Argentina vs. Nicaragua match thread

By
Roy Nemer
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173

Argentina coach Lionel SCALONI confirmed the starting eleven as the team will look to do well before they fly to Brazil for the Copa America.

Lionel SCALONI has decided to go with goalkeeper Franci ARMANI and an attack of Lionel MESSI, Sergio AGÜERO and Matias SUAREZ. Here’s the starting eleven:

ARMANI; SARAVIA, FOYTH, OTAMENDI, ACUŇA; LO CELSO, Guido RODRIGUEZ, PAREDES; AGÜERO, MESSI, SUAREZ

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173 Comments

  1. I am a big big fan of ADM. In the 2014 club season IMO he was the best footballer in the world. IMO we would have won the WC had he not got injured against Belgium. It is ironical that after his injury, we could not score ONE goal from open play in 304 minutes of the balance part of the QF, SF and Final. He has had a great season with PSG. But he is 31, what would be the consequence if Scaloni had selected Pity Gonzalez in place of ADM. Would we have won or lost the Copa because of that decision? I am not getting into an argument on who is a better player but there were many advantages of taking younger players and giving them experience. Same logic for Matias Suarez vs Joaquin Correa. Great player Suarez-has been unlucky with injuries yet I think J Correa inclusion was important. I pray that we win the Copa but these decisions are important for our future. For there is life beyond Copa

  2. IMO opinion the NT’s of ’86, 2006 and ’98 (to a slightly lesser extent though not much) were the most dominant football teams of their times. They dominated the possession and the midfield and were favourites to win against any opposition. They had both defensive solidity as well as attacking flair. There was a flair about their football. These three teams had many things in common which none of the other La Seleccion’s had. An important feature about ALL the 3 sides was their average squad age was 26 years. Our last two WC squads had an average age of over 29 years and the 2010 squad was over 27. Our current Copa Squad has an average age of 27.4. Three years is a significant difference and a telling one.

  3. Did anyone who watched the match notice the difference in game speed when Messi and Aguero came out for the second half? I thought the first half the team was pretty much standing around but as soon as the second half started and the substitutions were made everybody started running. Why the hell are the players standing around with Messi and Kun and run for others.
    I am totally confused by this.

    • 5 goals can be morale booster..defense is weak (Otamendi, Fumes Mori, Foyth can be the weak link – why on earth do you select Fumes Mori – try anyone, try anyone from Local League as well, Garay had a good season..), midfield can be static..definitely we will miss palacios and speed of pity martinez…these are something which we can see..

    • after the 2 goal, the game opened up, which gave the team more space to run into. Also Paredes and Guido do not offer much solution offensively, no penetration on the left side. when Pereyra came on, that changed the pace of the game as well.

      So there was absolutely no need for Guido Rodriguez last night. Having both him and Paredes is an handicap.

    • IMO neither Messi nor Aguero wanted to risk an injury. On the other hand, guys that came on as subs in 2nd half, had only one thing in mind: to impress Sampaoli. I am sure that contributed to the game speed improvement in 2nd half.

      • As sad as it is to say it seems like 9 guys are waiting to take the queue from Messi and Kun before they start playing. Why don’t they just run for Gods sake.
        On Paredes, completely ineffective. This entire idea of 2 defensive midfielders is crazy. Perreyra can be a better solution than Tall Biglia as I like to call him and honestly we would have been much better with Guido Palacios Lo Celso and Barco in the midfield.
        Another thing, people are being too hard on Dybala here. He did run hard and just was unlucky in capitalizing in my opinion.

  4. It was a nice practice game. Nothing much can learn from a match against an opponent like Nicaragua.Neither can we measure a player based on this performance.

    Anyway it helps the team to gel more with more games played.

  5. So much unnecessary hate on Armani, Argentina vs France match was played a year ago also that was Armani 2nd International match. Armani is the best GK Argentina have who have match experience on big stage like wining copa Libaratories which no other GK have, either bench warmer on error prone support Armani and trust him, Copa Libaratories is as big as champion league in combebol and Armani was the GK who won two copa Libaratories last time won this season, if Armani as no1 won copa Libaratories can win copa america too

  6. Congratulation, Argentina… It’s a good result for us… Yes… The rest of the team are ready for Copa America 2019… Good job, Coach… Good job, Captain… Good job, Team….. Good job, Supporters….

    Vamos Argentina! Go Tango! Be the champion! God bless everyone……

  8. As I said earlier, this team is better than WC team and thus is no surprise they are playing better. I also saw some good off the ball movements and passing in the game although they have still got to improve.

