AFA confirm Jorge SAMPAOLI exit from Argentina team

By
Roy Nemer
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227

The AFA have confirmed Jorge SAMPAOLI’s exit from the Argentina National Team.

As we reported on Saturday, SAMPAOLI’s exit from the team was just a matter of time. Through a tweet, they confirmed a mutual agreement to terminate the contract.

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227 Comments

  1. I like pity martinez. He is just like iniesta type player . Sampoli can give him an opportunity instead of injured Lanzini. It will be very useful to messi i tnk….

    • You know why Argentina lost. It’s simple, sampoali was going to be paid $20 million to be fired. Imagine if your boss said, if u get fired you get $20 million, if not, if you do a good job, you stay at your current pay until you retire and don’t get $20 million. How will that effect your job and your decisions, I know if their boss said that to some people, 10 minutes later they’ll start stealing, not showing up, doing a bad job, and if they still don’t get fired, they’ll continue to sabotage and destroy their company more and more until theres nothing left and get fired and collect $20 million.

      Now, who’s idea was that, if sampaoli made that a condition of getting hired, then he was a snake, and had no intention of winning the cup or even qualifying, if it wasn’t for messi, they wouldn’t have even made it, if it was afa, why would they put this temptation and poison in the mind of the coach, this greed and pressure that wasn’t needed in the first place, there’s no rule or law that says you have to pay someone $20 million to get fired.

      That’s why there was chaos, that’s why messi was all screwed up, there was a giant poison on the team, this greed on the head coach. And still, they had a chance to fire him, give his $20 million, and get rid of this poison, but again, greed, the combined salaries of all the players is hundreds of millions of dollars, maybe they didn’t realize this, but they should have paid him off and get rid of this poison and brought in anybody, let aimer coach, or bati or burrachaga take over and give life and hope to the team.

      But again greed, nobody wanted to give his $20 million, sampaoli was greedy, he did t want to resign before the France game and lose $20 million, and afa didn’t want to fire him and pay $20 million. The players didn’t chip in and pay the $20 million. It’s just money, pieces of paper. You have to get rid of federations, you’re representing Argentina your country in football. It should be free, play for free, all the money raised given to charity, that way the game is played pure with passion and at the highest possible level and potential. Mpappe gave all his World Cup earnings to charity, Germany last World Cup was going around helping people, see a pattern here. If you’re not going to get rid of federations, then get rid of the corruption and greed, the pride and arrogance.

      It’s corruption and greed, this poison that was introduced into the team and the game by the coach and the federation, the manager is like a captain of a ship, if he’s poisoned, so is all the players that are listening and connecting to him. That’s what happened that’s why messi was rubbing his head, all stressed and not himself during the games. Maybe it’s time, for afa to be owned and controlled by the people like Barcelona is, held accountable and they can work together to make the best decisions. Sell shares and shareholders and board of directers, but that even has problems. The same, corruption and greed. So it’s not the system it’s the greed, pride and arrogance that has to go and replaced with charity and humility and love for what you do and represent.

  2. The only coach who can guarantee success to us is Simeone (Give him a young hungry group), The Man took an average Athletico Club to a real competitive team with grit, A real threat to RM and Barca who spends millions in players in transfer Market, that’s what a great coach can do to a team, And that’s a great coach(he failed in Champions league finals, It was tough luck too, But he won the La Liga which was ruled by Barca and Real). I don’t think Pochettino is that much good to be frank. He hasn’t won anything till now. He is great at building young players. But that’s it, and more over he is a Menottista. I would like to see a Bilardista which Simeone is. Well Simeone don’t want to coach NT now. So that’s that.

    I think 2014 was our great chance. Now it will take generations to get into a WC Final. Frankly speaking it has to be done in 2022 which will be 32 team format, Will we qualify, that’s even harder? 2026 is 48 team format we have better chance of qualifying (Asia and Africa will get more benefit though there will be more teams from both these continents) but the format will be even tougher i think. There will be one more knockout round added i guess a round of 32. Goshhh

    • There is one contradiction, Coaching a club week in week out is easier compared to coaching a NT. It will take years to build a NT. So may its a valid reason from Simeone. And he is young so time is in his hand. He can coach our NT anytime in later stage of his carrier. (According to him)

      • His stlye of playing is boring and too defensive at times football move on
        From playing rigid 442. it’s all about building from the back to attack.
        Even England passing from the back
        Having simeone as manager.
        You will see Argentina defending deep give up position basically Argentina will be like Uruguay I don’t think any Argentina fan want see that.

        • Well then we have to keep used to the heartbreaks of losing in World Cups. All the other teams use this tactics against us. France played boring but they got the Gold. We always will have attacking players coming but defenders will be scarce. We got a new Maradona so many times(Ortega, Messi etc etc), but we didn’t get a new Ayala. At least win some thing. Its too long now without any trophy.

  3. Im an Argentine fan…i love Messi..and Higuain and all the players in the 2018 worldcup..Argentina could beat France…but the Europeans had the backings of the referees…ask Colombia…how no one is talking about this has me wondering

  4. Any news about anything? what is very puzzling is that none of the players said anything aside from Masche and Bigilia calling it quits and Kun ready whenever the coach calls him.

    Nothing from Messi? anybody, somebody?

  5. Almeyida and Almiron need way more experience to survive media scrutiny, fan frenzy and pressures of international football. European opposition will eat them up at this stage.

    Simeone and Pochettino won’t come. They have way to good of a gig going on in Europe.

    Gallardo, hmmm…it’s a 50/50 for me.

    Bielsa is probably my favorite football coach. But his style cannot survive the rigors of Copa & world cup. That style needs weeks and weeks of close preparation and drilling between players. Fat chance of getting that in modern football when your main new players (dybala, icardi, lo celso etc) will be scattered across the globe and worn down by league games. The maestro’s style is best suited for turning around a bottom ranking country/club with nothing to lose.

    Crazy to see Hector Cuper’s name thrown about. The man has failures written everywhere, from the smallest to biggest clubs.

    I’m scared Gareca is probably gonna do a Sampaoli part 2 (but probably not in such a disastrous fashion). But I am ok to consider him.

    It’s come full circle. Pekerman, despite his past ‘sins’, is the most obvious choice and the timing is correct with the disarray everywhere up and down the pipeline. Age is a bit against him, but the professor if he brings his full stable of well regarded assistants is ripe for ensuring a long, stable continuity which is what this team needs the most.

    • If we get Pekerman we should count our blessings. Smart sensible serious with an idea of what he wants to do.
      When he lost to Germany his generation had really not come to fruition. Messi was too young as was tevez and aguero. He played with saviola crespo julio cruz. One bad mistake of pulling Riquelme for cambiasso in a big game. If he was managing when Maradona took over the team we would have done much better.
      I wish he had stayed. I pray he takes the job.

      • Exactly. And he wants to come back, he wants to finish the job. Absolutely count the blessings. Instant credibility. I hope, if it’s him, he hires young assistants and when he moves on one of them replaces him. Lack of continuity has been a big problem, one of the causes of all these difficulties. Pekerman led what many still consider the best Argentina team ever even though they did not win. He’s always regretted that mistake, he said he went against his own instinct, which is to attack and attack, by pulling out one of the best attacking midfielder ever. Germany has been such a torn, ending their own World Cup, right there and then would have been so sweet. Argentina was walking them all over, creating chance after chance. Anyway, he has admitted the mistake, he wants to come back, I hope and pray that AFA brings him back.

