Argentina vs. Iraq – Match Thread as Paulo DYBALA, Sergio ROMERO start

By
Roy Nemer
-
64

Argentina against Iraq is in a few hous and we have some exciting names starting for Lionel SCALONI’s team.

Veteran of the Argentina team Sergio ROMERO will captain the side in Saudi Arabia with a young attack. Only Maxi MEZA and Paulo DYBALA from the World Cup team will start against Iraq. As confirmed by SCALONI on Wednesday, here’s the starting eleven:

ROMERO; BUSTOS, PEZZELLA, FUNES MORI, ACUNA; PAREDES, MEZA, VAZQUEZ; DYBALA, Lautaro MARTINEZ, DE PAUL.

Rodrigo DE PAUL will receive his first ever cap for his country as he joins Paulo DYBALA and Lautaro MARTINEZ in the attack.

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64 Comments

  1. I don’t why you guys hate Vasquez that much, I thought he was our best player, along with De Paul in the first half. He covered a lot more ground than usual, assisting Paredes in defense and the attack as well. That not his normal position.
    Today the midfield trio Paredes, Vasquez and Meza wasn’t too good.
    Dybala did play better for 15-20 in the second half. Also its worth noting that, Iraq wasn’t as organized as they were in the first half.

    Lautaro will turn into something serious.
    Pereyra, Salvio, and Ascacibar did well.

  4. Our striker for the new coach should be Aguero Icardi and Lautaro vs Simeone. Messi and Dybala must play together at any cost, Dimaria as super sub with midfield of lo celso parades and benega/Pareyra/lanzini. RB have to find and Otamendi Pazella CB with Tagliafico as LB and GK anyone expect Romero

  5. I live in saudi arabia

    This was a 20 hour flight and trust me the hot weather did not help

    The grass was not that good and affect the performance a little bit

    Dybala reminds me of benzima some times ( he is very cold ) and not in a good way .

    Regarding meza i think we all had enough….that spain game is obviously a coincidence.

    Really happy for Pezzella
    He deserved that goal

  6. RB is worrying and Romero is no more reliable, F.Mori must be dropped and Famer Meza should be banned from Argentina forever. I expect Rulli to start against Brazil, Pazella is world class partnership with otamendi will boost defence, Tagliafico as LB will give strength but RB is worrying sign against Brazil. Against iraq midfield lacks creativity, lo celso parades is must with Pareyra and fornt three of Dybala Icardi corera will be the huge threat for Brazil

  7. Disappointed! Players aren’t playing team game instead of trying to earn his spot when the old guards come. Cervi did nothing except the goal, Dybala played brilliantly but not in scoresheet, unfortunate

  8. Here are my live impressions and hot takes:
    Scaloni started with a formation which was quite surprising given the initial squad name announcement – a 4-1-2-3 with Maxi Meza playing in quite centrally in midfield often. This type of a formation resulted in Dybala being stuck on the right wing sideline quite ineffectually. The only sparks came from DePauls inside movement from the left which left ample room for Acuna to exploit. One of these occasions, the left back was left alone with enough time and space to send in a perfect cross to Martinez who finished cleanly. Besides this the only high point was Parades controlling the area in front of his back line quite nicely with good distribution (though he did miss a few longer passes but I forgive him for his positioning). But in general the lack of juice upfront resulted in the only other chances being shots from way outside the box.

    At the half, Scaloni made the same change he did against Columbia in that second period. He moved to a 4-2-1-3 with Parades now partnered with Ascacibar in a double pivot and Dybala being brought in more centrally as main playmaker. This is something I have been asking for a long time. La Joya needs to be in the middle. Immediately the effect was obvious with a couple good chances and a nice one-two goal between Dybala and Peyreyra.

    However this really fluid period only lasted 15 minutes. Sadly Parades was withdrawn from the pivot and Peyreyra asked to move centrally and deeper for a very interesting transition to a 3-4-3 formation with kanneman brought in as the 3rd CB. This allowed Acuna to step up more into his natural position and interchange with Cervi leading to a scintillating Cervi run and fourth wonder goal.