    Aguero
    DePaul | Messi | LoCelso
    Guido | Paredes
    Tagliafico | Otamendi | Pezzella | Saravia
    Armani

    Subs:
    DiMaria for DePaul (super sub)
    Lautaro for Aguero
    Pereyra for Guido (if we need to attack)
    Pizarro for Paredes (if we need to defend)

    Alternatives:
    Pizarro for Guido
    Foyth for Pezzella
    Acuna for Tagliafico

  9. I m glad that we didn’t played against big team.
    Look at neymar. Out of copa. Sad for him. Last thing we need is another Injury.
    We are going to know how good we are at the tournament with our full force.
    Only changes we need de paul in Suarez’s place. Tagliafico in Acuna’s place.
    Paredes needs to be calm with the ball.
    And needs to make off the ball movement like Lo celso. He is a very good passer but we didn’t see any pass between the line. We need him to do that playmaking from center half of that field.

  10. Nothing much to read into the game;
    A better opponent would have been good to test our midfield & defence;
    Lo Celso was excellent; Hope he produces similar performances against strong opponents; Lo Celso – I would say 65% – 70% Messi; Lo Celso – Messi – Aguero looks good; Hope they get even better; Lautaro is impressive; Brings in some energy;
    the Left side was non-existant until the subs were made; Acuna, Mori and to an extent Armani & Suarez were disappointing; Paredes was average; the rest looked ok to good considering the opponents;

    De Paul/Di Maria & Tagliafico should be the starters on the left side;

      • and Russia play with 2 teams, Russia 1 in group A, and Russia 2 in the group of Argentina, btw the current adult Ukraine NT seems promising too, not just the U20, im so disappointing ITA-ARG wont realized, a shame, btw Italy NT teams played 8 finals on every level since 2006 WC final: 8 finals 8 defeats…9th is coming?

        • I wonder what will comes out of all the youth Italian talented generations of last years. Within a while they have U21 European Championship in home to bwe one of favourites.

          Argentina youth teams are apparently getting better and better after years of collapse. Already interesting how will do Almada and De La Vega with Zeballos, Palacios, Godoy on next U20 WC.

      • “How the hell can you share full youtube links without awaiting moderation?”

        You cannot comment within next 5 mins after posting here the link. That’s my way and it works

      • de paul is decent ,i follow every match he played.but he is not my cup of tea . he is right foot player only can play on the left side ,not that speedy and sometimes meaningless dribbling. de paul look like dybala but better at dribbling . those player are very hard to use because they have no speed to defence and control the ball all the time which may slow down the counter attack. football is a team work game ,we need players to run ,move ,pass the ball ASAP, whole team attack ,whole team defense. liverpool is a good example

  13. Nicaragua is a very weak team especially the second half , their players didnt treat it seriously .copa america is totally different but we can see some problems still unsolved.

    the most important thing is argentina players lack of speed ,one touch pasing skill and running ability together with scaloni’s inexperience.

    1,TWO DMs today only rodriguez is okay but still far from world class . actually we need to use young players in this position but there is no time at all that is why i always say scaloni must step down . mascherano+biglia vs paredes+ rodriguez ,not much different but lack of creativity.

    2, No WORLD CLASS WINGERS AND TALL striker, matias suarez is a FW not a proper winger ,why not choose joaquin correa or ocampos

    3, the whole team lack of running ability ,most of the player are really slow in motion .

    IMO ,i will try

    1,Foyth to be DM and promote box to box such as joaquin pereyra to national team
    2,using proper wingers such as J correa, ocampos,and promote benjamin garre to NT
    3, using tall striker such as Alario and promote GAICH ,COLIDIO to NT
    4, using speedy and strong players such as pussetto , mateo garcia ,l godoy
    may be the following line up is better
    #######ROMERO
    montiel#pezzella#otamendi#L martinez
    ########foyth
    ###lo celso####J correa
    di maria###########ocampos
    #######messi

    sub:
    aguero,alario,gaich, benjamin garre, joaquin pereyra,L godoy,A soto,juan musso, walter benitez,a barbosa,cristian romero,mateo garcia

  15. I expected that Nicaraguans will receive 5 goals or and again that there will be not much conclusions to draw of it.

    If there’s any, slight, sign De Paul and Pereyra have some understanding between each other -then they should starts. Why not. The same with Lautaro. Aguero never had and never will impressive understanding with Messi. We need to look for something new that might spring into existence between Messi – Lo Celso – Lautaro.

