Javier MASCHERANO, Lucas BIGLIA retire, SAMPAOLI, AGUERO to stay with Argentina

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Javier MASCHERANO and Lucas BIGLIA have retired from the Argentina squad while coach Jorge SAMPAOLI will stay on.

Following the team’s 4-3 loss against France in the Round of 16 at the FIFA World Cup, two players have called it quits. The veteran midfield duo of Javier MASCHERANO and Lucas BIGLIA have both announced their retirements from the Argentina National Team.

For MASCHERANO, it’s not much of a surprise as he stated before the start of the tournament that this would be it for him.

As for the coach, Jorge SAMPAOLI stated that he will continue as coach of the team while Sergio AGUERO said that he will continue with Argentina for as long as the coach needs him.

For the moment, no word on whether Lionel MESSI will retire or not.

Personally, I may be in the very, very small minority but I think SAMPAOLI should continue. He’s a coach which needs time for his teams to play his system (something, if we are being honest, he hasn’t had with Argentina). He inherited a broken squad while introducing young players like Nicolas TAGLIAFICO (who was a stud in this World Cup and made that left back spot his), as well as the likes of Cristian PAVON and even Maxi MEZA (though this one may not have turned out too well).

Also worth mentioning that it would bring continuity to the squad and some stability in terms of the coach. This team went through three managers in one year with Gerardo MARTINO, Edgardo BAUZA and Jorge SAMPAOLI.

Furthermore, Argentina will play a friendly match against Colombia on September 11 at Metlife stadium in New Jersey.

386 Comments

  1. Mbappe clocked 38 km/h at one point during that solo run, on average 34 km/h. Along with his physical strength and skill, nobody could catch him without fouling which Rojo did.

    The solution is not going for a sprint against Mbappe. Do you think against Uruguay, he will get that much space to run at? No. They defend as 11, even Cavani works his socks off.

    The truth is there is fundamentally wrong with Argentine players nowadays. As people are saying, problem is in the youth department. Our players are soft,slower, one dimensional. This was the case even in Requelme generation. Roman was laziest of all. But they had brain, skills and vision. Nowadays, that part also disappeared, leaving us with slow, lazy, one dimensional and dumb players.

    There are some attackers, but as you go low , options are very limited. We have almost no option fullback positions. What a mess!

    Rest of the powerhouses produce better youngster than us, or has a competent management to diminish the deficiencies.

    Even with lack of quality players to choose from , we can be competitive with a right manager. Tite and Tabarez are examples.

    • Problem is that football is going to moment when the right players will have all the features: they will tall, strong, fast on the one hand and technically skilled, creative on the other. Watching France players we begin to realize that ideal footballer model. Maybe football is becoming more black sport just like athletics because black players are usually stronger, faster and so on… And if you have such one who is at the same time outstanding on the ball you have a chance to win.

      I mean in near future you might not have a choice wheter you should take strong and fast player or the creative midget because football on highest level will require both the things.

      • That is a good point.

        Tall, strong, skilled player will dominate over players who are only skilled. There is no denying that Banega is very skilled, but on the other hand Pogba is athletic, fast and skilled. Pogba won.

  2. yes is a sad reality of todays fans…to build a proper world cup squad u need players who understand one another and are on same wavelength which takes time to learn and build up…. with the wat u call the old guard u had players who have played together on/off quite regualr and u can tell that on the pitch banega dimaria kun and messi have an understanding with one another… even masch but the problem with masch is he is now too slow and prone to giving away silly freekicks when there’s no need. Defenders need more time to play together regularly and they need to be talking to each other… lack of communication causes silly mistakes which lead to goals. Having 2 central defenders that play together in the same club team is a massive boost like uruguay has… because those 2 players have a great understanding and communication which makes it easier to build a good defence… obviously u would need backup players.. but u don’t need world class players u just need good players who are willing to learn and who u play together regularly for the next 4 years.. .. having said that if sampaoli wants to have us play the way he had chile play i think it will be a big failure. i don’t think we lack talent in anything.. we just don’t utilise wat we have… and really we need to sort out the youth programmes because we used to have the best and now we are behind in that department.

  3. On Mundo always the same. 15-18 years old children members unleash hype and mode for a young player, they will drive the hype until the youngster will not fail in his first games and then will throw out him with disdain to start with hyping another one. Hype feature is that it’s always cyclical, start suddenly always after some fail and it runs out all of a sudden.

    Do you really believe Lo Celso could change anything here? Sampaoli probably benched him because he was even more scared than Meza and Pavon.

    I saw hype for Lo Celso before 2 times already. Now it’s third. I know people forget about Olimpic Games and his weak performances. But I remember the hype and claim for him before Olimpic Games. Then people forget about him for some time. The second Lo Celso hype was after his good performances in French league and lasted till his fail against Real in CL and fail against Nigeria. Then people forgot about him…

    What I want to say is not that there’s something wrong with Lo Celso (he is PURE talent) but that Mundo community is completly immature. They just don’t know how much time need young player.

    The same was with Dybala. First big hype which lasted to his weak performances in qualifiers. People forgot him immediately for quite long time. I’ve said: “for me young player needs at least 10 starts to estimate him”. To immature Mundo fanboys 2 starts was enough to say Dybala and Icardi do not fit or not enough good.

    Another hype was with Paredes. That lasted till his mediocree performance against Italy and then even his biggest promotors (excluding Ghostdeini) didn’t protest against leaving him out of team. They forgot really easy.

    I remember hype for Tagliafico that lasted only to his mediocree debut against Brazil. The same with Jose luis Gomez. Thanks to Samapoli didn’t give up on Tagliafico.

    and so on…

    Expectate immediate results – that is the thing I recognize immature kids in Mundo community.

    • Ok first pele maradona who are the best players and win WORLD cups they didnt win then alone they had strong teams especially pele. Second we all say messi didnt win a world cup and so he is not the best ever. Especially this year Argentina was a circus with the biggest of all sampaoli that some people here say to continue. Believe me the biggest time messi could have won a world cup was 2006 with that super team that played because of pekerman defence against a weak german side and 2014 that we lost to germany but we where better and without di maria who was on fire in that world cup. Argentina always produced and will the best players the problem is to make a strong team out of them.

      • Messi still has a chance to be WC winner. He may join our team few months before WC 2022 as one of bench players. But he will be 4 and a half year (WC is in December 2022) older and will not play any crucial role, maybe sub for our playmaker. Now he need retire for 3-4 years and let new coach build real team. If not we will see again and again new youngsters coming to NT and crying how much they are proud to play again with Messi and pass to him first of all instead build their own NT personality and resposibility.

        Now all this generation must go.

  4. If Sampaoli can’t be fired then he should come out in media and explain his 23 man selections, his tactics,his formations , his substitutions and its horrible timings. What was he thinking pressing high up after leading 2-1 ? If fraud badly can give convincing answers he can stay or else Argentine Cartel should assassinate this gay fraud and do us all a favor.

  5. We should have preferred Lo Celso, Dybala, Icardi, Ascacibar, Paredes, Lautaro etc gets some time and experience than oldies going and failing. We have done mistake there.

    • If they were throwing on deep water of this WC without having 2 years in NT games together they would lost as well. These are players for future but they needs a lot of time in NT before any tournament.

  6. You really should not lose faith guys but pray Messi continues. People are writing his obituary already from international football but I find this farcical. He is 31 ffs – he can easily play for another 4 years. And the Argentine FA should beg him to continue.
    What the team needs is the right coach picking the best players adopting the right system to get the best out of the team. Sampaoli really is not the man for the job – he has proved himself criminally negligent during this WC campaign.
    He has tried to apply a template of play that suited Chile but does not not suit Argentina.
    Argentinian football, at its best, is allowing flair and creativity to shine, and combining this with a steely defence. I think of 2006 & a great Argentina team that was set up superbly on the pitch, and Cambiasso scored one of the all-time great ‘team’ goals. Of course the coach still made a fatal error trying to defend a 1-0 lead vs Germany with Messi sat on the bench, when Argentina had the players to go and win the match 2, 3 or 4-0 & should have aimed for this.

    • The only way Messi can play 2022 world cup is to play as a pure enganche or out and out striker like Ronaldo this world cup. That is if he maintains his fitness and form . If he is at least fit as 35 years old mascherano in this world cup he can easily play as a pure striker or enganche in 2022 because he is very skilled Like Zidane was in 2006 . But if he washed up and plays in china or somwhere then no!!!

      • Zidane was washed up at club level but he allegedly did blood doping for the 2006 world-cup to get his energy back then he had his best ever world-cup performance.

    • I vote for Messi retiring and let Argentina build from zero.
      And if Messi is still around there will be accuses like it’s Messi who command things.. and pressure on him would not stop piling either.

      Let’s see Argentina without him and the seniors. It could be painful at the beginning and we could be back early at next Copa, but there will be construction too. Hopefully it will reach fruition in the next two or three years when the next world cup reach qualification, and will peak at Qatar.

      Everyone is free to have a wish.

    • What defense? When you play highline defense with aging and slow mids like Masche Enzo and Banega any defense would look weak. If we had played young mids and not pressed high after leading 2-1 against France we would have easily scored another one in counter and won. Even with same mids and defense if we had drop deep to defend we would have won. A highschool coach would have better tactics and formation. Like it or not The chinese league player single handedly knocked us out. He can’t even be a sub in any team in Europe and Masche forced Sampaoli to make him undisputable starter. He also influenced the 23 player squad selection to not have any competition.

      • Banega was always slow, let alone 30 years old Banega. Add to that 32 years old Enzo, 34 years old Mascherano – how do you want to stop these athletic youngsters of France with this oldboys. Even best tactic couldn’t change anything.

        That’s why I was talking again and again before WC watching the direct France and modern football is going that Argentina needs tall, physical, fast destroyer. Battaglia was the one who fit here though still no guarantees they would able to stop Mbappe – it’s possible only with faster players but also team with good defence understanding.

  7. Pep Guardiola also likes to play tiki taka like mr Bielsa and his student fraud Sampaoli. But unlike the later two Pep adjusts his tactics strategies and techniques according to strength of his players. But this mad Scientist fraud baldy wanted old players and some zero experience newbies to adjust to his style. For the love of god any decent coach even Bauza would have pushed all our defenders and Midfielders back and defend without giving any space to the French team after leading 2-1. But no!!! Crazy bald fraud wanted to play highline pressing game with Mascherano as the anchor!! Mascherano who should have never made the bench played in our most important position and not only he performed so bad he also blocked some in form young players like Icardi, Perroti, Lamela, Pezzella,Locelso, Dybala. Masche should have been kept away from the team after 2016. Mascherano’s hitler attitude and Sampaoli’s stupidity cost us this world cup. Whoever want this fraud to continue is dilusional . AFA needs to go to court hire some criminal lawyers to get rid of this fraud.

    • Yes masche was selfish to push himself on the team I’m sorry but fighting spirit is not enough these days ,mbappe raped us on the field

  8. I have loved the Argentinian football team over the years & consider it one of the great injustices of world football Argentina has not won a major title since the 1993 Copa America, more so given the prodigious talent the country has produced over the last 25 years.
    Watching the qualifers for this WC I was baffled why the outstanding central defender of the 2014 WC Ezequiel Garay was not being selected. Not only him but also the magical PSG playmaker Javier Pastore, who I saw linking up brilliantly with Messi at a past Copa America.
    Icardi not making the squad and Dybala hardly getting any minutes on the pitch were similarly baffling.
    This is a bigger sadness for me. Argentina had the players to build an excellent team at this WC but a series of poor coaches led to a chaotic qualifying campaign and I could not believe the sides it has been fielding throughout, with inferior players getting a game.
    You have Higuain, Aguero, Mascherano still (regardless of people’s criticism of him) a key player in protecting the back line and distributing the ball. With a wise coach who understands the quality of the aforementioned players, and how to create a system of play that suits the players, Argentina would have been competing much more strongly at this WC.
    This sadly matches what I have seen in past generations with great players neglected by the national team. For instance, the likes of Fernando Redondo, Pablo Aimar… Crespo and Zanetti being ignored by Maradona when he was coach… I hope Messi continues playing for Argentina but would also like to see the likes of Garay and Pastore in the team looking towards next year’s Copa America.

  9. How is Sampaoli the guilty one for the lost? Most of Mundo comunity was convinced before Nigeria match all we need is give the team to Messi and friends to feel him comfortable and let the club of friends be self-managed. All that happen. Messi even has been deciding about subs. THe class european stars got all that and despite having together countless matches and the supposed chemistry they were not been able to beat the France claimed by Argentina fans here as overrated pundit favourite. That could have been 4:1 for France if not the light-hearted young players of France team who left Di Maria 15 m of space on first goal and if not the vey lucky goal of Mercado. Against Nigeria we had poor game. Only the class pass of Banega and Messi goal. Absolutely nothing more. We only slipped down the noose in last minutes.

    My predictions before WC “1/8, at best quarterfinal with possible group stage problems” were accurate. That’s not prophecy and not even reason to be proud. Everyone who just didn’t let himslef be closed only to opinions of “die-hard Mundo Every 4 Year Holiday Fan” was in a position to conclude that. None of my friends is Argentina fan and they keep me usually close to reality. One thing is to hear your to heart another is to hear to your reason.

    Is there no other way to change generations than being kicked out in group stages of big tournament? OK, we’ve not being kicked out in groups stages but – let’s be honest – how far was of that? France, Italy, Spain, Germany – all the nations paid the price of being too much confident and beloved in their generations of WC winners. We did that mistake too. I can still understand to some degree the other nations because they actually won WCups, Argentina did not.

    I have said some 2 years ago that if the generation will not go soon we will finish as Spain in last WC. That was almost the same. It was obvious the generation have had their peak at WC 2014. Then was only descending. Silver coin of Copa of weakened rivals is not the same as silver of WC. There’s good time for leaving and say goodbye being loved and honoured by fans. If you will not leave in right moment you may be retiring as unwanted one at the end.

    That is my problem with this generation and our coaches: they were been blocking building of new team for years. So no wonder your youngsters throwed on deep waters of WC are not able to click at once and looked as feared kids (excluding Tagliafico). If anyone want to expectate from youngsters immediate effects without having enough matches before WC in NT is either dishonest and unfair,full of ill will or just kid growing on Fifa Playstation without any knowledge about mentall conditions of football success.

    WE LOST 4 YEARs BY THE GENERATION AND SHORTSIGHTEDNESS OF COACHES THAT ADDICTED TO THEM – THAT’S FACT. If they were been retiring after WC 2014 or Copa 2015 I would thanking them now but they didn’t want retire and it seems few of them still want stay (!). If fresh blood were incorporated immediately after WC 2014 and Copa 2015, if they were spending together 2 years – no way we could finish like this. Very young France kicked out oldies club of Argentina – that’s symbolical.

    • Both are responsible. Especially baldy is even more responsible. His player selections, his tactics, his formations, his substitutions and its timings, him letting mascherano influence his decisions from team selection to starting xi and tactics, his high line defense after leading 2-1. Good coach adjust their strategies according to the strength if their players. Sampaoli selected Higuain for Icardi, green Pavon for inform Perroti, Meza for a complete inform CM Lamela, Rojo for Pezzela. Mascherano not only forced Sampaoli to not select better and young DMs he also wanted to be the undisputable starter. Mascherano was our hero but he died a villain this world cup.

      • That was irony.

        I know Smapoli is also responsible but at some moment (before and after Nigeria game) people were really convinced that we don’t need a coach – we need only Messi, his friends and give them all freedom and what they want to go far. I heard, if only we will beat Nigeria we will beat also other teams for sure. But fact is that was only prolonged executiona, the game against Nigeria. Only luck took the team out of group stages.

        We are at the same moment Bielsa was in 2002. We need total purge.

        Commentators in my country were saying before yesterday game: if it’s really team when coach give all that to Messi and co it’s caricature of a team and they must lost. Every my friend laughed at me because of the Argentina team that was one-man distorted creature. Now you have all the mems, parodies and impressions on YT about Argentina and his dependecy to Messi.

