What is next for Argentina after World Cup elimination

By
Roy Nemer
-
300
Argentina team
Players of the Argentina team during the 2018 FIFA World Cup.

It’s a day every Argentina fan dreads, the 24 hours after an elimination from a FIFA World Cup.

For Argentina fans (and I’m sure others), it has become a routine. A tournament ends, speculations about players retiring, does the coach stay on or not and it’s question after question. However, here is what we do know in regards to Argentina.

Up first are two friendly games in the United States. The first one being on September 7 in Guatemala. The venue for that appears to be at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum in Los Angeles, California.

The second one will come on September 11 against Colombia at Metlife Stadium in New Jersey.

Following that, there are two other friendly matches in the month of November. However the opponent is unknown.

That is what is remaining for the rest of the year. For 2019, there’s the Copa America in Brazil which kicks off in June. One can only speculate how the squad will look like by the time that tournament kicks off.

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300 Comments

  1. To be honest, This Argentina team is very average. Messi makes them slightly better. If it was not for Messi, Teams would easily steamroll us over. Its because of Messi our opponents has to keep few players on him instead of going all out on us. Ex: Spain 6:1 Nigeria 4:2. And Remember Messi created the last 2 goals against France out of nowhere. Walking or Running does not matter. With Messi we still have some creativity and punch. We still need him for our upcoming generation.

  3. I suggest all Argentine young players should ignore and forget about AFA. This organisation is full of corruption from top to bottom. Nothing new in it. It’s almost 6-7 years. If Argentine young players want to famous and earn respect and income huge money, then they should think only for themselves. You don’t need to destroy your career by playing in a corrupted system.

  4. It’s really hard to know what’s the real situation inside the dressing room of Argentina football. But, one thing is very clear that they are not united. Messi controls lots of things inside the team and it’s not a good culture for a team to do well in a big tournament. There were players like le celso, icardi, dybala who were in supreme form for their respective clubs. Surprisingly they were not selected to play. At least all the young players should be given a chance to play so that they can get some experience for the next world cup. One more interesting fact, none of the Argentina players sang national anthem during the match against France and Messi was smiling.

  5. We don’t need a total overhaul

    Keep players like di Maria Aguero banega mercado otamendi Rojo for just one more year. They are still better than some of the rubbish coming through.

    Higuain needs to retire now with Armani Caballero Fazio Perez and even Meza

    They will be 31 next Copa and experience will be needed

  6. Idiot ? Look in the mirror Romeo. You write ill informed tripe over and over again. France will now win because Lloris is the captain. Very analytical. More mumbo jumbo. Take your Messi fan club hat on the way out.

    And as for Kidultood proclaiming the virtues of Higuain we saw them once again at this World Cup. A mentally fragile striker unable to cope with the pressure and missing chances yet again when they presented themselves.

    Dybala and Icardi are flops ? They have hardly had a chance to play on a consistent basis in the team and given the opportunties Higuain has missed Mauro has more than enough reason to feel hard done by in not being picked.

    Dybala still does need to show his mettle at the highest level in the CL but he would still be an invaluable player going forward and as he matures over the next four year cycle.

    The four year cycle leading to this WC was mismanaged badly due to the AFA. They could not fund Martino because of the corruption, the Olympic tournament was a complete debacle with several players not even being released for it (since when do clubs refuse to release players for the seleccion) and all the u17 and u20 events were a shambles with coaches who should not have been remotely near coaching them.

    Once again selection policy has to be questioned. Did Sampaoli have something against picking players playing in the Bundesliga because of some stupid preference. No Alario or Asascibar. Why do managers refuse to pick on form ? This situation occurred with Campagnaro when he was dominant at Sampdoria, Caballero at Malaga and now with Armani.

    Sampaoli should have made him the automatic number one and given him the games against Italy, Spain, Haiti instead of which he is thrown in at the deep end as with Pavon and Meza. You don’t do this in a normal development cycle. Such sheer incompetence at this level is staggering and the blame lies firmly with the AFA.

  7. its not difficult to win copa, Argentina have to beat 2 tops Combebol team which can be done in 2015 & 2016 but luck wasn’t favoured, even in current world cup squad which is worst compare to others fan win copa

  8. okk messi hater, another challenge messi become ucl top scorer and best player this season and lift the title as a captain. Barca always had 10 world class player at every position where in Argentina 10donckeys at barca messi got players who can serve him but in Argentina always criticized. Messi biggest mistake choosing Argentina instead of Spain Golden generation. Argentina was title since 1993 before messi or after messi not matter Argentina remain title less. Messi at barca win again and again ucl and the fact messi never lost a final at club label but always lost for Argentina because Argentina chokes since 1993 and will continue whether messi played or not

    • Running Messi made argentina and Barcelona better but Walking Messi is slowing things down. Build up play of Barcelona and Argentina is done via Messi so they lost champions leagues and Copa. Neymar / Countinho saved Barca but who will save Argentina.

      • A messi bad day cost barca where Real win UCL while Ronaldo played worst #Difference. Barca realized quickly, Argentina haven’t yet thanks to mache

        • Do you have idea about messi goals+assist and heat map barca this season, messi is golden Boot winner despite playing as a midfielder, just get lost because you don’t have any knowledge. check cotinho/Neymar stats with not only at club label but also for NT shows messi ahead of both with out any support

          • Messi is golden boot winner because of goals scored in La Liga. Slow buildup play suits Messi and La Liga but Champions league is different ball game. Pressure is too much and everybody defends well and counter attacks.

      • Mamba please go watch the games again… please…

        two games messi was active iceland and nigeria he made things work… against croatia lord sampa put two wide players and they all stopped playing ball to messi.. doesnot matter weather messi runs or walks … he was the one running to cover defense in croatia match while pavon and dybala watched from upfield… stop being an idiot!!!!

        he was our best forward.. by putting pavon we forced our side to have one less player yesterday.. Enzo played as ST… and midfield was dead for us.. Messi was playing in midfield since noone can get him the ball…. yet he has two assist… one lucky one great cross.. but he still provided inspite of sampaoli…

        everyone who watches football know false 9 is dead like 4 years back.. teams know how to mark false 9 ST .. yet sampa thought he would work.. it could have had pavon and Di maria been constantly running inside and attacking the goal for messi/banega to give them the ball like messi did for Aguero.. pavon had zero movement off the ball…

        they had to use the space when messi was in midfield ,…

  9. I hate people talking shit, messi only came out of retirement to save the national team from disgrace. See how terrible they were without him it’s so painful that alot of people still believe the crap of argentinian media ‘friends club’ pls where is the proof? personally i think messi should leave so you guys can know how awesome he is, not just as a player but as a person.

    • Sorry to say but compare the tournaments Messi won before he started walking. Running Messi won 3 champions league, under 20 world cup, olympic gold and almost killed 2006 world cup. Walking Messi won 1 champions league because of Neymar.
      Walking Messi is just prolonging his playing years. NT or Barcelona will not get anything out of him in tournaments but he will still outscore in la liga.Sampaoli or any coach can try xyz formations but they will not get best out of him anymore.

      • Messi was best player, Neymar wasn’t even top3. Suarez contributed more than Neymar in 2025

        • messi top scorer, highest assist in ucl 2015 always highest goals+assist for barca every champion league

    • i wish it was friends club and Messi Aguero Dimaria Banega Masche had played all matches and in the formation that we played against Nigeria….

      look at russia sweden switzerland .. they didnot progress bcoz they were young and fast but bcoz the players understand each other and play as a group….
      yes young players like lo celso dybala needed to play but around the old block that would have given the spine

  10. Yes we need to give continuity to our coach . We need to give him ample time to build his team and system. But is Sampaoli the coach you want to continue with? Look at some of the teams in this tournament like Peru, Morocco ,Senegal. They all got knocked out in the group stages but they went down fighting. Their teams look composed and played as a unit. Only because luck wasn’t in their side they were out. Yes had we played like them of course we should continue with our coach. But Look at our Coach. He had immense pool of young and inform players to pick his 23 players squad, but he let some seniors who don’t even deserve the spot in the 35 players roster influence the selection process. Knowing our defense is vulnerable he went with just 6 full time defenders out of which Mercado and Rojo had horrible seasons with their respective clubs. His core players were all washed out and European clubs wouldn’t even take them for free transfers. After individual brilliance got us to knockout. He came to play against France with no plans whatsoever instead he went on full attack mode from the word go. A good coach with the players we had no matter how washed up and old they were would have defeated France. A novice coach would have gone with defensive tactics giving no space to fast french players but this idiot was still pressing after leading 2-1. Even Pekermen tried to defend 1-0 lead against Germans with such a good team in 2006 and this fool was still attacking France. We made Mbappe look like the next Messi. His substitutions made no sense. He constantly pursued with Meza as an attacking mid while he had Locelso and Dybala who had played in highest level sitting on the bench. Sampaoli didn’t even get the basics right guys. You can’t expect turtles to race against horses but you can make the turtles defend against the horse. Sampaoli wanted our washed up oldies and newbies to play according to his tactics but good coach will change their strategies according to the strength of the players. He had almost 9 months to prepare for the world cup but he was one of the most unprepared and clue less manager in this world cup. If people of Argentina keep quiet and let this imbecile continue then there is no hope for us. This is the best time to start over,bring a new coach give him full power to select players from u19 to senior team. It doesn’t matter if we lose copa if he can make the new crop of players play as a unit. Sampaoli gave no positive signs since the day he was appointed as a coach, Argentine football will only go backwards if he continues.

    • This was all fault of Mascherano. A good CDM protects defender. Look at positioning of Mascherano when Mbappe got the ball. He was running like headless chicken and lost the race with Mbappe, Rojo had no choice. Masche should have retired in 2014. Now is the time for Messi to retire too.It does not matter how much we admire him. He missed the penalty against Iceland and walked all the time.

      • right ??? a good CDM protects defenders… and a good CM plays in midfield… and Sampa plays Enzo as a ST against France….. NO CDM OR CB is gonna win a race with dembele/Mbappe ..

        write it down… by pushing Enzo upfield sampa forced messi down reduced his effectiveness… and reduced numbers in midfield which could protect against the quick break..plus played a high line..so thanks for not watching the game

    • Sulav,

      My exact thoughts!

      You have encapsulated everything that was wrong with Argentina.

      Argentina could have gone very far with the very same players Sampaoli picked- the 23.

      I will never understand why he went on attack mode after leading France by a goal.

      Even after they scored their lucky second goal-and to me that was more of lack than our own disaster- at 2-2, he should have continued defending.

      Goal 3 was a disaster! It should NEVER have happened.

      Today, in both games, all four teams SPAIN, RUSSIA, CORATIA AND DANMARK defended well. Okay, make that DENMARK.

      They defended like their lives depended on it because in this world cup, it does.

      Then there are the two goalkeepers of Croatia and Denmark.

      Those guys know their stuff. Compare them to Willy.

      Willy should never have left Buenos Aires.

      They should have brought in Geronimo Rulli and tried him out. I don’t know much about ARmani but Willy was total disaster.

      Croatia took our spot and now, they might just as well beat Russia for the semis. These guys could meet Uruguay or Mexico in the finals. That is if Mexico beats Brazil.

      I am no football tactician/analyst but Sampaoli is a big joke. ARgentina deserves better.

      If other teams defend against us for a whole 90 minutes, why can’t we defend?

      We should have defended the entire second half the way Sabella defended in Brazil and got us to the finals.

      If Higuain had scored, we’d be champions and we wouldn’t be crying. Sabella could possible have stayed on, who knows?

      it is sad!

      • I wonder why we can’t hire Diego Simeone as coach. Probably cause he’s way too happy at Atleti for now.

        His passion for the game and his tactics can make even the most average of defenders into a world class, impenetrable wall. With Dybala, Icardi, Lautaro , Lo Celso, he has a huge selection of attacking players to chose from ahead and a battle hardened but still reliable Lionel Messi as a CAM(which is the only way he’s gonna survive in 2022 with the NT).

        Plus there’s no better motivator and more passionate manager in football as El Cholo.

        With him we can defend as Uruguay but also have a great attack.

  11. This is what I want to see going forward; Argentina need to at least make the semifinal/final/winning at the next U20 world cup in 2019. And in the following year at least making it to the final/winners at the 2020 Olympics football tournament. With this success, Argentina will have a pool of new generation of players who will know what it is like playing together and making a deep run in an actually tournament. Several of these young players will be integrated into the senior national team soon afterwards. With success in 2019 and 2020, Argentina will possible discover a great LB and RB and maybe one or two top quality midfielders. This would be just in time for the next world cup and the current 2020 WCQ qualifiers. For me, if Argentina don’t recover their past youth successful teams, I don’t see the Argentina national team recovering anytime soon…Right now the senior national team and the current situation with talent coming out of Argentina does not give me much optimism today. You guys can forget the next Copa America because Argentina is not going to win it in Brazil.