      • Helo San Isidro,
        Finally the “AFA” got rid of that bastard ! And i’m so glad that they don’t have to pay him more than was what mentioned ? And i truly wish for Pekerman’s return because like u said in your comment that he only made that 1 crucial misstake taking of riquelme for cambiasso if i remember right and he deffinetly didn ‘t have “the proper” Messi because he was simply too young during that time and haven’t really peaked yet and same goes for “kun” too and i suppose he should have played more with Tevez but he went with Saviola,Crespo”which btw were playing great specially with maybe the greatest true playmaker of the game ever “Riquelme” behind them and Cruz was “Cruz ?” but i quess during the time’s of Riquelme simply dominating the whole middfield and constantly creating dangerous attacking options for Argentina with his great vision and passing skill never mind how he controlled and shot the ball as well ! It was just marvelous football by him and offcourse Pekerman knew what he was capable of doing even he deffinettly was not the fastest player on earth which make’s him even more marvelous and sometimes it was like allmost hilarious watch him play because he looked like so slow but still he could dribble his way out and was allmost allways well positioned durring the games by his great vision and understanding of the game itself, so if Messi allways praises Ginobili which offcourse was marvelous too i still prefer Riquelme even we are talking about too different games now.
        But i do belive Pekerman’s return would do good for our youngsters because he was good with them allready before and did same with colombia too ! And now even i do not know so much about argentianian talent specially playing in Argentina because i can’t simply follow it live so i have to base my oppinions on others andt that is not certainly allways the same when u can actually watch the games in live, but somehow i do belive argentina have allways produced great talents even some generations are offcourse allways better than others but still i do belive there must be plenty of talent playing right now in argentina because there’s allready quite much in Europe too !
        SoPekerman could be the right answer if he wishes to return which i’m not certainly so sure because first the Colombians must let him terminate his contract or actually i don’t know what is his current position with Colombia at the moment? But i think the”AFA”might the biggest issue for him or any other good coach to return. So i truly hope that “AFA” will get their shit together at once and start working finally like proper Federation, which might just be stupid wish of my own but if anything good will want come to Argentinian National team football in near future the”AFA” will have to get their shit together and i hope firing finally our mentally fucked up coach will be the start to the new era of Argentinian football so rise up Argentina and bring back those good old glory days when everyone facing Argentina wasat least affraid of Argentina and not just laughing at us like nowdays we fan’s also do!

      • I do hope it is Pekerman as well. He is a man of ideas and he knows how to make his players play within that idea. He does love to play with a real #10 (enganche). Messi? or Maybe pastore? (it is a good thing he moved to roma)

        But his sins were not just subbing riquelme off and not inserting aimar & leaving messi on the bench against the germans.

        I still can not fathom how on earth he opted to drop Zanetti & Samuel while picking Cufre and Scolani! It’s been 8 years, and I am still scratching my head.

  6. We need a re-structuring of the youth and Senior level. There is no one better than Bielsa to take care of senior team..I am more interested in getting a discipline…

    Younger coaches unless Pocchetino or Simeone..will be swallowed by Messi & Co.

    Well Argetine National Team is better than Leeds United..and ofcourse Bielsa does not fit English Football..

  10. Actually Pity Martinez agent is now in England as along with Lazio also Everton, Southampton and Tottenham are all keen.

    sportwitness.co.uk/gonzalo-martinezs-agent-england-trip-tottenham-everton-southampton-said-keen/

  11. Put some new face like almeyida or Jorge almiron..don’t choose pekerman..it is better to choose hector cuper over pekerman..

  12. Pekerman would be an excellent choice. Sure he made a mistake but he has regretted it over and over. He has unfinished business. I really do believe that if Pekerman is choosen Argentina will win the World Cup in 2022. You pick him and, very important, you select younger coaches as assistants. You pick people younger than 40 years of age. And you establish that type of continuity, when Pekerman is out you replace him with someone 0n the staff. Pekerman is clearly the best possible choice, you cannot make a mistake wit him, he is an established coach, no surprised there. We tried our luck with Sampaoli and look what we got. no experiment please, NO EXPERIMENT. And, please, NO MESSI. I love messi but, I will not get tired of saying this, the best interest of Argentina is for him to take time off for two three years. He will come back stronger, better, hungrier, more appreciative of the glorious albiceleste shirt, and even more important, to a better team. it’s a win win. Then we can fulfill Argentina promise and win the world cup.

    • We have same opinion as you can see with my earlier post.
      in what we live in the present only one way we have.
      build one coaching staff new around Pekerman and after he go his assistant should take his place.

    • If AFA appoint Pekerman they may as well hoist the white flag and admit they have given up any hope of the NT ever winning anything ever again. Pekerman is a born loser wgen it comes to managing grown up teams.

    • No messi, what are you insane, how can you blame messi, when the coaches tactics was to run a winger or a full back down the line and cross it in to the 2 shortest guys in the field, messi and augero. pavon and Meza touched the ball more than everybody on the team. Why have dybala if you’re not going to play him with higuain, so they can do their Juventus moves on opponents. Why have messi if he’s never getting the ball, because the tactics are to cross it in all game, why take out rojo to put your slowest defender against the fastest striker in the tournament. Argentina and messi and the team, poor guy, had everything going against him.

  13. Gonzalo/Istique
    there is the possibility that is talked about Pekerman ( manger/ sporting director) and Gareca (coach).

    I think there is no winning formula.
    Put authority in place, discipline and analyze the squad and built a team around their strengths.
    Just do your best. You can do your best and fail but at least you did your best.
    Nobody can give you guarantees.
    The problem is that we simply are not doing our best!

    • Yeah, there’s no winning formula. But you usually win if you have world class players in Gk, defense, midfield and the forward line. I mean you can get by with one or two mediocres, but not more than that.

      Also, players needs to play with eachother for longer than one tournament. You dont get a team by putting out random elevens. Hopefully if we start doing everything right, we will win it in 2026.

      Let this u20 guys play. Then the next one and then the next one. Let 3/4 from each batch come into the national team and by 2026 we will have 30 players who all played with each other in at least 6 tournaments including the junior tourneys. And hope that we will be able to find world class players have in every lines. Gk, fullbacks, CBs, midfield, wingers and strikers.

      At the moment, everything is a mess.

      • True. Also, Tata was never up against quality European opponents. He had most of his ‘success’ against the South American neighbours, including a subpar Brazilian side. I doubt whether his style of play will ever win us anything at the world stage. We will dominate possession, but the other team may have more goals on the scoresheet by the end of the match!

  15. Any coach in his right mind wouldn’t want to work with AFA. They made a mistake signing Sampaoli with a $20m firing clause and later arm twisted him to leave with less than 10% he was owed in installments to boot. Which coach do you think is willing to take that kind of a career risk?

    • My friend I completely understand you point. But the case of Sampaoli is different. I Have never seen that in my life. It looks that he was paid to make the worst possible coaching choices. I believe that he should have paid the Argentinean population for emotional distress. He doesn’t deserve a dime. How in the world that a guy wasn’t even in your 23 ended up your starter?