    All in all, moving Dybala centrally and removal of under performing players like Meza and Vazquez in the second half led to more flowing and enjoyable football in the second half. Vamos!

    • Yeah, I thought about you not being happy when Dybala was playing on the outside, But I sill think it would work if Lo Celso was playing today in a central Role and keep Dybala on the outside. If we want to see Lo Celso and Dybala playing together, this is the way I see it happening since Dybala is better suited to play on the outside more than Lo Celso.

      • yes no doubt between those two its quite obvious who will be central and who outside. I’m quite surprised that with Vazquez in there Scaloni did not give a single minute to LoCelso+Dybala partnership. Quite possibly because LoCelso has been logging time for Betis and with travel coaches decided to give him extra rest. oh well.

        However, what did you think of the back 3 formation in this context. To be honest it was a surprise to me because I did not think this was in Scaloni’s genes at all especially given his first two games. But now that I think about it he is from *cough*Sampaoli*cough* tree so it is not so surprising maybe. I know us fans have been burnt by a back 3 and all of us probably hate it. But the big difference is these players are younger with the lung power so a part of me wonders if the back 3 has a future here. Because if so, then he could use a 3-5-2/3-4-1-2 with LoCelso behind Dybala/Lautaro. and two of Parades/Ascacibar/Battaglia protecting the back.

        Those last 30 minutes showed to me that Scaloni recognized the lack of width in the first game and at least tried a novel way to deal with it. Not crazy experimentation like baldy but logical – for example playing into Acuna’s strengths as a wing back rather than a pure full back etc.

        • I am never a fan of back 3 formation, but I think part of it is a result of not having a formidable RB or a good pezzella partner.
          I started liking Acuna in the wing back task, he did good today.
          I have noticed that Ascacibar/Paredes duo , is better than Battaglia/Paredes duo.
          Paredes could be deep lying playmaker behind (De Paul/Cervi, Lo Celso,Dybala) with a lone striker upfront. I am still tilting towards 4 2 3 1 formation as it easily switches to 4 4 2 and 4 3 3 which most of the players are accustomed to.

  9. as summary about tonight game our guys in first half was playing very boring
    and in second half they show bigger mood to play.

    generally i enjoy the game because i missed one month till tonight
    without see national team play.

    i look forward to see the game with Brasil.

    VAMOS ARGENTINA !!!

  10. According to my very little knowledge , Santiago Ascacibar is quite a player in progress. With Lo celso , paredes , Santiago Ascacibar midfield can give a fight to the Brazilian

  14. Decent first half, but great header from Lautaro Martinez! De Paul becoming our new Veron or something? He is involving almost in every attack. His shooting is also top class.

    Parades doing his job perfectly in center mid. Acuna & Vazquez doing ok.

    Dissapointing display from Dybala & Meza. They need to make room for others to shoot at goal. You can’t expect 1 to 1 all the time Paulo!

    Defense organized.

    Vamos!!

  15. i don t know guys if you like what you see till now but
    it is 4 o clock in afternoon thank God because if it was night time now
    sure i would fall sleep with what i see.

  18. Disappointed so far.. No conviction in the final third…. Iraq has 3 shots as do we… other than a great header by Lautaro … we haven’t created anything …. and this is Iraq SMH

    • Com’on………
      He’s playing against Iraq without any pressure AT ALL….
      He is good, but not world class.
      You ‘ll see that when we play against the 5-star Brazil.

  24. Little disappointed Vazquez and not Pereyra to start. Vazquez is old as for current reform standards. He looked months ago as the only one who really didn’t fit there. Maybe this time will be better.

    • Or Pereyra instead of Meza, De Paul on position of Vazquez, Cervi on De Paul position. And Herrera easily could play.

    • I think Scaloni is being very careful with team selection for the Iraq match, since he knows that the match against Brazil will be his biggest task to date. So He might want to make sure that He will have certain players available for that match because of certain players not being available(Povon,Martinez,Palacios,Armani). I think he is just trying to maximize his efforts to put a good show in that match and keep certain players in top form by avoiding injuries and exhaustion. Don’t forget he will have to introduce some players as substitutes during the Iraq match, so Let’s wait and judge during the match.

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