    • We already have 4-5 players like dybala, icardi,lo celso, pavon. we just need to find a CDM and hungry goalkeeper. This team can win copa if Brazil is avoided.

      • Pavon? lol Icardi and Dybala were flops against Uruguay and Venezuela..Dybala 12 games before the world cup, zero goals! Lo Celso is the only player on your list who can possible help future Argentina national teams.

        • This year messi retire, next time Dybala, last time crepso and batista. Argentina never win anything if it solved ground label problem and used golden phase of star player, Dybala isn’t even 10% at messi, watch champion league performance of both, Dybala is Red card waiting under pressure

        • Pavon lol. Dude Argentina rely on Messi to create play. If Messi walks then Pavon, dybala can not do anything. Make Dybala captain and bring in Icardi. you will see what difference Pavon can make.

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  13. We have to understand that in a tournament like World cup, champions league we need fit players who can run for 120 minutes for a minimum of 8 matches. Slow buildup like tiki taka or Messi style walking will not help. Reason why Barca is failing in champions league is slow walking messi and team counter attacking Barca. Any team with fast defenders can stop messi for 120 minutes and counter attack. Barca can win many la ligas but not champions league unless they retire Messi. I like Messi as a player but his slow walking is killing national team and Barcelona.

    • Open challenge Braca win champion league this season, had Coutinho played last real barca would have won. Except real and barca no team was capable to win ucl. With the arrival of Ericsson and Goretzka barca looks far superior than real

      • Yes with Coutinho, Suarez, Dembele and without Messi Barcelona will definitely win. Reason is Surez found new partner in Coutinho. Last time Barcelona were better when Neymar was playing. Countinho is fast and can move the ball faster, He can retire walkesssi. Messi is not a good partner for anyone.

        • okk messi hater, another challenge messi become ucl top scorer and best player this season and lift the title as a captain. Barca always had 10 world class player at every position where in Argentina 10donckeys at barca messi got players who can serve him but in Argentina always criticized. Messi biggest mistake choosing Argentina instead of Spain Golden generation. Argentina was title since 1993 before messi or after messi not matter Argentina remain title less. Messi at barca win again and again ucl and the fact messi never lost a final at club label but always lost for Argentina because Argentina chokes since 1993 and will continue whether messi played or not

  14. hey idiot I’m not astrologer nor believe but champion luck is important which Argentina didn’t have otherwise back to back 3finals lose wasn’t just coincidence. Niw luck is with 1986-87 born player and Argentina failed to capture but France likely with loris as a captain

  15. Any coach comes will continue with these players even though we don’t like. They will try to integrate new players slowly. Realistically I don’t think they will completely change this squad. We will continue to see most of these players in next Copa and so on. I cant see AFA doing otherwise.

    • Of course we will see Friends Club again and again until their bones dry out and crawl on their hands.

    • Sampaoli has to stay. It was not his fault that Messi missed the penalty against Iceland. Team need a psychologist for Copa 2019, we lost lot of finals and lack killer instinct. Changing coach will not help. Retire Messi and his friends than only dybala,icardi, lautaro will find a place in the team.

    • Picture is not clear yet. it is so fresh the world cup loss.

      the squad didn t return back home yet.

      tomorrow they will return to Buenos aires.

      exept those who stay in Europe and they will not return back home tomorrow like Messi etc

      the target now is next summer s Copa.
      about world cup is very far right now.

      we have in front two U 20 world cups. 2019 summer and 2021.
      a lot of things can we see for the future of our team.
      many players will come up and depend their work and their develop till 2022
      for world cup.

      now we have long future in front.
      we are just one day after our elimination of 2018 world cup.

  16. for the Brasil supporters in this site.

    Brasil, decime que se siete

    Quedar afuera del mundial

    Te juro que aunque pasen los años

    Nunca nos vamos a olvidar

    Que Neymar te abandonó

    Que Alemania te goleó

    Qué vergüenza que me das pentacampeón

    Te pusiste la de Irán,

    la de Suiza y Bélgica

    Cómprate la de Alemania en la final !!!

    Putos Brasileños !!!

    • hmm….i understand im going a bit over board saying id rather see Brazil lift than Europe.

      but they’re still in the tournament….

  17. This world cup will not belong to certain players, the best coach tactically will win it, look at what mexico and South Korea did to Germany with all the big names, look at What Russia did to Spain with all the big names. We drawn Iceland, lost to Croatia and France tactically, our players one for one are better than all those players. Sampa tactics were not effective. SAMPAOLI HAS TO GO, if he could not use his squad tactically, what makes you think he will use the new squad successfully ?

  18. why was/is Garay completely ignored, he would habe been a rock at the back next to Otamendi?

    And regarding a new manager, I think Pekerman would be the best option, he has built a team for columbia and tje last tean he had for argentina was one of the best..

    • Pekerman fell out with the AFA. If he does return he should be in charge of a technical committee to look at the u17 and u20 development paths.

      We need a young coach who is tactically astute and in touch with this generation of players. Coudet, Heinze, Rolan, Dabove and perhaps Gareca. All play tight defence a quick counter but with flair. And all trust in youth. Dabove for example has an eye for players and a wide range of experiences and Heinze has that mental toughness akin to Simeone. There is no way Cholo or Pochettino are coming.

      At the moment they would be mad too. The AFA interfere too much and there is not sufficient money. Cholo would want to manage Internazionale as well. This is down to the AFA. The money that has been lost could have paid for them and then some.

      • I think Pekerman should come in for atleast afterbthe next wc and then he can go in to youth development. I know most of the coaches available do not have the techinical capability to solvw the issues in hand and that is to pick the team that can gel together…

        and regards to Garay, do you why he is jeing ignored??

  19. From my experience, Sampaoli is done. AFA is specialist in getting rid of managers without firing them :p That was Grondona’s “legacy”. We will get a new manager. But this time, I am not even remotely excited. No matter , what good name they choose, they may still fail. Sampaoli, what a heartbreak! We thought that we finally had a world class manager :p

    Gareca can be new Sampaoli, very easily.

  20. Salient points San Isidro. I have never seen such a shambolic coach on the Argentine bench. His very behaviour inspires nervousness. He had limited time certainly but even a half competent coach could have picked a better and more balanced squad and organized a more solid defence. He should have had the brainpower to understand that playing as a Sabellista was the right option. His sheer folly and bravado in trying to play a high line continually with more lateral than vertical passing was suicidal.

    If he has any decency he will resign. And so should most of the AFA. They are also equally incompetent and we need modern people in there who have a grip on the modern game. You hear so much sense from Sorin and company and yet these people are outside of the AFA not inside it.

    For example there has been no effort in twenty years to develop top quality keepers. The thinking seems to be lets hope one turns up. Great teams can decline and quickly. After the 1970 debacle lessons were learnt and lessons need to be taken on board now.

    • The root of the corruption is not only the AFA officials but also the greed of the clubs. They are nothing other than pimps for young players. They sell them for top dollar and they seldom amount to anything.
      But what can you expect from my country? Christina will soon spend life in jail for corruption, and we all know about Grondona, and most of these kids come from such poor backgrounds that being rich and sitting on the bench is more important than football because that way they can pass a few dollars to their families.
      It’s sad that countries like Peru and Uruguay and Brazil can figure it out and we can’t.

      • It is very sad. What is worse because of the economic situation clubs like Benfica come in and steal players for well below their market value and then if they do prosper sell them for enormous sums. Very little money goes to the club and it’s development. A lot of money also disappears into the pockets of these nasty agents.

        You look at Uruguay which is a well run country. They had a footballing crisis when they lost their street football. They put in place youth programmes. You look at their squad now full of u17 and u20 graduates. Players who are playing a big role at a young age for big clubs like Bentancur and Gimenez.

        We have far more many players but the system is a shambles. River have just sold Saracchi a top class lateral in the making. Where are ours ? Not a sign. Uruguay also have Laxalt and others waiting in the wings like Maxi Gomez. Happy to field a young midfield where games are decided and a stable coach. It is very sad. Especially when Argentina should be one of the wealthiest countries in the world certainly in South America.

    • so basically San Sidro s….you need not look past an Argentine.

      AFA is like the current state of Argentina , corrupt and greedy beyond all recognition.

      been hearing this for a decade now….

      that doesnt inspire hope at all….

      comprate un argentino por un peso, y vendelo por lo que CREE su valor.

  21. There are so many idiots posting on this board at the moment. Romance King the astrologer for a start talking nonsense 24 hours a day without any concrete evidence. Disparaging a player like Mascherano who has given everything to the shirt and is one of the best fives alongside Rattini, Rossi, Redondo to have played for the national team. Others rooting for the Brazucas who cheer against us always no matter who we are playing as in 2014.

    Olympic football is a vital development tool as well and many countries prize a gold medal in it. The AFA deserves all the blame in this for mismanagement of decades.

    The new appointment and the appointment after that needs to be looked at with real care. There needs to be a review of youth football and this mad desire and emphasis on winning at u12 u15 football. The focus needs to remain on potrero football and developing players who are technically gifted and mentally tough and coached properly in their positions. And get to play regularly in order to develop. Not big physical passionate lumps.

    The divisional structure needs to be changed. Two divisions of 18 clubs and that is it. Bottom 2 relegated from Primera A replaced by two from the Primera B. Which would allow managers more time to develop and play kids. Also the mad media especially the shameless tabloids in Argentina need to be controlled.

    They pile the pressure on managers and get them sacked and have changed the mentality of Argentine fans to all about winning domestic titles ignoring their previous love of skilful football.

    And the government needs to get the Argentinian economy on it’s feet. Otherwise young players who are not mentally or technically mature will run off to Europe and more often than not their careers end up being wasted in loans here there and everywhere or not even playing at all.

    There also needs to be a look by a technical committee as to why there is a lack of laterals and also keepers being produced. We have no top class keeper in the offing and the attitude of players does not help when Axel Werner says he is happy to sit on the bench behind Oblak instead of looking to become a number one at another club.

    I like the look of Vargas, Cardona, Franco but it is all potential at the moment. They need to develop their careers and keep getting better and pushing for a national team call. Players like Funes Mori are poor worse than Rojo and someone like Kranevitter has not developed at all.

    I notice those that were pushing for Higuain have also gone quiet. The guy had so much mental baggage from his three misses that he should never have been picked and his tears of relief after the Nigeria game were just that.

    As for Sampaoli a good general has the ability to change plans and be flexible. He started with a poor plan and carried on with it regardless of the situation. At 2-1 he should have withdrawn Pavon brought on Kun and Lo Celso for Perez and sat both di Maria and Messi deeper and invited France on.

    They France are nothing special and neither is Mbappe . He Sampaoli did not learn from the Spain debacle from Caballero being poor to not using a Lo Celso- Meza axis, to not dropping Higuain there and then and his madness to persist with a high line especially with two reactive defenders. Number sixes rather than having at least a traditional number 2 who can read the game off his partner and cover. Pezzella would have been ideal.

    Please think before you write. It is obvious most people that now plague this blog have no idea about football or genuine love for the seleccion or any awareness of players.

    • “As for Sampaoli a good general has the ability to change plans and be flexible. He started with a poor plan and carried on with it regardless of the situation. At 2-1 he should have withdrawn Pavon brought on Kun and Lo Celso for Perez and sat both di Maria and Messi deeper and invited France on.

      They France are nothing special and neither is Mbappe . ”
      Kun would have fresh legs to run for the counter and will def. score at least once.

      Perfectly said

  22. 6-1, 4-2, 4-3..! Did Sampaoli lose like this with Chile letting more than 3 goals..! I doubt it. So what’s the problem..?
    Also, in none of these matches our first choice GK didn’t play.

  23. If anybody thinks Sampa will last they will be disappointed. In Argentina anytime they talk about sacking a manager it is already done. This is nothing other than tactics to figure out a way to not pay him.

    Don’t even bother with Simeone Gareca or Poche or Bielsa. They either won’t come, are too unproven, or too emotional and erratic.
    This is a 4 year project so we should look at people with a proven history of success. Sabella, Pekerman, Bianchi, and then maybe Gallardo as he has played for NT and has been a good coach. And the coach must agree to integrate younger players and not carry the oldest team.
    For those saying Sampa only had a limited time, think about this. In that limited time, he made poor selections on players, never decided on a formation, never understood goalkeeping or defense ( the amount of goals we gave up I’ve never seen watching 40 years of NT), never settled on a lineup, was a distraction on the side lines, and there was a player revolt which I have almost never seen. It’s not that we lost in the World Cup. It’s the incompetence and lack of composure he had that was the most embarrassing. I haven’t even begun to cover halftime adjustments which if you think about it we gave up many goals if not most in the second half. And the lack of adjustments yesterday cost us the match.
    More time for Sampa will not give him these skills. He just doesn’t possess them and another year will not be any better for us with him in charge.

