Salvio

    With the above lineup, Messi could have run the game. Sampaoli’s plan was to get most out of Messi by playing furthest, but the truth is he doesn’t have the players. And the weird thing was he didn’t use the one who was ideal for the role (Lo Celso).

    Another major error Sampaoli done was playing Caballero at the GK against Spain horror show. Willy showed the nervousness in the first match itself. But no way he could have been removed him for that.

    In the world cup, there is no margin for error. No room for experimentation. It’s not the place to try out new formation and players. You must have a clear plan and stick to the same. Sampaoli has learnt the lesson the hard way.

    Realistically, we have no chance against Nigeria after going so low against Croatia. However, I hope some miracle happens and we perform as great as we can and Messi put on a show. Croatia was his worst game, let’s hope he can bring out his best game against Nigeria. But we need a compact team to support him.

  77. Thing is Nigeria can’t defend like other teams because they too have to win. So it will leave open spaces for us. We should exploit them and defend as a team. We still have a chance.

    • Anyone will do whatever they need to do when the world cup is at stake. Nigeria needs just a draw unless Iceland are winning in the other match by two goals margin. So they will first try not to lose (ie to defend) and counter attack. In fact, that is the blue print against this Argentina side. Everyone knows that. Defend tighly, give no space to pass the ball to Messi and counter attack when you get the chance. It will end up in goal in every other chance, if not every chance.

  78. This is going to be the biggest test of Messi’s character in his entire career. If Nigeria scores first and he puts his head down with a face like a dented fry pan then we will be knocked out. He will be forever tagged in the history as a mentally weak crybaby who chocked . The way he played against Croatia it was disgraceful and disrespectful towards his country and millions of fans around the world. It felt like he wanted to lose to prove Sampaoli wrong. I hope he knows he is the only one who will be blamed not his teammates or the coach when this doesn’t end good for us. We want Messi who played against Ecuador!!!

    Imbecile Sampaoli not only destroyed the team by his mad experiments he also pissed off the Croatian coach. Now they will try not to push for a win. I hope after the meeting between AFA ,coaching staffs and the players crazy C**nt Sampaoli will not pick the starting xi. A coach who doesn’t even realize when and whom to bring in the subs and decide right team formation shouldn’t get to select players anymore. Its evident from last two games when under pressure Sampa’s brain stops functioning. Let the senior players pick their team and their subs. There is no point asking for Loceslo or Ansaldi or Pavon or that player or this player now. Sampa had screwed up so bad with his crazy experiments of Salvio,Meza,Willy and Acuna that I won’t be surprised everyone lost their confidence. The Seniors know better than all of us the current state of the team. They have played long enough to understand each others game and mental state. Tomorrow is Messi’s birthday hopefully that will cheer him up. I am damn sure Mascherano is motivating all of them with his patriotic speeches.

    Everything now is in the hand of Messi and Co,they have a point to prove to fraud Sampaoli so they will play their heart out and win it. They have the potential to put 3 to 4 goals in Nigerian post. Our defense is weak but no so weak that can’t stop an average Nigerian side. Tagliafico was rock solid in last game. Right formation and strategy can stop the fastest of Nigerian players. We can’t be a spectator like Croatia game where with our three man defense Croatians were playing long balls after long balls on the flank and Sampa instead of changing the formation keeps walking back and forth like a mentally retarded person. Most important thing is Sampa can’t have too much say in the team selection formation and subs. He just need to be present there and pretend to be a coach and so that the whole world are not going to make mockery of Argentina national team.

    • I believe Armani in goal will still some nerves. Honestly speaking, even when watching Willy on TV, i also get nervous, not to mention the defenders just in front of him on the pitch.

    • Every great team/player who won it got lucky on their way to victory.
      argentina & messi have been the unluckiest i have ever seen it is like they are cursed. May be things will change now & for once messi & argentina will get lucky. All good things come late.