    Let’s play: De Paul – Lautaro – Messi

    Lo Celso – no need for comments of course. Good to know behind Messi is another creative player who makes difference

    Play with De Paul. Still Suarez is good one for me. This is not easy to be thrown into team when you have Messi and AGuero around and you need play your own, without being distracted by presence of the two. Advantage of his physicality is visible.

    It was also easier for De Paul, Pereyra, Lautaro to show themselves when Nicaragua already conceeded 2 goals and was more disorganized + Messi was not there to steal whole the show, they needed depend on themselves.

    • Suarez was poor in the match. There were many better players than him who didn’t get selected such as Correa bros.

      Most of the Argentina based players forget their game while they play for NT. I’m not sure if it’s due to they are not being enough or pressure. Although European based players also do not play their usual game, they still show their quality during the match while Argentina based players play like B team of major clubs.

      • Saravia?

        Suarez was not poor . Far to have performance that satisfacted me but the potentiall really is there. Yes, he was under pressure, not from Nicaragua but from his big attacking partners.

        Had 2 good interchanging touches with Messi, also good run and cross from the left when Lautaro was close to score, similar to that De Paul to Pereyra. He was active, changing the wings, LF/RF.

  17. Interesting to watch the new bloods are doing great and have passion to win the game. Lo Celso, De Paul, Saravia and Lautoro just awesome. need to have run free ball onward with few back ward passed. The stamina of the old guards is much concern. Mid field quite balance and can hold the ball. Vamos Arg

  19. In one or two occasions when Nicaragua came in to the attack, Armani showed how terrible he is. No team could win anything with a mediocre goalkeeper, A mediocre team can win something by having a fantastic goalkeeper.

    Armani is not mediocre, he is poor. Benitez, or Gazzaniga, though a bench warmer is far better than Armani.

  20. My Post Game Wrap-up:
    1)ARMANI wasn’t tested but his try to save the penalty was good. Either it will be Armani or Andrada starting in Copa but if Armani starts plz don’t make easy mistakes like vs France(Mbappe).
    2)SARAVIA by far our best right back and today he played like that to show he deserves to start. Frankly after the brazil game I was impressed with him. Looking forward he will have a great Copa.
    3)FOYTH he also had a good game good in possession wasn’t tested much though but with good coaching this man can be a star ball playing defender in few years. Honestly we can start him in Copa but the aggression and leadership of PEZZELLA will be missed then.
    4)OTAMENDI also had a decent game unfortunate handball ,good on the ball. He should start in Copa because of his experience,great headers and a beast on his day.
    5)ACUNA was good made some good runs at opposition was playing like a wingback and attacking. If he improves defensively he can 100% start over Tagliafico who is more of a balanced but inconsistent left back.
    6)GUIDO I don’t know why people here are criticizing him yes he is slow but not that much. He seemed slow due to Paredes on his side. I feel he is like Yaya Toure. He was good both attacking and defence and a very dynamic player. If he had Palacios by his side I think it would have brought the best out of him. Still he is the best bet for no 5.
    7)PAREDES He just needs(some speed+desire/aggression) he can be an awesome player but with chances he gets he doesn’t improve. He played some awesome passes today but he felt slow on the pitch. Also low defensive work. If Pizzaro starts instead of him again the mid would be slow. I think Foyth-Guido should start or Pereyra should start in deep midfield as we saw Lo Celso played well wide with Messi.
    8)LO CELSO If he plays like this the whole Copa there would be Goals Galore. This man is very creative very good on the ball runs to help in defense what else we want. Awesome Performance today. Will like to see him against big sides.
    9)MESSI played like messi.
    10) AGUERO Good game on and off the ball. His off the ball movement is so nice. I think he played conservative to not risking injury.
    11) MATIAS Suarez Good Game unlucky but he would be more dominant as a Sub. Why play him on the wing when we have far better player De Paul.
    12)DE PAUL showed why he deserves to start on left because we had little dominance on left with(Acuna-Paredes-Matias). Also he is too good to be on bench.
    13)LAUTARO- Decent performance and the Goals were good. Super Sub.
    14)DYBALA- Also had a decent game but nowhere to his standards.
    15)PEREYRA- Engine and has the desire to win and he showed.
    16)Funes Mori and Taglifico- Played less
    OVERALL Defense Good Defensive mid slow Attack Awesome.Left side was dominated by Lo Celso Saravia Messi

    • Di Maria might be getting lesser chances with Matias and De Paul maybe Pererya(He would be better on Box to box) wrapping things up.I Won’t mind seeing Lautaro used as super sub in 50-60 mins if Aguero fails to deliver(It can happen no doubt Aguero is the best striker in the world).We have seen Aguero also taken off by Guardiola in City.
      Dybala was great too.
      Here I have a question Paredes has a great passing range with his long passes but both Lo Celso and Dybala would be effective offering the short option.What do you guys think?