  25. If simeone not become Argentina coach I’ll stay with Sampaoli. Look it easy to criticize someone for failure but at least one deserves 2nd chance where Sampaoli is a proven coach proved with Chile and selvia. Yes with Argentina flopped badly same for pep in man city 1st season and criticized badly. But pep already proved in barca and Bayern and his 2nd opportunity as man city coach make EPL farmer league. When there is a change in system coaches needs time to find players as well as players need time to adapt. So, Sampaoli deserve chance if simeone available then sack Sampaoli because Simeone or alegre tactics suits Argentina even its look boring

    • Sampaoli hijo de puta, juro que tenes accento Chileno, borracho violador de mierda!!!!!!!!!

      cuanto te pago FIFA para destrozar la selecion??????

      that C@nt put an over the hill goalkeeper to start…… that alone says it all!

  26. I know it does not mean much, but who knows there is a start for the future. Our U15 squad became South American champions for the first time in 2017.

  27. Rumor is that the order is :

    1. Ricardo Gareca
    2. Mauricio Pochettino
    3. Simeone
    4. Almeyda
    5. Marcelo Gallardo

    Well rumor. But nowadays, I believe in Argentine media rumors, they have been mostly true. Every XI leak was true.

  28. The first step to solving a problem is – accepting there is a problem!

    Lets look into some facts. What is Argentina as a football nation in large tournaments?
    1. We are a popular team across the world. There is heavy support in India & some other asian countries
    2. We usually win the group. What happened this time is an anomaly. But that can happen.
    3. Since we win the group we often play a second tier team in round of 16 – Mexico, Swiss etc. We often win against these countries.
    4. QF is usually one of the top teams – Germany, Brazil, Italy, France etc. 8/10 we lose to these teams

    Basically, we are a QF (top 8) team. Sometimes we over perform (2014), sometimes we under perform (2018). We all hate Brazil, but if you are honest with yourself, you will know we would lose 8 out of 10 times. Same with most of the other major countries. Not saying we cannot win ever.

    Now, question is how do we get better than a QF team? We can start building by accepting we are a QF team and improve strategically and also tactically.

    • thats not a fair report.

      2006…..sheer luck
      2010 we had No coach and lukewarm and old players….just wrong selection
      2014 final,
      2018 no coach and again lukewarm, dated …wrong player selection.

      Argentina should always aspire to be top 3.
      we just have the misfortune of not having capitalized on our players and organization since after wc 2002.

      50/50 in QF

      imo

      • I agree with the reasons. But you are just accepting the facts that I pointed out. Whatever be the reason.

        2006: Luck and lack of bravery. I agree defending 1-0 could have worked.
        2010: So get a proper coach.
        2014: Exception. Will happen again in 20-24 years if we continue like this
        2018: Fix those problems

        You are saying the same as me. For various problems we are a QF team. Identify those problems and fix them.

  29. – At this moment, several meetings are being held with only one purpose: that Sampaoli presents his resignation.

    – Angelici wants the next coach of the national team to be Ricardo Gareca.

    – Other leaders propose Hugo Tocalli.

    It was Angelici who chose Sampaoli. Tocalli for me is too old for the job, 70 already. And after 2007, it has not been a very bright managerial career.

  30. I strongly believe mache is the real reason for messi failure, the man legend my foot, he is a politician. Mache decides team and messi just a soft target. Mache is totally failure at Argentina never won any fifa Tounerment be it 17, 20 or senior label. And please don’t consider Olympic as the competition where worst squads are send for entertainment. Messi and Icardi posted a photo but mache never seen near Icardi even not played together single minute for Argentina. Had any DM even inexperience lo celso played instead of mache I’m 100% sure Argentina never concede 4goals. Barca kicked mache even before season end where he played in playing XI in Argentina is biggest mystery

  31. Ricardo Gareca will be good choice for us, even though frankly I don’t know who is a good choice for us anymore. Edgardo Bauza had a good profile, two time Copa Lib winner, Sampaoli had a better profile. All failed miserably. Not only failed, they looked so clueless and powerless.

    Gareca is a former NT player, scored 5 goals for us, which itself is a plus point. But then again, Passarella, Maradona and Batista were bad for us too.

    But we need a new manager. Why ? Sampaoli has lost the dressing room and overall control. He and his assistant had fights as well, that too in front of players. He is no longer the respected figure among players. If you were Dybala and Lo Celso, would you respect him? I am not talking about oldies. You can forgive tactical mistakes, they can happen, every managers make them now and then. And Sampaoli inherited a mess, so for me I can forgive him for those bad selections and team planning, nothing was working for him. But he is so unstable and impulsive, 15 different XI in 15 matches and coupled with management problem, I want him gone. I can forgive him as a coach, but he has lost it as a MANAGER.

    But I would continue with Sampaoli, if his sacking means hiring Gallardo, or even poch. Gallardo loves old players, Poch developed young players but nothing to show for it. It’s Simeone or Gareca, or continue with Sampaoli.

  32. Why do we support Brazil? Didn’t they chant for Germany in the final of 2014? I hope Mexico will get the balls to kick them out.

    Remember that the first team in the world wishes our failure is: Brazil. So let’s hope for thier humiliation.

    • really i don t understand that too.
      how one Argentine fan can support Brasil my brain can t understand honestly.

      when i see Brasil jersey i feel to throw up.
      England too.

      anyway.

    • Original Argentina Supporters can’t said Brazil is good….

      Those are Fake supporters…

      Brazil will be Eliminated too…..

  33. Messi at barca played with best GK, CBs, Full backs, Midfield (2006-2015), reason messi success at barca, he had best player at every position in club label, last two season barca struggles in midfield that’s why buy continho and eying for ekrikson, gorezka, lamar, sabic to serve but in Argentina messi crries 10 donkeys single handily in the world cup. How can messi win the world cup with out proper midfield, worst defense and average GK with full of superstar forwards at club label, its because of messi Argentina qualify in the world cup

    • I strongly believe mache is the real reason for messi failure, the man legend my foot, he is a politician. Mache decides team and messi just a soft target. Mache is totally failure at Argentina never won any fifa Tounerment be it 17, 20 or senior label. And please don’t consider Olympic as the competition where worst squads are send for entertainment. Messi and Icardi posted a photo but mache never seen near Icardi even not played together single minute for Argentina. Had any DM even inexperience lo celso played instead of mache I’m 100% sure Argentina never concede 4goals. Barca kicked mache even before season end where he played in playing XI in Argentina is biggest mystery

  34. Sampaoli does not want to resign, but Tapia wants him to resign. All of the AFA leaders want him to be gone. Because they are now in extreme political pressure after the recent disasters from NT, not just WC, but 6-1, 4-2. Clarin and other outlets reporting it. In the case, Simone, Pochettino, Gallardo and Gareca are candidates, with Gareca being the most pragmatic choice.

      • My choice is Gareca as well. But he will do good things only if Messi left. If not he will become another Messi idolaters. Martino had succes with Paraguay, Sampaoli with Chile, Gareca with Peru. These are lower teams that never had available player like Messi. If Gareca will be given the chance to have such player he will lost his tactician mind and become another puppet. We will not develop. Messi must retire.

          • the develop of new players is not work of national team coach which see the players for one week every 2 months.

            it is clubs business and players working in their clubs.

            the develop of the national team which is formed by the best players of country is the work of national team coach.

            Gallardo is perfect for the job.

    • Simeone isn’t leaving Atletico for the zoo that is the AFA. Pochettino is another Bielsa worshiper so no thanks while Careca is average. Gallardo is a possibility but his tenure with River has been so up and down it’s hard to tell which Gallardo will show up.
      Mind you at the end of the day, anyone and I mean ANYONE would be better than that bald carrot top that is Sampaoli.

      • You guys might find this funny, But WE desperately need a ‘Mourinho like’ coach who does not give a crap about pleasing players.

    • I want sampaoli to stay only he can bring young players to team.. Also if sampaoli leaves I dont think Icardi(and centurion) will never be in national team again

  35. Let’s cut the crap, I have been waiting since 1990 I have witnessed 78 and 86 WC. first thing we need to do before asking the players to step down or build a team around this player or that, is get a real coach, if a coach does not have a strategy to defend a 2-1 lead for 30 minutes, he is not competent. Argentina had this game in the bag, half an hour of defending and setting back, I am sure Mbappe would be neutralized because his weapon is speed, he is still 19 years old inexperienced player, if Sampa closed the spaces he would have no space to run and could simply be taken out of the equation, Leaving Pavon and DiMaria up front just at half line to break the offside would draw at least 2 defenders to them and France would not be able to press with all the players. while Messi drops deep just to win one ball, one ball ONLY and pass it up front, that simple. A coach who does not have the ability or the courage to switch tactics on the fly is not worthy of being a coach, Sampa was a failure, don’t blame the players. I feel the pain but I will always be an Argentina Fan, with or without Messi.
    Don’t build a team around Messi, Messi should be a surplus but not the Central point of this team. We should get a coach who knows how to switch tactics. With Sampa I have seen a team without character.

    • mumblings in Argentina say

      GALLARDO
      POCHENTINO
      SIMEONE

      are hopefuls…..

      but this is purely speculation

    • “Don’t build a team around Messi, Messi should be a surplus but not the Central point of this team. We should get a coach who knows how to switch tactics. With Sampa I have seen a team without character”.

      Unfortunatley it’s easiest path for every coach and temptation to do that. Take Messi and then see what happen. If Messi will not retire – at least for 3 years – the next famous coaches will do the same looking like complete idiots. The last thing I believ is that all last 3 coaches were just idiots. Every of them was supposed to be the best, but they were only worse and worse. Now we must consider why the coaches were succesfull with Paraguay, Chile and in Copa Libertadores but failed with Argentina. There must be other reason. They lost their tactic abilities because of Messi was there always.

      • A coach is the boss, If he can not impose his tactics on all the players-inclucindg messi- he should not get the job. a decent coach should accommodate certain players but not please them.

    • I agree- Sampa was awful tactically. Had we been organized like the Sabella era, we would have gotten past France and would then face a weak Uruguay…which could place us in the semi-final. The game was there for the taking. Rojo did not have to commit the penalty, Mbappe was about to lose it after he pushed the ball forward too much and Armani would have cut off the angle. Luckily, DiMaria cancelled off Rojo’s disaster…so at half time the game was 1-1 or better yet 0-0, no harm no foul. I have to admit I was begging for Higuain or Aguero bc I could see that we need a traditional 9 in the box. With Messi as a false 9 and Benega ineffective (they likely realized that cutting off Benega cut off Messi), Messi was out of the game. At halftiime, having escapted Rojo’s disaster (I know you’ve heard that before), I was expecting a few changing including switching to a 4-4-2 since it was evident that his idea had failed. Instead, Sampa thought we played a good first half (we reached the goal 3 times) and left the same setup. What a disaster. He failure to admit his failure caused our exit. Had Higuain or Aguero stepped in, Messi could retreat to his traditional role of distribution. We would have gotten another one and been up 3-1…and we would just have to hold off the final 15 to 20. Once again (2010, 2018) Messi has been let down by inadequate coaching. Sampa does not know how to adjust his tactic during a game and he is very stubborn/afraid to make adjustments once his first idea fails…but that is the problem…all of his first ideas failed. He did not get one right…he was like 0 for 10…add the LoCelso mistery, the Enzo becoming a starter weeks after being left off the squad, and it is evident that the man suffers for doubt and second guessing, the worst qualities that a person in a leadership position should have…Sampa needs to go…did not show enough to stay and on the contrary…he showed that we made a mistake in hiring in him and that he is overrated.

  37. Wish sabella never resigned, sampaoli is a clown . Playing a false 9 is the most stupid idea any coach can do nd benchinh aguero higuain and dybala, thisxwas the only tournament we had a fit aguero .bringing Perez from home to the starting 11 instead f Lo celso.Honestly we deserved that , this generation could have done it specially this world cup that had no Germany the only team that kicked us out in the last 12 years. Higuain created the most space for messi. Meza failed every single moment he played , yet bring him in as a super sub, and havent he tried to shoot that last chance it was goin directly to agueros head.Just remeber what higuain and dybala did against tottenham in UCL . I wanted messi to lift the world cup more than he did , but if the formation and team selection is his decision than he have only himself to blame. In 2022 we ill have the worst generation well ever see.