      • I won’t be surprised if he sold himself after that cancelled Israel friendly. How can someone go to such level of craziness in a world cup is mind boggling.

    • What you point out is the key issue. AFA has absolutely zero credibility left in the international scene. They are still paying Martino and Bauza indemnizations…

  16. Who ever the new coach no more old guards and over 27aged player in squad who will not able to continue in 2022. But keep in mind copa Aguero, otamendi and benega should be considered but in friendlies Argentina must experiment with complete new squad other eise changing coach is like old wines in new glass

  19. I think pastore can still be our main man in midfield if he plays regular for roma. We can trust him, masche now gone we have to quickly replace him with someone who does not want to score but only maintain the rhythm . Hoping to see paredes step up
    But will he?
    Our midfield now has lamela,banega,but creativity lacks. Banega is creative but way too slow, creativity should also have pace. The perfect example is de bruyne.
    I think pastore is better than ascaibar, the
    Coming season will tell us . Do we have a fast creative midfielder who plays in the champions league no we dont.

    • i don’t think pastore & ascacibar is a right comparison. Ascacibar is a replacement of Mascherano. More like a Kante , Vidal etc destroyer. Pastore is a Attacking creative midfielder – but for me he is over for NT. Lamela still may have a chance in coming days hoping his fitness holds good. For me – Midfield should consider from following pool – Ascacibar , Battaglia , Lo Celso , Lanzini , Acuna , Meza , Pavon , Dybala , Lamela ,Parades .

      • I want to add to the midfield: Matias Vargas, Pity Martinez, Guillermo Pol Fernandez. And maybe in a little while youngest names will circle around like Lucas Robertone or Nicolas Dominguez it depends on upcoming league season.

        • We can’t have inexperienced domestic players … there aren’t ready for the high Europe play level… Banega, ascacibar, Lamela, angel Correa, parcedes, knanecitter, Lanzini, Dimaria and even pastore should all be looked at first… you saw what inexperience and not playing at top european leagues did to meza and tagliafico even acuna and salvio! Disaster !!

          • Many self contradictions in your post. Tagliafico was one of our best players and he is not experienced. How is Ascacibar experienced in top clubs? Paredes, Kanevitter still not much.

            The domestic players you mentioned needs rather experience in NT than in clubs.

            How is Pavard experienced in big club (Stittgart?)

            Salvio inexperienced? He won European League with Atletico!

            What you’ve said here are just prejudices after Meza case.

    • Argentina could be France 2.0 maybe better than France
      Argentina must give the offensive players all freedoms they need like France do
      Also its Argentina’s Team Not Messi’s sampaoli was always talking about Messi that must be stop

      Argentina should play 4-2-3-1

      ————Rulli————
      Bustos/Gomez —otamendi—-mammana—- taglafico
      Ascacibar——Battaglia/lo celso——
      Messi—-dybala—-Lanzini/Pavón ——
      ———icardi——-

      Ascacibar is our Kanté and battaglia our Pogba
      And this attack would be better than France but I don’t know if icardi is hard working like giroud also giroud win almost every aerial duel

      And the captain should be like in Brazil in every match a other so that every player take and learn responsibility

  20. I think it may make more sense to hire Pekerman as the sportive director in the first step and then let him appoint the right person as national team coach. This gentleman may be a bit old to lead a team on the pitch but his visions and experience is a huge added value for the long term projects such as youth development. Since he left 12 yrs ago, no more new player as talented as the previous generations appeared again.

  21. IMO, we never want to bring a failed coach back. No Jose Pekerman nor Tata Martino.

    Gareca will be another Sampaoli because his success only happens for a weak team like Peru and Chille. They are not capable of coaching a favored team like Argentina.

    Young coaches like Almeyda and Gallardo can change our team, absolutely, give Argentina a fresh new look and playing style. You can imagine what Southgate did for England in this tourment. But young coaches will not bring us the champion, for sure.

    I think the best one for Argentina is an experienced, well respected, and ambitious coach who can also deal with the corrupted AFA efficiently. The anwser is Carlos Bianchi or Héctor Cúper.

    • Bianchi is retired and …… Couper?
      The guy that failed in Egypt and trained unsuccessful even one Greek team of second division ?
      That loser is better than Pekerman and Martino?
      ARE YOU SERIOUS?

      GOD forbid what else i will read in this forum !!!!

  22. Lazio closing in on Pity Martinez.
    Bundesliga teams keeping an eye on Barco.
    Pochettino advices Lamela to move on. Everton and Valencia the interested parties.

  23. In the mess that we are in the best thing is to take one coach like Pekerman.
    let him do what he already know how to do it and after he retire because age
    you give to his assistant the position as new head coach.

    The serious long term plans in national teams that way working.
    not use coaches like shoes every year and other.

    Put somebody young beside Pekerman and after he go make his assistant first coach.

    i don t want young unproven coach in national team this period because media fans and some players
    will eat the young coach alive !!!

  24. Few things went beyond my understanding. When Lanzini got injured Sampaoli didn’t go for another attacking midfielder rather he lately realized that he doesn’t have strong DM which many of us amateur fans were crying out from the beginning . Sampaoli seemed to be changing his mind constantly and during the match he always looked nervous . Such attitude transmits negativity among the players. I have never seen our defense so shaky in recent past. Obviously there was not one single reason for the failure but Sampa seemed to mess up every thing during the tournament. I don’ get it , if so called “friends club” is that selfish , how did they allow playing local league players like pavon, meza over higuain, aguero , locelso . Anyway, its all past now. I hope they bring in all the new players now.

  25. If Lanzini is out for 15 months I think it’s time to call up finally Pity Martinez from River. Most similar to Lanzini and prefers RM position. His agent is in Rome to receive formal offer from the club for the midfielder.

  26. I’m for young coaches generally but my favourite is Gareca. Some say: Pekerman, Bielsa. Both too old. Few years ago but not now. Firstly I want to see from new coach the courage Bielsa had after WC to thanks old generation. Almeyda? If name from the generation I prefer Heinze.

  27. Aguero,icardi,dimaria,dybala,messi,latauro
    Banega all are capable players.
    Our only problem is defence where rojo and otamendi are the only good ones.
    I dont think tagliafico was up for the task
    He was supposed to play as jordi alba does or clyne or marcelo,but he failed.
    Look at the matches we played,whenevee arg attacked he ended up being in the middle.tell me how many times have u huys seen him running through and delivering a cross. We dont have that kind of player. remember rojo was used as left back in 14wc he . Now mercado is way too slow. We had zabaleta and he was the best.stupid sampa played salvio out there.

    • Rojo is a good defender?? We got lucky we didn’t get knocked out after Nigeria game when this overrated defender almost conceded a penalty because of stupid hand ball.

  28. Although they are new coaches but I will rather go for new generation of coaches like Almeyda or Gallardo. Pekerman or Tabarez are good but I think their ideas of modern football are outdated. However appoint him as DT is fantastic.

  29. IS HE AGain JOSE PEK?
    Really not bad. Already made crucial mistaks in w.cup.If he is interested to coach again dnt worry we can stabilize our team.
    Guys dnt panic. He is the right guy if available… i think there is no other bright candidate for that in arg…

    • Buddy, we wish its him but i doubt he will. He def is a great coach with extraordinary team play. He wont coach Argentina, he is well respected and treated as god in colombia n doubt he want to sacrifice his status. God bless our team.