        • Perroti-Loceslo-Pizzaro/Paredes-Lamela
          Vs
          Dimaria-masche-Banega-enzo

          These young mids might never reach the level of the older midfield but they were in better shape and form this time.Do you think french could have beat us with the young midfield of perroti, locelso, pizzaro and lamela and Messi Aguero upfront??

          When Sampaoli announced the 35 players provisional list he still had very good names there but enters Mascherano in the training camp and we all know what happened after that!!!

          • Lo Celso,Pizarro/Paredes as CMs wouldn’t stopped this France with Mbappe sprinter. Even 34 years old Mascherano is faster than any of the three above. You may see Mascherano chasing Mbappe was still quite fast but Mbappe is Usain Bolt of football. None of Lo Celso, Pizarro , Paredes is fast as Mascherano.

          • The media that reported the meeting right after the Croatia defeat told us that theres no concrete conclusion just confusion and unsettled matters.

            My guess is that after that night it’s probably just Sampa consulting things to the seniors before deciding them. Also no evidence from my side but at least I don’t offend someone without proof.

    • These oldies were not only slow they were completely out of form. When you know they have fast young players shouldn’t badly and macherano sit deep back and defended. Yes Mbappe was fast and young but Mascherano Banega and Enzo playing too high up and too slow to run back made Mbappe look like usain bolt. No matter how fast a player is there is always ways to stop them especially after leading 2-1.

      • “No matter how fast a player is there is always ways to stop them especially after leading 2-1”

        Actually I agree with that but it was impossible to beat this France team for many reasons. They are start blooming now while our players were far long after their peak. It seemed they may rather beat us 4:1 or 6:2 than any draw. France looked as if they didn’t know how to finish off this whenever they lead but still have had more to give if Argentine were able to play better.

        Argentina should be happy they didn’t lose by 3 or so goals.

  10. Simeone is a great great manager. Without any doubt, One of the Top 3 managers in Europe.
    Mauricio Pochettino is also a top Class manager.

    But none of them will sacrifice their career for Argentina National Team.
    Sampoli took the suicidal decision. If AFA sack him, he almost lost his all reputation, which he definitely had before taking this job..

    The point is, Sampoli deserves some respect. This team was beyond repair when he joins. He did everything wrong. But i don’t think any wiser decisions would have made much difference. The system which we followed after Sabella was wrong, but said that even if Sampoli tried to break that system, it would have made things worse..
    New bloods wouldn’t have made much difference, because they were hardly part of the system for years. Not since Tata’s time, it goes back to 2010.

    Sabella also did his contribution to spoiling our National team. He was a good Tournament manager. His defensive tactics were good. But he was just a match to match Coach. He did nothing for long term. Remember him using Clemente Rodriguez, Sosa et al just to beat a Olympics Brazil team in a friendly ???
    That explains his contributions to this project. He did well in 2014 by filling midfield with defensive minded players. & Friends performed well.

    So my Point is, Sampoli have been here for 1 year. Sacking him will not do any better to our team. May be he is a bad Manager during tournament. But he can be a good fellow in building team from ground zero. Let’s show some patience. He should build it without worrying about Copa 2019. Let the new bloods go to Copa. Messi should stay out. We won’t win anything by winning Copa. And he can’t afford one more lose.
    Let the new Friends come in perform for future in Copa.

    • The truth is, coaching big clubs certainly give more wealth than NT.
      And the stake is high, because there’s the people of a Nation behind you, the tradition, the media, the piling pressure each time a world cup is near.

  11. I’m not hopeless. But I don’t like Sampoli philosophy.
    Messi should go or accept Coach assigned roles.
    Dybala is being wasted.

  12. It’s teams and strategies that win tournaments. Not individuals. If there is a coach with a strategy, he will be able to mould a group of average individuals into a good team. And the new generation has some above average talents as well. What we need is a long term plan that works on the limitations and strength of the team. Who knows, it could be a star-less argentina side that finally wins us the cup.

  13. I am not sure why you talked a lot on golden generation. Argentina talent has always been like this since I watched football from ’90. Only Messi was the outstanding difference recently. Look at the long list:

    – Maradona
    – Cannigia
    – Batistuta
    – Rugeri
    – Veron
    – Ortega
    – Requelme
    – Crespo
    – Almeyda
    – Redondo
    – Samuel
    – Sorin
    – Janetti
    – Simeone
    – Cambiaso
    – Killy Gonzalez
    – Maxi Rodrigez
    – D’allessandro
    – Saviola
    – Aimar
    – Luis Gonzales
    – Mascherano
    – Tevez
    – Messi
    – Di Maria
    – Higuain
    – Aguero
    – Otamendi
    ….

    All of them won nothing since 1993.

    • I agree, with the closest one being 2014.
      So why do people consider that generation as failure too? Because it has Messi in it? There’s a limit on how much a person could do. If Messi could be Messi and Higuain in the same time, Argentina would have already grab that third.

      • Don’t put Caniggia, Batigol, and Redondo in this category. These guys won trophies with the national team unlike the rest in the above list who won nothing at senior level.

        Coming back to yesterday’s sad defeat against France, the team were beaten with their heads held high.

  14. Simeone needs to keep his opinions to himself
    He was offered job and refused so he can be quiet

    Pekerman left us after a good team lost in luck but he is happy year after year sticking with colombiAns

    We had awesome defence record in 14-15-16 but sampaoli decided to change this which I never get

    We conceded 3 goals in 90 mins in 2014 3 goals in 2015 Copa and 2 in 2016

    But in 2018 4 and 3 in one match

    There was nothing wrong with

    Zaba otamendi Garay Rojo

  15. You concede goals after goals. You have no midfield and no defence and you expect Messi to win world cup on his own ?? With the end of this generation , now Argentina is no threat even to Asian teams. How many years its been when Argentina has won under aged world cup? Olympic etc ? Have they won anything since this friends club era ? Lol lol lol…Bye bye Argentina ..

  16. Hahaha …now pavon , lo celso , dybala and some kids will deliver world cup to Argentina which Messi didn’t. Lol … what joke . If Messi retires , I can bet Argentina will not qualify for 2022 world cup. Anyone want to bet ?

  17. With out messi Argentina is not going to win 2022 world cup, Dybala can’t do it for Juventus or Icardi with Inter but they can win for Argentina is joke. Messi is unlucky, in Argentina he don’t have best player in every position like barca, yes in attack Argentina is best but Sampaoli benched all of them and defence is worst how can Messi single handily beat France after conceding goals after goals, Messi isn’t even confident of Argentina success in world cup how can he win. 2022 wc Argentina will not be Messi dependent but Messi have to play, Goat deserves world cup but higuain n mache cost Messi

  18. Against Croatia, Nigeria, France we did the same errors. That is leaving spaces in flanks. Our fbs pushed up leaving defensive flanks empty while our winger did little help. For the 3rd goal, Griezman and Matuidi was moving inside, so Mercado followed them leaving Hernandez alone. Hernandez received the ball, crossed, it was a goal. Same for third goal, Otamendi looses the ball, Tagiliafico comes to center to deal with Giroud leaving Mbappe, nobody covers Mbappe and a pass to Mbappe leads to goal. For the first goal, there was acres of space for Mbappe as Tagliafico was out of position. 2nd goal was the same, a pass to France’s left side, cross and goal.

    Four goals, similar error.

    France was good on counters. It was obvious, even Sampaoli mentioned it before match. Then he went for a highline tactics with our FBs pushing up, leaving Mbappe free.

    Even when we were 2-1, he maintained the same fashion. Would it be so difficult to mark Mbappe with one player all the time?

    Sampaoli managed 15 match, played 15 different XI.

    Sampaoli lost the control of dressing room.

    Whenever he is in press, he sounds like he is a gay, has a massive crush on Lionel Messi.

    He is the most stressed professional manager when standing in dugout.

    His starting XI is always leaked.

    There is disharmony between coaching staffs. After 2-1 Nigeria, Sampaoli celebrated alone. Becceccace was to be resigned before WC.

    Sampaoli needs to step down, but he won’t. Because he knows that his coaching career is over.

    We can’t sack sampaoli, 16 million to be paid.

    There is one thing can be done. Sampaoli looked good whenever Junama Lillo was with him. Sevilla, Chile are the proof. It was Lillo who was going to be the assistant, not the inept Becceccace. But I guess, as he was a foreigner, it did not happen. Hire Lillo asap. That will be more or less hiring a new manager for nt. But guess what, it is not happening.

    And what also not happening? The next generation being better than current generation.

    • After sleepless night emotions are still high…. my thoughts are so mixed but one thing is obious…… argentina dont deserve messi. Not at all…. i am watching arg nt for about 30 years and since then never see a not only footballer but alao a person so good and brilliant. I thought veron was the andisputed but leo is greatest. Why he didnt won anyrhing with nt??? Because arg nt sucks and only because of him people round the world still consider us like big team. Leo is not choker. He did everything for the team and give all to win something. The problem is not leo. Hi is gift. The problem is mentality and not developing football. Corupcy and no responbility. The problems are many……
      But there ia light, allways is.

    • A spectator would have known not to press high with slow and old midfield and defenders after leading but baldy kept on pressing and pressing. This man needs to be assassinated by Argentine Drug lords and cartel if he doesn’t step down.

  19. personally speaking even before the tournament began I had serious doubts that this team was gonna make it out of the group stage and in that regard I’m glad that I was proven wrong but there was nothing to indicate that this team was gonna go far. Clueless coach, players selected because of their relation to the star player and no due to form, the AFA in disarray etc……
    I personally hope that the coach, his staff, Messi and his buddies will all do the honorable thing and leave because they all played a hand in this shambolic campaign. The only exceptions are celso, pavon, tag and maybe acuna.
    Time to build a new team whose aim is to win collectively rather than just make messi happy……….then again I know for certain that non of this will happen and the same s**t will repeat itself, sadly.

  20. Thank You Messi and friends. The generation finally comes to an end. I agree with all others, that it is time for a fresh start. But unlike many others in this forum, I do not share their optimism.

    Most of the names, the people here want in the new XI are really mediocre. I can only see Dybala, Icardi, LoCelso and A Correa, who are actually playing at a top club and important memebers of the squad.

    A champion team, needs players of top quality who play high level of football every weekend. Both Germany 2014 and Spain 2010 had. France 2018, and even Brazil 2018 have it.

    Let us honestly look at our options
    GK
    Rulli – had a great season 2 seasons ago, but has regressed so much. Still he is our best bet. and he plays for Sociedad, not the greatest club. He won’t even feature in the top 10 GK’s of La Liga IMO, forget about the world.
    Werner – bench warmer. Unless Oblak is sold, don’t see him getting any minutes

    Defenders
    Tagliafico – Promising, but he is not young anymore. Should have been estabished by now. Ajax is not a bad club. Also no competition to his spot is a concern
    Funes Mori, Pezella – Mediocre defender who plays for a mediocre club
    Juan foyth – Too young, really needs to play, which I don’t see happening at spurs
    Mussachio – bench warmer
    Rojo – Has been good for Argentina, but will not feature in the top 15 CB’s of the world IMO
    Bustos – Still playing in the Argentina league

    Midfielders
    Ascacibar – Nice work rate and pace. But limited in other aspects. If he does not move to a bigger club in the next two year, you will get an idea about his quality
    Paredes, Kranvietter – If they were as good as people here are making them out to be, they wouldn’t be at a Russian league club. And BTW they finished 4th there I think.
    Lo Celso – The only future star. Getting minutes in the crowded midfield. I hope he grows

    • Agree with u Icardi, Dybala, Angel Correa, Lo Celso have to carry the batten, where as players like Pavon, Paredes(I have huge hopes on this guy), Ascacibar, Joaquin Correa, Alario, Lautaro Martinez, can contribute

      But as you mentioned above our Goal keeping, Defense and Midfield will continue to look weak. Where as in Attack there is abundance(As always). Players like Lamela, Lanzini, Battaglia, Acuna also have to kept in mind. Tagliafico meanwhile is a Captain material.

      Anyway there is no doubt the above mentioned players will be the core for the coming years.I would rather like to see these players form a good team, Please don’t make it an Individual team. Its up to the Coach to build the team now. (Question is Can Sampa do it or someone else?)

      • above said players are playing in different systems. we need players those should play with fixed system
        players should be selected upon their skills, height, fitness, agile, dynamics. here height and fitness is very important.
        so AFA have to make a team A and B where they need to generate the players from U17 and U20. those players should play with France or Spain or Brazil or germana team where they can get confident, fearless, experience, something learn from with these countries plying style.

        if we going with this locelso, a.corea, pareded these same thing will happen again and again.

        so we need to select the players from U17 that is the better for long project. from here the AFA can develop the players for 2022 and 2026. in between some hurdles will come but should not give up. keep on motivate and train them. once they get going then they no need coach or managers they will play with the opponents threat.

  21. Disappointed.Actually crushed. But will not give up. All trolls will disappear from here . I am already looking forward to copa
    Regarding Messi let him decide. If willing he should play.
    Finally a big salute to this generation of players. Though they did not win anything with NT I still love them as my family and will forever be grateful for the beautiful football they played. Time now for the next generation. VAMOS ARGENTINA

  22. Whoever stays the coach, I hope for some continuity. What Sampaoli has done with us is completely unexplainable. His team selection and substitutions were simply inept and ridiculous.

    But if he stays it will also mean some much needed all round performers at every position. The key problem with our team is the sheer lack of all round midfielders. We cant continue like this. The era of using classic no.5 is gone. Ascacibar, Kranevitter are of the same classic no.5 mould. We need a coach who wont just use these guys as they are. Rather force an all round game approach in their mind. This is the era of all round passing game. You can play counter attacking game in the tournament if you like. But having an all round squad that are able to play both ways and a squad that is as technically inept as we are makes a huge difference. The box to box midfielders, passing game wont start until we start it with the national team. Local club players will follow the trend as a result. We haven’t won anything in years. We must plan long term this time. Give Sampaoli or whoever the guy we select a chance to create an all round team. The days of technically inept, patched up team with counter attack is gone.

  23. When I watched Mbappe during his Monaco days I thought this is unreal for his age and would tell people that he would be the best player in the world in 4 or 5 years time but what I watched last night was beyond belief. At 19 at the greatest stage in the world and against the best player in the world, salute to the kid. Football is going to be taken to the alien level and this guy will set the standard for the next decade.
    CR7 sportingly acknowledged that it’s time for Kane and Mbappe to shine now. I’ll tell u what they are shining brighter than legends Messi nd Ronaldo ever did at this stage.

    • Yes, that Mbappe kid is amazing. He is the best of the post Messi-Ronaldo era.
      Kane is very good but he was lucky as England was in a shit group. We will see if he will shine in later phase.

    • Mbappe at 19 is not better than Messi at 19.
      After winning 2006 Ballond’or Ranaldinho had commented, I’m not the best player even in my club.

      • The difference is France used Mbappe as main striker while Pekerman left him on bench against Germany, and instead he brought on Cruz for Crespo, ….