    • Playing ‘False 9’ is highly revolutionary, but in order for it to work you need at least 6 highly skilled players to break any defense in the world.
      2 wingers who can transform to strikers in a split of second
      2 highly athletic full backs who can run vertically back and forth close to the touch lines to provide crosses
      2 forward midfielders who can interchange positions at any given moment where one of them is the ‘False 9’ and the other is the play maker.
      in Argentina’s case the only skilled players to execute this plan are Messi and dybala.
      where is our David villa, Pedro, Alba, Danny Alvis, Xavi or Iniesta?
      Playing theses tactics against France was a suicide regardless of who’s idea was it, Sampa, Messi or Masch.
      4-4-2 with Messi as play maker without high defense line would have gotten us further in this World Cup.

  38. ARGENTINA faithfuls, I know it hurts like hell but we should be happy that these teams with all the talent in the world, all the MONEY in the world, all the best managers in the world, all the organization and discipline in the world and YET didn’t fair better than us.

  39. See having World Class players in all positions,Players who the commentators love, Players who plays regularly in Champions league, Wont make a Great team, Germany and Spain are examples, We need a proper system with hard working players even if they are playing in smaller team doesn’t matter, May be Get a set of players who are playing in same club and make them the core(Because they play together every week),Its nearly impossible for teams like us were most of our star players are playing abroad.

    And the main reason we wont win anything sooner is because we don’t have any continuity, Had Tata Martino been still in charge we would have had a continuity(Sad thing is we were far better under him), Germany was under the same coach for 3 World Cups(12 years), France has been under same coach for nearly 6 years, Did France win any championships?? No, Did Germany won all championships in between the 12 years (off course they won some, but not all championships , they persisted with the coach for so long time patiently)?? So the point is whoever it is our coach be it Sampa or someone else, Let him coach for at least 4 years, Let us have some continuity. How the hell we are gonna get immediate results?? We are getting into conclusions way quicker i think. Lets stick to somebody even if we r losing.

    By the way Bye Bye Spain (2 down (Portugal and Spain) 2 to go – That’s England and Brazil – Don’t want those 2 to win at any cost Belgium too) I would rather ok if France wins. But i have a weird feeling that ENGLAND will win this World Cup the stars are aligning for them they have now no big opponents, If they win for the next 4 years we all better stay away from all the English Channels, Those Fools will keep singing the praise till next World Cup, Disgusting.. Wooooohhhh

    • Mexicans are worse! no offense if whave mexican fans here. but as an Argentine American….the US IS PLAGUED with Mexicans, their commentaors are the worst. they bask in Argentines losing and think and believe they are superior to Argentina and Brazil. vamos…..

      if Mexico win the WC its fixed one because they generate money, two because of all of Trunps hate speech, tarrifs and deportations. also all those earthquakes.

      oh and what do you know mexico is partily hosting the next wC.

      England cant win a final. Croatia will beat them. Colombia have a chance. I actually like Sweeden th is time around.

    • You guys cant imagine how we on the south of the country dont care about this crime organization – croatian national team.
      The source of the problem is so complicated and started long time ago but, because of that, there are no real fans in this wc.

  41. Brazil fans and all the Christina lovers who were sucking oN HER pussy, I haven’t forgotten about you,

    THE EXIT DOOR IS RIGHT THERE>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>PISSOFF

    • whats wrong with supporting Brazil…. yes they wore german jerseys in 2014 final.

      but atleast they play as a team. we should be taking notes.

      and Penaldo will always be 2nd! and 2nd place is the 1st loser!

      • You can support them all you want JUST NOT HERE, besides why in hell would you support ARGENTINA’S ARCH-NEMESIS and wish them to win the world cup from all things after ARG, the team you allegedly SUPPORT just exited the competition in almost the most embarrassing manner!!!

        Sorry friend, NO ARGENTINA SUPPORT WILL EVER WISH BRAZIL TO BE BETTER THAN THEM, we are all brothers and sisters but you put on that Banana Yellow as pablo calls it and blue and you can fuckoff.

        • you FORGET …URUGUAY IS ARGENTINAS ORIGINAL NEMESIS! Id rather they lose than the Brazucas. im seeing memes and comments already and the uruguanians are already saying Cavani is better than messi cause he scored against portugal ….the audacity.

          fuck
          Urugay
          fuck
          Mexico
          fuck
          England.
          um….i dont want france to equal us but….

          im ok with Brazil, Beligum, or Sweeden winning

          • it goes without saying
            Brazil
            Germany
            Red Coats>>>>> the main catalyst in screwing other nations out of what is their own under the banner of spreading civility!
            I have Respect for the Germans and Brazilians but no LOVE what so ever because they earned it and nothing else.

            BUT the country that I HATE THE MOST IS CHILE, i have said that it could break off South America and sink into the Pacific and would CARE LESS.
            I have no Love for Uruguay but that they have earned my respect and I give respect where its due, a tiny country squeezed between two giants one with a population of just 3 million, winning the WC twice and the most Copa wins ever thus far!!!!.

            I don’t want ANY SPANISH or PORTUGUESE SPEAKING COUNTRY WINNING THE WC.
            Any European is fine with me, not like I or we have a choice but No way would I want Brazil to win it followed by Uruguay.

          • Brazil really? even friendlys I want Brazil to lose why would any ARG fan want Brazil to win I don’t get it I never want to see Brazil winning anything

        • oh bro…..FUCK CHILE ETERNALLY LOL.

          Though ive been to Chile and have some chilean friends….

          dude they have like a channel or show on chile tv dedicated to bashing Argentina. they are the worst lol.

          Where is Chile again? chiles so called golden era is on the way out.

          i just dont see a European team up for it except Belgium. but i dont believe they have the heart to do it.

          France has slight history ….

          i just dont see Tabarez tactics doing it.

          Cavani will refraim to Defense (hes no better than Higuain…a fuckboy club player) but he helps the D. theyll leave Suarez up all alone like they always do and he will choke like always.

          france or brazil score the first on uruguay…BYE.

          sorry guys. yes 6 cups is a lot. but somehow Brazil retaining a cup and bringing it back to America should somehow edge Argentina.

          ARGENTINA WON 2 WC WITH HAVELANGE PRESIDENT!

  42. i mean cmon guys.

    France beat a sloopy Argentina,.

    uruguay beat portugal….when has portugal ever legitinately done something…..werent they voted the worst european champions….how’d confederations cup go?1

    the power houses remain…..maybe just maybe we get a new finalist in Croatia or colombia.

    but Brazil will win it,

    they cant afford to have uruguay or belgium in a final …..NO ONE WILL WATCH IT.

    brazil isnt playing like yesteryear, but they have a team. hell argentina didnt look that nice in 2014 and we made it.

    sorry guys Brazil 6 time champions….HOWEVER no one will talk or remember Neymar like do THE MESSIAH!

    • Brazil tied with Switzerland and only manage to defeat a poor Costa Rican team in added minutes.

      • they beat serbia and CR, and tied….they didnt need to win that game

        2014…..ARGENTINA STRUGGLED TO BEAT EVERY TEAM IN THE GROUP STAGES, EXCEPT maybe nigeria (sorry for caps) and nigeria scored 2 on us?

        i dunno anything can happen.

        but i believe this is fIXED and an american team hasnt won since 2002. they have to throw America a bone.

  43. Before WC;
    Favorite:
    Categ 1-Germany, Brazil, and Spain.
    Categ 2-France, Argentina, and Portugal

    All are out except France and Brazil (yet to play PQ).

    • Insider: France was in top flight favourite before the tournaments started along with Germany, Brazil and Spain. We were in 2n flight along with Portugal, Belguim and England.

  44. What people fail to realize is that Spain was never that good at the senior men’s world cup with the exception of 2010.

    • i hate spain, they were always overrated.

      tiki taka… bitch pls south americans perfected touch pass futbol.

      why werent teams cerimoniously parking the bus on these guys. teams would let them do what they want.

    • I always found their play boring, Where the hell are they Passing, Passing, and Passing. Its rather better to sleep while they r playing, There is no initiative for scoring a goal from them, Germany was way better they were fast and courageous team. A counter attacking Juggernauts, Well they both are opposite styles. Both have mastered it by the way.

    • They were not really good in 2010. They scored 7 goals and lost their open game. To me, The Netherlands were more impressive but you know, the Dutch are even more haunted than us 🙁

  45. Ok, I want to add this, and then you can shoot me:
    1) If a coach trusts a goalie who conceded 6 goals against a team with no real strikers and sends him to the world cup, he doesn’t know the basics of football (the basics that my mom and yours know)- SAMPAOLI NEEDS TO GO if we are serious about rebuilding.

    2) If you mention again building a new team around Messi- then you are delusional to get different results. Messi and Macherano had a big say in player selection this tournament, you would argue: “how come Aguero wasn’t starting then in last game?”, Messi had a plan to play Aguero in 2nd half when defenders are tired, also he preferred to play false 9 with 2 wingers.
    Don’t tell me that Messi sees something interrupting his dream of winning world cup and wouldn’t do anything about it. Messi wants to win, and I’m sure if he wanted both Dybala and Lo Celso in his starting 11, he would fight for it till he gets it, if not in first game, then in second or third game. He would get his wish accommodated if he really wanted to play with both, the reality is not, he even prefers Meza and Perez over them and his new friend Pavon. You should know by now that Messi and Dybala are not really close friends, what happened to Lo Celso was a mystery, perhaps he argued with either Messi or Mascherano during training or he refused to take on a role he wasn’t comfortable with.

    I’m sorry to say this, but it’s time for Messi to say goodbye, I love Messi and he’s still the best player in the history of football. Though if you want your beloved team to be reconstructed and rebuilt on solid foundation, Messi can’t be part of it for three reasons:
    A) He will request again the team is built around him and by players he prefers
    B) Every pass has to go through him, and we are all under the mercy of his mood that day
    C) Feeling the pressure and carrying the team became an old record: I am sick of hearing it again, if you can’t handle the pressure then take a supporting role, or quit.

    3) With a new coach who is top notch tactician and without Messi effect, Argentina is full of talents, it is the factory of players in every position, so it won’t be hard to build a team similar to 2006 team. Cohesive team. Remember: the word cohesive won’t be achieved with the presence of Messi due to his calibre and stardom that is above Argentina at the moment sadly.

    4) If Messi smiles and gets excited for Barca even when playing against non-competitive boring team, you see his energy and smile while when playing in a WC (the most exciting stage for any player) you see him depressed and grumpy (isolates himself from the game, doesn’t tackle and becomes spectator at times), if you tell me because of “feeling the pressure” concept, well you got the answer, he can’t lead a team and he can’t perform well under pressure. We need a team that every player in every position must perform on a higher level, all players should defend (watch Suarez, Cavani, and Griezmann who was defending yesterday and dispossessed Messi inside the box).

    5) To start fresh: Get rid of the coach, get rid of oldies (forget about transition bull shit- rotten apples will be rotten and influence the rest of the team, it is contagious)- Build a new team, I’m not sure Dybala is the future because we haven’t seen anything from him yet, he was a bench warmer, but I know Argentina is the Players Factory.

    • Good points Messi has been my idol for last decade he was the legitimate heir of Maradona but I never felt that he played to his full potential with Argentina I mean in 756 mins and 8 games he couldn’t score a single goal in knock out games .4 finals he didn’t do anything he always froze in those finals , It’s time to move on and build a team from scratch Messi can be super sub in 2022 just like iniesta was today but you can’t build a team around him anymore and Sampaoli will leave sooner or later he is incapable beyond comprehension and did some inexcusable blunders

      • @gonzalo your so called talented players meza and pavon were the one of the bad players along with acuna these players is nowhere near the quality of the old guns .. And I honestly doubt the quality of the upcoming youngsters .they weren’t able to even deliver in youth championship our poor run in recently concluded youth tournaments clearly justify my thought . the so called players you were constantly criticizing were able to atleast have a good run in youth trnmnts we got two 2 U20WC ,now we aren’t even qualifying for FIFA tournament ,how poor we have become and there isn’t any players that have been demanded by top European clubs,Argentine players having low value in transfer market ,once Real Madrid was an hub for quality Argentines now look there isn’t even one in the squad

    • All the world is laughing at Argentina because of the Messi dependency that lead us to nowhere. I want to see again Argentina as 11 equal men.

      • Yuppp very true. We cant win championships with depending on any single player, I would say lets build a Solid Defensive unit + Goal Keeper first. Defense win championships.

        • If Messi really loves Argentina now he should go.

          I’ve said that many times: even best player is not able to win anything more than group stage game. He won some group games in 2014 and maybe one (Nigeria?) in this WC but nothing more.

      • Yes just like before messi generation Argentina won the world cup or copa. Fact is Argentina is unlucky team in the world, messi never lost any final at club labels but lost fo NT

        • Argentina haven’t won anything since 1993 and before messi generation never crossed quterfinal, its messi who took Argentina into final. Even before messi generation comes after winning Olympic gold Argentina chokes in final against Brazil several times and will continue no matter messi plays or not

    • As much as I love Messi and as much as I disagree on Messi selected the team, I COMPLETELY AGREE with you guys that Messi should/must take a break and let the youngsters to step up. He can still be around in 2022 like Iniesta this year or Zidane in 2006 but by then we must have a confident team full of young blood. He will be a cherry on top of the cake!