  30. The only manager that came close to get us something was Sabella. He learnt a great deal from past mistakes of ex managers. His bad luck was two key players Dimaria came to world cup exhausted after being over used by Madrid and Aguero was injured. Badluck,Fatigue and injury defeat us in the finals. Had he continued till this world cup we would have won it hands down. I wish he had never quit. If his health is stable I would bring him back in a heart beat.

    • I disagree! His biggest luck was Di maria and Aguero getting injured so he lucked and improvised and put that 4-4-2 formation. That brought him success and not his planned fantastic four or 5-3-2 formations. Those were disasters during the world cup.
      Teams nullified the fantastic four formation by sitting deep so no chance for counters.
      That 5-3-2 was so bad.
      He gets credit for improvising and finding a successful winning formula, sadly it was unbalanced lacking offense so we got scored in the final and it was over.
      if aguero and di maria were on the team we would probably not have played that formation.
      he abandoned that formation in the 2nd half of the final and paid the price.

      • we play 5-3-2 only in the first half of the first game with Bosnia.
        after Sabella change the formation to 4-3-3 till the end.

        You are wrong about Di maria because after his injure his missing was huge offensively. Messi left alone after Lavezzi got tired in last 2 games.

      • Sabella was by far , the best coach for Argentina in the last decade… yes, tactics were defensive, not eye catching ,but effective enough to reach world cup finals…had Higuain not squandered those chances and Messi could convert that 50 – 50 ball past Neuer (Which he does almost on a regular basis for Barca) in the finals , Argentina would have been rejoicing a world cup glory.. So , Sabella should be an automatic choice

  31. Given the situation and circumstances i don’t see anyone better than Pekarman. Simeone (a false dream),Pocho (A false dream) & Galardo ( 50/50) chances are rear for three of the best options. They have long contract and to get them AFA needs money. With Jose Pekarman,his contract will finish 31st August and he didn’t renew yet with Colombia. He invented the project that start from bottom. So he knows everything about it. He has experience in NT that no one even near of it (Simeone,Pocho,Galardo). He has good relationship with Aimar,Cambiasso and others former players that now coaching in under AFA and they were his students. Apparently Tapia specially wants him and i think it is logical compare those 3. I hope Jose says YES.
    Source from OLE

  32. Rumblings in the press are:
    Back to the roots.
    Pekermann will probably be offered to come back as manager/sporting director.
    He once held that post.
    Decision:
    He hired Bielsa as coach.
    He will be given the power to implement his project from the youth to the senior team.
    Decision:
    We all know how much successful his project was in the youth teams.
    Also to note those teams won fair play awards.
    If Pekerman takes that post he will probably not be the coach and someone younger will be.
    Aimar, Scaloni, Placente and his assistant is Cambiasso, they all will be on the staff employed by AFA, Wouldn’t be surprised if Riquelme also joins.
    Someone from that generation will probably be the coach if Pekerman is appointed manager.
    One thing is sure if Pekerman returns we will play our kind of football.
    AS coach he made coward mistakes not once but many times.

    • Bielsa wont come. He just signed a 2 year contract with Leeds. I’m really looking forward to see how Leeds will perform with bielsa since it’s very exhausting way of play and Leeds squad has not such a quantity to rotate that many players for English season.

      • I meant he hired Bielsa back then when he was manger/sporting director of Argentina, not now.
        Pekerman first took over the youth teams, then became also general manager/sporting director of Argentina. He was offered to become coach after Pasarella but declined and became general manager/sporting director but recommended Bielsa as coach. Then after he left AFA and Bielsa failed he took over as coach.
        The regular posters know that I am not a fan of Bielsa.

  34. How long till the dust settles when we have a clear idea on who will help rebuild our team?

    The AFA were, along with a majority of fans, excited at landing Sampaoli a year ago. I am wondering whether their short listings is proving to be difficult. Have they dug this hole so deep that they are reaching out to anyone who wants to take the job?

    Names are thrown around like if we were organising the next celebrity big brother house mates!
    I have a terrible feeling that we will end up disappointed by the appointed. No sane man will want this job now. That only leaves the crack pots who would be willing to take this on. Or ex players who have no management experience (No proven track record) to take a role to help put them back in the limelight and hold the AFA to ransom when it goes all wrong and will sack him after another dissappointing year.

    Folks on here say we should not pay too much attention with the immediate future as in the copa. But to step back and rebuild. I totally agree. That is what is needed. We need a fresh idea and a fresh start.

    • “Folks on here say we should not pay too much attention with the immediate future as in the copa. But to step back and rebuild. I totally agree. That is what is needed. We need a fresh idea and a fresh start”.

      We just cannot do the mistakes of past few years when the excuse was “it’s not the time as Copa/next Copa/qualifiers/WC is close”.

  37. Our DM and defenders were slow
    GK were hopeless
    With that any midfeild and attack shall struggle
    That’s how it happened
    In 2014 as well we had defence as weak link however garay and co played too well
    Rojo was also good
    But we played with same team virtually
    Paid the price what dint happen in 14 happened in 18
    And EXPECTANTLY

  38. I’m a British Pakistani
    I notice a lot of people in here and Argentina are similar in that we have NO PATIENCE.

    Also the managers who left can go to hell

    Passarella resigned (was good coach )
    Bielsa resigned after Olympic and Copa final (great coach)
    PEKERMAN resigned
    Basile got to final Copa but some reason team became shit afterwards
    Sabella resigned (wc final)
    Martinez resigned (2 Copa finals)

    Now look at France – did deschamps design after previous tournaments – NO
    Did Joachim low resign after previous tournaments – NO
    Will Southgate and Martinez leave – NO

    Problem is our good coaches resign (and also get shat on by people on here)

    There was no reason for half of them to leave should stay on

    Martinez was sad as he was never paid so I understand

    PEKERMAN was stubborn with not taking Samuel Zanetti and Veron
    He was also stubborn in destroying the 2004 Olympic team with his on youth team fetish

    • The reason Sampaoli is leaving since he has lost his respect in the team and his technical staff has also left. This is not the case with Tite and Lowe.

      Pekerman himself resigned, none asked him to do , same was Sabella. Martino’s situation was different. He was not getting paid and there wa s lot of chao in AFAs during that period.

      If Argentina gets a level headed conservative minded coach we will go far in any tournament. Winning a tournament requires champions luck as well

      • sampa should leave, he has been a disaster
        i guess im referrin got past coaches when they resign despite being good.
        if past coaches stayed for longer things may have been different.
        of course the rubbish ones should go

  39. So France it is, It could have been much worse , The World cup holds a prestige its rather good to see a Super power nation with Football history wining it than a team like Croatia winning. As per my opinion. France beat big teams without even penalties so they r the deserving winners where as Croatia crawled to reach the Finals.

    It make me sad to see so much praise given to players like Modric(Who is good player, but i don’t see anything Special) were as players like Riquelme, Aimar, Ortega, Veron who were all great players, but never got any recognition on the World Stage. (Well they didn’t make it to the World Cup Finals at least,Not any one of them) I believe the last great midfielder the World has seen is Iniesta, So classy, When will the new one coming especially from Argentina(Reynoso, Paredes??)

