Humberto GRONDONA: “Without MESSI, AGUERO, the Argentina team is incomplete”

By
Roy Nemer
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45

Son of former AFA president Julio GRONDONA, Humberto, gave his opinion on the Copa Libertadores final, Lionel SCALONI and the current Argentina team.

Speaking in an interview with Mundo D, the former Argentina youth coach had this to say:

“With my dad, the second match (Copa Libertadores final) would have been played at River’s stadium. With or without fans. It would never have been played outside the country.”

In regards to Argentina team coach Lionel SCALONI, here were his thoughts:

“Things, maybe, aren’t the best but when the president picks, you have to support. It’s a decision strictly by TAPIA.”

GRONDONA mentioned that while it didn’t bother him that SCALONI did not have much experience, he did admit that he didn’t like SCALONI being appointed until the Copa America.

Regarding the current Argentina team:

“In other times, the coach didn’t sign until an event, a cycle of six matches is not half. It’s a young national team, but they need to be four or five more players to be stronger.”

“I feel like without MESSI, DI MARIA, AGUERO or ROMERO, the Argentina team is incomplete. Without them, we are not a competitive national team.”

Huberto also stated the following:

“Those players never pushed nor got rid of any player or coach. MESSI never gave his opinion on anyone, he’s a reserved kid but with a lot of character.”

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45 Comments

  1. i only agree with messi aguero and romero. they have been consistent but you should pick players based on current fitness. if aguero has injury and shows same old thing in nt like in qualifiers….dybala can start in his position. i saw it all with dybala. if they want to start both dybala and messi i guess best decision would be put dybala in #9 with a lot pressing and sometimes deep to help build up. creating… also di maria has been disappointment with higuain, not helping defense and always injured in final. football develop and it’s 2019. i’d drop di maria meza and acuna.. joaquin correa, angel correa and lamela can join the wing or AM instead. hopefully and i have high hope for lautaro. if he keeps helping the late goal in inter, he can be a valuable asset in bench for nt.

    real question is who can start in defense, otamendi is old and not starting in city anymore, already ate a lot of goals in wc…. Paredes, Ascacibar should absolutely fill biglia and masche’s absent but they should manage full fitness in club first

  2. To me, it’ll be either Messi or Kun. If Messi comes back, no point to bring Aguero back. In 4 years, they will be 33 and 34, I don’t see any recent champion teams with 2 players above 30 in attack.

      • It does make a lot of sense….NOT !

        Great LOGIC!!

        This is the new rule of football shared by many mundo followers:

        Drop your best players today because they will be old after 4 years.
        Ronaldo has to be dropped from the Portugal NT because he will be 37 in 4 years
        Luis Suarez and Cavani need to be dropped from Uruguay’s NT for COPA19 because they will be 35 in WC2022
        Marcelo and Willian need to be dropped from Brazil’s team for COPA19 because they will be 34 in 4 years.
        Alexis Sanchez and Arturo Vidal need to be dropped form Chile’s NT for COPA19 because they will be 34 in 4 years.

        and many many more examples to prove the above new rule of football.
        But I think by now all should get the point and not come up with complete nonsense about certain players having million chances and failures ,friends club, dictators, Messi’s package and so on…..

  4. Meza is a complete useless product. Di maria is over skillful but less consistent. Plus his days are over. I would keep him in bench as back Up in Copa 19. I would instead use Pity Martinez. His visions, passing, are up to the mark. He loves to combine with mid fielders, and an attacking forward.

    Goalie:- Romero(without a doubt) (back Up:- Marchesin, Armani, Rulli)

    Def:- Saravia, Otamendi, Pezzella/Lisandro Mallagan, Tagliafico (other options:- Juan Foyth(really good), Acuna)

    Mid:- Lamela, Lanzini(even tho he is made of glass), Lo Celso(is a must), Palacios(another bag of midfield talent) (Back up:- Ascasibar(young fighter like masche), Paredes)

    Str:- Messi(is a must) , Icardi(is a must) & too many options( Aguero, Lautaro, Pity, Di maria, Dybala)

    If I was manager, I woud pick this 23 for Copa Atleast. We need to build a young team around few of the old gens. We don’t want a 30 years old average team in Qatar. A combined team will be very sharp.