  24. Thank you Golden Generation ( Amigos Messi club ) . All said & done you gave us 3 finals & great moments of joy . Masche & Messi will always have a place in my heart. This generation has been better than the post Maradona era in terms of achievement . 2018WC flop had to do with AFA mismanagement. 2016 our team was looking really solid & then crumbled with coach changes . In hindsight maybe we should have just continued with Tata Martino.
    But now is the time to #hitrefresh . For starters we should continue with Sampaoli. Knee jerk reactions on coaches will go no where. I think we clearly have enough young stars & just need to start giving them exposure.
    Fw – Icardi , Alario , Lautaro , J Correa
    AM – Dybala , Meza , Lanzini , LoCelso, Barco
    DM – Ascacibar , Parades , Battaglia , Guido Rodriguez, Colombatto, Zucillini
    Wingers – Pavon, Ocampos , ACorrea , Salvio , Acuna, Cervi
    Defense- Mammanna, Conti , Pezella , Foyth, Musacchio , Funes Mori
    Full Backs – Tagliafico, Bustos , Di Placido, Gomez
    GK – Romero ( yes he needs to continue ) , Ruilli ( best bet for now .cant help it ) , Rossi

    I don’t think we should discard Meza for now & Tagliafico was clearly among the better of our defensive options. GK & Full Backs is where we will be under more pressure for new options. Rest of places can be filled IMO
    Playing 11
    Icardi – Dybala
    Pavon – LoCelso – Ascacibar – ACorrea
    Tagliafico – Funes Muri – Pezella – Bustos
    Ruilli

    Vamos Argentina for ever. I will wait

  25. 3 goal was stoppable
    But by 4 goal mascreno was in half trying running back when ball was in nets
    Why would such players come to world cup at all
    Batistuta warned of taking maschreno to world cup
    In international matches the most important position was his not even Messi
    Nor any striker
    Pardes and kranvttr wd have done better hands down
    Why can’t these players step aside in time before they are liability

  26. Tough luck guys,Its sad that the WC is officially over for me, It comes once in 4 years, waited for it so long, our life changes a lot within 4 years, 99% of my football is Argentina, But the balance 1% would want me to watch may be some matches.Because its the FREAKING WORLD CUP. The problem is Almost all of the remaining teams i hate (Brazil, Spain, England, Belgium – Crappppp i hate those 4 definitely). I wish Italy or even Germany was there.

    Simply put we were not good in this WC as expected, And as far as I think Sampaoli should continue, he is crazy, but we cant keep changing the coaches again and again.Let him work with the next generation, May be wait till the Copa next year. He couldn’t implement his style into our team, That’s why all this chaos happened, The Senior players couldn’t adapt to the high pressing style. They were obviously not fast because of age. They couldn’t adjust to the training regimes also(Imagine if Sampa is tough what Simeone’s training’s which are strict as far as i heard.The same would have happened with even Simeone too). The next generation players wont behave like seniors because they just want to play for the NT.

    “SEE THIS IS MY SYSTEM ,THIS IS THE FORMATION WHICH I WANT YOU TO PLAY, EITHER YOU CAN OR YOU CAN GO OUT” Dybala can be dropped, Icardi can be dropped, Angel Correa can be dropped but Sampaoli can no way drop MESSI because its impossible. Its as simple as that.

    And with all due respect thanks to the Messi and Co, but please don’t wait till Copa 2019 for retiring. Now lets give some opportunities to the youngsters, Icardi, Paredes, Ascacibar, Angel Correa etc etc keeping out them now will be criminal. Now on wards will be an exciting journey with new young fresh players which we wanted to see for so long. We will definitely lose matches, our ranking will drop and it will take time to form a new generation. Damn we may find it harder to qualify for the 2022WC, But we definitely need a team who doesn’t depend on one player. Apart from Lo Celso, Tagliafico and Dybala rest all the positions are up for the grab. First of all we need a solid Young Goal keeper and a rock solid defense. Because with only a Rock solid defense we can win championships.

    By the way THANK YOU CAVANIIIIIIIIII what a freaking goals that was. Imagine that GOATEE SHITs face all over the Media (He will be painted the best of all time),had Portugal won the match. His mad fans would have killed Messi. (Which is impossible for me to stand, because already have so much heart breaks) Look at Uruguay’s Defense man, I wish we can build something like that.

  27. you are all crazy people sticking with Argentina. Team already sent off WC2018.

    now I am in Plan B : spain

  28. Since 1994, i have been loving this Argentina team for 24 years. World cups after world cups, copa americas after copa americas, we still fail to win a senior trophy.

    I have been following club matches just to look for good arg players.
    Through these years, players like Batistuta, Riquelme, etc have given us hope. But Messi is special. The way he scored goals really impressed me, he was able to dribble pass multiple players and scored goals like Maradona, i thought he would be our saviour.

    But now, it will be the end of Messi’s world cup dream, and our world cup dream is also put on hold, may be more than 4 years becos of the transition. It is sad, but i think as an arg fan, i think we are used to it.

    I think we need a good coach rather than good players, ordinary teams without outstanding players like Italy 2006, Spain 2010, Germany 2014 can win world cups.

    I really hope Simeone can help us and his own country.

    Vamos Argentina!

  29. I think there was many divine intervention during this world cup which saved us from being too ridiculous. We didn’t have much occasion vs France but still managed to score 3 goals including a lucky one from Mercado. There was the goal from Rojo vs Nigeria. Luck is a big part but not all, cannot always save us.

    I am actually happy with the outcome: not being too ridiculous on the results with this team. The difference with France is just too big, especially the defense and midfield. Pavon didn’t do his job to stop Hernandez, Mascherano-Enzo-Banega is completely dominated by Kante-Matuidi-Pogba, Tagliafico does not have the level, Armani, Rojo and Fazio the same, Otamendi the only one reliable but has no football IQ. It’s tough.

    • Agreed. I watched it at a public place and I really enjoyed the game.

      Regarding Tagliafico, he missed a routine clearance for France’s equalizer. That was the turning point imo. For all the hype about our young guns, they don’t really produce when it matters.

        • @insider,
          the goal was lucky. But the defending didn’t have anything to do with luck. The cross went past his stronger left foot. He should have cleared it. This is basic defending that most of our defenders failed to deal with last night.

          • If you point him for this, what Fazio has done. With all his experience he should have done better one or more occasion. None of our defenders are excellent. Everybody was having a bad moment. Why the hell Rojo fouled him for the penalty? He should have allowed Mbappe to shoot from that side. Foul cost penalty. And he’s been subbed off.
            The difference was in this match was that penalty.

          • That’s true. I pointed out Tagliafico because is one of our future players. Others are almost of out of the next wc. Never liked Rojo as a second CB anyway.

    • Yes, Rojo’s contact was avoidable. Unfortunately, he made one extra touch too many on Mbappe the momenet they entered he box and that was the deciding factor in the VAR. Sucks!

      Fazio closing down and Armani saving the ball from Mbappe’s 2nd shot. Disappointing, Fazio and Armani.

      Tagliafico’s clearance leading to Pavard’s shot. Again avoidable and could have been better.

      Blame Otamendi for his poor reading and for committing at the centre of the pitch. Once that happened, they just worked the ball to the right to Mbappe and Tagliafico was caught in no man’s land. Sucks!

      4 instantces that could have been avoided and cost us the match!

  30. We have to look no further than Uruguay for inspiration. Oscar Tabarez single handedly turned around Uruguayan football. From the youth level to senior level, he is in charge to select players everywhere. No wonder why he is effortlessly able to blend in the veterans like Cavani, Suarez and Carlos Sanchez with upcoming talents like Bentancour or Laxalt. He’s been coaching for decades and despite uruguay not qualifying till 2002, the FA stuck around with him despite the eliminations and as a result, Uruguay have a solid system and style of play in place which they have adapted to in decades. No wonder they were semi finalists in 2010 and always consistent on the world cup stage and Copa Winners right on our home ground.
    We need a Tabarez of our own and our FA to select a coach and have some faith in him. I believe Simeone is the best one upto the task

      • Say what you want, but Uruguay has achieved more than what Argentina did since the new millennium.
        So shove that Wenger comment down the drain. Uruguay has a major continental title, while both Argentina and Arsenal do not.

        • With all honesty, Uruguay has overachieved and still doing it, a country with a population of just 3 million, squeezed between two giant countries. Winning the WC twice!!! and more COPAS than any other. Oscar has been their manager for what? 12 years, well-drilled and well-trained and disciplined and much respect.
          I thanked two countries during this world cup and I hope for a 3rd to thank once they beat Brazil.
          Croatia for not pussing out against Iceland when we desperately needed them not to and Uruguay today for beating down that conceited MOTHER FUCKER Christina and HER SEISMIC EGO, because any chance of seeing her celebrate a win with that fake grin of hers would have killed ME, BUT NOW she can take the few hairs on her chin and shove it up her ass.

    • I like Simeone style (defense first) but he will not leave his atletico he even refused to be partime manager. We have good managers but they don’t wanna come.
      Gareca is the best available coach.

      • Changing coach every day not good…
        Can Give sampaoli time….if sacked whoever given charge should be given atleast 4 years

        New players now…
        September friendly vs Colombia…

      • No coach would have saved us with this group. We have achieved the best we can achieve with this group in the last WC. Need to restructure the team and keep one coach for some years. We will see in 2019 and or 2020 Copa what we can do.

    • One of the key changes Tabrez did in last 12 months was transforming midfield. Uruguay which traditionally is always an old team ( in terms of age ) has one of the most youngest & hence fittest midfields ( Bentacaur – Torreira – Vecino- Nandez ) . All are in the 22-26 age bracket . You can really see their midfield winning balls & connecting defense & attack well .

  31. I think we have good footballers but not enough footballistic IQ. For example Otamendi still argued with the referee and French players at 92 minutes and the team still had 1 more shot. Fuck it, what’s the point to waste time?

  32. Sampaoli will never resign because he signed a long-term contract with the federation. If the federation fires him, they got to pay him a decent sum of money. If he quits by himself, he will get nothing. I think deep inside him, he knows that he lost already the control on the team and the public will not trust him anymore. The situation will only get worse if he continues.

    No offense to all Sampaoli’s fans but he made so many mistakes:
    – Tactics: starting from 343, then 3331, 4231, 2332, 2323 and finally back to the Martino’s 433. So many tries to get back to the initial stage. Time wasted for nothing. Too naive to think that he can change a player with limited time. You cannot turn Salvio /Acuna into a Marcello/Alba in few days gathering if the players do not play in this position. He should have started with very classic and basic system and try to find the best players who fit in instead of trying so much fancy stuff and finally come back to nothing. This is the naivety.

    – Players’ choice: As I said 2 months ago, you cannot expect Enzo, Biglia, Rojo and Mascherano to be a different player in such a short time. They have been average for almost 1 year. If you rely on a 34y old Chinese League player to lead the midfield, to win back the ball and give the tempo, then you have a real problem. But I can understand why because as we have all seen, the new generation is not ready yet. Pavon, Meza and Tagliafico were all very disappointing.

    – I have feeling that he chose Dybala just to shut up people’s mouth. Not for giving him any playing time but for the political purpose. That’s not honest.

    – Very confused about Lo Celso’s situation. The guy was in the starting XI of 1 of the most prestigious club in Europe, he was in the starting XI of the selection since 1y, why suddenly dropped like this. I can understand you need balance in the midfield.

    – His management of crisis is horrible, once the team lost, he blamed on the players and tried to keep distance from the failure by claiming that it’s a Messi’s team. Come on, be a man! He just lost all his credibility.

    We need someone who knows the top level of football. Just like players, we need fresh head too in coaching stuff. Former players like Gallardo, Almeyda, Veron have all legacy to take this job.

  33. My sincere apologies for the vulgarities in my immature ranting last night. 🙁 my emotions got the better of me, I couldn’t control, couldn’t lash out physically and that was what I could only do. Pour it out here. Sorry if I had offended anyone.

  34. On a positive note, we produced the most entertaining match of the tournament by the time it happened:

    – 1994 against Nigeria
    – 1998 against England
    – 2006 against Serbia
    – 2018 against France

    • It was the most entertaining match and in the tournament probably.

      That’s why we support Argentina because it’s the most exciting thrilling entertaining team to watch even with its worst squad like this year, they still create magic moves and twits to the match.

      This tournament becomes dull and boring after Argentina exit.

      Also I like the shape of our players this WC they all looked fit and most lost weight including Higuain, rojo and Banega who was superior in the two matches he played.

      The goalkeeper should have saved at least one shot, all teams get caught on counter with no defenders in the box but their goalkeepers save some of those counter. Our goalkeepers let us down. Armani has a potential but he needs more training and coaching.

    • It’s true. I can’t believe some people still want Sampioli because it’s too expensive otherwise or we have no other options or he hasn’t had enough time yet etc.

      It doesn’t matter. A coach who cannot read the flow of the game, make in game adjustments, half time fixes, correct substitutions with whatever is available on bench is useless. Sampioli only knows one style and that’s it. He has no other trick up his sleeve and its evident. Forget ‘time’ and ‘system’. He has shown no ability for in-game critical thinking. He cannot play to strengths. Forget wins and losses, at least show you can make one correct read.

      A coach who cannot adapt is a liability in short format international tournament football. Trying every permutation possible is not adaption. That is desperation. He must go.

  35. The truth is it’s the end of a cycle. A lot of those guys have been playing together for 10 years.

    Have you seen how Millan struggled when Gullit, Rijkaard, Van Basten retired? How did Marid do after Zidance, Raul, Ronaldo, Carlos and Figo left, they are consistently eliminated early from Champion league.

    We don’t have transition needed for youngsters getting into the team.

    I don’t mind if Sampaoli stays. Any of Bielsa, Perkeman, Tata, Sabella would have been staying longer. We consistently disrupted the development of teams and got youngsters into the team.

    We had oldest squad in WC 2014, and one of the oldest in 2018. Apparently there is no plan from top to bottom.

    2014 team would have been eliminated very early if it’s not Sabella. Like it or not, he’s a master of defence. From WC’94 to now, no one came close to Sabella in this area.

      • That’s poor reading of the game, you’re up and playing well and then you take out one good player yet the match is far from over??

        Argentina just has the best strikers in the world, so classical and a beauty to watch but lacking in other areas.

        I don’t know what needs to happen to overhaul the entire AFA, but whatever it is, let it be overhauled if its preventing us from watching the beauty of playing soccer with such flair.

    • People say Sabella was defensive because that’s what he had to do as his attacking players were not fully fit. But what many fail to recognize is that Sabella was master tactician. His priority was not to give away anything, like Uruguay. The team alway found a way to find goals even in the absence of Messi. His teams were not set up to depend on Messi or any other player for that matter but to the strength of the players at his disposal. Look how he handled a Guardiola- led Barça with his limited Estudiantes.

      • We are lucky to have Sabella around, such a smart tactician. We all failed with attacking coaches. Big examples are Bielsa and his follower Sampaoli.

        What really disappointing is Sampaoli looked worst than Maradona.

  36. We have a basic issue which is coaching for years. Unless they get a non Argentinian as coach who doesn’t care for the media and give him some time to succeed nothing will change. For that you need funds and AFA is bankrupt. Till this World Cup the issue was not about talent. We are now at cross roads where coaching and talent is at all time low. Folks will realise Messi and friends at least took us to 3 finals. Going forward it is going to be a struggle. Lack of Goal keeping and defenders options will put us on par with Chile and Ecuador. The only name in midfield now is LoCelso who is yet to be consistent. None of the other young midfielders are wanted by any of the big clubs. Folks here think they are better than the professional scouts whose only job is to identify talent.
    By the way for me we lost the 2014 World Cup because of the miss by Palacio who was one on one with Neuer. That was in extra time. Nobody talks about that bcos he was Sabellas special selection. Sabella made the team play 3 extra time matches by just playing defensively and banking on luck. Here we want him back. Keep dreaming that we have great talent and Sabella or Pekerman are the great coach who will come and resurrect the team
    Some talk about the impact Icardi would have had. He would have been the biggest dud had he played. Perez and Meza were wasted spots in the team. There were no crosses or passing from the wingers. One cross from a full back and that was the goal against Nigeria. Taglifico was rubbish and I see some folks here wanting him as the next captain.
    After following Argentine soccer for 36 years with the passion that basically has given me so many sleepless nights. It is time to move on. Do not get too passionate with any team, especially Argentina. It takes you no where. We will be discussing the same issues in. 2022, 2026 …

  37. How the Referee showed unnecessary cards to Argentina???
    Same fouls by France- no cards..wow
    Penalty choked us- Messi missed ,Nigeria and France had penalty…..

    Armani should have saved atleast One Goal….