  46. Semifinal 1:
    Brazil – France
    Winner — Brazil

    Semifinal 2:
    Croatia – England
    Winner — Croatia

    Final:
    Brazil – Croatia
    Winner — Brazil

    If Belgium defeats Brazil then it’s Belgium the champion.

    • After all the results we have witnessed you’re still here writing off countries? Yea, keep dreaming, Serbia could have scored 4 goals against Brazil if they had a decent goal scorer. And Belgium only played one decent team thus far in England because Panama and Tunisia like Saudi and Egypt turnout to be the weakest teams at this year world cup..The two best teams in the world cup right now are Croatia and Uruguay..Sweden, Colombia and Mexico are potential semifinalist dark horse. I don’t think you have been watching the world cup..

  48. Am all good if one Uruguay or Croatia or Russia win the world cup..I don’t want none of Brazil or England or Belgium or France to win..It would be good to see Croatia winning for the first time and not any of the other traditional world cup winning countries. Croatia win the world cup and Modric will become the worthy BDOR winner given he has been the best Real Madrid player for years now.

  50. Does anyone watch the games from the USA and listen to Alexi Lalas? The man is dumber than a tree stump. They can’t find anyone better than this meat head?

    • I am from the US and I really hate everything he says. Almost every opinion he has seems really uninformed. And he’s been doing this for years. You think he would have learned some stuff.
      Unless they ask him to give contrary opinions to make people mad. If so, it’s working. 🙂

    • omg….hes the american Liberman….i want from being a fan to wishing terrible things on him the other one FOX for grtting the rights, hes as bad as mexican commentators. sons of whores wanted us to lose so bad

  51. This might not be much but the last two countries Pep Guardiola coached in won the world cup; Barcelona (Spain 2010) and Bayern Munich (Germany 2014)..Manchester City (England 2018?).

    • BRASIL VS ENGLAND.
      BRA 3 – ENG 1

      BRAZIL 6 TIME WC CHAMPS.

      THANKS 4 NOTHING Sampa!

        • becuase they have no D. because fundamentally and historically they are garbage.

          i mean cmon guys….

          the power houses will remain power houses.

          • I think Brazil will pass Mexico test but will be done by Belgium. This tournament is about fast young new talents. Experience meant nothing unlike previous world cup. Football is changing again and taking a different direction. Possession is old fashion now, it’s about counter attack which only can be done when you have fresh young lungs.

  52. One od Croatia, Denmark, Russia in semifianal – is fine thing.

    It’s end of some generation: Messi, Ronaldo, Iniesta, Ramos, Ozil.

    I’m glad the arrogant Ramos is out.

      • Brasil, decime que se siete

        Quedar afuera del mundial

        Te juro que aunque pasen los años

        Nunca nos vamos a olvidar

        Que Neymar te abandonó

        Que Alemania te goleó

        Qué vergüenza que me das pentacampeón

        Te pusiste la de Irán,

        la de Suiza y Bélgica

        Cómprate la de Alemania en la final !!!

    • Well, Uruguay has a feeling of the 2006 Italian World cup winning team. Diego Godin = Fabio Cannavaro

    • From what I saw yesterday, uruguay were subpar at best, they basically had 2 chances the entire match and Cavani hit the bulls eye on both of em.
      Then again with this unpredictable WC who the hell knows.

  54. Mbappe (France) and Aleksandr Golovin (Russia) have been the two best young players at the world cup.

  57. THIS IS NOT GOOD NEW ABOUT SPAIN.

    IF ARGENTINA WAS QUALIFY I WOULD BE HAPPY FOR US.

    BUT WITH US OUT THE FACT THAT SPAIN GO OUT MEANS THAT SHIT ENGLAND WILL GO VERY FAR.

    I HOPE COLOMBIA DO THE JOB!!!

  58. Buh bye Gallegos del orto!!!!

    man i am pissed. ARGENTINA WILL MEVER HAVE AN EASIER WC THAN THIS ONE. FUCK. WE COULD HAVE MADE THE FINAL…

    BRAZIL VS ENGLAND OR CROATIA?

    BRAZIL 6 TIME WC CHAMPS!
    THEY NEED to be Rewarded for taking 7 agaginst The Germs….

      • Real Madrid hired the Spanish coach because they wanted CR to succeed..If you think Real Madrid care about the Spanish national team loaded with all these Catalan players then you haven’t been paying attention. Spain is not a unify country!!

  61. I believe as much as we need techically strong players, we also need mature players in each area like mid field, defense forward…

    We do not have a Batistuta or a Cannigia , Ayala, Simeone..etc..

    We need good players who can support each other..i strongly feel it is not a messi’s cup or an individial World Cup..This puts too much pressure on Messi or an individual..

    Everyone should have a role and should play the role..

  63. For the first time against Nigeria at the world cup Argentina found a winning team, something Sampaoli had been lacking for some time. There was no need to change the lineup that played against Nigeria for the France game. Argentina had a chance to go into an important game with some sort of continuity, but knowing Sampaoli he couldn’t resist his foolish experiments. Every game is a different lineup under Sampaoli, 16 games played with 16 different lineups. Against Nigeria the team had a second chance, this was call faith, Sampaoli with his madness interfered and change the course of Argentina destiny all because of his ignorance.

    Argentinean should hope and pray that Francisco Feuillassier (a 20-year-old Real Madrid midfielder) stay with the senior team instead of moving on loan to some mid table club team. If Francisco Feuillassier stays at Real Madrid he will be a plus for Argentina, and will definitely become a world class midfielder in the future. Francisco Feuillassier, Foyth and Lo Celso will be the future of Argentinean football; not the likes of Dybala, Icarid (both of whom are club ballers) or mediocre players like Paredes who will probably be in China after leaving Russia because no top team will try and scoop him up.

    • All Paredes needs is people who know nothing about football like you to doubt him. I would be worried if you said he is great. You are the Pele of this blog. Always wrong!

    • haaaaaaa the VAR BULLSHIT did not award Spain a PK on the same Masche PULL OR PUSH was called against Nigeria LOL THAT IS SO FUCKING FUNNY.

  66. Names to pick out players for 2022 team:

    Goalkeeper: Rulli, Axel Werner (Atletico),Ezequiel Unsain (Defensa y Justicia) Esteban Andrada (Lanus), Guido Herrera (Talleres)

    CB -Foyth, Cristian Romero (Genoa), Barboza (Defensa), Mammana, Pezzella, Conti and Lema (both Benfica)

    RB,LB – Bustos, Tagliafico, Angileri (Godoy Cruz), Jose Luis Gomez (Lanus)

    DM – Paredes, Battaglia, Ascacibar, Agustin Almendra (Boca player of youth teams and most likely U-20 next year)

    CM – Lo Celso, Lucas Robertone (Velez), Gaston Lodico (Lanus), Ezequiel Palacios (River), Meza

    AM – Matias Vargas (Velez Sarsfield most likely in Europe next season), Maxi Lovera (Rosario Central – he was in Russia with other U-20 players to spar with senior team), Pol Fernandez (Godoy Cruz), Lanzini

    Wingers – , J. Correa, A. Correa, Joaquin Torres (Newell’s, close Benfica), Nicolas Gonzalez (Argentinos Juniors, his club already rejected 5,5 mln Inter offer for him, Borussia also interested), Ignacio Pussetto (Huracan), Pavon (Arsenal offer 27m), Pity Martinez (River), Cervi, De Paul, Ocampos

    CF – Dybala, Lautaro, Icardi, Maxi Romero (PSV Eindhoven)

    • Unless these players settle well in Europe we shouldn’t take them. Meza and Pavon couldn’t trap a ball leave alone playing good passes. We need players who can keep possession and don’t loose the ball easily. The first goal yesterday we conceded since Banega could trap the ball correctly

      • He wasnt expecting the pass (I am no banega fan and I am defending him on that play). The issue was that a 19 year old kid who is VERY fast, ran past Banega (older and slow), Mascherano (older and slow), Taglafico (slowish), Otamendi (older and slow) and finally Rojo who is not slow, but has not been playing all year and is back from injury, he should never had been our starting CB. We lost this cup because of our refusal to play the old with the new and our dumb highline pocession ticky taca with no bite just begging to countered on. We conceded 3 goals in 11min. France is good, but they are not that good, our defense SUCKED. Look at Uruguay, they play direct, in one or two plays of procession they are already putting putting the ball in the box. When they loose it they pressure high hard for a few seconds, and if they cant force the quick turn over they contract and park the bus waiting to counter. THAT is how you win, especially against teams which are faster than you. Uruguay is essentially Cholos Athletico with two world class strikers, a system we could have easily played. Its a time tested, classic 442. Enough with this highline bullshit.

        • Its pretty straight forward right ?? you dont have hard working fast players you dont play highline . if we did this simple principle and and 44-2 formation at least we would have had chance

        • If you are a mediocre player you will not expect better players are always ready and reads the Game ahead of others. Lack of quality is the problem of Argentine team

    • I like alot of your selection Gonzalo.

      There are the obvious choices who have already proven themselves like Mammana, pezzella and Tagliafico at the back; Ascacibar, paredes, celso, A.correa, Acuna, Lanzini in the midfield; ocampos, J.correa, Cervi and pavon in the attacking midfield/forward area and ofcourse Dybala and Icardi infront of goal.

      Then there are the players with potential like Conti, Foyth, Simeone and lautaro who have to prove themselves in europe.

      Last but not least there are the players from the primera like Pity, the velez boys (vargas and robertone) the godoy fullbacks (Angeleri and Abecasis) who may end up as something special.

      At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter how much talent argentina produces if they keep getting incompetent coaches like diego, batista, bozo and baldy.

      • You are good observer @Mamoun

        I was wonder once wheter it’s only to me Abecasis from Godoy seems really good. Now I know he is good.

        Godoy players like LB Angileri (on River radar), Abecasis and first of all Pol Fernandez (River and Benfica interested) are really impressive. I think Pol Fernandez is player for NT.

    • including of Emanuel cecchini – malaga
      Eric remedi and ezequel barco – atlanta united mls

  67. Future is very bad for next 100 years for argentina…they will not win any world cup….I have seen them for 24 years..tell me which argentina team played with flair and confidence in last 30 years…just do not hope anything from this team in your lifetime, and at last BRAZIL IS WINNING IT SIXTH TIME..brazilian team always had a flair and confidence in their game

    • Brasil, decime que se siente

      Tener en casa a tu papá

      Te juro que aunque pasen los años

      Nunca nos vamos a olvidar

      Que el Diego te gambeteó

      Que Cani te vacunó

      Que estás llorando desde Italia hasta hoy

      A Messi lo vas a ver

      La copa nos va a traer

      MARADONA ES MAS GRANDE QUE PELE !!!

  68. Gonzalo
    I didn’t have time to follow The Argentine league last year and I don’t like the system at all. 30 teams devalue the league.
    But I wanted to ask is Esteban Andrada back to his best?
    He was our most talented keeper but stagnated behind Marchesin at Lanus and was horrible at Arsenal when loaned out.
    We need a goalkeeper so bad, and by no means am I giving up on Rulli because he will bounce back, and hopefully also Werner plays first team football.

    • Well, just like Tagliafico he had weak times after WC 2011 and rumored move to Barcelona but now he is back to that level from 2011 while experienced more. Finally he reached Copa Libertadores final with Lanus in 2017. Should be considered as NT goalkeeper I think.

  70. I’m very sad after yesterday I’ll get a little bit better after Brazil is out if the yellow team win it would break my heart even more but I can’t lie but this cup right now they are the hot favorite to win it they not great but they have a pretty good defense

  72. What’s next?
    Well, we need an overhaul!!

    Scrap the following players:
    – Caballero
    – Guzmán
    – Armani (He’s just as bad as Caballero)
    – Salvio
    – Rojo
    – Acuña (made me cringe just watching him play)
    – Meza
    – Enzo
    – Higuain

    Mascherano and Biglia leave too little too late! If they’ve cared at all about the NT they’d left years ago!!

    Most of all, Sampaoli has GOT to go!!!!

    Who Stays:
    – Messi (only if he wants to)
    – Banega (best Midfielder we’ve got)
    – Aguero
    – Di Maria (actually was trying, pouring his heart out against France, and that should be commendable)
    – Dybala (He’s the future)
    – Lo Celso
    – Tagliafico
    – Pavon

    In limbo:
    Pretty much the whole defense,
    – Mercado, Otamendi, Fazio, Ansaldi
    Considering the fact theyll all Be 35 the next WC.