  79. the team has to overcome the collapse definsively they had to change their useless pressure to more focusing on their wall we have to park the bus too. ottamendi has to stop his stupid useles tackle or making fault once he s down. the midfielders have to be more sharp on their pass and more smart too i mean that masche is always playing back this act has to stop immediately.
    ok messi is surrounded by 3 or 4 opponents he has to move on width because he will not be able to pass through 4 tackles and aguero isn t a good pivot for him i m not supposed to say that unfortunately but we need higuain more thant el kun even if he misses empty goal but for messi play he s more benefit.
    pavon is good he could fix the defense he could be good at right and dimaria will play at left. i think that dimaria dropped affected messi last game but anyway even he s not good enough since last WC di maria could bring more width but if we give this role to messi in center midfielder (playing width) we need more dybala or pavon in the attack thant di maria you have to be farseeing all defense will play messi with 3 players in his area so he has to do some work for the team.
    if we see opponents defense work they were marking messi area as wolves so i think that his mouvement (only opering on width) will create many unbalanced phases if he play depth that will be easy to stop him even his teamates but on width the midfielders will be vexed about his movement they will stay marking him obviously but that will create more spaces to locelso banega or whoever will be CM and then the defense will be concentrate on the center of the field letting the wings then free
    it could be interesting to change messi s role on the way that opponensts will not wait for
    armani
    mercado ottamendi fazio rojo
    masche locelso
    pavon dimaria
    higuain

    • Di Maria just has his best career as a professional player for PSG. He had a career high in goals with 21 goals/season. Almost 10 goals more than his second best season with Madrid. Even when Neymar was not injured yet, Mbappe asked the coach Emery to start him. The PSG players wanted Neymar-Mbappe (as 9)-Di Maria trio instead of Cavani.

      http://www.goal.com/en/news/di-maria-deserves-to-start-against-real-madrid-mbappe-hails/sjuz0441k28q1dvkee8dcqypf

      For Sampaoli, he got dropped after one game. And we are on brink of elimination and he is 30, at the peak of his career, and is in top form and is likely his last World Cup. Of course he is angry/offended! He feels that he deserves better treatment than that. It is not like he is “done”. He has his best season ever!

      Sampaoli is like someone who goes to war and does not know what weapons he has. That’s him.

        • OK so if I were the coach of Germany or Belgium or Colombia. Then Muller or Hazard or James Rodriguez played an average game in game one. Then I would bench them in the second match.

          Is that what you’re saying?

      • Honestly I don’t remember any one game of Di Maria playing bad when it mattered. For example:

        1. 3 finals? He was injured in 2 of them.
        2. A vital win or go home match against Ecuador last year? It was Di Maria who gave assist to Messi’s first.
        3. Semi final Copa America 2015 against Paraguay where we won 6-1? He was probably the man of the match along with Messi with 2 goals.
        4. Olympic final against Nigeria? It was him scoring the only goal.
        5. Against Switzerland in the WC second round, he played bad for 110 minutes but then he scored.
        6. Bonus match: Final CL against Atletico Madrid, he was the man of the match.

        All those matches above were important matches (win or go home matches).
        That means that this guy can step up when it matters.

        Tell me any one match where he played bad WHEN IT MATTERED (not friendlies or first match of a tournament or regular qualifying matches)? Can you? Just one match. Maybe just one time, when we lost 4-0 against Germany in the QF of 2010, but it was the whole team who played bad. OK other than that?

        Di Maria has been the scapegoat of Mundo Albiceleste site because the real founder of this site, Seba was not a fan of him and back then he wrote a lot of articles that criticized Di Maria. I remember back then Seba said that he was a fan of Jose Sosa and criticized Di Maria.

        You guys hate him because of his style of playing. He makes a lot of bad pases/bad decisions, but I read his interview. He said a winger is supposed to create chances, and that’s his style. He does not play safe, but he is a winger, not a DM. Why would you play safe like giving back passes all the time. That’s not what a winger do.

        • Honestly he played whole WC 2014 so poor. The worst game in his career against Switzerland. But with goal and people will remember only the goal.

      • Di Maria only plays well in a team which is built on a counter attack structure. He is one of the dumbest players in Argentina. He keeps on losing possession by playing in crosses which the strikers aren’t expecting. Dybala and Lo Celco should be played. Except for Sampaoli, all opponents just let Argentina shitty mid fielders like Enzo Perez, Acuna keep the ball. Instead of these idiots, if Lo Celco and Messi will have the ball, they will be able to play the ball in to the strikers. But, Sampaoli is a stubborn idiot who has sworn to keep on experimenting BAD players. I feel like the senior players know Sampaoli is an idiot and know they can’t keep up with him.

  80. Apparently the whole fiasco to do with the Croatia match started with exchange of harsh words between Pavon and Mascherano in the dressing room and obviously the senior players didn’t take that too kindly. Mascherano could’ve gone with a lot of dignity now it’s confirmed he’ll go out with pile of shit all over him.