  38. Has Sam been fired yet?

    I really feel weird, weird because after three straight finals and now, Nothing? its over. I still remember the night, the 2014 WC was lost, I sat on the sofa just staring at the T.V. and here we are 4 years later. 4 long years have passed, a lot has changed in the world, personal life….etc but one thing remains, we LOST AGAIN.
    Watching some other team lifting the trophy, running around laughing and giggling…….and I wonder when are we ever going to see our beloved team do just that same thing.

    Casual football fans laugh at us, sports writers pity us and haters never seem to get tired of roasting us. Losing sucks, why I wonder, its not like I am more poorer tonight than I was this morning, or less handsome, or in pain when I wasn’t before BUT BY GOD IT HURTS.

    I am tired of losing and quitting has never been an option.

  39. Just two retirements so far??? What are the others waiting for? All players who are 30+ now should retire compulsorily and all who will be 33+ in 2022 also should consider retirement.

  40. is anyone of the idea that these tournaments are fixed and favored…

    i mean….why do Argentine coaches always make bad subs,

    how does a coach play 15 games without sticking to a plan.

    im barely scratching the surface…

  41. A question to everyone,

    Do we have world class or future world class playmakers, wingers and strikers (or let’s say promising attacking players), besides let’s say: Dybala, Lanzini and Icardi ?
    Pavon, Centurion, Lautaro, Vietto, A.Correa, J.Correa… Do they have that potential?

    And just heard of the name Ocampos ?

    Other candidates? And centurion isn’t even that young anymore.

    I know our main problem right now is in defense, to find a regeneration in central backs, full wing backs and defensive midfielders (though we have loads of talents in these positions, namely, Paredes, Kranevitter, Ascacibar, Pezzella, Foyth, Bustos, Tagliafico, Mammana, Musacchio etc), but for a long period now we have relied on the same strikers from that winning 2005 and 2007 youth generation including Higuain, Aguero, Di Maria and of course… Messi.

    Out of the names that I mentioned first, none have proof himself at big tournaments or even have a chance featuring in one. Dybala just several qualification matches and friendships, Pavon in some friendships and one match as a starter in WC, Icardi also at some unimportant games but I recall he had played in some qualification games too. The rest??? Just pure zero experience and a little achievement in club level as of yet. But we have to build a working team first. Even if we lack world class attacking players.

    • First of all this was generally not a picture of a big team serious team like Argentina. No preparation for this WC no friendlies not correct mix of youth and older players. No system or goalkeeper. 4 games 4 completely different systems. If everyone think this circus of a trainer sampaoli must stay is not normal. Second everybody in this site this Argentina dont have talented youth in defence or midfield. You all must be joking because maybe we are the team with the most talented youth players and alot of them. They just need a proper coach to control all national teams. Argentina in the last 20 years have the two best players in the world. But football is a team sport you need and good TEAM. Argentina has lost its playing style fast close passes fast attacks imagination. I HOPE that i great coach will come. PS guardiola is not stupid and maybe he is the best coach he went and buy a 16 year old kid and Manchester city fight in court and did everything they could to take this kid. And remember all in this site next year Benjamin

  42. gosh….you guys remember losing copa 2007…. what a joke…..fuck im angry again. what was that one….0 to 3 against Brazil.

  43. Until Argentina fixes its defense crisis, they won’t win anything. I mean they scored three but how bad was that defense?

    Poor positioning, slow, they made Mbape look like a world beater when he hadn’t done anything all tourney.

    I feel sad for Messi. I just hasn’t had a chance to win anything since 2007. We had AYALA, Riquelme and played as a team.

    Goes to show you can have the best player on earth but if he doesn’t have a decent supporting cast then it’s useless.

    Di Maria was woeful! I mean he didn’t deliver a decent cross all game. Took corners and they didn’t even clear the first defender.

    Other than the goal he didn’t have a good game.

    I think we all knew we didn’t have a chance but we hoped against all hope that maybe something will happen. We just weren’t good enough.

    Sometimes you get knocked out of a tournament and it hurts but this doesn’t because I just knew the team wasn’t good enough and didn’t have high expectations.

  44. cmon guys…..

    Argentina was, is, and will continue to export players in a llarge magnitude.

    the FIX we need is propering coaching ethics and developing.

  45. Marcelo torres, ezequail barco, Lisandro Martinez(stopper), Julian chico, Pedro ozeda, Juan foyth, Alan Franco, Thomas conechni, romeo of psv. We are not running sort of talent. Don’t you think guys with a solid project and proper guidance we can build a team with the resources we have.

  46. We have totally stopped producing world class defenders and Midfielders. Congratulations AFA you have managed to finally finish us for good. Big clubs are only intrested in our strikers. Gone are the days of Redondo, Riqelme, Veron, Aimar, Killy, Cladio lopez, Simione, Cambiasso, Lucho,Zanneti, Samuel, Ayala, Sorin. Yes they won nothing but they were feared!! Nobody fears us anymore. Conmebol teams are not going to show us any respect in the qualifiers!! We haven’t produced any world class midfielder or defenders since 2006. Our Goalkeeper situation is a mess. The last golden generation aka Friends club is also going to hang up their boots.Tough time is ahead of us guys !!

  47. only people in this forum praise Centurion..
    ..a major flag should be he plays for the dinosaurs. xD

  48. Look we will never learn. How many times I repeat this:
    Always a young player would give our big guns a run for their money. You need a young talent to win you world cup.

    2014: Gotze
    2018: 19 years old Mbappe

    If we used Messi in 2006, we would defeat the Germans.

    Lo Celso could have been our answer this WC

  49. It hurts alot. Unbearable! Only condolence is i didn’t watch the game. Had to travel for work reason and this is the first time i missed any game in 10 years. However i am terribly sad but i do feel we need to rebuild from scratch. I would only keep Messi from that generation. Maybe i am too bold but something really has to be done. Build a system where every players play in it not system for player. I know we are few will want this but i am agree with ROY too that Sampa has to stay. We are in thia situation because we change coach like cloths. Germany had their reward keeping Low for long time even his earlier time wasn’t good. I before remember 2014WC German people had zero faith on him and rest of the story we all know. Same goes with France. Sampaoli has to stay but should build a team for 2019 Copa but main goal has to be 2022WC. We have talents we need a system. We didn’t have any team in this WC it just individual performance. I love Messi but it’s time for change. We need system that every players fit in it. Can’t afford make something that fits only Messi. If legend stays till 2019 Copa & 2022 WC than very happy otherwise we better stop hoping for him always. Time for young gun. I want to see a completely new team in 11th of September friendly,maybe few old gun in every position for experience. Time for renovation and build from scratch. I don’t see anyone else good will come forward to coach Argentina or neither AFA can afford them too. Sampa stays better for Argentina. But AFA condition will be Copa Final

  50. Argentina hopes:
    Comment on these players. For most of them I don’t have many information and haven’t watch many of their performance before, but I know some are part of Argentina’s youth team, which didn’t perform well at recent U-20 WC or youth Copa America. Again only gained info from wiki.

    Goal:
    Geronimo Rulli/ 26/Sociedad

    Defenders:
    – Fabricio Bustos / RB/ 22/ Independiente
    – Emmanuelle Mammana / CB/ 22/ Zenith
    – Juan Foyth / CB/ 20/ Tottenham
    – German Pezzella / CB /27/ Betis (not that young anymore, but hey it’s center backs)
    – Mateo Musacchio/ CB/27/ Milan (same reason as Pezzella)
    – Nicolas Tagliafico / LB/ 25/ Ajax (anyone good besides him in this position ?)

    Midfielders:
    – Leandro Paredes /DM/ 24/ Zenith
    – Santiago Ascacibar / DM/ 21/ Stuttgart
    – Giovanni lo Celso /CM/22/ PSG
    – Manuel Lanzini/ AM/ 25/ West Ham
    – Paulo Dybala/ AM or SS/24/ Juventus
    – Cristian Pavon/ RW or LW/ 22/ Boca
    – Ricardo Centurion/ LW/ 25/ Racing
    – Maximiliano Meza / AM/ 26/ Independiente (yes, I know he failed in this WC but don’t give up on him yet as what was he’s lacking is determination and clinical finish)
    – Bruno Zuculini /DM or CM/ 25/ River (read his biography, does he still have a chance?)

    Strikers:
    – Lautaro Martinez /20/ Inter Milan
    – Luciano Vietto/ 24/ Atletico Madrid
    – Mauro Icardi/ 25/ Inter Milan (with only young players around there should be no more outside field issues within team mates)
    – Who else??

    • Those name are serious talent. Doesn’t matter we loss 10-0 with them but we need to build a team with them and a system first. A formation that comfortable for all and fits all.

    • With maximum age of 27 I think this players are good to at least 2022, and some even to 2026.

      In an event like world cup, I think it’s not really important to have many star players, yes it is a factor, as star players mean quality individuals, but it will not work if it is not a cohesive, gel team.

      It is true that these youngsters haven’t won a junior level competition yet, but it’ll be good if we stick with as many same players in a long period of time, to find the best formula and to make the team cohesive as a unit. Germany failed today, but I won’t be so sure in another four years.
      Yes, a few promising talents would keep rising in the future (hopefully) but no need to take 60+ players to find the best gems, when what you get in the end is a team who is not ready for a tournament due to their lack of collective understanding, weak mentalities etc. Minimize the team, find the right formula, train and train, and play as many informal/formal match together. It’ll be a good team for 2019/2022. At least for 2022, since for 2019 the time is, once more, not enough with this whole revolution in the squad.

    • please add few more

      Emanuel cecchini (22) CM – Malaga
      Eric Remedy (23) DM/CM – Atlanta unjted
      Ezequel Barco (20) AM – Atlanta united
      German conti 22 CB – Parma

      that new team should unite they should play with Argentina primera division rather than europe.
      indian cricket team was hanging with Sachin. now they are not depending on one player they as re winning with collective team effort through they selected the team from local team

  51. Roy, i do not agree with you on Sampaoli’s stay.

    Changing new formations every match in a world cup is the stupidest thing to do. How can the players adapt to the ever changing formation?

    And look at the substitutions he made, the slowest Fazio to come in? Didnt you see how fast was Mbappe in the first half? Why didnt he move a faster Mercado to the centre and bring on Ansaldi or Salvio as the right back? Why always bring on the useless Meza? Why not Dybala?

    Why he always says that this is Messi’s team, how will the other players think? And Messi thinks that he is the coach?

    Why Icardi wasnt in the team? what Higuain has done in this world cup was to miss another open goal in the nigeria game and scoring zero goal.

    Why you told the press during the qualifiers that you are going to work on playing Messi and Dybala together but it did not happen at all?

    Sampaoli is just overrated, he won the copa america with chile becos they were playing at home, and their opponents got strange red cards during quarter final and semi final. Chile defeated us by penalty shootout and Medal should have been red carded for a dangerous play.

    Sampaoli is just a rubblish coach, we will not be able to help us even he stays with us in long term.
    I rather AFA proceed to beg Simeone to save us now, he is the only one who can help the seleccion.

  52. Well the fact is Messi will not retire nor Sampaoli quit..AFA need Messi for money and does not have money to sack Sampaoli..Sampaoli needs to stay..

    Sampaoli ideas are not bad…it is just that he does not have players for his system…

    Tomorrow – Bielsa will get sacked by Leeds United because of similar issues..

    • Goes to show you that he isn’t a good coach. You have to work with what you’ve got.

      When in the press conference he said he didn’t have the players to use his pressing game with a back three as his excuse for not doing good I knew he was rubbish.

      Like you can’t change things to make do with what you have? Sabella realised we had a woeful defense and left the idea of attacking. Put 2 lines of four and hoped for the best.

      At least he got us to the final. That’s what a good coach does. You just have what you have so work with it. If you can’t change your tactics to make your team win then move on and say I can’t work with these players because they don’t match my coaching style so I’ll let someone else be coach.

  53. I’m not depressed that the team lost. I knew what was coming, in fact I voted for round 16 exit. I’m more saddened by the fact Sampaoli is still in charge after all that ridiculous coaching experience with the NT.

    Are you guys going to watch the remaining tournament? I lost appetite and motivation to continue watching the rest although I have watched all group stage matches for every team.

    • If he gets fired he has to be paid 20M in his contract. Then we have to spend millions hiring another coach. AFA doesn’t have that kind of money.

      I’ll watch some games, but I’m not overly concerned.

  54. I couldn’t be in Messi’s shoes. He’ll be heading back to Rosario until the season starts for what… to get ready for another season at Barca to go and win stuff he’s already won.

    Personally if I was Messi now I’d have joined his favourite club Newell’s Old Boys. Go there and play to win but concentrate on my national team more and put full spirit and effort for Argentina.

    I guess with his profile he can’t risk it yet maybe when he’s even older.

    • You think Messi will leave 360 mil annual salary for a local and less competitive league? It’s the era of club football, world cup becomes inferior and even less people watch WC comparing to UCL finale . Always fans suffer, but don’t worry about players who will go for vacation renting the best resort in exotic island.

      • WC2022 I suppose you’re right. I’m guessing you changed your name to ‘2022’ before the WC 18. I see you already knew we had no chance weeks before ha.

        • Yeah I was Argentina2018. I had to use a new name after being kicked out fighting with non sense blogs on here. I was saying player selection was wrong and favoritism exist in the team. People here didn’t like what I was saying. If I’m a troll, would I be here investing more time even after the team lost? I just don’t like the idea of building the team around one player, if that player had a bad day or injured, the team is done also it gives more ego to that player and starts dictates ideas plans and player selection, main reason I don’t want Sampa to continue coz he will build the team around Messi again. I was fighting that goal keeper conceded 6 goals against Spain (the team with no dangerous strikers), how on earth you give him starting spot for goalkeeping? France utilized all their top players but we left some sitting on the bench and others watching WC FROM home. We played a supposedly to be final game have we won our group and wouldn’t meet France probably until the final.

          I have been following Argentina since world cup 1982 when I was teen age so I’m not new to this team and im aware of how previous coaches used to approach the world cup.

    • yes, he has to join with newell old boys team immediately. from there the team should stick around messi like German, Spain and French. those teams are picked the players from local club.
      if messi want to shine in 2022 he has to join in local Argentina team. he should guide/pick the team around him also which is opportunity to learn youngster to inspire

  55. Sampaoli was too obsessed with his ideas, even more so than Bielsa. Sabella would have never let four goals conceded like that. Maradona did two against Bolivia and Germany, Sampaoli did 3 vs Nigeria, Spain and now France.

    Another very important issue is the problem with Argentina football in general, we are very weak physically. You said a lot of bad luck, but physical capability brought a lot of luck, looked at MBappe today and whole French team today.

    Most of top WC teams are now physically very strong, we need to solve this problem nationwide.

  56. I remember the Nigeria 4-2 friendly back in December someone said on here (can’t remember their name) he’s worried Sampaoli might be preparing his squad for the Copa 19. Looks like that was Sampaoli’s actual plan from the start. If we won the WC or finished high that would have just been a bonus.

      • ThongLyPaTra He’s some of the squad from the Nigeria 4-2 loss: Pazzella, Rigoni (Lo Celso), (Pavon), Benedetto, (Dybala), Paredes, Perotti.

        Now does this look like a “I’m getting ready for a WC 2018 squad” or does it look more like “I’m getting ready for a Copa 2019 squad”?

        You have to take into account that the 3 he took Lo Celso, Pavon and Dybala, well he only played Dybala for 25 minutes and didn’t play Lo Celso once.

        There’s your answer it’s a “I’m getting ready for Copa 19 squad”. That’s why he took more experience because he had the Copa 19 in his mind from the start.

  57. I feel so drained like I’ve no life in me. I don’t think I can even watch another WC game.

    I’ve checked our next friendlies. US tour in September:
    vs Guatamala
    vs Colombia
    October:
    vs USA

    For me Sampaoli has to take every friendly game seriously finding the weaknesses and strengths in players. He’ll have enough games. Copa 19 is seriously a must win. I haven’t seen a live match of Ascacibar play yet but if the rumours are true we have nothing to lose.