    Can we hire a Young Coach this time?? How is Almeyda. I think someone young should carry us for long periods, Which will only benefit us. And most of the Good Coaches used to play as Defensive midfielders or Defenders (Almeyda, Simeone, Gallardao, Pochettino) is there any reason, I Can see Mascherano becoming a Coach easily.

    • Modric may be a little less talented than anyone you mentioned, but he is a much better professional, hard worker, team player and leader.

  40. I love the way everyone is at peace with Modric winning the Golden ball. Nobody is asking how many goals Modric scored in the KO, how many assist in the final or, what did Modric do when his team needed him most in the final. No word about his missed penalty in KO stage either. Has Maradona come out to say Modric doesn’t deserve the golden ball? I remember a long line of experts queing up to criticize a guy who won it in 2014. Is Modric qualified as a success for Croatia or, is he a failure with his NT? You know he had Rakitic, Mandzukic, Perisic, Kovacic (mostly UCL winners/runners up).

    The standard set as success is unnaturally high when it comes to a certain shy guy.

    • Modric in 2018 –
      1 goal, 1 assist (KO stage), 13 dribbles, chance created 16.

      Messi in 2014 –
      4 goals, 1 assist (KO stage), dribbles – 46, chance created – 24.

      • I am a Messi fan but I have to accept that he had little impact in the latter part of the tournament. He was excellent in group stages and had an assist in round of 16. In the quarterfinal against Belgium, he was missing and the same case repeated in semifinal. He even missed some glorious opportunities in these games. The great player always perform when the team needed the most. The way Zidane performed against Spain and Brazil in 2006 is one prime example. That French team somehow managed to reach round of 16. Nobody expect them to beat Spain but their main man had some other idea that day and rest is the history. Time and again, Messi failed to deliver for Argentina in big stages at crucial moments. It’s a fact and we have to accept it. To be in the list of best players, you have to win the world cup and that’s the fact. Even if he scored 1000 goals in Barcelona shirt, one goal from Mbappe in the World cup final is heavy and more crucial.

    • Critics will always be there even for the best of the best, Messi is above all criticisms he is a great player, With World Cup or Without doesn’t matter. His talent is otherworldly. He will be remembered for ever, Football is a team sport no body can make a team win alone, Its not like Tennis and Badminton, Modric, well he did his best according to his talent which is not that great. But this WC didn’t had that many exceptional performers so there was no competition factor too.

  42. Forget about pochettino to coach Argentina.
    He is more close to manager England than Argentina
    Diego simeone won’t coaching Argentina national team while still messi playing for national team
    Matias almayda is more likely to be Mexico manager
    I will take Ricardo Gareca he will be successful man

  43. ……………………..Romero/Guzman/Rulli…………………….

    …….Mercado/Peruzzi……Mammana…….Pezzella……..Rojo…………

    ……………………….Paredes/KraneVitter……………………..

    ….Dybala/Pavon……….Messi/Banega/Pastore……Di Maria/Lo Celso.

    …………………..Aguero…………..Icardi……………………….

  44. The order of preference for Mr. Tapia( as if its him who chooses)

    1. Mauricio Pochetino- (Forget about him)
    2. Diego Simione-( keep dreaming)
    3. Marcello Gallardo- ( Not interested)
    4. Jose Peckerman-( Lets Go backwards as there is no path ahead)
    5. Ricardo Garceea- (May be…..)
    6. Almeyda- ( Aah…I mean….umm)
    7. Tata Martino- ( Will u come back dude…..eehh??)
    8. Jorge Almiron-( Wait a minute, we are talking about Argentina National Team)

    Source: Clarin

  47. In our first game everyone criticised di maria then he was dropped.
    Everyone was talking about pavon.
    How was pavon against france
    Should he be in the starting lineup for the next few years
    Leaving dimaria out

  48. “In the way this team was built, what was important was the wellness we felt together,” Deschamps said. “This has not been done overnight. In order to get there … the most important choices are made when we choose the 23 players.”

    “You need to choose the men, so you can build up a group that can go as far as possible,” he said. “We need to find balance, on the field of course, but also a human balance, because that’s so fragile.”

    So there is friends club in france too.

    • Had Mr Imbecile played to the strength of friends club we would be playing the final against France. Sabella got the best out of the friends club with counter attacking football. Coaches like Sampaoli need ample time and right players to test and execute that kind of tactics. His team was too old and slow for that. All Badly had to do was drop his highline madness and go back to Sabella’s ultra defensive counter attacking strategy.

      • That is utterly, completely,absolutely explains Our miserable situation at this WC. Regardless of the existence of so called ‘Friends club’ or not, Sampbaldy should have picked the right strategy that provides the biggest chances and possibilities based on what he has at hand, the circumstances and the power available. I said that before and will say it again, Sampbaldy had an old Toyota and drove it like a Ferrari until the wheels fell off. It would have been stronger if he had the balls to drop Mascherano and Biglia for Lamela and Lo Celso, Kranevitter.

    • They probably learnt from the lesson where there was public brickering and the while French team imploded. Important point is to learn and correct things. Important question is will we also learn?

    • Aimee Jacquet said the similar thing 20 years ago: The goal is not to bring the best talents but to build the best team together. That’s why he chose Djorkaeff instead of Ginola in 96. He wanted to use Cantona as forward in order to give the key to Zidane. Cantona refused so and he was dropped too. Jacquet bet on the young pair Djorkaeff-Zidane and he was right! Deschamps was criticized for the same reason because he chose Giroud instead of Benzema.

      This is a good lesson for everyone. Should create the best team instead of a team with lots of big names and big ego(for example 2002).

  49. seems that lots of people are happy for sampaoli’s departure – but – all this is is the AFA’s continued downward spiral.

    on top of fresh faces, we need continuity, not a new coach after every loss. the man didnt have enough time, and the same will happen to whoever fails next year.

    fresh faces and continuity.

    • I hope he at least got paid properly before leaving. Otherwise it would be unfair.
      I don’t think he was that bad. But we probably do need a fresh start.

  50. too naive to think Aimar will step up?

    if that would ever come in to fruition does it mean we’re prolonging Messi & and friends?

  51. They need to take their time before they decide who to hire. They need to ask about the old players vs new players, playing style, who will be the captain, and if possible ask for the core of players selected immediately before hiring. This way no surprises. Any good manager will have a clear idea in their head for players, formation, and style.
    I don’t think they can get rid of all the old players all at once. I think it needs to be 50/50. Half new half old. Then after copa maybe 70 percent new and 30 percent old. By the time World Cup rolls around all new. I know people here say Messi for 2022, but remember he will be 35. At that age he is nothing more than a substitute and probably will retire from NT duty. For those members that were here on this site in 2014, Masche was incredible in that tournament. Many people said he will be perfect for 2018 and we saw the results. Old players go down fast. I think we have great young players but they lack experience and cohesion.

    • Do you really think any player overtake messi in 2-3 year, let the season starts you will see messi for barca. There is huge difference between best and good. Outside Argentina mache hardly consider legend where messi is best player ever even with out winning world cup and world cup will not be prestigious if messi not lift it. In 2022 messi probably not no1 but in a worst case remain top5 best player. 2018 world cup is as bad as 2010 for messi

    • This is the correct approach!!
      Keep 3-4 of the seniors around till Copa. Start rotating them out before qualifiers and then by WC it will be a completely new squad.