  81. Argentina must beat Nigeria, but they cannot rely on Iceland -Croatia result. In case Iceland wins, Argentina will need to score more goals. There is nothing to lose, and I hope to see Dybala and Lo Celso as starters. Dybala should play on Meza’s place.

  82. Let me remind you guys what happened in Copa America 1995. The defending champ, Argentina won the first 2 games easily: 2-1 against Chile and 4-0 against Bolivia. The other teams only have 3 points each such as: USA and Bolivia.

    The third match is against USA. Argentina was confident finishing first because we got 6 points with a superb goal difference of 6-1. No one wanted to finish second because that would mean a second round meeting with Brazil, the obvious winner of group B.

    Then you know what happened? We rested more than 7 starters against USA. The match ended 0-3 for US and THEY TOPPED THE GROUP instead of us.

    So we had to face Brazil in the second round and we lost 2-2 due to Tulio’s “hand of Tulio’s” goal (hand’s goal).

    Croatia better not underestimate this if they really want to top the group. 5 of their players are in yellow, fine they need to rest, but not all 11 of them.

      • Iceland is not winning 3-0.
        If they win, it is either
        Iceland win 1-0
        or Iceland win 2-1.
        They’re not exactly a goalscoring team, they would rather park the bus and hit on the counter

  84. When you play as poorly as we play EVERYBODY has the right to talk smack. What I have never seen before is when there is pressure and people push us around we take it. We will not stand up for ourselves.
    A team needs leadership. Leadership takes courage. Leadership takes accountability. What do you think is going through the mind of 22 players when your captain is covering his face and crying before a game? Or moping around and being blue? Rip that damn captains arm band off that IMPOSTOR and place it back on Mascherano. He may be old, but at least he can lead.
    There is an old saying in the United States. It goes like this. ” That dog won’t hunt”. It means that there is no fight in them. No courage. The first sign of adversity and they shut down. That is our captain.
    I will continue enjoying watching him at Barcelona as he is a brilliant player. But that is what we seldom get in the Argentina uniform. After this world cup I will thank him for his contribution and look forward to building a new side.

    • Watch the highlights of Ecuador match. Or even try to relive it. That we were on the verge of not qualifying, away match at high altitude, we conceded a goal so early in the game. Pressure at its peak and then someone arrived!

      You will be fine after watching it!

    • You are exaggerating; Messis did not cry at the start of the match. No one will exactly know what he was doing when he put his hand to his temple. People will spin stories to suit their own narratives. What I see is Messi mouthing a prayer before the match. And Messi definitely can take pressure, he scored a hat trick in the suffocating thin air of Ecuador when it was a do-or-die and when they conceded a 1st minute goal.

    • San Isidro: look man, I understand your point of view and passion for the ARG shirt. I usually read and agree with a majority of your comments because unlike a lot of ‘johnny-come-lately’ posters, you have a ton of context and experience follow ARG futbol for a long. But with all due respect, you are taking this anti-Messi thing a bit too far in this emotional time for all of us.

      To write something like: ” The first sign of adversity and they shut down. That is our captain.” is just ignorant if you know Messi’s life story like am sure you do. The same guy that had growth hormone issues and had to give himself shots every day, and had to live in a foreign country often by himself, and was ridiculed by his Spanish teammates and kicked all over the pitch by bigger opponents…only to rise above and become one of…if not the greatest players of all time…I think knows a little bit about overcoming ‘adversity’ as you called it.

      Is he the mentally toughest athlete in the world. No. But let’s not pretend he has never faced adversity and overcome some pretty incredible odds in his like. I’m as disappointed in him as everyone else during this world cup but I won’t give in to recency bias and change Messi’s entire life narrative over the past week.

  85. Injury update:
    Mercado: Back (the collision he had against Croatia)
    Biglia: Bruised knee (in practice)
    Otamendi: right ankle

    We need everyone healthy.

  86. If you live in the U.S. or streaming the Mex/KOR game off of FOX then you must be listening to some horrendous commentating ……………most annoying announcer EVER!

  88. Both games will be played at the same time, Croatia want to maintain their top spot to avoid France in the next round. Croatia losing to Iceland mean they leave the possibility for Nigeria to top the group. Moreover, the only way Iceland win is unless Croatia deliberately toss the game which is unlikely and would be seen as match fixing. Nobody want to lose at the world cup, losing mean stopping any momentum you had before.