    I believe Sampaoli has something in him, but why play Lo Celso in every friendly game before the WC then not play him once. I’m sorry but he shouldn’t have put him in the WC squad if that was the case. I accepted the Biglia-Masche partnership for the Iceland game once because it made sense so we’d attack from the sides. Also he didn’t play the 4-2-3-1 at all which was ok in the friendlies.

  58. Guys this is a bad day for us. But calm your selves down. We should be thankful that we came to Russia after awkward qualification campaign,where 4 times winner Italy failed and strong Netherlands failed. And we should be thankful we avoid group stage exit. Where the champions failed to do so.
    Beside that we lost our no1 keeper very late. And another very good player too.
    Final preparation matches were cancelled. We were at on a difficult group.
    The reason Messi failed to shine is because out of 736 players playing in the worldcup Messi is the man with the biggest pressure on his head. Why?
    1. This maybe his last chance for a worldcup
    2. The whole team depends on his performance
    3. Unlike Portugal (who never won) Argentina (fans and team) would not want anything else but the title.
    4. The whole media focus on him.
    And many more.
    I hope he would not retire yet and play as a playmaker and push the team for glory next time.
    We still need him with the likes of new talents arroud.We have seen a better Maradona in him and at the age of 34 he still could be a better Requelme or a Better Aimar with some couple of new Maradona around him, I have no doubt we can still win this.
    So cheer up guys. And hope for the best for the upcoming friendlies and Copa America .
    I am sad but this makes me stronger, and I want you to be so…
    VAMOS ARGENTINA!!!!!

  59. I could not imagine any team could treat a player as Dybala like this .too much racist and stupid temper in this fucking selection. That’s was the worst team in this world cup because argentina was a dead born since his first game. The only thing they dis best is to destroy young talent. How could imagine Owen, Mbappe play at 18,19 years old meanwhile messi could not be starter in 2006.now messi is the curse for the young talent because he is refused to play with dybala and impose his friends like : di maria and mascherano. Now, everyone can see why Tevez never tolerate this guy. It’s time for this looser generation to go.

  60. I really thought Sampaoli would have some way to deal with Mbappe after first half but instead he brought on a slow defender, and still leaving high line defence

  61. I….just want somebody to hug me…….tell me everything is going to be ok….

    Someone pls… wrap me in a blanket of successful Argentine NT AMD world cup trophies……..

    :/

    • We all are going through the same feeling man. I stopped watching after France scored the third.!! I.didn’t have the courage to watch my beloved team crash out because of baldy fraud and Stubborn masche!!! I haven’t watched our 3rd goal!!

  62. What we need is a young coach who has played in top level leagues in Europe and knows modern football. Someone like Crespo or Batigol. Nomore of these stubborn frauds with wornout outdated coaching techniques. Sack sampa appointments Crespo our next coach. Anyone can be an upgrade over this badly fraud!!

  63. To be fair France is stronger than us. But we would have beaten them with proper defence and strategy. A few takeaway:

    Every time since 1998 coaches disappointed us with dump decisions:

    1998: no Crespo bati together, not calling Cannigia, Redondo
    2002: play out of form Veron instead of Aimar, Bati instead of Crespo
    2006: sub requelme, we were loosing when Crespo Messi Requelme Aimar Saviola on bench
    2010: Maradona you all know, put defenders in wrong positions, play 3 strikers against Germany. Leave champion league winners at home, Samuel, Cambiaso
    2014: sub Levazzi
    2018: all sorts of lineups, chose wrong keepers, played overhypped youngsters, leave Icardi, Perrotti, Prandes, Lamela, Angel Corea home, leave Dybala, Higuain, Aguero on bench, play high line against a team with fast pace strikers and strong defense, sub Rojo with Fazio when we had issues on pace. Trust flop Meza, and to some extend Pavon …

  64. Things never added up for this Gen. these guys didnt play with “Garra” (balls) until the Nigeria game.

    Players unfit or omitted from the team.

    We needed Kun to score what….8 years ago. And he literally only did this yr.

    Di Maria never showed up in the finals….

    The list can go on….

  65. We had a good team in 2016 under Tata, we were leading the qualifiers despite a bad start without Messi, we played two good Copas, Tata is not the greatest coach but he had a working system. Then came Chile and ruined it for us, losing both Copa finals in the same fashion made Tata resign and disintegrated the team, we never played a cohesive game again.

    • True, i always thought we were too critical to Tata, his team was not as defensive as Sabella but was solid, he did not abandon Argentina style. Argentina was best in recent memoy in copa America centenario, almost unstoppable. his crime was he failed in two finals but same fans worship Sabella for reaching world cup final with anti football tactics.

  66. We need young legs such as Lauturo, centurion,Dybala, Lo Celso, the young boy who’s playing in Germany I forgot his name, Tagliafico, Icardi,Lanzini, parades, Giulli, to take over. I dt know if you Guys agree, as far as Sampaoli, I have mix emotions about him, I dt know if he’s the right coach for Argentina a country which is very demanding. I dt make decisions but if he’s staying he needs to step up. I think there’s hope, the new generation of players are very talented, Argentina will be in good hand.

    • I lost hope on Sampa.. he lost the players, was out coached in every game, made horrible substitutions (other than pavon who should have started insyead of dimaria), insisted on his own style of coaching (high line high tempo) with a slow and aging core of players.. he is too idealist. We need a practical coach. We need people like Gallardo, Simeone, etc.

    • I don’t know. We wished for Pavon and Meza. We saw them failed big time. I am not sure what Lautaro or Centurion would add to the play. We wished for Fazio and he didn’t do better than Rojo. We wanted Di Maria to be benched but he gave us some light with his rocket. It was him again at the last second starting the attack and almost score a Goetze like goal that would be the miracle if it went in.
      The system was the problem.

  67. This blows….. can’t believe the era ends like this.

    Really hope the burden dowsnt fall on Dybala moving forward.

  68. This France team is not that impressive if Argentina had any ideas or real plan they would won the game after we went 2-1 we just stop trying we went to sleep and the defense went lost like they say offense win games and defense win championships and Argentina can’t win anything with this kinda defense I would rather have a coach who believes in defense first i never trust of Samp way of playing I take Sabella and SIMEONE any days of the week over Samp SIMEONE is my first pick his team would never lost this way.

  69. You guys are right…. he.. Sampa should go. It’s almost as if he tried to sabotage the team.

    • Better to fire him now and give the next guy 4 years than to wait till year 2.. supposedly afa will neef to pay sampa several million $ if they fire him before the end of his contract.. so.. unlickely.. sampa will peob coach till next copa america.. and if he fails then.. he will go

  70. If AFA continues with Sampaoli then we might not qualify for 2022!!! Yes he didn’t have enough time to execute his system of play but the 23 player squad he picked after 6-1 and 4-2 defeat, his formations, his substitutions and its timings, his high line defense after we were leading 2-1 . All these stupid mistakes should be enough to kick him out . Baldy is not only idiot he is also a pussy. He let Mascherano take over the team and influence his decisions from day 1. Mascherano who was the worst player for us before and during the world cup. He played in a very very important position for us and because of his slowness and sloppyness we got knocked out. Not only Mascherano didn’t play well he destroyed our chances by not letting some in form fit and young players to get selected for the World cup. Either you die a hero or live long enough to become a villain. Masche became a villain and put a big dent on his legacy. We had young and inform players but Masche didn’t let baldy select them not just Icardi but many others too. Masche was already in the camp even before the 35 players got selected. Counting on Mascherano to become our no5 and 5th defender destroyed us. Yes he has retired now but if he along with Biglia had retired 1 year ago we would have defeated France today. Sampaoli can’t continue. If anyone in AFA has brains they should find a way to kick this fraud out. We need a highly defensive coach like sabella or simione. Our golden generation is gone and we don’t have world class youngsters . We need a proper coach not some gay nervous imposter to build a team!!

  71. Dear
    Macherano I love and respect you always been a warrior whenever you put on that Argentina shit if we had 10 more warriors like you in the field we would win a lot of trophies thank you for everything one thing I know we will win a lot with you as a coach because you was leader in the field you will be one as a coach💪🏾

  72. Oh my God, Why would Sampaoli stays???? Why??? Why?? I guess the federation is too broke to buy him out, that’s the only reason. He has shown he cannot make rational, logical, decisions. Regardless of what went on internally he has been inadequate. Very inadequate.

  73. 4-2 down, we need a goal….
    And here comes……. Meza 😑

    Sampaoli OUT!!!!
    I’m getting sick of hearing his name!!!
    – He himself said Argentina has the best attack in the world with Messi, Icardi, and Dybala…. but he only plays Messi. What a LIAR and a Hypocrite!!!!!
    – Lanzini got injured, so you’d think he’d pick another’s young midfielder Hungry to make his mark in the World Cup…. and he goes with…. Enzo😑.
    – To make matters worse, HOW IN THE WORLD could Sampaoli deem Enzo fit to start in the World Cup having called him up 2 weeks prior?!!! Also, he took him OFF during the Nigeria game because he wasn’t good enough, so it only seems right to start him again against France?!!!! FFS!!
    – You have two top defenders in their league, Otamendi and Fazio, so he…. plays a Left Back who has barely played last season for his club in the place of Fazio… and take him off only when he’s booked?
    – He has a more or less mediocre RB who can play, but he goes with a diving midfielder Salvio to play RB instead?
    – In the middle of the tournament, you play with 3 different formation (4-2-3-1, 3-4-3, 4-3-3) and still expect fluidity?!!!!
    – Call up players to not even use them (Ansaldi, Lo Celso, Dybala, etc)
    – Give a goalkeeper who just escaped a 6–1 massacre starts at a World Cup, and wait only until he screws up badly to take him off.
    – You have one of the BEST forwards in the world (Aguero, Dybala) and you keep them in the bench against France?!!!!
    – Playing a 34 year old DM who was just sold by Barca to China because he wasn’t good enough to play in Europe anymore, but somehow was seen fit to play in a World Cup?

    Sin after sin after sin!
    SAMPAOLI OUT!!!!!

    • People who NEED to leave!!!!
      – Sampaoli (he’s nothing, un vende humo, he has EVERY RIGHT to be sacked!!!)
      -Mascherano (NOW he retires?!!! F*** me!!!)
      – Biglia (Now you retire?!!!!)
      – Meza (had his chance, did nothing!)
      – Caballero
      – Enzo
      – Higuain (Just retire already!)
      – Acuña
      – Salvio
      – Armani (isn’t that much better than Caballero)
      – Guzman

      Who Stays:
      – Messi (if he wants to, if not, goodbye! 👋🏼 )
      – Dybala ( he NEEDS to play)
      – Aguero
      – Di Maria (one of the few who actually gave a damn)
      – Banega (Would consider even to play in 2022 WC)
      – Pavon (didn’t do much but he’s still young)
      – Tagliafico (He needs actually training from a real coach)

      In Limbo:
      – Otamendi
      -Fazio
      – Mercado
      – Ansaldi
      (They’ll all Be 35 next WC)

      Who needs to be called up!
      – Paredes
      – Lanzini (injury kept him out but he needs to play)
      – Rulli
      – Kranevitter
      – Lamela
      – Icardi
      – Martinez
      – Musacchio
      – J. Correa
      – Pezzella
      – Vietto
      -Peruzzi

      Possible 11 in 2022:
      Romero/Rulli
      Peruzzi-Musacchio-Pezella-Tagliafico
      Lanzini-Paredes/Kranevitter-Lo Celso
      Messi-Icardi/Martínez-Dybala

      If Messi retires, then
      Rulli
      Peruzzi-Musacchio-Pezella-Tagliafico
      Lanzini-Paredes/Kranevitter-Lo Celso/Lamela
      Dybala-Icardi/Martínez-J. Correa/Pavon

      Argentina need to ready to win the World Cup WITH or WITHOUT Messi!!!

      My Preferred going forward:
      Rulli
      -Peruzzi-Musacchio-Pezella- Tagliafico
      Lanzini-Paredes-Lo Celso
      Dybala-Martínez-J. Correa

      Argentina for years to come! But first things first, SAMPAOLI OUT!!!

      • If Messi retires Argentina will not qualify for 2022. Most players currently Argentina have are mediocre and average.if you are the best you will play for real, Barca, city, bayern, even clubs like Seville I consider 2nd level. Have you seen Pavon who is our best talent couldn’t even trap a ballin close situations,he is no Barca material,let him play in Boca.I am sad today that Argentina is not producing talents that they used to produce

  74. Argentina national team is for me football.
    We lost but life goes on.
    the most important thing is that we learn from our mistakes (which I doubt)

    No more:
    Young vs old
    local vs Europeans
    (no more friend clubs – Mafia) Injustice
    no more in fighting

    and we need more:
    respect
    work
    plan
    strategy
    right tactics
    balance
    chemistry
    defend as a team attack as a team
    patient with young players

    Sampaoli has been castrated by the team and it will be very hard to come back from this. As a teacher when you lose the respect of your class once you can never gain it back.

      • I said a lot before the 35, 23, Enzo list, before after Iceland, before after Croatia, before Nigeria and especially after Nigeria but decided to gave up my negativism and didn’t see any hope for making a difference so I said f it and shut up and support the team. I don’t have anything to say about what happened and want to look for the future, just hope we will learn from our mistakes which I doubt.

  75. Only in Argentina, a coach who has showed no signs of competence continues because we can’t afford to pay his buy out.

    What a joke we have become. The fans deserve so much more, as do the players.

  76. I bet you no player comes close to Messi next season, terrible with barca confirmed now copa depends on how Argentina team rebuild, I’m expecting only Otamendi,Rojo,benega and Aguero to connect till 2019 rest of other either retire or kick from NT forever

  77. Loving these absolute kneejerk reactions here on Mundo. With all that went on, did we really think we were going to beat France? They have quality in every single position and even though Deschamps is an idiot, that quality would have beaten us any day. Heck, even their bench was stacked. The fact that we were able to almost match them with our shit defense and midfield is a testament to our fighting spirit. Proud of our team today. Let’s rebuild and come back stronger in 4 years, starting with Copa America next year.

    Sampaoli did not have enough time to get the players necessary to impose his style. I am very much for having him stick around and start fresh with a new batch of players. Build a team around Lo Celso, Ascasibar, Dybala, Icardi, Tagliafico, Mammana, Paredes and Pezzella. There are no overreaching egos here that may cause conflict in the dressing room. Have them play together and develop a system that works. It may take some time, but that’s why you have 4 years to prepare. I trusted Sampaoli before the WC and I trust him beyond as well.

    • i envy you.
      actually I envy anyone who can still believe in this man. in the same time , i can not understand howcome a one can still convinced this man can creat working team.
      this man is unidirectional. he only knows to play high pressure football with high line defenders. if he did not have the player to do so , he will lead us to another disaster. i prefer a coach who can create a team based on their strength rather than creating a team based on how does he like to play. it is time for Argentina to hire European coaches. they are more practical and have stronger personality , so no player can challenge them. they are also better tactical knowledge and wiser.

      • Did you honestly expect results after 9-10 months and 4 training sessions? Indeed, he was still trying players before the world cup started but he ended up going with the old guard because he knew he wouldn’t have time to fully implement his ideas. Did he make some mistakes? Sure he did! The match against Croatia I blame him for our tactical set up although the players missed some easy chances. However, I want our teams to play attractive football, not some atletico madrid/Bilardista shit. Sampaoli is good at getting his teams to do that. Now that the old guard is retired, let him choose his own players and see how he does for the next year/year and a half.

        • I did not expect results but I expected him at least to stick with one formation. I expected him at least to read the opponents properly. I expected him at least to create a team that can defend and maintain his leading results.
          the truth is this man is deficit and he is still in learning curve. we need better and well established coach.