      For those who are gushing over France’s ‘youth’ squad even they have a few oldies from their prior world cup squad. And if you look at the German transition at the start of the decade, they too kept a few oldies over from tourney to tourney. No one starts over with a 23 man fully inexperienced squad out of nowhere. Thats asinine!!

  52. Pekerman would take us to worldcup in style..no issues..but he will screw up when it matters…

    His substitution with Colombia and Argentina will always be remembered..he is a Romero or Lloris..never know what they are going to do..

    I would say good young coach or the master “Bielsa” to get a discipline in team..

    • Bielsa is nuts and the last thing ARG needs is him.
      Just because Pekerman substituted Cambiasso for Roman to kill off the game and it ended up backfiring shouldn’t diminish his ability as a great manager but unfortunately he will always be remembered for that.

      • Pekerman already did the same mistake twice before that 2006 WC. He subbed off ROman early against England and Croatia in friendlies, we’re leading 2-1 at the time and ended up losing 2-3, so he that’s 3 same mistakes he made. No excuse.

      • and not giving Messi a chance when we “actually needed him”.

        Pekerman leaves a sour taste. However maybe as a youth instructor to help better develop them.

      • Dear Dfox – The Team is terrible now..nothing wrong in hiring Bielsa if all goes well..I am not too sure if any of the good young Argentine coaches in Europe will come to take over..

        Bielsa might have some conditions and will have to see if AFA can accept it..

    • The “master” will fail if he takes over now. Bielsa knew it and rejected the offer before world cup. Bielsa needs almost the same players for high pressing system as sampaoli. No doubt he has more authority than sampaoli but still. He signed with Leeds and is not available anyway but bielsa is not the right coach for Argentina right now.

  53. cant believe ppl are asking for past gen players to stay… give it a rest.

    hope AFA is patient in seeking someone out for a long term agreement, even if it means a temp coach for the upcoming friendlies….

    im hopeful the next coach will atleast incorporate 75% new players to the team …or more.

  54. We have to give credit were credit is due and just for the fact that AFA negotiated 20 million down to less than 2 to be paid in installment is exceptionally great. I didn’t think it was possible to get rid of him without shelling a ton of money. Now they can start fresh and lets hope they pick wisely so we can all forget about this nightmare once and for all.

  55. All of you are delusional if you believe a complete over haul is going to happen when the next coach takes over. If you can recall only two players have retired from National team. Macherano and Biglia. Everybody else are still around 30-31 age range Messi, Aguero, Dimaria, Higuain, Otamendi, Mercado, Banega. These all are 30-31 yrs old. No coach will have balls to drop these high profile players and start from scratch. If he is smart he will select enough youngsters on the bench so that they can be groomed until these seniors are gone which is unlikely to happen until 2022. If warrior like Mascherano can get taken over by his greed for glory even after being booted out to the Chinese league the remaining senior players are young enough to dream of becoming the next Copa 2019 champions or even world cup 2022 winners. All we can do is pray that the next coach is wise and he will integrate the new players and our young stars (Icardi and Dybala and co ) in the team while the seniors are around and then hope that our new players will force these fossils out before the 2022 world cup which is 4.5 away!!!!!!

    • One thing I can tell you is it won’t get any worse than this last few years my beloved albicelestes reached the rock bottom
      I believe we will come back stronger
      I don’t care about messi and his friends
      I don’t care about dybala or icardi or stupid names coming up now and again
      All I want see Argentina playing attacking and fast football with solid defence and most importantly winning copa America and World cup with solid foundation.

  56. am glad he’s gone, hope for the best for the future of argentina nt we get a good coach who stays the distance and builds a good team with team spirit and who play as a united squad. Am also happy france won at least if we went out we lost to the winners of the wc and not to a team that also went out.

    • So who are they going to appoint? People always think there is a better our there or a savior out there to lead Argentina to the promise land. WRONG. Germany did poorly yet they kept their coach…changing coaches after every tournament will not win Argentina a single trophy.

      Sampa made mistakes and I m sure he learned from them…no good coach out there wants to coach Argentina.

  57. Read the Burdisso and Messi news.
    Little fights or arguments I believe should be normal things inside dressing room, moreover it’s a tournament, tension would be building.
    As for what he (burdisso) said, nothing is clear until we hear the version from coach at that time (Batista, was it ?)

  58. Only Messi, Aguero, benega and otamendi deserve to continue from old guards but unfortunately Romero and Dimaria still continue and hope they not play as starter anymore, i even don’t mind to have some experience in bench, rest of all old guards must retire for the sake of NT or kicked thrm forever. Copa 2019 must be priority, Argentina have to win copa and end the trophy draught from 25yrs also call up player in order to 2022 keep in mind

    • True!! Messi, Banega, Aguero and Otamendi ALL proved their worth to the team. We saw what Argentina looks without Romero and it’s scary!

      Mercado, Dimaria are in Limbo.

      What’s more endangered than Limbo? Anyway, Lo Celso, Tagliafico, Pavon are hanging by a thread.

      Dybala NEEDS to play!!!!

      The rest got to go!!!
      – Salvio, Acuña, Higuaín, Meza, Ansaldi, Rojo, Enzo, Caballero, Armani, Guzman.

      Who needs to come in!
      – Paredes, Kranevitter, Lanzini, Pezzella, Musacchio, Perruzzi, Lamela, Icardi, Martinez, J. Correa

      Mascherano Biglia Sampaoli all out too little to late. The damage was done.

      • I truly believe that Argentina WILL get better! What has been killing us all these years was the DM position, with players like Mascherano and Biglia representing us. Biglia shouldn’t have been anywhere NEAR the National Team!

        Paredes and Kranevitter, either or, would improve the national team, as the defense will be more fortified, leaving the attacking midfielders the ability to push forward.

        I truly believe with the right DM selection, we will improve!!! We can’t choose Mascherano or Biglia anymore, they’re retired! 😆

        Argentina WILL come back stronger, and teach those French in the Confederations Cup what TRUE champions look like! Vamos Argentina!!!

      • in 2018 except Messi and Aguero no one was word class. World class striker icardi left of and Dybala ignored. Argentina come with same old guards who lost their prime like mache huguain biglia etc abd expect to win, how??? France won because they have world class GK, Defense and midfield. Attack and full back are decent,

    • Havn’t we been in this all too familiar position before? The next coach has a clear KPI of winning or at least showing promising results at Copa 2019. In the very immediate future, he already has to start calling up and bedding in new players as he can’t be like those before him and still recall the past (now more obviously than before). How many games and how many times will he get to work with them, understand them and infuse his philosophy into them? The runway is extremely short and I’m not so sure we are all so patient and forgiving…… whoever he is, good luck.

      • And short-termism exists. Some folks here are already asking to win the Copa 2019. For the sake of the national team and the new players, the new players better step up. Because lose or struggle to click quickly and the coach will be forced recall some of the old players to save his own skin and there we go again… exciting times for us all again.

  60. France won the World cup. Please stop saying we must copy France style and tactics. We CAN’T! They decided to play to their strengths, didn’t call some troublemakers. Teams have won titles before MBAPPE and will titles after him. Copying styles and tactics must stop.
    Let’s clean the team from some players and analyze the players we have and bank on their strengths.
    I believe that sometime you need to cut the big tree to let the small tree grow.
    I also believe you can’t become France or Barca.
    We have to become Argentina, because we have the players to play like Argentina.