    Mexico 70% to Korea 30%. The difference with Mexico and Argentina when in possession of the ball is that with Mexico they have a plan and the ball move much faster across the pitch compare to Argentina..Both Mexico and Russia had loads of problem heading into the world cup now look at them..Mexico also playing with a three man back line.

    • Yes, the major problem we have is, the moves very slow and the players at back don’t have any clue. They always pass sideways or even backwards (danger!). We must be the slowest passing team AND the team who had passed the ball to the GK most times.

        • It definitely was part instruction, part inability to play forward. He wanted to build from the back hence Caballero trying to emulate Ronaldinho and flick a ball over someone. In theory you can draw the opposition team forward and then bypass them. But Caballero is no Neuer, ter Stegen, Bravo or Ederson.

  89. We need a miracle to change our fortunes in 3 or 4 days time. The penalty miss and the Croats humbling us will surely be playing in their minds. This historical low show will take time some time to get over for the players. Against Nigeria expecting a win is wishful thinking at best. Just hope players show some pride and put up a fight. We’ve seen Messi bleed in a classico and play a second round Copa Del Rey match like it was a world cup match and to see what he did the entire match against Croatia made me rethink a lot of values and pride that I hold for a long long time being an Argentine football fan. I will never forgive him as a fan. We’ve witnessed captains rallying their teams from 3 nil down, leaders playing with pain, with personal loss and to hear people saying Messi was uninterested becos he was unhappy? OMG. We all know we are a mediocre team but still play ur heart out man. These moments don’t repeat itself. Messi will repent his actions in this world cup for the rest of his life.

    • I think it is not fair to doubt Messi’s commitment to the team. Even for his own selfish reason, he needs to do well with Argentina at a WC to cement his status as the greatest ever. He chose to play for Argentina even though he was approached by Spain. The media and public can say a lot of things but it may not be true. Some media organisations need headlines to sell their newspapers. A lot of things are baseless.

      • You said it for yourself. Messi played with a bleeding head; he is a fighter, he just does behaves like a thug on the field; that does not make him any less of a leader. There are many kinds of leadership. It will take schizophrenia for one suddenly change his nature of trying his best in a match just because he is playing for his country instead of for his club.

  90. Holes like Rebic or Robic or whatever fck is his name. 2 Dollors shits like him is now Shitting through their mouth against Argentina.
    Musa & all the African gang is dancing with joke against us. Iceland is trying hard to exploit the situation against Croatia..

    Entire World is Mocking us.
    I have no problem. We are the worst team of fhe Tournament.
    What is there to lose??
    Let’s just Fight like street boys on 26. let’s play great. Let’s go ahead or back to Argentina with pride….

    I want sampoli to stay till Qatar. Because a Manager needs time. Especially with NT where playing time is very little……

      • I’m not talking about 2 Rs teams who will maximum goes to Quarter.
        If we need to make a wc winning team in 2022 the best investment is a manager with time, like sabella got.

        Now if AFA find a dude with knee gerk reaction he will b probably stacked after copa 19.
        Another guy struggling during Qualifiers.
        Wheel will go on rolling. Argentina will be crushed under it for ever.

      • But Croatia already had a team for the world cup when Ralic came. He also got some good games to prepare for the world cup unlike Sampaoli.

        Let Sampaoli stay till 2022.

    • We will suffer a lot to win this cup guys….the entire world is mocking us.. but they will come to know in coming days wht is argentina💙…the next game will be d turning point…Messi will lift the cup. he will retire with tears of joy..Vamos Argentina 💙💙💙

  91. Argentina as well as Barcalona must depend on Messi. Sharing the burden with Messi does not mean replacing him in the organizing role. Against Croatia, Messi receives little from his teammates. What happened?