  21. I really appreciate u20 Batista’s 442 formation despite Argentina is kicked out .
    One tall and strong Striker Gaich together with a skillful false 9 Julian alverez.

    Two wingers with two box to box MF (Moreno, Vera)

    Rb ,LB are highly mobilized.

    It seems scaloni will use 433 Di maria ,Aguero ,messi with Two DMs (Paredes, Rodriguez) plus lo celso combination . This formation is decent except paredes .However we still can’t see too much tactics from scaloni .If every one is just standing at their position waiting for the ball or just pass the ball to nearby ,433 is very dangerous cause it is very easy to lost by counterattack.

  24. Overall I still found that the team is not mobile enough, always a bit static, players standing and waiting for the ball. The one who move intelligently was Aguero, he moved in and out and proposed some solutions to the midfielders, he will finish by scoring, I don’t worry about that.

    As I said and I’ve always said in my previous posts on Paredes, there is no miracle. The guy was in bad condition with his club, maybe at 30% of his potential, it’s very dangerous to put him in such a critical position. If we stay with 4231, better trying Pizarro who can be box to box or even Acuna actually. Acuna is not a LB, he doesn’t have this tactical sense and not a winger because quite average technically, but could be a good midfielder with his high work rate.

    • Sad but true ,Paredes didn’t help too much both in defense and attack .His running ability is very weak ,actually that kind of player is outdated .On the contrary ,we need to use box to box midfield such as Joaquin pereyra, Anibal Morena But they are too young .Actually Argentina didn’t have too many box to box DM

  25. I would like to see Lautaro on the field with Messi whilst not subbing Aguero. I trust his finishing power. Suarez can sit, same w/ Guido and Acuna. Lots of potential here. Ball movement was often precise and ambitious. Could use one more really creative player so it’s not all dependent on Lo Celso (who was brilliant by the way) and Messi. Dybala also played well and I hope he’s incorporated and not just a late game substitute in the Copa. I say we take Colombia by a scoreline of 2-1 or 3-1.

  26. Nowadays running ability is very important ,we don’t need too many meaningless dribble .we need to mobilize the whole team ,keep on moving running for space but sadly we didnt see any improvement here . Only messi has the right to dribble cause he is the best in the world .others just need to move and pass the ball ASAP

  27. First half 7/10 Second half :9/10

    I was really impressed by the team chemistry in the second half!! Messi,Ageuro and Dimaria needs to blend themselves into the team now. Other than the unfortunate penalty , we were good. Matias Suarez will be more useful when defending a lead. Both of our starting full back (Tagliafico & Saravia) solid in defense but needs a lot of improvement when attacking. I have to say Lautaro Matinez is quite good!!! Additionally, Messi seemed quite impressed by the second half !!

  28. I believe Scaloni knows his base formation now, a 4-2-3-1 with messi in the hole. Lio’s position is not a problem, but the question is always who do you put on his left and right shoulder. In the opening 5 minutes I was wondering if LoCelso can deal with being pushed against the touchline. But the fact that whatever team Messi plays on ends up collapsing spaces on the right flank might end up helping Gio as he can now rely on his really nice vision and touch to team up with Lio rather than physicality and speed. With Saravia providing good support behind I think this is best combination for the right now.

    It is on the left where acres of space open up naturally whenever messi plays that the question needs to be solved. We don’t have a fast pure forward winger like Dembele to challenge defenses that slide to their left. Sadly Suarez was not upto the task so I think DePaul remains the best option to put there. I would definitely chose someone like him who can drive at goal with his right foot (which we saw again today after his sub) rather than DiMaria crossing with his left. While Kun and Martinez are good in the air I am certainly not comfortable seeing crosses being banged in from the left if Icardi is not around and if your late arriving mids attacking aerially are Gio or pereyra. The only problem in that case is left side width and you have to push nico or marcos up without question or you will lose your left midfield. While marcos is not a bad option i really never see him have any chemistry with the guy they put in front of him. Tagliafico definitely shows a better understanding with Otamendi, Depaul, Pity, whoever you put on his channel, probably because he is way more intelligent player than marcos.