    • If you want to copy France, Germany and Barca copy them well. Not just in team tactics.

      Some of theae French players are playing together since the u17 categories. Germany’s 2014 team had Muller, Oezil, Khedira, Boateng all came from their youth restructring effect. And everyone knows Barca’s La Masia and how they believe in an idea.

      Its not bad to copy a good thing. The bad thing is only copying the outside. You cannot play like Barcelona unless you have players like them. Heck, Barcelona cannot play like Barcelona because they currently doesn’t have the right players. If you want to play like Barca, make your u13, u17, u20 team play like Barca, your senior team will play better than Barca in 6 years.

  61. Many are saying Argentina must focus winning world cup instead of copa, winning world cup isn’t cup of tea first we saw brazi in 2018. Beating European team is almost impossible for South American team.Lets not forget Argentina was trophyless in last 25year let win something 1st. If baca don’t win champion league or failed to win la lega then won copa del ray, not finished season with out trophy. Argentina have to build a team considering 2022 on other hand prepare to win copa 2019 and end trophy drought.

  62. i love Almeyda as every River plate fan do but really he is not good for national team.
    he don t have experience yet and stability for one huge position as the national team coach.

    we don t need one student coach.
    we should find one proven coach with experience.

    • Gareca is bad option. Simeone is just fantasy. Galardo & Pekerman would be good for us. Galardo has local knowledge and well respected plus was a good player too. Another Bielsa student. And Pekerman has ton and ton experience

      • same theory applies for bauza. Gareca proved this on higer label, just look at peru vs France on world cup, with limited resources peru outplayed France

  64. If Sampaoli not changed the formation against Croatia, Argentina would have won the game and played final against France. As i predicted 1986-87 born captain win the tournament where Argentina vs France final already played in R16. World will be lifted by either loris or messi whre loris did

  66. Look what happened i just can t believe that france reaches our stars number shame it s a fucking shame for our football country. It s the first time that they get good generation what a luck .
    Argentina have already produced 100 time more talented players but they ve never reached anything why ? when we don t get a man who could subtitute messi when he s delivering a game like against croatia that s what we deserve.
    Football is simple game you have to score goals and defend the score as french did or Germans did spain tôo so you have to make up a good defense first when you have messi dybala and co good defense means pezella instead of masche or rojo we are the only team to score 3 goals when belgium failed but fazio ota taglia and masche didnt do their job thats why we conceed 4 and that s why we couldn t win anything
    Sampa has lived it s good agains france he was clearly bad

    • You are correct… fazio, tagliafico were horrible and sampa’s should have substituted a defensive mid and changed formation to 4-4-2 when we were In the lead 2-1

  67. Sampaoli is out for making bad mistakes but also for doing what afa and the players asked him to.
    He is not the only one to blame, but coaches who let players interfere are doomed to fail and he failed.
    Now what?
    Just removing the coach will not be the solution!
    Gareca or Almeyda will be our coach (Almeyda the favorite because Tapia and Angeleci will try to make peace with D’Onferio the River President).
    Whoever the coach is must be the BOSS and must have a plan for 2022.
    If our main focus is to win the Copa then we are are losing time.
    Built a new team for 2022 and even if we lose 2019 don’t panick.
    new team and lower expectations should be our motto!

    • Almeyda? Really? They are going for him?

      I mean, I understand why Sampaoli got fired. He needed to go not because he is a bad coach, but he lost respect and his voice. He will never be able to see eye to eye with any young Argentine player and tell them to play.

      To the matter of the new coach, I think we should at least choose someone who is a bit sensible, like Gareca.

      At the moment, we absolutely need to focus on youth development and not senior team’s results. We need to eat humble pie, keep our head down for 4-6 years and make a structure where players fits in. Not the other way around. If we focus on winning Copa, then I’m pretty sure we will lose, and we will get another coach after the tournament, who will also be fored if the reault doesn’t come.

      This is getting ridiculous.

      • Totally true.
        If we focus on winning the Copa we will rely on older players under the motto “no time and experience”.
        After losing the Copa we will say “no time and we need experience in the qualifiers”.
        and we will never have time to built the team.
        People think that players like Aguero. di maria, etc… will accept sub role. Look at what happened to Masche. Sampaoli declared him a defender and never a midfielder then he wanted him out completely after noticing his influence and gave in but Masche smelled blood and took over.
        The old players will take over until they have been put on their place.
        I am not saying we should ban them.
        I am saying is that we must give the team to the next generation and if they lose we should not panic and run back to the old players.
        Some of the old players can come back if they show discipline and accept their role (doubtful) and are playing well an are fit.
        I can’t trust any of the coaches. Not even Simeone or Pochettino.
        From the 2 i want Gareca but my head says we will go for Almeyda.
        Positive is that he is young and negative is I wasn’t impressed by his work at River or Banfield. Can’t talk about his time at Chivas.

        • At moment Aguero and icardi are top Argentina striker where Gio simeone still row. If icardi injured or suspended or out of from in copa and if Argentina drop in from Aguero then will miss from winning another title and trophy draught continues

        • Me neither. I hope Gareca becomes DT and Pekerman becomes director of football for youth development (or something like that).

          The main issue we are facing is when the current players started their national team career they probably had at least 4 year of experiences in various youth divisions and when they came to the big team, they knew virtually everybody. And still we struggled to win.

          Its very very difficult to win Championships even when you do everything right for 20 years. And we are doing everything wrong for 20 years and wondering why there’s no team.

          It would be awsome if Messi retires right now and not because I believe he was selecting teamsheets or whatever. If he retires along with Kun and Di Maria, ARG will literally struggle to get big friendlies worldwide. Which only means AFA will lose money. When they will stop getting money, only then they will be sincere about making new Messi, new Riquelme and new Ayalas. Right now, all they care about those stupid North American friendlies which make them rich.

  68. Sampaoli wanted fresh start with young players but Afa needs money and they can only get it from sponsors if there is likes of messi & aguero in the team so sampaoli got sacrificed so senior players can continue in the team.

    • @guled re you sure that is the case
      I really hope that is not happening
      I”m sick of tired those group of friends
      Ruling national team but at the end of the day is their country for me won’t suffer for them anymore. if they stay on I’m only really supporter for albicelestes but I’m not Argentinean

    • His young players proved him wrong.. tagliafico and meza were bad… to say the least… acuna and salvio were worse… and caballero…. you already know …

      • Tagliafico had a very good tournament until the France game. Very hard to defend when you are pressing high against young and fast opponents. Tagliafico is a reliable defender but when pushing forward for attack not so good. He is still young and can improve.

  69. Nicolas burdisso came out today talking how he got into a fight with Messi after the Colombia game in 2011. He felt this ended his career (was never picked again)

    He said how can I pass to Messi when he is always static.

    They had to be seperated

    • I saw the same article. Burdisso was a very good player. I am glad these stories are coming out.
      I have all the respect in the world for Messi as a player but as a leader he leaves a lot to be desired.

      • I saw Burdisso said Messi has a strong personality and so is he.. When newspaper portrays Messi as meek you said he’s no leader. When portrays as assertive also no leader. Very difficult to satisfy these ppl.