  5. The team for the 2019 Copa America will need to have Messi, he is a must for this team and for La Albiceleste to be successful in all competitions. Aguero will also be a must even if he is injured at the time due to his presence in the box and his chemistry with Messi, not even speaking upon his current form at Manchester City where he is playing phenomenal. Di Maria, on the other hand, needs to be left out of the squad and has proven he can not play consistently enough on the big stage. He has scored important goals against France and Switzerland but is a product of his own demise. Otamendi has been rock solid for Manchester City in recent times and although he does not see as much playing time he can be a very valuable asset to the team in the defense paired up with the likes of Saravia, Pezzela and even Juan Foyth (A new CB for Tottenham). In terms of a consistent Goalkeeper, Romero is the obvious choice for his past heroics for our beloved team, but after the ACL injury, I am unsure whether to fully rule him in. Goalkeepers such as Geronimo Rulli, Musso and Gazzaniga. With all that in mind consistency will be key for this team, needing to keep a stable XI and move away from constantly moving around players and changing the formation, which Sampaoli did in the world cup. This team needs to have some sort of consistent squad set forth to be successful. Vamos Argentina Carajo!

    • Are you kidding? Taking one of U20 strikers is better than playing injured Aguero. I do not hate Aguero but I have seen “injured Aguero” play in previous tournments and I can asure you that there was no chemistry, not with messi or any other player. If it is not severe injury then only messi should be given exception and no other player.

  6. No player should be included based on past legacy, and no player should be excluded because they had ‘their chances’ !
    Only players in top form and injury free at the time of COPA will be selected regardless of Age and stardom. Giving a chance to a less talented player and excluding more talented players who ‘had their chances’ is just not called for.
    I have faith that Scaloni will call the right mix of Experience and youth to maximize our chances to lift COPA in Brazil.

    Again, COPA2019 is not a training ground for 2022 and beyond. Any one who implies that the likes of Di Maria, Banega, Otamendi…etc will be there in 2022 is just throwing nonsense.
    The only player that might be there is Messi and maybe Aguero.

    I say might be there, so some here don’t jump to the conclusion that I am calling for ‘fossils’ to carry on till they are 50 years old.

    • >>COPA2019 is not a training ground for 2022 and beyond.

      to be honest, i don’t agree with you.
      if the main goal is WC title, then you must have competitive team.
      and you basically won’t as long as you will have to choose between experienced but old
      guys and young but unexperienced guys.

      this is exactly what we had in 2018 when we had slow Mascherano, slow Fazio and post-injury Rojo as a center-back.

      so Martino, Bauza and Sampaoli all lost their time to put young blood in.

      (i’m not even talking the shit when Dibala and Icardi didn’t go both to Copa and Olympics).

      on a personal level i would not blame Sampaoli too much for that as long as he had
      situation unclear. Still he had around 10 games to put new number 5 or center back, for instance, and he didn’t.

      regading poor WC2018 on my mind it would still be better for the future if Iсardi went to WC instead of Higuain, Paredes instead of Mascherano, Pezella instead of Fazio and so on. Result would be more or less the same but at least guys would get WC experience.

      now in 2019 we again have to choose – still use Banega/Otamendi/DiMaria/Aguero/Romero because they have experience or use young guys? this is basically the same question.

      i can agree that Messi could be in the team – without a doubt this is best player in the history of this game. and without a doubt he will make the team stronger. but all other people can be only subs. with all respect to them we have no time now. we have fresh and green new team that MUST get experience. the only tournament for that is this 2019 Copa. second is quilifiers for WC where they already must perform.

      so i consider guys like Banega/Otamendi/DiMaria/Aguero/Romero only as a help for this new team
      to get experience and qualify for WC.

      PS. don’t forget that France, England and maybe Belgium will still have relatively young teams in Qatar
      but that teams will be already experienced.

  8. As I said before I have no problem with some of the older gen being picked, but if the intention is to start them then we’ve accomplished nothing!
    Romero has always been a champ for Argentina but Scaloni should try Benitez and Musso in addition to giving Gazza another shot since he did very well against Mexico. Still I am not opposed to Sergio being a backup GK.
    Otamendi is tough and experienced and while I want to see someone like Barboza pair up with Pezzella I am not opposed to having Nico on the team.
    Banega, we all know the story; bags of talent but inconsistent! The good news however is that since last season he seemed to have found a semblance of consistency and he’s playing his best football since the Boca days so I am not against him being a back up for Paredes since they are pretty much like for like.
    Kun is world class but I still want to see Icardi get the nod and still want Lautaro to got more playing time. In any case Scaloni has to sort out a playing style that allows the ball to reach the forwards often otherwise snipers like Icardi or Kun or Dybala or whoever would be pretty much useless.
    Angel is still class and he’s done alot for the NT but I want Pity or A.Correa or possibly DePaul or Lanzini (when and if he recovers) before seeing Dimaria who has been very inconsistent for the NT for some years now.
    Last but certainly not least is the great one himself and again I say that Scaloni must sort out the team and a well defined playing style before even thinking of calling Lio again.

  9. Argentina national team is not U23 team. 23 players will be selected and majority will be new generation. But Messi Aguero Di Maria, Romero etc is a must because we need to have players who will guide the junior players. To win copa we need to build this balance.