    My 11 for the next WC:
    Romero/Rulli
    Peruzzi-Musacchio-Pezzella-Tagliafico
    Lanzini-Paredes/Kranevitter-Lamela/Lo Celso
    Dybala-Icardi/Martínez-J. Correa/Pavon

    – No Bustos! Very very weak defensively. Isco made him his b****. No A. Correa Either! Just another headless chicken to the squad is NOT what Argentina needs!

    If Messi is still around 2022, then

    Messi-Martinez-Dybala

    The plan would be to surround him with a team where he at 35 wouldn’t have to track back as much, and stay up in attack. But there needs to be a plan, to win WITH or WITHOUT Messi!

    • Messi, Aguero, Di Maria, Banega – all to stay?! Really?! Messi should leave for at least 3 years – if not our youngsters will never grow up when he is around.

      Aguero? With Icardi, Lautaro, Dybala no need for guy who will be 34 (!) at 2022. He is past his best. Do you want build team for 2022 or just keep the current positions?

      Di Maria, Banega – I see them being 34 years old and chasing Mbappe in 2022. Banega is far too slow at his 30 let alone in upcoming years.

      Di Maria – “actually was trying, pouring his heart out against France, and that should be commendable”
      we must ask ourselves wheter “trying” is enough for nation that won 2 World Cups and want to fight always for gold. The guy can’t do any good thing without doimg 20 things (crosses, driblings) wrong before.

      • Copa America in 2019, not the strikers the problem, the old and slow defenders and midfielders, Lo Celso-Paredes duo a no brainer+one young destroyer

  74. Apart from whether Sampa should build around messi or not, apart of what formation is best for us or who should play, yesterday game just simply showed that the coach didnt have a good sense of big game or knock out stage match management, espescially when we were 2-1 up. He must had known, that based the on the french’s first goal, and also based on our notorious poor defense quality and organization that we knew even before the WC started, therefore it was important to make sure that we have enough player or somehow any system in order to avoid mbappe or any speedy french to do the same killer run mbappe did on the first goal. So 2-1 up, we were over committed to attack againts seriously dangerous mbappe griezman in a knock out stage. That, to me is too naive. Yes we are Argentina, we attack, yes we have messi, but are not the same team we have as in 2006, the last time we have best balance, best quality left to right, back to front, with best talent in every position.

    I think we are all in the same page, that playing beutiful attacking game is not priority at the moment, even for Argentina, oh no ! espescially for Argentina !!! Yes of course its in our DNA, but in a big tournament, in a big match, a knockout one as yesterday, we need to be smart. We dont need to play pretty and commit ourself forward for a whole 90 minutes. What we need was to march on, in world cup.

    When Sampaoli said that we will play 5 final games, i thought thats good, that it was a sign that he will push his team get together and play with whole heart, which is what we saw yesterday, but to me, i also thought that by that statement tells me that he will be strategicly smart, focus and that he will make sure us go thru to next final game at any means necessary, including to switch to heavy defence if necessary. And that we didnt see yesterday !!!

    I’m not into Sampa out or stay, or who is his best successor, but
    If he did stay as our manager, i hope he learnt !

    Vamos Argentina !

  75. Sampaoli back home is unwanted anymore.
    i don t think he will stay much more.

    till September a lot of things can change.

    media here speaking that Gallardo will be the most possible replacement.
    Tapia already spoke with Gallardo but the result is not public yet.

    to be honest i am very fanatic supporter of River plate and i don t like the idea so much to lose that coach from my club but if it is for the good of my national team i will accept it even if don t like so much.

      • Argentina.

        Ole wrote it after the game with Croatia.
        today exist pole about which coach prefer to replace Sampaoli.

        till now 36 % vote Simeone and 30% Gallardo.
        totally till now in 42.928 voters.

        • Thank God. I can stand to lose with clear ideas. Sampaoli has none. And anybody who overlooks our best young players like Dybala and Lo Celso we need to move on from. Most would agree the next generation should include them as major pieces.

        • gallardo is another bielsista though a good coach , but we need someone like pekerman .pekerman is the only one apart from sabella can guide a team of young generation or Who knows.

    • We must need to rebuild our team for future & from now. If Sampaoli stays, that should be made clear or if he goes, that should be made clear soon. We just want no dillemma anymore! Dillemma, less time of proper preparation etc r the curse for us. I wonder that, when Sampaoli became coach most of the fans all over the world were happy. We thought, finally we got a tactically good coach! But, what he showed in the WC, that was so strange! Poor & confusing tactics all over the tournament! We didn’t expect this from him. Very sad after all. We the Bangladeshi people love Argentine football a lot, from our heart! People r mad & crazy about Argentina! I doubt that we r more crazy than the Argentine people! U really can’t believe it, just come here, then u will feel it! However, hope for the best in future. Vsmos Argentina!

  76. The biggest weaknesses Argentina have are defense and tactics. Followed by a tepid midfield and an attack over reliant on the key playmaker. Sampaoli playing Messi as a false-9 would work only if the other forwards stepped up, and they did not.

    From GK, Romero is fine for Copa in Brazil. Hopefully there is someone developing in the background though. Outside of Tagliafico and Otamendi, defense needs new blood. Mercado would be a decent sub and that’s about it. Rojo is done. Centerbacks for Argentina were so bad that Mascherano was essentially the fifth central defender. Speaking of whom, while this was a poor outing from Masche, I really wished that he walked away with the WC in 2014. Nobody gave more than him then. Hopefully he can. Stick around to coach and transition.

    My biggest concern is midfield. We just don’t have enough pivot players and I’m not sure where they would come from. If AFA was even a normal organization, we can find the talent in local and under 20 teams. AFA is a degenerate organization and I don’t expect anything from them. I’m not even sure where the solution is. Everyone loves Lo Celso, who plays only attacking mid, is very poor at defending and is not mentally savvy to be a pivot. Please stop making him into the next Riquelme.

    Pavon can develop better under good coaching. He has flashes of raw talent. Dybala is a poor man’s Messi: unless Messi chooses to retire, Dybala is just a add-on with nothing to contribute. I think Messi will play Copa to get Argentina one major cup before retiring. Higauin is done, Aguero might be around for one more year.

    Sampaoli has a major task, build a proper team not a collection of stars. Chile was winning with talent and chemistry. He can do it, the question is whether he will get the support from AFA, which h I seriously doubt. These are dark days, and only time will tell.

    • Sampaoli playing Messi as a false-9 would work only if the other forwards stepped up, and they did not.

      More like there are no forwards, until Aguero came in.

  77. Ole is already making line ups for next WC:

    ole.com.ar/seleccion/seleccion-argentina-recambio_0_2042795778.html

    • My thinking is like this;
      4-3-3 and Messi can join later in this project.
      Rulli(26)
      Bustos(22)-Mammana(22)-Mori(27)-Tagliafico(25)
      – LoCelso(22)-Ascacibar(21)-Paredes(24)-
      –Dybala(24)-Lautaro(21)-Pavon(22)

      I believe Lautaro in 4 years will be better than Icardi. And Pavon will be a huge prospect.

      Subs: There are better players here but I want the base of our team as mentioned above.
      Gomez(24),Foyth (20), Battaglia (26),Kranevietter(25), Lamela(26), Ocampos (23), Correa (23), Icardi (25), Lanzini(25) etc.

  78. I know Sampaoli was sacrificing his career for NT when other coaches did not want. Thank you. But it’s clear he’s not the man. First of all, 23 players selection was his responsibility. How he played in qualifiers and friendlies when Messi was not there? When Messi was not in equation, he failed miserably.. When Messi was there it’s individual brilliant (e.g Vs Ecuador) and sheer determination that won the games. So with or without Messi, he’s clueless. Unless AFA can’t reach mutual agreement to end his contract, then let’s start with new coach and choose a decent one to stay until 2022.

    For the players, I feel some seniors should stay at least for transition and slowly introduce the young players and give them confidence.

    For Messi, what to say, he will be the best in my heart even without the cup. He has sacrificed so much and I will understand if he wants to take a break. However I believe Messi can still be strong for 2022. It will be up to him.

  79. We are close minded: AFA/Coaches/Players/Fans/Experts/Journalists

    Menottista vs Bilardista vs Bielista or what the hell they are called!
    You can not copy their style if you dont have the players to do so. This is a National team and the players who are there can’t be bought or sold.
    You have to be adaptable to the personal you have in disposable, analyze first and built a strategy around the strengths of your players, work on the weaknesses.
    you cant ask a fish to go out of water.

    Local vs European
    The truth is most of the best players play now in Europe. Money is the reason. A local team is not the solution because the league is made mostly oldies who have returned to close their career or up and coming youngsters. There are not many peaked players playing on the highest level.
    Does this mean we should not call local players up? NO! There are cases like Tagliafico who had a bad stint at Murcia so he returned and made a mark and now plays in Europe again. There are youngsters who deserve to play instead of some washed up players. I would always take a youngster instead of a washed up players (doesn’t mean old). Messi as a 19 year old like Mbappe should have been a pillar of our team. As soon as most a player plays for the National team he gets sold to Europe

    Young vs Old
    Messi as a 19 year old player should have been a pillar of our team like Mbappe for France. Zanetti wasn’t washed up until his retirement. In my team both would have a place. My criteria would be is he: Fit/In form/NOW. It would not interest me what he did 4 years ago or what he is going to do in 4 years. In a competition between a um and coming youngster and washed up player I would always chose the youngster because his arrow goes up while the others down.

    Plan/Strategy/Chemistry/Tactics
    The coach must be the boss! He must know he is representing a Nation and its fans. He doesn’t own this team and must do everything to keep it professional. Analyze the personal built a strategy to their strengths, work on their weaknesses. Select the best players, leave personal feelings aside. I don’t like all my colleagues, I do my best at work to get along with them but in my private life I have other people as friends. Players must understand that this is your duty to do everything possible to get along with the other players in the name of your country, doesn’t mean you have to be friends after.

    Most of our teams are unbalanced. Lack chemistry.
    Banega is slow, what do we do? we surround him with slow players. Messi doesn’t run much!(sadly shows how much he wants the title) what do we do? we surround him with snails and no movement players. In 2007 Copa we surrounded Riquelme(slow) with Veron (Slow) Cambiasso(slow), Militio (slow), Heinze(slow), and Tevez and Messi who didn’t move much without the ball and we got overran by an Athletic bad Brazil. Then we wonder how we lose. We play mostly 5-5 (5 defenders and 5 Attackers) and we wonder why we lose. Did you see Uruguay how much Cavani and Suarez defended? If you don’t defend like a team and attack like a team you are doomed. The defense starts up front. Our attack almost never defend, Our wingers almost never defend.
    We think putting more defenders equal better defense or putting more attackers equals a better attack. NO!
    Shape and Balance, team play is what’s needed.
    We have to get faster, move more with and without the ball, it doesnt mean all of our players should be fast because our strength is Skill and hard nosed defending, with 11 Usain Bolts you cant win a match, with 11 Riquelme’s you cant win a match. Shape!
    Chemistry.
    The friends club are friends but they have no chemistry on the pitch. If you ever played football you know that some people you cant simply play together and with some you simply feel free and have an understanding so the coach must search for chemistry on the pitch or try to built it.
    Competition
    No player should rest on their laurels. Competition makes you better just look at Ronaldo whose inspiration is Messi. Sadly some of our players don’t thrive on competition and want none because they are nervous wrecks. Nervous wrecks will play like nervous wrecks on the pitch too.
    Selection
    Pezzella played against Ecuador from the start. He didn’t make the Squad.
    He was not selected at all, then was a starter, then out.
    Paredes always was selected and played just against Singapore some minutes, Italy and Ecuador the last 15 minutes.
    He was selected, X midfielder played, he didn’t, X midfielder wasn’t selected at all the next round of games was, Y midfielder who wasn’t selected before played and Paredes didn’t, Next round of games X midfielder returned or another midfielder played paredes was selected but didn’t play. 2 very strange cases.
    I mean you have to work your way up. Earn your pace. How come Enzo didn’t make it the initial 23 and was on vacation at least 2 weeks ended up playing instead of Lo Celso? Why not select Perez from the beginning instead of Lo Celso?
    Radical decisions: You are either a starter or completely out of the team. Bench is not an option. Some players are on the bench all the time but never play, very strange no progressive decisions.
    Patients
    X player gets hyped
    x player plays in a new team with new teammates and people expect wonders.
    fans cool down.
    Want y player now.
    repeat.
    now want x player back
    Gago- Mascherano
    Mascherano-Biglia
    Mascherano-Banega
    Banega-Biglia
    Mascherano-banega-gago
    Mascherano-biglia-banega…..
    Let’s bring perez he was great 4 years ago.
    No Vision at all!