    The double mids option with a holder and a b2b type is something Scaloni has tried before. It is a setup designed to maximize parades strengths and also helps the central philosophy of Scaloni that we have seen so far in most of his matches and also which Kun and Lio hinted at in their interviews – choke the center of the pitch out completely first and foremost. The earliest version of this was the Battaglia-Paredes pair we saw in the second half of the Colombia match. 433’s should be completely off the table in my opinion. It’s too risky at this point and 442’s tend to isolate messi a bit. So I do think these 451 hybrids are best for this team and our chances. If so I am ok with the double mids of guido and leandro. Some people in the live thread were against guido but I think he played quite well against some pretty good pressing by the brave nicaraguans. While roberto pereyra is a player with four lungs and I love him I think his naturally aggressiveness will leave him stranded up in the box once in a while especially late in games so I would certainly take a more defensive guido along with parades, especially against those nasty colombian, uruguayian and brazilian midfields.

    El Toro continues to impress. Especially with his early higuain like qualities to stretch play in every direction 360 degrees. 15 more minutes with him and Messi might have been nice to see, but an option like him is great for scaloni. But I do think Kun will be given one final true chance as part of the XI. Aguero is obviously like a dog and can smell the ball before it gets there but you still see him run into messi once in a while. It is a risk coaches need to warn against continuously.

    The back line question is a bit tricky. Scaloni obviously understood this was going to be a possession led game and chose the best ball players at the back – the Spurs and the ManCity guys. If you’re building from the back and your options are FunesMori, Pezella, Nico and Foyth, it is quite obvious who your two choices are. However I don’t know if i am ready to see an argentinian goalkeeper and back line play out from the back so soon after the world cup. If it was me I’m happier choosing German and Otamendi and punting the ball into the center and giving up possession and relying on my midfield to choke things like discussed above. We will see where Scaloni goes with this.

    Some other points: i enjoyed watching some off the off pitch moments. DePaul and Pereyra seem to have a great friendship, laughing and joking, Andrada comfortable enough to chill on the bench and have a conversation with Lio etc.
    Armani
    Saravia-Pezella-Otamendi-Taglifico
    Guido R ——Paredes
    LoCelso Messi DePaul
    Aguero

    Vamos!

    • It was weird to see Lo Celso so far wide on the right initially but he did well. De Paul the best option on the left I think. Suarez was not up to the occasion.

  29. Argentina players have a very common habit that is when you receive the ball then try to dribble and look around then pass to the nearby teammate or pass to the GK ,every one is looking at the ball standing at their original position.

    DM is very immobilized. Look at paredes ,i think his stamina is very weak just look like a 50years old man ,lack of running ability . Actually only lo celso can mobilize the MF. We need to pass the ball ASAP that require every players to run ,run,run no matter where the ball is .especially the MF and RB LB .

    • I agree with you, especially about the movement and lack of it off the ball. Let’s hope for the best.
      By the way, are you the same maxilopez that used to always write on the worldcupblog.org threads?

      • No i am not that maxilopez. Actually scaloni is not different from sampaoli . Two DMs mascherano and Biglia vs Rodriguez and paredes . Meza vs lo celso . Salvio as RB but scaloni use acuna as LB .They are very similar

  30. Just look at today’s performance, I don’t think Argentina can beat even Peru and Colombia, not to say Brazil.

    1, facing high line compress ,Argentina can’t make any fruitful one touch passing at midfield
    2, Too many meaningless dribble and backward passing. Actually the whole team didn’t show chemistry in attack ,without messi this team looks pretty weak

  31. Actually vs a very very weak team the result is meaningless. We need to look at the tactics and players fitness rather than result.

    IMO this Argentina is not at the same level of Brazil.

    1, Paredes, slow ,not enough creative ,useless .
    2, Dybala is overrestimated, not fit at all
    3, Matias Suarez is not that active ,actually the left side is very weak.
    4, most of the ball possession is back ward passing. We can’t make any fruitful one touch passing in MF
    5, The whole running ability is weak ,every one is standing at their position not much movement or overlap.
    6, players are keen to dribble sometimes is meaningless ,It is better to pass the ball ASAP to find rooms for messi
    7, Double DM both are very slow in motion

    Overall this is a practice match , only one good thing is messi ,lo celso combination is active. Nothing else