  11. …and what if we lose with these players again? (Expect for Messi and a fit Aguero)
    Who takes responsibility?

    Grondona and you?
    You will get your way, be happy.
    Now let‘s hope we win.
    And we will all be happy.

    • What will if we loose with scaloni and his bunch of youngesters who can not even complete 3 passes. Who will take responsibility you and your irresponsible comments?
      Atleast there is chance if we include some of the senior players(messi, aguero, romero, otamendi,banega and dimaria ) but only with new players there is no chance.

      • Stan
        I want to rebuild for 2022.
        copa is for me take what you can.
        I take responsibility in 2022.
        While you will blame Scaloni for doing what you wanted him to.

        • Lol ,its a tournament which we have failed to win for 24 years ,come on don’t behave like a kid ,we cannot consider copa as training ground for 22 ,there will be lots of matches after copa to experiment

  12. as i see some people never learn from their mistakes.
    they want to repeat the same things with expecting different results.

    this is the definition of madness.

    • Yes, we keep hiring moronic coaches. Tata was the only good one and Sabella inched by due to messis brilliance. Bauza, Sampa were horrible and now Scaloni is Just blah

  13. “I FEEL LIKE WITHOUT MESSI, DI MARIA, AGUERO OR ROMERO, THE ARGENTINA TEAM IS INCOMPLETE. WITHOUT THEM, WE ARE NOT A COMPETITIVE NATIONAL TEAM.”

    FINALLY Someone has the guts to say it.
    With out those guys the team is nothing! Period!

    France and all these other teams have a balance of young and experience, yet Scaloni is doing only youth. We will crumble against stronger teams.
    Messi-We NEED him
    Aguero- We NEED him
    Otamendi- We NEED him
    Romero- We NEED him
    Di Maria- He can be useful
    Banega- A good Plan B guy

    What Scaloni needs to do is stop being so damn defensive and actually want to play. We have the talent, so take risks for crying out loud!

    • “With out those guys the team is nothing! Period!”

      Really?! So go make fan-club of these two instead of being here. Argentina is more than the two.

  14. Messi + Kun = no brainer.
    Romero, yes if nobody else proves to be better.
    Otamendi is a must in my book.
    Di Maria has been given about half a million chances and gave nothing in return.

    • “Di Maria has been given about half a million chances and gave nothing in return.”
      Who equalized against france.
      who scored against singapore.
      who gave assist to higuian against belgium. What do you want in return from bro?
      Dimaria was the 3rd most player who contributed after messi and maschareno.

      • Half of the things you said were 4 years ago. He is out of his prime. Playing against Ligue one farmers has brought his quality down. Okay, France was good, but he is not consistent. Also he is injury prone. He was in too form in WC 2014 but he got injured and he was out for the final, just like that. Perotti could have been selected, back then he was faster and more skilled.

    • Remember when Messi scored the hat-trick against Ecuador to send us to the WC, remember who assisted him?
      Di Maria!
      Remember when Messi was out against Chile in the Copa America, and who stepped up to get the 2-1 win for us?
      Di Maria!
      We all know the France game.

      What caught my attention against France was Sampaoli making an actual good tactical decision, WAY too late tho. What that was changing the flank Di Maria was, from LF to RF, Meza coming in for Pavon, Aguero for Enzo, and Argentina switching to a 4-2-3-1, with a double pivot of Banega and Mascherano, with Meza and Di Maria in the wings, Messi as the #10 and Aguero up front. When that change occured, we had France pinned down the rest of the game, and could’ve equalized in the last minute, had Meza’s service been better.
      – Di Maria specifically when he switched flanks was tearing Lucas Hernandez apart every time he went 1v1 with him. He is at his best in that wing.

      That showed that if we had a capable double pivot, and capable wingers, that would give enough freedom for Aguero and Messi to do what they do best.
      Hopefully someone in Scaloni’s camp notices this and tries to perfect the 4-2-3-1 system for us.

      My 4-2-3-1 would be
      Romero
      Saravia-Pezzella-Otamendi-Tagliafico
      Paredes-Caseres
      Di Maria/Lamela-Messi-Lanzini/J . Correa
      Aguero
      (For the Copa 2019 at least)

      • Spot on.
        Some guys here always comment without any logic. These players carried argentina in their worst phase when AFA was corrupt, NT commitee collapsed nobody wanted to work with argentina NT.
        France looked always vulnerable when dimaria changed the flank and aguero and messi in the front and meza on the other wing.

        • Yes but that was 4 years ago. I am not saying he shouldn’t be selected, but he shoukd not be # 1. Pity Martinez in younger and more consistent, and he has a lot more to give to the team than Di Maria.

      • I like this potential XI but I believe that Dybala needs to be included in the midfield. He has proven at Juventus he is almost at the level of the likes of Messi and Agüero and is only continuing to improve.

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