    The future
    Sampaoli will probably go.
    He is a problem, but he was not the only problem as you see.
    Who would take charge?
    Gallardo maybe?
    From the things I have seen he likes also old experienced players.
    I’m not sure he is the right person, he must adapt to our team strengths.
    Whoever the coach is must be the BOSS.

    Skills over Balls!

    • well said bro

      AFA should have two teams
      Team A consists of lanzini, dybala, locelso, parades, ascaciber, emmanuel cecchini, conti, foyth, tagliafico, bustos and ruli.

      Team B consists of only U17 players these players should go everywhere along with Team A touring for friendlies. coach should give opportunity to play 2nd half time to Team B. if they prepared like this the team will get go on.

      European coach is the concern Argentina should play the game with south American style of play so the coach should come from local club like gallardo, ariel halon. the team should not depend on one player. rest of 11players should play the game and 11 players should play for goal.
      this what joechem low created the team since 2006

    • Thank you for your posts. I find them insightful and balanced,for me it’s all down to the football federation it’s got to start from the top . I don’t see happening anything good from this team until we have a proper organization

  80. First and foremost we should bid farewell to all of our seniors Aguero, Higuain, Dimaria, Otamendi, Mercado, Rojo, Banega, Ansaldi,3 keepers,Romero,Fazio and Messi. Dimaria played 3 games and couldn’t get single cross right. Do you still want to keep him? If Kun and Messi can keep up the fitness and form they can be on the team for 2019 copa and 2022 as substitutes but for now they have to be kept away from the team. If the team is good they can blend in no time. I don’t want Sampaoli to continue but there is very little chance that he is going to resign and AFA doesn’t have that kind money to fire him. After our disastrous world cup campaign no one is going to hire Baldy . The only way to get rid of Baldy is to have the cartel assassinate him. So, Like it or not We are stuck with him for now. AFA and Sampaoli must build a team aiming the 2022 world cup and nothing else . With the rich history of Argentina football we shouldn’t have problem producing young players with promising talent and potential . We must have at-least 3 players fight for every position that way if any injuries occurs just before the world cup we have strong back up. Majority of the players have to be less than 30 when the next world cup starts. Clearly some members of Friends club are eyeing for Copa 2019 which is exactly 1 year away. They want to win it which i can understand but AFA and Baldy should gather some balls and say bye bye to retirement overdue friend’s club even if Messi threatens to quit let him quit. Next world cup is 4.5 years away and there is no guarantee he will be able to keep his fitness . He is no fighter like Masche. Our target should be 2022. AFA should hire some good assistants for Baldy , clearly he is not getting proper advise from his staff. Argentina will never hire foreign coach but they can hire assistant coach and staff from Europe. Argentine coaches have given us nothing but disappointments in last 28 years.

    Going back to our disastrous world cup again. Sampaoli was hell bent on using his high line defense and pressing tactics no matter what. Spain and Nigeria thrashing didn’t change anything for him. He chose Salvio and Acuna because you need fast and skilled wingers for this kind of tactics and Lanzini and Loceslo who can track back quickly to cover the defense but the former got injured and latter was victim of Masche’s selfishness. The root of the problem was Friend’s club, they didn’t let Sampaoli have full control over player selection and Sampaoli wasn’t willing to change his tactics even though core players weren’t young and fast enough to execute his tactics. Our every opponent knew that the best way to score against us was from the flanks. With slow aging midfield of Mascherano, Biglia,Enzo and Banega and defenders pressing high ,all of our opponents played long balls on our flanks and our defenders and old midfield didn’t have the lungs and fitness to track back and keep up with the opponents . Yes Sampaoli never had the freedom to select his team because If he had , no sane manager with such tactics would have Mascherano, Biglia, Enzo and Banega, Fazio in the team. The game against Croatia was pure Sampaoli’s team barring Mascherano. No matter how old and washed up Masche was, nobody had balls to drop him not even the great Lionel Messi. Mascherano’s and oldies selfishness cost us this world cup !!!!! After friend’s club failed against Iceland Fraud Baldy came out with his team against Croatia and our players simply refuse to play according to his tactics and we lost 0-3. I have never seen Messi so uninterested to play like that. After Croatia’s thrashing , against Nigeria it was fully Friends club’s starting xi and sampa had only little say in substitutions ( he sent the useless cunt Meza again). However, we had a narrow escape against Nigeria because luck was on our side and we won. Sampaoli made many mistakes in this competition. Not adjusting his tactics according to the strength of his players and hell bent on going with high pressing game giving ample space to opponents was the biggest mistake. Another big weakness of Baldy is his decision making during the game. When he subbed Rojo and brought in slow Fazio I thought we are now going to sit back deep and defend but he was only trying to avoid red card nothing else. Against Croatia,which is no way stronger as France it was evident that Mascherano,Enzo were too slow to run back while high pressing in the opponents half. Sampa clearly didn’t learn his lesson from Croatian team picking us in our flanks . He kept on pressing and pressing and gave opponents ample space everywhere to rip apart our aging team. Even after leading 2-1 he didn’t change his tactics. Against France we were suppose to sit back deep and attack on counters because we were the underdogs. We all thought with Pavon playing ahead of Higuain and Aguero we will play defensive-counter attacking game but no. Sampaoli went to media and revealed that we will attack and attack he did. France exploited our slow players and knocked us out. Sometimes I feel like Baldy did all of these on purpose to teach friend’s club a lesson and get them out of the team for good. Otherwise how can someone with Baldy’s experience and credentials look like a complete idiot !!

    Its evident that Sampaoli needs better assistants and staff. Sometimes no matter how good you are but your advisory panel is full of crackheads then you will start to second guess your own plans and tactics. The best thing Sampaoli can do from here is build the team from scratch. The only players who should stay are Pavon,Locelso,Tagliafico and Dybala. He needs to find tall defenders like Sabella did. He need to find fast and complete full backs. Tagliafico is good defensively but when attacking he is horrible. He needs to also find young and complete CMs . Lamela was a complete and inform CM but he was a victim of selfishness in Tottenham last season, otherwise his stats would look far far… far better. We don’t have any world class young talents in midfield and defense but we still have enormous amount of promising youngsters. We shouldn’t have any issue finding 3 contenders for every position. Argentine European club mangers can also pitch in by including our youngsters in their team and giving them ample time to play. We can only win the 2022 WC if AFA,Baldy, Local clubs and our mangers in Europe come together and make our players play as a team.

    • No need for Aguero. He will be 24 at 2022. Senseless having Icardi, Dybala, Lautaro and more strikers to emerge soon (like Maxi Romero, Coniglio or Garre), We must aim at 2022. Aguero is not future player. We should also find someone who will work more off the ball.

  81. We must hire someone who is not obsessed with ideas. Just someone practical.. very importantly someone with discipline off the field. Uruguay rise owes something to discipline of Tabarez. Also why don’t we can try someone like Michael Cox for assistant role. Believe Beccacece ( forgive the spelling ) also reason for our misery. He was so active with Chile. Strangely so quiet for his national country. Coach should be a coach.. players should be players..no more friends club.. first time beg god Messi should leave..he is also responsible for his pathetic situation..no one is bigger than Argentina.. but.. still the pain is too much to digest.. life at its all time low..

    • I hate people talking shit, messi only came out of retirement to save the national team from disgrace. See how terrible they were without him it’s so painful that alot of people still believe the crap of argentinian media ‘friends club’ pls where is the proof? personally i think messi should leave so you guys can know how awesome he is, not just as a player but as a person.

  82. ……………………rulli…………………………….

    Bustos…….foyth…….mammana..tagliafico

    …………. ascaciabar…….giovane lol celso

    ……………….Messi……………………….

    Pavon………….icardi……………..dybala…….

  83. 1>>>>Fire the Moron NOW, no need to delay the inevitable.
    2>>>>HIRE A PROPER COACH, not just any makeshift one, a real, PROPER MANAGER.
    3>>>> Messi must stay on, for his sake and ours.
    4>>>> Blend in new and old players and the obvious ones should be taken off the team.

    You know what ARGENTINA’S biggest tragedy? not being able to make this high-powered attacking work together and that falls squarely on the manager’s HEAD and nobody else. YOUR#1 JOB is to make the team blend and work together, if you can’t do that then what good are you. Sebella came closest to making that work, remember how it was in the 2014 qualifiers, the big 3 clicking together before Higuian was cursed!

    • You know what I was thinking yesterday after Di Maria scored?
      1st, that was his first goal since the crucial win over Colombia in the qualifiers after Messi came back.
      2nd, WoW Di Maria just scored in the world cup.
      3rd. AND THE MOST OBVIOUS, I was saying to myself, “IMAGINE WHAT IT WOULD BE LIKE IF THESE SO-CALLED ATTACKING TEAMMATES OF MESSI SCORED, AS IN DOING THEIR JOBS…….what it would be like to see them score on a regular basis and NOT be shocked when they do!!!! LIKE WE ALL WERE YESTERDAY AND WHEN KUN SCORED. against Iceland…..that is a tragedy

  84. I want sampaoli should stay atleast till 2022.changing coach is not the solution.look at uruguay.oscar tabarez managing them since 2006.uruguay win 2011 copa that means they need five years.joachim low needs eight years to win.managing national side is not the same like club football.in club football a coach have two games in every week.but it’s not the same for national team.you need master plane and very deep idea how to success.and I think sampaoli is a kind of coach.I don’t think simione’s style work for Argentina.cause he is very much defensive.i still remember how he failed in two ucl final.so sampaoli to be continued….

  85. my favourite would be simeone or marcelo gallardo. we can get the coach from Argentina club level coach who can pick the squad well.

  86. Argentina needs to rebuild from scratch. Build the team with Dybala as the #10 and Icardi as the #9. Have Lo Celso, Lanzini and Giovanni Simeone on the team, Angel Correa.
    And if they want to carry Messi in Qatar, just for him to win before he retires, so be it, but it would not be Messi’s team .
    I would prefer Simeone as the coach

    • 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.

    • Simeone is probably best when there’s no in team players with Messi status. He prefers to have team of 11 warriors instead big stars. I don’t see Simeone with Messi.

    • I think Simeone and Gareca are best though both seems prefers teams without big ego players. With Messi in they will finish as our previous coaches (Gareca?) or just will not take the team (Simeone?). Really I can’t imagine Simeone with Messi.

  87. Now is a time to begin the restructuring of la selecion in time for Qatar 2022. The Copa America is a good opportunity to try and get some prestige and morale back, but if we do not have a settled team to compete, then we must treat the Copa as an experiment to take potential players.

    If Leo Messi is still part of the national team then that obviously changes the way we approach the Copa, as he will want to win it.

    As sad as it is, Mascherano, Biglia, Perez, Higuain, Mercado and Fazio must all be put in the past now, we must find new players for the first 11. Then there is Sampaoli. His contract means he will likely stay, the AFA cannot afford to sack him, unless he leaves by mutual consent. Looking at the World Cup, it is clear the ideas he had with Chile and Seville will not work with Argentina, we simply do not have the players for it. He must build a team, a team that is settled, a team that has players knowing what their job is. That is what really cost us in this World Cup, at no point did we ever look like a cohesive team because, truth be told, we are not one. How could we be when Sampaoli only had approximately 10 games as the coach and chose different players and systems each time?

    Will Romero continue? Should we stick with Armani? What about Rulli? The Argentinian League and Europe must be thoroughly scouted for a new and talented right back. I still do not understand why Garay was not ever called up since Brazil 2014, but that is history also. We must find a partner for Otamendi, or spend time developing the Otamendi/Rojo partnership. Funes Mori will be back and adds pace but even he is not a real answer to the problem because he also makes mistakes. What has happened to the likes of Musacchio? He was a big talent but since his move to AC Milan nothing has been heard of him. Pezzela? Mammana?

    Apart from not being team, our biggest problem was defending. We conceded 9 goals in 4 games. You cannot win a World Cup with that sort of defending. We went 2-1 up against France but never looked like we could hold it and then conceded 2 goals in roughly 10 minutes. Unacceptable. People will be harsh on Mascherano but I don’t agree with many of the things that have been said about his performances. Yes, he is slower and is not the same player, but he still offered us more in terms of his experience than anything else we have in that position. I believe his performaces were made to look a lot worse because nothing around him was working, every Argentine player hesitated for 2 seconds too long when in possesion. That is not how an Argentina midfield plays. If Mascherano was 34 in 2006 he would look amazing still because that team was organised and everyone knew their role. Banega did well but lacks the energy and consistency to be our prime midfield creator. Perez had no impact whatsoever in any of the games he played. Meza was so nervous he couldnt find his feet and was so poor in possesion. Lo Celso got zero minutes. Awful. Over the next year we must include players like Paredes, Battaglia and others, to bring new blood and talent and find a team.