        • Look at Uruguay for inspiration. Oscar Tabarez single handedly turned around Uruguayan football. From the youth level to senior level, he is in charge to select players everywhere. No wonder why he is effortlessly able to blend in the veterans like Cavani, Suarez and Carlos Sanchez with upcoming talents like Bentancour or Laxalt. He’s been coaching for decades and despite uruguay not qualifying till 2002, the FA stuck around with him despite the eliminations and as a result, Uruguay have a solid system and style of play in place which they have adapted to in decades. No wonder they were semi finalists in 2010 and always consistent on the world cup stage and Copa Winners right on our home ground.
          We need a Tabarez of our own and our FA to select a coach and faith in him. I believe Simeone is the best one upto the task

    • ok so here’s my thoughts… my biggest problem with sampaoli isn’t the fact that his tactics were wrong player selection was wrong… the real problem with sampaoli is every match we went into half time level…. everyone watching first half of all matches can see that there is a problem with ball movement.. from back to forward link up play is not good, too many bad passes losing the ball etc…so at halftime u expect that he would change the tactics for the second half….. but every second half they came out playing the exact same way….and he made some of the worst substitution decisions i’ve ever seen.

  78. After a very long time, we saw the real Cavani .The Cavani who was at Napoli showed up today. Everything he touched turned gold. For a long time he has been like Chokerita, missing sitters and one on ones. But not today. He could have missed that first header and shot his 2nd beauty wide. Unlike Chokerita he shows up sometime. Chokerita still lives on due that fluke goal against Belgium for some.

  79. I know many of you might not agree but the way I see it, ARGENTINA DESPITE all what happened in the group stage could have easily beaten France and advanced and would have probably beaten Uruguay and who knows.

    As dysfunctional this team has been, they still managed to hold their own with France, coming back to score and then again to lead only to be let down by the defense who could have needed a little help from their offense but when you have Dybala, Kun and EVEN Higuian sitting on the bench, leaving Messi to fend for himself with Pavon and Di Maria………and PLEASE don’t tell me Messi voted pavon over his BEST BUDDY KUN? Clueless management and then you add Meza AGAIN!!!

    The imbecile is not gonna start coaching out of his ass and winning just because you give him another year or two.
    WE WILL BE BACK TALKING ABOUT GETTING A NEW MANAGER After ARG loses their 2-3 qualifiers which start soon and here we go again with the same Bullshit only to find some makeshift manager and ask him to pull some miracles out of his ass.
    This dipshit needs to LEAVE, not tomorrow, NOW because any professional federation would do just that.

  80. Messi should stay and play like Roman did in the midfield. We need dybala and icardi in front of him and we are ready to go. We need defenders who are calm enough and can take the heat. Fazio came in to stop the long balls and what he did most of the time. He wasnt that bad. I still need to watch the match again few times before I can say anything for sure. Rojos side was our weak side if I remember right. Sampaoli talked about their power to switch from defense to attack but couldn’t find a solution with his current squad.

  81. Regarding the coach situation:
    No way in hell, Sampaoli should get a second chance eventhough he didnt get much time and he took over a team in complete mess; thanks to none other than the AFA and stupid Tata who spoiled all the good work done by Sabella.. A coach who chose Caballero as numero uno should never ever be a coach. I know we don’t have any worldclass goalkeepers but chosing Caballero as no.1 has no excuse. And for those slating Armani for today, give him a break. Only the 3rd goal can be(if you think so) considered his fault. He did well overall. Between any goalkeeper with Rojo,Otamendi,Mascherano in front wouldnt be keeping a cleansheet ever in his life.
    For todays game,it was apparent that Sampaoli got his tactics all wrong. France could have had 4 or 5 easily in the 1st half. In the end 4-3 looks a flattering scoreline for Argentina. 2 goals out of nothing and one extremely lucky.

      • In terms of statisctics , yeah he was awesome. But come on, we all saw his team. Should have definitely won those two, it’s not an achievement to finish 2nd in those 2 finals. His tactics cost us the those 2 finals; his sheer stupidity. And not to mention the mess we are in right now coz of his selection- destroyed the careers of young promising players.
        And in addition to that,his team were shaky in defence. Every time the opponent attacks us,it’s chaos at the back evern when we have enough men back. Statistically his team may look solid in defence, but everyone who watched his team would know the truth.

        • The players are chokers
          We know this from 2004/5/7/14
          Rojo was a fool to get sent off and Higuain cost us
          Not Tata
          Tata never missed the penalties

          I’d welcome back Tata and Bielsa

          • 2005 and 2007 I would say it was definitely coach’s fault. We all knew how Brasil team ( b team in 2007) were gonna play- Highly physical and counter attacking game. And we just played into their hands,(although Riquelme should have equallized in that 07 game).
            Rojo one was never a red card and not even a foul in the first place if I’m right. Yes Higuain missed sitters, but we played so poorly in the 1st Copa eventhough we knew how Chile were gonna play. The games never should have reached extra time.

          • As for the new coach(just dreaming), I want a pragmatic one. The Menotistas won’t work right now,as we don’t have that players at the back like a Varane,Umtiti,Ramos,Kompany,Thiago Silva or Godin or evn Jimenez.
            Is there any chance Sabella would return to coaching? Is he okay now?

    • Of course he needs to go. Argentina was winning handedly in the first half, if it wasn’t for Rojos trying to foul mbappe outside the box, his first touch was so bad when he reached the ball he would have been too deep and at an awful angle to score. But you can forgive rojo for that. You do t bench him. He was the only one with enough speed and heart to mark mbappe.

      If it wasn’t for that penalty Argentina would have been up 2 nothing at halftime. Then for seem crazy reason, it almost seems like a deliberate sabotage, he put the slowest player on the team to mark mbappe. Both mbappe goals where because of fazios lack of pace. Rojo would have easily cut off and blocked those goals.

      This was sampaolis arrogance, he presumed Argentina would win and wanted to save rojo for the next game. Fazio plays in the Italian league, his strength is postioning and heading the ball. He excels when the opponents jam the box with players and try to cross it in or weave thru with numbers, like a Germany attack. Where his long legs and strength can block shots and head the ball away. France was not playing the pat type of football, anyone could see it. They were playing back and counterattacking with speed. Fazio is useless in that defense. Sampoali should have seen that. He should have kept the same team that was winning 2-1. Why mess with a winning side and weaken the defense when there was no need too. Then Pavon, really, he had 4 games and apart from some passes, he did nothing.

      Then, leave your most dangerous and fast striker who is finally ready to play and hungry to score on the bench. aguero would have been perfect for this game, of course he struggled against Nigeria against those giants, but the way France where playing, standing still, a classic European game, he doesn’t put in augero whose used to attacking against this style of playing and scoring. And he finished the top goal scorer for Argentina. The starting 3 should have been aguero on the left instead of dimaria so he could make runs and cut in to shoot, messi in the middle feeding aguero amd or taking the ball to score using auger so runs to create spaces and pavon/dimaria on the right cutting and passing to messi.

      What’s funny is dimaria scored from the right side of the pitch. He should have been subbed at half time not rojo, because dimaria did one of the most selfish plays in the history of Argentina. On the last play of the game, a perfect head height ball was drilled to Fazio, and excellent header of the ball, who was 5 yards from an open net, dimaria came charging like a maniac from the back, and jumped in front of Fazio and shot the ball wide. Unbelievable. Look at the replay, it was going to be a golazo , God gave Fabio a chance for redemption , and dimaria, who did his part, by giving augero a wicked pass, a perfect tea play, decided he wanted to be the hero and get all the glory and screwed up the tying goal. And then to put Meza in. And leave augero on the bench for pavon, come on. And sit dybala. Leave icardi home.

  82. When the dust settles I will comment. Proud of What our boys could muster. I couldn’t ask for more than what they could pull off. This is the best as it gets for the Argentine. Our new drama starts next year

  83. Frienfly against Columbia… Argentina plays their first Friendly against the champions after a WC and beats them. So its Columbia???? lol
    Jokes Apart. I have no regrets, Argentina did not have their best team in this WC. Though the players tried within their reach. Messi needs to play as a playmaker in the future With either of Dybala, Kun, Martinez or Icardi. We need to create good defenders and a GK. And Have Pavon, Correa, LoCelso, Lamela, Ascascibar, PEROTTI, Salvio, Lanzini and Meza. If they are groomed, we ll have a midfield too. Messi is still the best so he should stay, We need him to groom a World Class Team. Sampaoli- no comments. We ll see. Messi would still be a handful as a playmaker when he is 35. Please bring in Icardi we need a strong and tall striker. Look at Cavani. Lets create a team.
    Thank You Mashcherano for everything you have done for the team. Hats off to u. Still remember how u saved us against Netherlands in the Semi Final.

  84. Finally one good news after all. Glad to see M-A-S-C-H-E-R-A-N-O not wearing that great Albiceleste shirt ever again. Adios. He had a good worldcup in Brasil, I give you that. But so too many others in that team. To me he never ever should have played in midfield for Argentina as for ages and I mean in that worldcup too.

    For some who are saying he s the face of Argentina or he is Argentina in flesh, I respect your opinion, but I have to ask you a question:
    Really you want to do that?? As a footballer he’s limted in technical abilities, okay no problem. But declaring him as a role model? No way. Just look at his performances when team are down by a goal or two; Last wcq against Brasil and Croatia game the prime example. He just gives up and loses his head. Is that you want from a leader??! And to add to that he is a worldclass ballerina. The best playacter in this current team edging past Otamendi by a distance. How good an example he is! And really sad to see some consider him as the face of Argentina. No offense to them, but they ignore the truth. A true leader is not the one who is the most vocal enough or the ones who are the mother of tackles or breaker of legs and does such disgraceful things. To me Messi is a great leader far far better than Mascherano ever will be; he doesn’t too much emotions or shout at people(on the pitch) but he leads by example and although he could’nt lead Argentina to glory(senior squad) but he doesn’t lose his head when team is in adversity.

    • Ok. I will try to find some method in your findings. Javier Mascherano is a number 5 legend and nothing more. And That is spanning 2006 to 2018. That’s 12 years people. For most he never was good on the ball but magnificent as a destroyer.
      What ever he was…. for me he was the supreme flag barer. The monster who wouldn’t stop for a bandage.

  85. I can’t forgive Sampaoli for not giving chance to Rulli, Rulli could have easily saved at least one shoot on goal.

  86. We need to completely rebuild in the next 12 months. After the Copa America the qualification for WC 2022 will start and that is no time to experiment as we all know now. It will be a huge fight to qualify.

  87. In 2018 world cup Argentina has 3 world class player Messi Aguero Dybala where Icardi left home and Aguero Dybala in bench still Argentina lost by one goal is a good result, just fire Sampaoli 15 matches 15 different line up

    • The 2nd goal was impossible
      The 3rd goal should have saved but it was in those awkward places for keeper – too close for arm and too far for legs

  88. Unlike some here i wanna see messi & sampaoli to continue. Now that he has time Samp can build the team around young players & messi can play the banega role.
    Meesi has been unlucky he deserves another try next year’s copa.

    • Sampaoli has to go
      Even though players are now old
      Sampaoli has made more bad decisions than good decisions
      And that is not good enough

    • I don’t want to see either one, with Messi for at least the next three years. I’m a big Messi fan but in life you cannot do the same thing over and over, and hope that one day it works. Argentina still has plenty of young talents and they need to finally be given a real chance to succeed. Right now it’s either Dybala or Messi and the logical, the best thing for Argentina, is to go with Dybala. He is younger, he is hungrier and hasn’t been given a chance. Messi is the best of all times but there is time for everything. Right now is the time for renewal, it’s time to start afresh. Sampaoli must leave, he has demonstrably shown that his decision making is very bad. Argentina took in nine goals in four games. Nine goals. Before that I think it’s something like ten goals in four or five game. Ten goals. Almost twenty, TWENTY, goals in a six months period. What else people want to see?? Argentina is too big of a job for him, too big. You can coach Chile, or anybody else, but this is a different animal we’re talking about. One of the four five most prestigious teams in the world. Definitely one of the four winingest all times in the World Cup. So I think, I pray, that a new team, under a new coach, is set up in order to restore the normal standards.

  89. a very very disappointing day to say the least but like most of us, me included I never stopped dreaming that maybe just maybe we could do it but in the back of our heads we always knew today was going to happen sooner rather then later, the only very minor consolation was it was not a 1st round exit or 4-0.

    my total respect to mach and thank you for every thing, I will always remember you as one of the greats and I tip my hat to you for all you have done for your and our n/t-Hail Mascherano

    samp: for me he has to go, he has made so many bad personal decisions before and during this w/c, looks tactically inept before and during games, has lost the dressing room and once that happens its all over, the clean out needs to begin now and I sincerely hope we see the likes of hig, di maria and some of the other older generation of players also offering their retirement, we need to make changes and make is easy on who ever is the coach by not being available.

    2020 is the next copa and we need to see a lot of new and young faces starting from now, its time to rebuild, it will not be easy and will be painful but we have 4 years to the next w/c to do it.

    messi: I hope he stays around for a while longer but id fully understand if he did not.
    ….sigh…..

  90. Except Aguero, Messi, Otamendi and benega all should be kicked from Argentina. But only Messi can be able for 2022 world cup but 2019 copa is realistic chance to win not was 2018 world cup. After copa 2016 Argentina team needs transition which not happened cost the team. Argentina should learn from Spain after Euro 2016 decable

    • And don’t mention Injury porn lanzini at least Dimaria lust 3-5 match but lanzini always injured before tournament starts be it Olympic or world cup cost team balance and tactics

  91. Stop trolling me. 1986-87 born captain win the world cup. Uruguay Godin(1986-87) France Loris(1986-87) tomorrow Spain Ramos (1986-87) then Colombia Falcao (1986-87) even Mexico (1986-87) can upset Brazil

  92. I want Diego Simeone to Manage Argentina.
    That is simply not possible.
    So I want this baldy to continue for at least 3 Years. That much time needed to build a solid team. We have the Humen Resources which is sufficient to win anything substantial.. will see

    • the ONLY reason why AFA keeps this moron is because they owe him 20million and nothing else which makes it even worse because we know he has no clue, he knows he has no clue and the world KNOWS HE HAS NO CLUE.
      ARGENTINA is the laughing stock of the footballing world instead of envy because of this imbecile.

  93. I feel a little better, but I would have definitely felt sick to my stomach X Infinity had that conceited C.SUCKER advanced…………….it is about time his out of this world luck ran out…FUCKOFF back to where you came from.

    Hopefully the Chicken-head follows suit.

  94. Who is the best player in the world? messi. Why Argentina qualified in world cup? messi Why Argentina passed Group stage? Messi. Who provide 2assists against France? Messi. is messi responsible for 4goals? No. Is Dybala better than Messi or ever will be? No. Is there is Messi Relaceplment or better player in Argentina? No. moreover if Messi retired AFA become bankrupt which they can’t afford. Try to find Argentina real problem instead of Messi who will remain at peck till 2020 and still best in 2022

    • if Iniesta played 2018 world cup then why not Messi who is deserving winner of ballon dor this year stolen by Ronaldo again, but Ronaldo no longer candidate for next year, its between Messi vs Neymar vs Mbappe hope Dybala too join the race for this he have to move from Juventus

      • Iniesta plays only 60 min max and not always effective. Messi’s legacy and stardom won’t allow him to be a shadow of himself. Some players accept to take on a supporting role but world best players like Messi or Ronaldo once they pass their prime, it’s better to retire on a nice note. Mascherano should have retired last year and saved his legacy, but after his mediocre display this WC, he is leaving on a bad note.

        • Messi remain in his prime till 2020, Ronaldo lost his prime in 2016 still able to win back 2 back 2 balloon dor then why not Messi, i agree Messi will not be same in 2022 like 2020 but still play at best

  95. Baldy’s team selection blunders

    Icardi->Higuain
    Perroti->Pavon
    Lamela->Meza
    Pezzella->Rojo
    Paredes->Mascherano
    Locelso->Enzo
    Ascacibar->Biglia
    Dybala->????