        • He is not assertive. That’s my problem! He is passive aggressive. He does not have balls for confrontation until he is pushed and he does his work in the shadows.
          Do you remember the Maxi picture aimed at Icardi before the World Cup? Passive aggressive. He should have said that is Maxi not me, instead quiet aggression. Weasel

    • Again, more extrapolation by everyone.
      We have indeed seen Messi butt heads with opponents when pushed on the pitch, whether it is for Barca shirt or albiceleste shirt. Not surprised that Burdisso and Messi got into it after such a cagey match that copa. Burdisso was never any saint on the pitch either pushing buttons.
      Also for those that read the article, he clearly said that bit about being left out of the team as a joke – everyone laughed. And lest he and people forget, he did play WC qualifiers after that and severely busted his knee and was out for a while. When he came back he only saw the bench at Roma as well and barely played. It was the injury that did him in, not some conspiratorial meddling by la pulga. By the time he had recovered at a different club, I forget where, he was well into his 30’s and other CB’s had made their way in.

      Just more nonsense and rumors and bad intentions by media and fans again. People need to understand facts and fiction and subtexts.

      • Please do not talk facts and common sense in this forum. This incident was known to the whole world except San Isidro. Someone called Burdisso world class. At his peak he was average. Folks like Gonzalo ( He wanted Argentina to lose this world cup. He had written a lengthy post when Argentina beat Nigeria that he will not support Argentina any longer because of Messi scoring the goal I guess), then you have Sulav/Chalz the typical Messi haters and Chalz for sure a Christina fan… This forum no longer likes to discuss about football. Just by throwing in 15 names that play in Argentine league and are youngsters does not mean anything to anyone. In 2007-12 this forum was filled with folks that discussed football. I hate to write pointing out folks. But to be honest since Gonzalo has come to this forum his only agenda has been writing shit about the team starting with Messi. Anyway time to move on from this site. I was probably the early one here. There were interesting discussions with Seba, Mohd and the likes when the focus was on football and tactics. Now it has become fashionable to seek attention by writing crap about Messi Friends club vs my fav player vs media shit…

        Generational change I guess

        Cheers folks!! Keep the bad blood going

        • @rg261 don’t leave! And where is Seba now? Miss him too. We need more sane ppl here. Hope Cristiano’s Neymar’s lovers move to more suitable sites for them. This site is becoming more like gossip site.

  70. Gonzalo
    Do we have an equivalent to mbappe. A youngster with pace and power up and coming?
    Or shall I create one on pro evo 2018?😅

    • Mbappe is nothing!!!
      He is just fast! THats it!
      He’s no better than Pavon. The only difference why Pavon hasn’t shined like Mbappe is because the manner of play.
      France is counter while Argentina is possession based. Pavon is rendered useless that style of play.
      If Argentina would’ve played that style, I guarantee you Pavon would shine!

      It’s like I got so much s*** from Barca fans saying that Dembele is overrated overpriced player, so much I got banned from one Barca fan page. Dembele is so good, he won a World Cup without even playing in it! F*** me!

      Teams like Australia, Denmark, Uruguay, Belgium he’s rendered no useless. When France has possession, he just passes the ball back. I don’t recall him having one successful take on the whole tournament!

      • Yep , just another version of Kaka. Running straightline pass his markers plus long range goal. Definetely not on level of Messi, CR or even Suarez in his prime some years ago.

      • Mbappe is already carrying the ” messi curse” with him , just the same like mario goetze , look four years ago hotze was also hyped that he would surpass Messi and ronaldo , he won the world cup but scoring the goal, and now see where is he ? , his level is now like a third division player.
        So smaller with mbappe , he scored winner, over hyped, he won’t hold it for long.
        Same like gotze .
        Overall , he is not even good than di maria , its just his speed , nothing else .

        • James Rodriguez is another young player who shines at 2014 WC and has never come close to Messi and CR level. Not even at Bale’s level to be exact.

          There this ridiculous myth that if you’re young, scores few goals at WC, you’re the next big team.

          Also, people tend to forget Messi has been WC finalist and won golden ball.

          To surpass Messi or CR , he’d need to proof himself for the next 10 years by surpassing those two players records, both thropy and individual accolades.

          Is Jorge Valdano a better striker than Batistuta because he won a WC and scored in the final?

    • Mbappe is rather like Pavon IMO. The base is fast. Lautaro is not that fast and Mbappe is classic winger.He didn’t impressed me in final. Nothing at all.

  71. i am very curious to see next days who will be our next coach.

    but most of all i am unpatient to see the September friendly games against Guatemala and Colombia.

  73. I think reason behind Sampaoli departure is lack of respect from seniors and lost faith from young guards

  74. Sampaoli biggest mistake is to think Argentina team as prime barca(2008-2012). Sampaoli never concerned about Argentina weakness, persing football isn’t possible with slow defense, with out full back and aged midfielder. Any sensible coach can do much better with Argentina squad. When you bench infrom world class Aguero and Dybala and played with farmers meza and pavon, lo celso not getting a minute where perez not previously in squad starting in 11 cost

  76. Should have done this after or before Nigeria game. I promise you Leo would be lifting the World Cup right now if we had got rid of this stupid idiot. We were the only team in this tournament to scare France, everybody else couldnt touch them, we went toe to toe with them whilst having a clueless manager in charge.

    • Totally agree. Simply undone by baffling management, and still able to score three (Messi Was instrumental). Im still dumbfounded by Sampaoli’s overall performance.

  77. That should be the players who should be nominate for the next friendlies
    Guys what do u think of this players If someone know another good players add them
    For the people who say messi would be to old he could play in midfield as playmaker

    Goal
    1 Rulli
    12 Axel Werner
    23 Musso

    Defender
    2 pezella
    3 taglafico
    4 bustos
    13 lucas Martínez
    17 otamendi
    20 Emanuel Mammana
    21 Juan foyth
    26 José Luis Gomez
    29 funes mori

    Midfield and attack
    5 parades
    6 ascacibar
    7 Pavón
    8 lo celso
    9 icardi
    10 messi
    11 dybala
    14 Lanzini
    15 lamela
    16 bataglia
    18 ezequiel barco
    19 j corrrea
    22 a correa
    24 lautaro Martínez
    25 lucas oscampos
    27 Pastore
    28 vietto

  78. I think Gallardo would be the best choice at the moment for his current knowledge of Argentine youngstars for last few years since he was coaching Argentine league. Secondly he is young and has played in Europe.He can rebuild the team with young players and gelnthem with the seniors

  80. Argentina could be France 2.0 maybe better than France
    Argentina must give the offensive /attacking players all freedoms they need like France do
    Also its Argentina’s Team Not Messi’s sampaoli was always talking about Messi that must be stop

    Argentina should play 4-2-3-1

    ————Rulli————
    Bustos/Gomez —otamendi—-mammana—- taglafico
    Ascacibar——Battaglia/lo celso——
    Messi—-dybala—-Lanzini/Pavón ——
    ———icardi——-

    Ascacibar is our Kanté and battaglia our Pogba
    And this attack would be better than France but I don’t know if icardi is hard working like giroud also giroud win almost every aerial duel

    And the captain should be like in Brazil in every match a other so that every player take and learn responsibility

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