  92. that s right it doesn t look that it s all about starting players cause as we saw even those whom were introduce vs croatia weren t that special or didn t at all good job i thought enzo will give us more strenght and control it hadn t happened. i respect masche for all what he did for us but it seems that the midfield isn t his thing since a long time ago. meza was trying to get some holes but he was too alone, acuna were n t good as he did show us in some game before. aguero is good but physically you need more height in the current football especially when you play against iceland and croatia where the average height is 1.85 m. messi was not on the field and sorry but he should get substituted if he still walking and making no move offensively (yes even if he s the best player in the world in 1994 it happened the same thing with roberto baggio and italy even if he was the best in the world) seriously in a world cup you cannot allow yourself to defend with 8 ok the centre forward could not participate a lot to defending process but with guys it doesn t work so you have two possibilty playing messi as the only strikers and surround him with great wingers or just ask him to make a run not walking cause the oppponents always play the hole where messi is supposed to occupy with pressing (don t tell me bullshits about his physical management cause he did anything on forward) lo celso has to start because he could hold the ball better than any else and i know he s not able to defend correctly but who cares when you need a win (maybe people prefer the back passes of masche tagliafico and co) ottamendi have to play more smartfully he s good but he alaways making mistake too higuain has to replace aguero even if he s ten time better but you need pivot on the front and that role is better for higuain cause he s physically better
    armani
    mercado ottamendi fazio ansaldi
    masche (biglia)
    banega (meza) locelso
    messi
    dybala higuain

  93. We can only pray. We’re stuck with this madman, who paces and paces. Yeah I think it’s a win win for Argentina now. Ether way now. If Messi generation is gone, in will be talented young players. Dybala, Pavon, Icardi etc. Sampaoli makes me so angry, he is the number one responsible for this humiliation, this disaster. His three at the back is suicidal and yet he keeps using it over and over. Every single time the opponent attacks you have the impression they’re going to score. Just too many open spaces all over, over and over. Regardless, players pull together and put 4 on Nigeria. Messi don’t go down like this, fight. Vamos Argentina.

  95. It has been embarrassing being an Argentina fan all people are making jokes and fun and ridiculing us ,not that I care but at least the players have to feel some heat!

    • Our back is to the wall batigol… we can either punch back or stand there and take it until we cannot stand anymore..

      Either way running is not an option. What happens out there tomorrow should be a bloodbath… its either for us or for Nigeria. Winning 1-0 is the same as losing 0-1.

      An earthworm doesn’t fight back because it doesn’t know how… we’re not earthworms and the world must know this…

      Well FTW… WE must know this and tell ourselves… ARG is no worm… we’re lions that look like worms because everyone is far above us… let em hear the roar Albiceleste!

      I don’t want the WC..I want one helluva fight… f#$k the cup… it’s not ours.. but our pride is… come back with at least some of it…

  96. I agree. I am croat and know this people. I really hate that trash talk, no matter who is talking. In that contest, not shaking hands after the match is equal bullshit from our players and coach. Thats the looser level and i dont want my side behave like that. This meeting of players, staff and afa is great thing. Sutly the things are going to change. I have got very very good filling about what is going to happen. I really think the tournament is just going to start for us. And is nit going to last until the scene od leo is helding trophey with his teammates and fans all over the world go celebretting. The dream is on !

  97. Vamos Argentina. I believe we still have chance . If we play like a team not just depends on messi we will win . We are people of Bangladesh more than 60 millions people are supporting Argentina. We have still hope . We can go next round . Vamos

  98. Good, become united for one more match and at least try to put on a good display. If we go out, try to go out on a more positive note (can’t get more negative than right now anyway). If we go through, then face France with absolutely nothing to lose. Who knows? France hasn’t looked that great- I think we can beat them if we somehow click.

    I am not opposed to Sampaoli sticking around after the world cup for the sole reason that he is a 4 year manager, not a 1 year one. This is especially true since all the old guard is retiring and he may actually be able to choose new, young and exciting players to build for 2022. Besides, who would you want to take over Argentina right now anyway? All the great coaches are doing well either with another national team or with their clubs, with no reason to join this shitshow. As far as I remember, Sabella has not been in the best of health and he was the only one that made us into world beaters recently.

  99. The worst part of our embarrassing show was now the Croats are shit-talking and Musa is getting cocky.

    Who would have thought..that s.o.b. Rebic whom no one except his parents and few dozen neighbors knew discovers he has a mouth that spews shit and is not shy to open it. Musa I respect a lot but feels emboldened by our form to say shit he would normally never do against Arg given their bad record against us…even before the match…

    Shows how much the world wants us to lose… it is us vs. the world Albiceleste!

    Only way to shut it up… were rock bottom.. going down further is not an option… I don’t care what formation you play… play with pride and heart… the lion is sick so the rats and snakes feel like kings… FTW… let us take the cup…us vs. them lads… let us take the cup, leave it on the field and walk away..show em…show em all…

    FTW…FTW

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