    Non of these are world beaters but better than the players sampaoli selected. They played in high profile fast and competitive league in Europe. Yes Pavon too!! Pavon was too green and not ready. Baldy’s high line defense cost us the match against France today!!! Mascherano’s Hitler attitude and Sampaoli’s dumb strategies cost us this world cup!!

  96. I wonder how did Dybala and Lo Celso spend their time in Russia? How did they kill time when they don’t have anything to Do?

  97. Meza meza meza , this guy remind me of sosa , until finally sabella didnt pick him in his final 23. Anywas its 100% sampaolis fault not any player on the pitch . After 2-1 we should have changed to 4-4-2 . Keep dybala on the bench and than field meza . Why meza why. Aguerp late as always, Aguero is in formm more than any other striker and we needed his pace. Am not goin to say were unlucky anymore cuz argentina do this to themselves with their selections . Only 2014 may be considered bad luck.

    • sampaoli will stay and build a team .. great but he has absolutely no tactical understanding.. he doesnot see his follies after 90 -180 mins … I wish this team the best of luck

  98. I can’t believe there are some of you out there that want Sampaoli to continue with his work. He is not with the team that long, I agree with that. But, in his time with the team – what good did we see? Couole of new players introduced? Wow. What a big deal. First comes first, when something is wrong, coach is the first to leave/change. Period! Second, way back he said that this team was more Messi’s team than his. Then, my friend, you cannot be called a coach if someone else is doing your job, yet you’re getting paid for it. Period! Then, if Messi is really chosing players, Messi then knows nothing about football if he’s choosing Meza over way better players on the bench.

    p.s. Shotout to the guy here @Gonzalo, the guy who convinced Sampaoli that Meza is a player valuable of National Team

    • Messi likes playing behind a forward.. he put his neck out however the coach asked.. this stupid moron left him to dry.

      Forget Dybala… how Aguero stayed on the bench for 70 mins of this game after how pavon played will always be a mystery to me….. he played 3 midfielders but one of them was forced to play in the box as Messi had to drop down to ball.. he just stood there ..

      Rojo Banega all made mistakes leading to goals but sampa and his ego exposed this team.. we had more characters and we could have played conservative and still win.. he doomed us 🙁

      How do a coach who soesnot understand tactics and is obtuse make us shine?? look at tite .. he changed his tactics to fit the team.. sampa wans his tactics imposed on players

  99. World champions out
    Euro champions out
    Asian champions out
    African champions didn’t qualify
    Latin champions didn’t qualify
    North American champions didn’t qualify

    Any of those runners up still playing except France…?

    • Ok my friends lets talk. After the last copa america the team was destroyed mentally. That moment was the moment to make a fresh new team. With the right trainer. Attack fast football. In this world cup i forgot what is Argentina. I still cant believe the formation in this last game. Even with this SQUAD that was here we could make a very strong team. Alot of players stayed home alot. And what talented players we took. Meza and pavon. Second we play agaist france and we and so slow with wrong formation. This game you start with everything you have. I still can’t believe that lo celso dybala aguero ansaldi stay on bench. I still don’t believe that Icardi and paredes and romero perotti f.mori correa where not in this team. Know you all imagine a team. Romero mercado otamendi f. Mori rojo paredes lo celso messi di maria dybala icardi playing in this game. What france. They could not afford to put 3 players on messi. The problem is not the players or the talent the problem is AFA and the trainer. Anyway next year in copa america i hope they put mind and make the right selection in trainer and players.

  100. If you plan for next world cup don’t even think about including Messi. He’s losing his instinct and speed Now, you think when he’s 35, he will perform better? Really?

  101. Mascherano and Biglia have retired 4 years too late. Aguero just retire I love you but your not Messi.Sampaoli needs to get fired.

  102. Uruguay has Tabarez for 20 years and the guy can’t walk but has a clear brain, we get a different coach every 3 months. We can’t pay Sabella or Martino but we pay this buffoon 20 million guaranteed. Heartbreakingly sad.

  103. Never mind Messi

    We don’t even have the next Ayala or Samuel
    The next Zanetti or Sorin
    The next veron riquelme Or aimar
    The next Ortega , Kily, lucho crespo Saviola abd batigol

    We are going to be the next Uruguay and be rubbish for decades

    • No, Uruguay has been better than us since 2016. They deservedly made it the QF with hearts and full of energy. When this generation retired we will have hard time just to qualify.

      Too much hype on our young players. I had high hope on Pavon but he is just too normal. Mbappe is 19 and he is world class already. Pavard, who we thought would be France’s weakness is only 22. Our young starlets should be hungry and aim for the highest level rather than being happy with a transfer to Zenit or even Qatar. The 92-94 and 95-97 generations failed big time in U-20 and Olympic stages. I won’t see any of them break into top club in the Europe next few years. We will be happy with Dybala and maybe Icardi making it to the Ballon d’Oro short list of 50 some years from now on.

      However, that’s not completely disaster. Look at the Uruguayans. They only have a few stars and they built a team. Their players have passion, hunger for success, and especially physical strength.

      Last, I hate World cup after a long season, when the best players are out of fuel. In Qatar it will be in November, the best time of the season for the players to peak. It will be less upsets and the real strong teams will be more likely advancing.

  104. Its seems Cristiano overtake messi in balloon dor then messi will again overtake cr7 means messi XD dominante in football next 2year at peck and in 2022 messi still remain best, hope at that time Dybala reches his peck then Messi as creating mf with Dybala and Icardi in front rule in 2022

  105. BRAZIL vs Spain in the final? Los Brazucas 6 time world cup champion.

    “Illuminati confirmed yall”

    • France and Spain in the final. This French team will beat Uruguay and then Brazil. Mark my word, their players are unstoppable.

      • The powers that be won’t allow it.

        We scored 3 on them. They couldn’t even hang with Australia. Brazil will take care of Belgium …. they dont have the history…..France doesn’t have the heart to be champions.

        Mark my words friend…

        😉

        • Brazil had many flaws saw in group stages I’m saying with 100% Brazil can’t past Belgium like Argentina against France, Spain will win because Ramos is lucky got a easy draw

        • Today’s game is more technical than history or fighting spirit. Sweden with no spirit or character defeat Mexico, France with no spirit defeat Argentina. It comes down to skills of players in every position and coaching tactics.

  106. With all due respect to the last generation, everyone of these guys needs to go. Messi, DiMaria Mascherano biglia banega otamemdi rojo higuain aguero. 12 years of not being able to incorporate Messi and now we gonna try with a 35 year old Messi? Just plain stupid.
    The team needs to be built around a
    core of 7 or 8 guys. Dybala Icardi Lo Celso, Mammana, Tagliafico, Foyth, Angel Correa Lautaro Ascacibar.

    • Oh trust me Argentina still have hope to build another team around 35 years version of messi and even 39 years version of him.

      • If Messi takes care of himself he’ll be a better version of Xavi at 35 with actual goal scoring capability!

        • If my aunt had testicles she would be my uncle.
          That is foolish dreaming. That is an incredibly naive viewpoint to take.
          Do you know how many miles Barcelona puts on the guy every year? We get a corpse, they get Messi. That’s the way it is. By the time the next World Cup rolls around Messi will have another 400 games he has played.
          It’s thinking like yours that has crippled the AFA for over a decade.
          Time to move on. It’s over.

          • Simeone said 5 years…

            You’re extremely cyncial.

            XAVI played for Barca till he was what 34 ..35? Iniesta is up there as well. Though I dont think the team should be Messi dependent all the time.

            I think he came make another world cup and as opposed to the others in his age bracket.

        • I’m not cynical. You see, I want Argentina to win. I am all about Argentina. You are about Argentina, but with conditions. The condition is the desire for Messi to be involved.
          If we don’t have enough talent to qualify without a 35 year old version of Messi than we don’t deserve it. I am done with trying to make this meal with the same ingredients. We can’t do it. I want to see what the young guys can do. It’s time. And it’s long overdue.
          And if Messi happens to be there great, but at this point it is not a requirement.

          • I agree with you bro,

            Aside from fresh players, we need solid tactics and emphasis on D & M imo.

            But, I think Messi (taking care of himself) with a young squad can prevail…

            Or maybe as a “super sub”.

            Time will tell….

    • That would be good both for Argentina and Messi. It’s not his fault. It’s simply the dilemma that cannot be solved. Sad but true. Argentina are unluckiest in football world. When we had a good team we didn’t have a super start to nail it. And when we have super stars, we don’t have a team.

      We have some ingredients, not world class yet but that cannot be worse than other South American teams who are doing well. To be champions we need some thing special and luck, which may not come soon and at the same time but it’s better to work on a long term project from now.

      Copa America, U-20 World cup, Olympic 2020 in Tokyo, and Confederation Cups 2021 (if we managed to qualify somehow) should be put on a solid plan with accordance. Whoever being the coach must stick with one system and a core group of 15-20 players without fearing of failure. We can afford not winning until next world cup or even until 2026 as long as we have a real competitive team.

    • Asinie to suggest our best player ever resign when he can still have a better impact than 90% of all players just plain idiotic. This squad would be amazing for copa

      Icardi / Aguero

      Dybala – Messi

      Paredes – Ascacibar – Lo Celso

      Tagliafico – Mammana – Foyth – Bustos

      Rulli

  107. First step is to TAKE THIS CLOWN COACH OUT or it will be another circus show. The man is crazy, moved by emotions and irrational player selection and tactics. He loves experimenting until the last tattoo he could plant up his ass.

  108. If Messi and Dybala are considered to be occupying the same place, its about time to give the space to Dybala.

    1. Dybala is younger, fresh and lo legacy. He him operate in the attacking third
    2. Move Messi to the striker position, like Ronaldo has. We may get longer life from Messi. He is a great goal scorer too.

    • i expected this in todays match when messi played as striker instead the huge piece of shit chose pavon to start and left messi to dry way up there with 5 men monitoring him always eventually messi had to drop deep and help in the build up play idiot coach ended the teams chances before they even started the game and when they led 2-1 it was the best time to pack the bus but no oh sampaoli thinks it’s better to play a high line who fucking does that atleast uruguay learnt from argentina’s mistake and played deep then countered portugal sampaoli should learn a thing or two from uruguay coach cause he may not be able to walk properly but his head is still there.

  109. Not sure how I feel about Sampa, never liked him….but maybe a few matches to see if there is some spark?

    The good thing here is that Masche and Biglia are finally done! (Dont mean that in a disrespectful way but it’s over).

    This obviously means “Messi & friends” is dwindling…. hopefully Lanzini and Lo Celso turn out to be star players and Dybala continues well.

    We need defenders and a midfielders, our attack is stack….

    Will be back, may try to make it to that friendly at metlife.

  110. Thanks to all 23 players, You did all the best you can but we couldn’t win it, let it be and start our mission over again, as long as I’m alive I will never support another national team beside Argentina, even I’m not Argentinian myself but I’ve been support this country since 1990 start on Maradona era until Messi era which will be end nearly soon, I’ve never critic our team whether we play bad nor good, my duty is only support the team that our coach select no matter who and I’ll do this until my last breath, to all Argentina fans we will be back on track with the next generation player such as Dybala, Icardy, Ocampos, Coreas (Both) with the help of Messi if he don’t wants to retire just yet, next year we have Copa America, with the young generations team we will see what direction we gonna head it to, just be patient and support our team always no matter what will happen but true supporter will never change our attitude. To those who are fan boy of some players please leave our blog we only need true ALBICELESTE fan which is in our blood we don’t want temporary fans which is support only when World Cup is play or someone who support our team just because of some players, if you are a true fan you should stick with us not just when we won but when we lost too. Next World Cup will come in 4 years time, so in between 4 years time our team will plays some friendly matches and next year Copa America plus if we won Copa America we also have to play FIFA Confederations Cup and of course World Cup qualifications, so it’s meant we still have plenty of games to support our Albiceleste team, not just senior team but we have Olympic team, u21 team and u17 team to support, I still have high hopes that one day we will be champion and rise back again.
    VAMOS ARGENTINA

  111. Well France played better and they won. There’s no shame in losing, at least we fought with whatever resource we had and hit them with 3 goals. We also had few chances that went begging.But that’s how football is.
    Its very easy to pass judgments sitting in an armchair, but to go out there in the pitch and actually perform is something else. I believe we saw the last of a generation today in our beloved Albiceleste shirt and thank you all for the memories, for the moments and for the hope.
    I hope Pablo Aimar and Juan Veron does their best in rebuilding the youth set up and I pray that they are able to create the next generation of great players. I hope Tapia manages to cleanse the association of all corruption and focus extensively on development of the game. I don’t really know if Sampaoli should stay or go, but i think he should not be made the scapegoat for this early exit. There are plenty of reasons, both football and non-football, that led to this. So one man cannot be solely held responsible.
    The Association should quickly do its every bit to strengthen the domestic league and focus on youth development. A core group of around 30 players should be identified now and a team should be built around those soon because Qatar is just 48 months away and those months will pass in a jiffy. And before that, in 11 months time is the Copa America and the world cup qualifiers start some months after that. There’s no gain in ruing on lost opportunities. You only have to learn from your mistakes and move on.
    Augusto Batalla, Geronimo Rulli, Axel Werner, Juan Foyth, German Conti, Cristian Romero, Lisandro Magallan, Emanuel Mammana, Fabricio Bustos, Jose Luis Gomez, Nicolas Tagliafico, Braian Cufre, Lucas Martinez Quatro, Santiago Ascacibar, Rodrigo Battaglia, Matias Kranevittter, Leandro Paredes, Giovani Lo Celso, Manuel Lanzini, Benjamin Garre, Ezequiel Barco, Joaquin Correa, Lucas Ocampos, Ricardo Centurion, Angel Correa, Cristian Pavon, Paulo Dybala, Mauro Icardi, Lautaro Martinez, Lucas Alario….take it over from here GenNEXT…..Vamos Albiceleste

  112. I am glad the manager is staying. I think we played well!! the referee was handing out the yellow cards for us but none of the french. Also a penalty to messi

  113. Argentina lost match because playing with finished player, France won because playing with talented players, mbappe shined where Dybala failed thanks to Sampaoli

  114. Introvert Messi again went hiding!!! Osvaldo Adelies “Congratulations to France and the best of luck in the coming matches. Argentina: A great sadness. We could have had a very good team. But mistakes were made in all instances. Maybe the first and fundamental was to have designated Sampaoli as our DT” about that hype Sampaoli!!
    About messy he said “Messi: You played a very sad role in this World Cup. When things were not going well (And I spend too many times in this championship) we expected from you much more. Leadership for example. Do not lower your arms … At the end of the day, many thanks for that special goal ” Fak AFA !!! This WC was doable we could go very far!!

  115. The players let down Sampaoli today. Same as Iceland match, losing the lead so soon, they have to take responsibility to be compact for 10-15 mins, Di Maria and Pavón offered no help to track the full backs when Argentina had the lead. It’s done now but Argentina had this match in their hand.

  116. In Argentina Golden generation only Messi and Aguero still in prime. Rest of all Higuain, Dimaria etc finished. Messi can lust till 2022 but Aguero can’t. But aprat from Aguero and Icardi Argentina don’t have any world class striker. So only Otamendi, Aguero, messi should continue rest off all should retire

  117. Thank you for your service, Mascherano. Argentina will miss you for a long time. Despite his age, he was one of the best players in the pitch today. It’s amazing, how many interceptions he made in the game. He has passed his prime, no doubt, but I don’t see anyone having the ability to fit to his shoes at the moment. Shame on some low-life, so called Argentina supporters who even doesn’t show minimum decency criticizing our players. If you fail to check your emotion, at least go back to your childhood to learn some humility. And, please do us a favor, don’t come back here until you learn to respect our players. Nobody will miss you. Argentina will miss you, dear Mascherano!!