    Then there is Lionel Messi. The greatest player of his generation and arguably the greatest player of all time. We will never know but even he must get so sick of coaches constantly pointing out how great he is and how the team have to make the most of him. This approach will never bring results because it puts too much pressure on Messi and even more on the players around him. The time for Argentina to build a united, equal team is now and Messi MUST be part of it. Argentina cannot afford to not have Messi, not while he is still ONLY 31. Diego was 26 in Mexico 86, 30 in Italia 90 and 34 in USA 94. Messi can do it. He can be there in 2022. We have no natural playmaker in our squad, the Veron’s, Aimar’s and Riquelme’s have all dried up, so where will we find a 10 that plays to create for others? The answer is Messi, he must now play in the midfield as Riquelme did, with a 5 and an 8 to cover him. However, he must be part of the team, not above it or singled out, just another player. In this respect I would love to see Ricardo Gareca take over the national team as he builds teams and instils belief and hunger. Back to Messi, he cannot do it on his own and those that have been playing with him all these years are in awe of him, they can’t function because they almost fear his greatness. Managers have made it worse too. If Messi plays as the 10, Dybala must play wide right with Pavon on the left. There is also talented players like Centurion who could play there but Pavon has experienced a World Cup now and now and this will help him. I think Higuain is done, his international career beyond repair since those 3 crucial misses. For now, it looks like Icardi, Martinez and the veteran Aguero are the 3 main striker options and the first 2 must be given time, especially since they will most like be at Inter together.
    The AFA is also to blame for this awful showing. They must make more effort to bring in players of high standing and experience to the AFA. Players like Redondo, Batistuta, Riquelme, Ayala and Sensini should be inspiring and passing on their vast experience.
    I am really upset and sad about our exit, not because we didn’t win so much but because we never really showed any real quality. I feel for Messi too; his career, his talent and his sacrifice deserve a World Cup or a Copa America. God willing he will stay with the national team.

  88. Now the only aim should be WC 2022 not Copa next year. We need long term project. Only long term project may give results. We are victims of having no plan of last years and keeping status quo.

    First realize which players will in good age in 2022. Some people thinks Otamendi should stay.
    He was nowhere near the Otamendi of club last years. He was like Otamendi 2010. He is past his best. Let alone Otamendi in 2022. Do you want to go for another WC with 34 old players? He must go. We have talented CBs: Foyth, Cristian Romero (Genoa), Conti (Benfica), Barboza (Defensa), Mammana, Pezzella, Franco (Independiente) Lisandro Martinez.

    We are at the same moment Bielsa was in 2022. We need purge.

    • The only 2 older CBs we should try now are IMO Musacchio and Lema (Benfica). Both category ’90. Rather the second.

    • We have two CBs in Benfica if they were able to click together then we will have same advantage as Uruguay (i know a far fetched wish) them together with tagliafico we will have formidable defence in copa19

  90. Sampaoli should be sacked… never tried the best midfielder currently in the squad Lecelso!! Atleast he could have just tried him.. Dybala could hve played as a false 9 rather than messi… No creativity and messi has to drop back and pick the ball and pass..Perez was a flop but he still continued with him ☹️🙄

    • i agree.. i cant understand that Messi needed support and Sampaoli had Dybala on the bench. Dybala could have played the false 9 as you said and Messi behind him. That’s way they could have played together. He persisted with Meza when Lo Celso was not used at all… Come On !!! He has to GO !!!

  92. if i should forgive one coach from the past that did stupid things
    and bring him back in national team then
    sure that person is not Sampaoli.

    i prefer Pekerman.

    Pekerman is far less stupid than Sampaoli.

    • Pekerman is not stupid. I really liked him as a coach but Argentina never forgave him for withdrawing Requelme. We should have continued with him then but am not so sure now, feels like his tactics may be outdated

  93. I do not think we have a solution of changing a coach right now. We will talk about same thing after Copa. AFA & Sampaoli when signed the contract they knew 2018 Russia is just a fluke. They knew it won’t be successful. We should stay with Sampaoli. Even if he tries to play 3 men now it won’t be a problem. Till Copa and Qatar he has enough time to master it. 3 men defence need awful time to understand and apply to get results. Sampaoli should not have done that. His biggest mistake was keep looking for a formation to make Messi comfortable when it was failing. Only Sabella came successful by doin it. He played FALSE 9 where we don’t have midfield for that kinda formation. We do not have runner from midfield,didn’t have pass and move. Spain was successful with false 9 because they have such a good midfield who runs and move constantly. Since 2006 i only saw one midfield player who actually got into box and made run is Celso(friendly). You guys can go and check any game since Cambiaaso days and you won’t find one box to box player in Argentina anymore. Our attack always intercepted by opposition because we are too predicable. Chile build a System,Germany have one,Spain have one ,France have one and even England have one now but we still stuck with make Messi comfortable.

  94. Sampaoli make many big mistakes that cost us.

    we can t continue with him. the coach to build a team is first priority. not the players.

    even if we change all team and continue with Sampaoli the result how can be different?

    the definition of schizophrenia is to to the same things again and again by waiting different result.

      • i am not english my friend.
        i believe you understand my point.

        so people are free to believe that they can have different result by doing the same things again and again.

        i am not this kind of person.

  96. 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.
    Other than them, we have very few Argentine Managers left.

    But none of them were ready to 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. He 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. Let us hope for a new ‘old’ Argentina. The Argentine we all love to.see. The Argentine who is not inferior to anyone. All the best to the New team Argentina.
    Vamos Argentina

    • @Camp
      Agreed. Only 15 games doesn’t make a disastrous team into World Champion. Low needed 8 years with Germany,Del Bosque needed 4 years aswell, Deshamps now in his 7 years with France and we changed 8 coach in last 12 years. And we expect results for it. AFA was bankrupt,No project, and we expect to win WC

  97. Win that Copa for us. Let Sampa decide our style.May be in 4-8 years we will have a footprint of football that we want to play and incorporate.Skill development and style should be imparted to kids from a younger age.We have waited for so long, lets wait for few more years see our team play beautifully and win. Not disappointed with the loss. We have finally started giving opportunity to youngsters. Good move by Sampa. Sampa must continue. Let’s not call Messi for next Copa. Vamos Argentina.

  98. Start from scratch. Young players ahead of old. Like of Celso,Pavon,Martinez,Icardi,should be ahead of Higuain,Di-Maria,Banega,Aguero. Messi can stay as a player if he wants to win something not as a untouchable God in the Sqaud. Start a project and when I say project i mean formation,tactics. Players knows their role and act on it. And Messi plays for project. No more calling players fear of Messi or make him comfortable. No more excuses that we need a team to make comfy Messi. Complete power of coach so players obey him and respect him. Pep came Barca and City first thing he has done is take control of dressing room. So should Sampa or whoever the fuck coach should start from. Get rid of any senior get his nose into. It doesn’t give shit who ever is that. But start a project that gives us nice football,stability and peace in our soul. It doesn’t matter if they start by losing at least we will know the team is goin somewhere and has future. As early AFA announce what is going to be next is better for us. Tapia should act ASAP. Tacnical stuff also should start working for the Copa and Qatar. It’s not END of the day. It should be a new beginning.
    Love Argentina

  99. We have about 6 friendlies until the Copa America. Those games should be used to set up a new team. We should not continue with the current crop of players because after the Copa there will be no time to build a team (WC qualifiers).

    The friendlies won’t be against European competition because UEFA starts the Nations League this fall.

  100. 1st we have to sack mentally sick sampaoli but it’s not possible due to release clause so Afa need to mutually agree with sampaoli to part ways. Then appoint a good coach like garcea, gallordo, almeyda for long-term period.( should avoid a coach who obsessed with 3 man defense)

  101. Simeone , Pochetino are good coaches but i don t think they want the job and leave their clubs.

    Gallardo Almeyda and Gareca are most possible choices for new coach.

  102. This is not the end of the world.
    We need to restructure our team. Build from the defense. Integrate the youth as possible. A new look team.

      • Not like Sabella.
        Sabella had a big role in destroying the future project. He did nothing to nurture young players. He was just a match to match manager. That quality was useful in World cup. He used players like Sosa, Clemente… Just to win friendlies..

        We need A manager with long term view. He should stay for at least 10 years. Sabella was not ready for that from day 1. That was why he used players just aiming 2014. He had no commitment for a Future National team. Sampoli has it. At least.

    • Now is a time to begin the restructuring of la selecion in time for Qatar 2022. The Copa America is a good opportunity to try and get some prestige and morale back, but if we do not have a settled team to compete, then we must treat the Copa as an experiment to take potential players.

      If Leo Messi is still part of the national team then that obviously changes the way we approach the Copa, as he will want to win it.

      As sad as it is, Mascherano, Biglia, Perez, Higuain, Mercado and Fazio must all be put in the past now, we must find new players for the first 11. Then there is Sampaoli. His contract means he will likely stay, the AFA cannot afford to sack him, unless he leaves by mutual consent. Looking at the World Cup, it is clear the ideas he had with Chile and Seville will not work with Argentina, we simply do not have the players for it. He must build a team, a team that is settled, a team that has players knowing what their job is. That is what really cost us in this World Cup, at no point did we ever look like a cohesive team because, truth be told, we are not one. How could we be when Sampaoli only had approximately 10 games as the coach and chose different players and systems each time?

      Will Romero continue? Should we stick with Armani? What about Rulli? The Argentinian League and Europe must be thoroughly scouted for a new and talented right back. I still do not understand why Garay was not ever called up since Brazil 2014, but that is history also. We must find a partner for Otamendi, or spend time developing the Otamendi/Rojo partnership. Funes Mori will be back and adds pace but even he is not a real answer to the problem because he also makes mistakes. What has happened to the likes of Musacchio? He was a big talent but since his move to AC Milan nothing has been heard of him. Pezzela? Mammana?

      Apart from not being team, our biggest problem was defending. We conceded 9 goals in 4 games. You cannot win a World Cup with that sort of defending. We went 2-1 up against France but never looked like we could hold it and then conceded 2 goals in roughly 10 minutes. Unacceptable. People will be harsh on Mascherano but I don’t agree with many of the things that have been said about his performances. Yes, he is slower and is not the same player, but he still offered us more in terms of his experience than anything else we have in that position. I believe his performaces were made to look a lot worse because nothing around him was working, every Argentine player hesitated for 2 seconds too long when in possesion. That is not how an Argentina midfield plays. If Mascherano was 34 in 2006 he would look amazing still because that team was organised and everyone knew their role. Banega did well but lacks the energy and consistency to be our prime midfield creator. Perez had no impact whatsoever in any of the games he played. Meza was so nervous he couldnt find his feet and was so poor in possesion. Lo Celso got zero minutes. Awful. Over the next year we must include players like Paredes, Battaglia and others, to bring new blood and talent and find a team.

      Then there is Lionel Messi. The greatest player of his generation and arguably the greatest player of all time. We will never know but even he must get so sick of coaches constantly pointing out how great he is and how the team have to make the most of him. This approach will never bring results because it puts too much pressure on Messi and even more on the players around him. The time for Argentina to build a united, equal team is now and Messi MUST be part of it. Argentina cannot afford to not have Messi, not while he is still ONLY 31. Diego was 26 in Mexico 86, 30 in Italia 90 and 34 in USA 94. Messi can do it. He can be there in 2022. We have no natural playmaker in our squad, the Veron’s, Aimar’s and Riquelme’s have all dried up, so where will we find a 10 that plays to create for others? The answer is Messi, he must now play in the midfield as Riquelme did, with a 5 and an 8 to cover him. However, he must be part of the team, not above it or singled out, just another player. In this respect I would love to see Ricardo Gareca take over the national team as he builds teams and instils belief and hunger. Back to Messi, he cannot do it on his own and those that have been playing with him all these years are in awe of him, they can’t function because they almost fear his greatness. Managers have made it worse too. If Messi plays as the 10, Dybala must play wide right with Pavon on the left. There is also talented players like Centurion who could play there but Pavon has experienced a World Cup now and now and this will help him. I think Higuain is done, his international career beyond repair since those 3 crucial misses. For now, it looks like Icardi, Martinez and the veteran Aguero are the 3 main striker options and the first 2 must be given time, especially since they will most like be at Inter together.
      The AFA is also to blame for this awful showing. They must make more effort to bring in players of high standing and experience to the AFA. Players like Redondo, Batistuta, Riquelme, Ayala and Sensini should be inspiring and passing on their vast experience.
      I am really upset and sad about our exit, not because we didn’t win so much but because we never really showed any real quality. I feel for Messi too; his career, his talent and his sacrifice deserve a World Cup or a Copa America. God willing he will stay with the national team.

      • Agree. The coach always said Messi is the focus, building the team to suit Messi. What a joke. He absolutely failed. Messi is the best, yes, but even in Barca they do not focus on him only. You need to have proper team first. I think Messi should not join the friendlies. Let him rest.

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