  118. We used to criticize Simeone for not trusting Argentina players at his club. But whoever he trusts to have regular minutes for Atletico seems to be really really good players. Godin and Gimenez are 2 of the best center backs in the world cup. Griezman defensive work rate was amazing due to Simeone. Diego Costa plays good in the World Cup so far. Koke was playing good for Spain. Maybe Simeone sees something in Argentina players. Most of our players have very low work rate. Simeone likes someone with amazing work rate.

    Look at Uruguay. Cavani is a number 9, but he defends like he is Kante. Uruguay is not beautiful looking team, but they are effective. It is very tough to beat them. We need a coach that will make us playing that way.

    I know people always say Argentina is the real creator of tiki taka or in 2006, we were the prettiest team, but we need trophy now. Defense wins championship. Italy in 2006 were super ugly, but they won the World Cup.

  119. We will never replace Javier Mascherano. He is a legend. Thank you for everything. The grit. The fight.

    Not sure if Sampaoli is the right choice or not. I wish it was Diego Simone. But not someone like Pochettino. They should thank all and now work hard to build a team. There are not great talents now. Someone may pop up in next 1-2 years, but there is no one right now. Hence it is more important to build a good team. Lack of individual brilliance can be compensated by teamwork. Otherwise it could be all over.

  120. its not about sampaoli didnt have enough time to build his team. Its his decision making, the basic knowledge of a coach. If we had started with a centre forward today, we would have won. We fans from outside and the whole world can understand that messi cant play as a false 9 for argentina, because we dont have barca’s midfield to feed him the breathtaking support. He is the creator here, he cant assist himself but this idiot sampaoli couldnt understand it. if we dont have a proper CF who will the two wingers cross to? who will messi pass? and aguero should retire, give chances to dybala, icardi, lautaro. only messi should stay.

    • Am sur if aguero played more , he would have scored more , the guy was in good form . But again our midfiled couldnt feed properly , and the build up was very slow with horrible defence

  121. The only player that should continue from friends club is Messi. AGuero can’t last till 2022, higuain, rojo, banega, mercado, otamendi, salvio, acuna, meza, dimaria, fazio, enzo, aguero and ansladi & all three keepers should be dropped for good. We have to plan for 2022 world cup not 2019 copa other wise these fossils will not go Only Messi, Pavon , Tagliafico, Dybala ,Locelso can continue but Messi should also take a break not retire he should let the team build without him. He should only join the team during 2019 copa. He can easily play 2022 wc! and since aguero is sticking around messi won’t retire. but most important part is Sampaoli has to go. A good coach would have defeated france especially after 2-1 lead. We need defensive coach like sabella or simone. These fraud coaches are no good

  122. Very sad evening… fire and sack Sampaoli immediately….. thank you Mascherano you give it all … u are a reference , a worrier… Thank you very much respectful guy …. Argentina is bigger than anyone … Now you just realized that there is no equal to Maradona … don’t blame Messi for never won a WC … u need to blame AFA … and coaches since 1094 … we just need a foreign coach a true leader …. Hard luck … for everyone of us … see u in Copa America 2019 ….

  123. Messi is greatest
    He has achieved a lot and has carried this team
    Just watching Uruguay match , if he ever had that kind of defence
    He wd have won more
    Uruguay is much better team than most think

  124. Our young team won’t be bad either…….

    …………………..rulli…………………..

    …..bustos..mammana…….foyth…..taglifico

    ………… Ascaciabar./..peredes……….
    lo celso./.barco./cechini…………………

    ……………………Messi……………………..

    Pavon/angel Correa ………………………..
    …………………….Lanzini/j.correa/centurian

    Dybala/ icardi/laurato/druissi

    Anyone say Argentina is short of young talents they are wrong………

    This team have potential to be best team………hope so they develop to.full potemtial

  125. I have come to understand that the players and Sampaoli were not on the same wavelength. It’s obvious now that the club of friends were in charge of the team and they’re too old and indiciplined to play high tempo attacking football. Today’s defeat shows us that it’s time to find younger players who can adapt to the physicality and athleticism demands of the modern international football.

    I guess most EAS Sports line up coaches finally learnt that real football is about tactics and adapting to the challenge presented by the opponent. Something I guess Sabella was the only good Argentine coach at that.

  126. Any manager who is foolish enough to not incorporate Lo Celso and Dybala deserves to be sacked. What he meant to say is he wishes to continue but whether he is allowed to stay is another story.

    Bottom line, the friends club just lost 2 members? Is that ALL we are saying?

          • everyone opinion should be respected true
            but that means everyone.

            if you don t show respect to one player that give his blood for years how you ask for respect to your opinion?

            show respect for you be respected.

            other thing is critics other thing to don t respect anything.

          • Its not just about neg vs pos but the subjective and bias support when some say France is only strong on paper and took their average game against Denmark as the root of evaluating their strong squad forgetting France played that game with their subs, they were already qualified and didn’t need to carry injuries or yellow cards.

            I mentioned humility is needed and that we are playing the WC favorite to win it all while we are leaving dybala and Lo Celso polishing the teams boots.

  127. Time to start anew.. rebuild. identify young talent with promise and cultivate them from this minute. Time to transfer from old guard to a new system around younger feet. Focus on building a powerful midfield based system.. physical but tactical defenders.. we’re argentina, strikers will always emerge.

    Focus on removing bad elements from the management hierarchy and focus on the system until 2020. The two years after that we should identify a potential squad and get as much playtime together as possible and that should be the squad for qualification and the WC.

    I am thinking the following players are key for 2022:

    Dybala
    Lanzini
    LoCelso
    Pavon
    Lautaro
    Tagliafico
    Ruilli

    No more one man teams please. There will always be an Argentine lonestar shining on the world of soccer but please please don’t kill him by putting him with a bunch of mediocre misfits who haven’t played much together.

  128. Did you see the power Argentina had, they were easily controlling the entire match until the change in defense. The penalty was a lack of discipline. The French strikers touch was to heavy, If he didn’t touch him, the ball would have went deep to the line or out and rojo and otamendi could have closed him down. That was one mistake, Argentina came back they were playing incredible, then they got the lead.

    Then for some bizarre crazy idea, sampaoli changed the team that was winning and controlling the game easily and was neutralizing France’s only threat, their speed of one striker. He brought in Fazio, the “slowest” defender to replace one of Argentinas best and fastest defenders in the game, on the team, who apart from that one mistake, was playing incredible. That doesn’t even make sense. The defense then had a giant hole that directly resulted in 2 goals that the French strikers exploited, Fazio was to slow on the 3rd goal which let in a shot that the goalie should have stopped, that’s 2 mistakes that cost a goal that wouldn’t have happened if rojo was marking mbappe. You bring in your slowest defender to mark the opponents fastest player. Unbelievable.

    Then the fourth goal the same, Fazio was to slow in closing down mbappe again. That’s another goal that wouldn’t have happened if the much faster and best defender rojo was in the game marking mbappe, France’s only threat. That’s on the coach 100%. It’s almost like he did it on purpose. Then, to top it off, the last play, dimaria crossed in front of fazio in one of the most selfish plays in football history, taking away a sure header from Fazio who was 5 yards from an open net. Which is fazios strength. Poor, poor messi. This team could have won it all, if it wasn’t for the coaches horrible decisions, his arrogance or miscalculation in thinking they won and taking out rojo for what.

    One mistake that didn’t cost them the game at the point. His best CB up till that point, rojo was marking mbappe all game well, to create a massive hole in the defense, to put in your slowest defender to mark your opponents fastest striker. It doesn’t make sense. He thought they won and wanted to rest rojo. He couldn’t forgive Rojo for one mistake. He put in a defender that didn’t play a game all tournament in the most crucial game up to that point. All mbappe was doing all game before the defensive sub was kicking the ball wide from outside the box. That’s arrogance, that’s presuming you won. How can he not see this, did he sabotage the team on purpose. When Argentina was up 2-1 they should have pressed even harder for another goal and then another. Not destroy the defense by putting a cold slow player who hasn’t played all tournament.

    The game should have been 3-2 Argentina. Even with all these mistakes, God gave Argentina one last chance, a chance of redemption for fazio, a ball directly played perfectly to him, low and hard going right for his head, to an open goal 5 yards from the net, and Dimaria comes running from the back like a maniac, looking for personal glory in one the selfish plays I’ve seen, robbing him of that redemption, unreal. The coach has is terrible, he’s unbelievable decisions lead to that defeat, poor messi, this World Cup was wide open, this team, that played the first half, was unstoppable. They were toying with France. Poor poor messi. The coach is horrible.

    It would have been 3-2 Argentina. The only goal France legit scored was the one outside the box, even then, it was dimarias fault he came in to late to mark him. The nine time he should have subbed dimaria in the second half, he didn’t, but that wasn’t his only mistake. Does this guy not see what’s happening in the game. France was very weak defensively, this is the one game augero should have started. The goalie was string either.

  129. Young and fast won old and slow. We got whatwe deserved. We were not a team, just a bunch of very talented individuals. Talent got us this far. But France was too much.

    I Will always remember this generation. Fine players and lots of memories. Vamos Argentina! I will support this shirt forever! Thank you for your hard work Masche and Biglia. Good to see Aguero in the future. He is still our best finisher when given a right pass. Two chances two goals in this tournament.

    When it comes to Sampaoli I think that he should have a proper time to come up with the plan. I think his football would be a perfect match with young, fast and hungry players. The next generation. Vamos!

  130. This is not good. Mad Sampa is still in charge. Messi and Aguero in means friends club is there for next episode of drama. Damn.

  131. SAMPAOLI OUT!!!!
    – People who say he should stay, when do you expect changes to come when Managers come? In 2 years?!!!!! He NEEDS TO GO!!
    He came into the competition NOT knowing who his best team was, like the England coach did in Euro 16, and they were humiliated. Now we leave in humiliating fashion!

    – We scored 6 goals this World Cup, but conceded 9!!!!! UNACCEPTABLE!!!!
    – you have the 15th best player in the world (something like that) in Dybala, AND YOU DON’T PLAY HIM?!!!!
    – Enzo joined a couple weeks ago due to Lanzini’s injury, and HOW IS HE DEEMED FIT TO START?!!!! He JUST JOINED!!!!
    – You play Fazio in the final 45 minutes of Argentina’s last game at the WORST possible moment!!!
    – Lo celso didn’t play a single minute!!!
    – Meza gets picked over Dybala?!!!!
    – Caballero starts his debut at the World Cup?!!!!
    – You have Rulli but choose Caballero STILL after that 6-1 humiliation?!!!

    Things must change!!!

    • People who NEED to leave!!!!
      – Sampaoli (he’s nothing, un vende humo, he has EVERY RIGHT to be sacked!!!)
      -Mascherano (NOW he retires?!!! F*** me!!!)
      – Biglia (Now you retire?!!!!)
      – Meza (had his chance, did nothing!)
      – Caballero
      – Enzo
      – Higuain (Just retire already!)
      – Acuña
      – Salvio
      – Armani (isn’t that much better than Caballero)
      – Guzman

      Who Stays:
      – Messi (duh)
      – Dybala ( he NEEDS to play)
      – Aguero
      – Di Maria (one of the few who actually have his all)
      – Banega (Would consider even to play in 2022 WC)
      – Pavon (didn’t do much but he’s still young)
      – Tagliafico (He needs actually training from a real coach)

      In Limbo:
      – Otamendi
      -Fazio
      – Mercado
      – Ansaldi
      (They’ll all Be 35 next WC)

      Who needs to be called up!
      – Paredes
      – Lanzini (injury kept him out but he needs to play)
      – Rulli
      – Kranevitter
      – Lamela
      – Icardi
      – Martinez
      – Musacchio
      – J. Correa
      – Pezzella
      – Vietto
      -Peruzzi

      Possible 11 in 2022:
      Romero/Rulli
      Peruzzi-Musacchio-Pezella-Tagliafico
      Lanzini-Paredes/Kranevitter-Lo Celso
      Messi-Icardi/Martínez-Dybala

      If Messi retires, then
      Dybala-Icardi/Martínez-J. Correa

  132. Thank you mascherano , thank you biglia. Wish Sampoali leaves.
    Aguero was in form this year but was benched . Dybala should have played.
    Pavon tagliafico have potential .
    Meza cost us alot . Only of he didnt shoot the las ball it was heading to his teammates head infront of gaol. Meza is not national team material , and playing him every match will always be a myth to me

  133. I don’t like this. He needs to go, who leaves Dybala on the bench when we need 2 goals. Who leaves Icardi at home when we need a striker whos hungry to score goals. Why would we leave Pezzella or Mussachio or Rulli when we need a proper defender and gk. These are rookie mistakes. Sure he did well at Sevilla and Chile but this man is as stubborn as any of the past coaches. He needs to go, and we need to bring in any foreign coach or some one with experience. I prefer Simeone but no way he is leaving Atleti. I hope messi doesn’t leave but it would make sense if he did.

  134. He should had retired 10 years ago. Now after costing three worldcup , when he is exposed to the ultimate extent to kick out from the team by AFA .it’s called termination

  135. We need Bilardista coach. Sampaoli is Menotista. Menotista will win the World Cup ONLY if their squad is full of superstars like Guardiola’s Barca, Enrique’s Barca, Brazil 2002, Spain 2010. Other than that, ball possession tactic teams won’t win anything even if we are well trained. In 2022, there is no sign whatsoever that our team will be stronger. Almost none of our youngsters are praised by the world futbol except by Mundo’s small community only. We just simply need a Bilardista. I know it is almost impossible to sack Sampaoli due to his contract, I am just saying we need a Bilardista. Hope Simeone will take over.

    Messi can play deep playing playmaker or strictly playmaker in 2022 if he does not retire. For me it is bad news if Sampaoli is not sacked. It made me laugh when he still played high line defense when we lead 2-1 today when the opponents have Mbappe and Griezmann.

  136. Worst news . I pray Messi doesn’t retire. But the best news is cancer Mascherano is gone. He was our hero but he destroyed us single handedly in this tournament. Otamendi, Fazio , Mercado,Banega, HIguain , Rojo all should go!!

    • South American countries and European countries need to adjust the players for 2 important tournaments: Copa America (or Euro cup) and the World Cup. Usually players will adjust their retirements based on these 2 tournaments. I can understand why the senior players don’t announce their retirements now because a lot of them are still 30. Maybe they have Copa America as their final tournament.

      I think some of them want to try once more in Copa America 2019 and 2020 (if any) before retire.

      For me the only senior players that have realistic chance to still be selected in the World Cup 2022 are: Romero, Otamendi, Aguero, and Messi. That’s all.

    • you should show respect even to your enemies.

      how much more that with good and bad he offered for years in the national team.

      shame on you.

    • Damage is done. Now show the respect for what he has done in the past. He was one of the best DM in the world.
      He abd Biglia should have retired before and that would have given Ascacibar and Paredes a chance in this WC. At least they would have got some experience.

  137. I won’t criticize pavon for his lostnesd in the whole matche but he has played out of position. It was coach’s job to read the game. About who is contributing much or less. No specialized winger in the left to replace pavon in the bench.

  138. Good luck to both
    I still renember bielsa picking Mascherano in 2004 despite being a sub at River Plate

    And biglia a solid player and had a very good World Cup 2014 and Copa
    Always felt he was a scapegoat for a shit coach, defenders and number 9s

  139. THANK YOU FOR THE MEMORIES MACHE !!!
    God give you health and happieness with your family from now on .

    it was long journey with good and bad .
    THANK YOU FOR EVERYTHING YOU OFFER all this years.

    who loves really Argentina will say one thank you and good luck from now on.

    VAMOS ARGENTINA !!!

  140. Bad news. We need a calm observer, not a neurotic idiot who nervously paces up and down the sideline and keeps world class strikers on the bench or ignores them completely.

    Argentine press will make sure he quits or will be fired.

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