  32. My few thoughts post this warm up match which will determine our fate in Copa . I am ranking this in terms of impact it will have on NT
    1) Pezella being fit & available is super critical for our defense. If fit & inform Pezella not partnering Otamendi , we will end up being third in group stage. Kanemann will be severely missed as backup CB.
    2) Saravia fitness . God forbid if Saravia is injured or suspended , we don’t have a proper backup for RB. That’s like an Achilles’ heel. Scaloni should have selected either Acuna or Casco ( not both) & taken Montiel
    3) DM – atleast one of the Guidos or Parades has to play really well in Copa. One of these 3 has to be a sure starter for some defensive stability in midfield. We cant go with Depaul-dimaria-locelso-pereya midfield as that’s too much attack oriented & we will be overrun in midfield. Also Parades will not be a good fit in a 4-4-2 formation . He will need a 4-2-3-1 formation to do well. So effectively it has to be one of the Guidos who need to step up & be our ” masche”
    4) DiMaria as a super sub will make impact. Depending on how LM or RM fares , he should be got in every match post 60mins.
    5) Come what may , we should now keep Armani as GK starter for entire Copa. Not that he is brilliant – but not much too chose from. Stability to GK position will boost Armani confidence. Penalty shootouts is surely coming our way in knockout .

    I am sure attack will be sharp & post today’s match Scaloni will not start with Suarez.

  33. It was clear that Paredes was isolated in left side. But for my opinion it happened in this match was a blessing. Now Scaloni can work on this and make it clear to him. Coach will have at least something to work on it. No one was injured, almost everyone got chance to play. Lautaro performs will keep Aguero working even more harder. It was good enough for me.

  34. Great performance overall. Lo Celso showed his dominance in midfield and now Messi can roam near or inside the box rather than near halfway line! Aguero clearly not playing at his maximum level, obviously trying to avoid any sort of injury. Still directly involved on that second goal. That pass from Lo Celso before Messi first goal, its kinda of no look pass from Riquelme .

    These brace is what Lautaro needed right before tournament, feel very happy for him. 7 goals in 11 games in youth side and now 4 goals in only 6 games at senior level, we already has Aguero successor .

    That penalty could have been avoided but after leading by 3-5 goals, the team clearly just going through the motion and not playing with same intention as early on. After that 5th goal, they’re like “job done” . That wont be the case in Copa.

  35. De Paul Aguero messi
    Di Maria Pizarro Lo Celso
    Taglificio Pezzella Ottamandi Saravia
    Andrada

    Sub
    Aguero -》L Martinez
    Di Maria / De Paul -》Pardes or Pereyra
    Pizarro -》 Rodriguez

    • I will replace Dimaria with Pererya ; Pizarro with Rodriguez & Andrada with Armani ( no GK changes now. It will only add to confusion )

  36. Still it was a practice match and I don’t think this will be first squad at Copa. Left side will Di-Maria & Taglifico. Team starting working. Hopefully a fair result with Colombia and boys will start get even better.

  37. Watching Peru Vs Costa Rica..Peru pressing very hard and as well as snatching….Costa Rica just clue less with deep defending.. bdw paredes not playing bad at all.. his passing defending and long balls are pretty good..though I will choose de Paul instead of Suarez..lautaro obviously sub or may be starter..but we have more work ahead in midfield..

  38. First goal Messi dribbling till he score…Aguero and Saurez just standing…watching the show and enjoying…!
    Second goal…Aguero trying and hitting…Messi running to goal….score from rebound…!

    Did you guys see the difference..?
    If it was Lautaro with Messi..he would have positoned himeself and waiting to receive a pass from Messi for the first goal…or he would have been alert for the rebound…!

    • Yeah “Ïf” but no. Lautaro got goals on his plate when Nicaragua were open in second Half. When Aguero played they were compact and Aguero knows Messi better so Maybe he knew Messi wont pass at that time. Lautaro is nowhere near Kun. I watched him with Inter too.

      • Nobody deny the quality of Aguero.
        And both of Lautaro’s goals were not presented on plate.
        Combination of Messi-Aguero we have seen many times. But the combination of Messi-Lautaro will be something special. Lets see…!

  39. Giovannnnnniiiiiiiiii loooooo celsoooooo ,OMG OMG OMG , what a player , I have to admit that these kid has something special .
    And finally the lo celso -messi chemistry is emerging at the right time .
    Although we will have to wait to see how the duo work against big teams, but the chemistry is there and I can clearly see it .

  41. Overall great performance. In first half left side was weak eith acuna and suarez. Give parades time to set in he will be useful.after watching this gave its a pleasure to see argentina gelled in and playing free flowing football. After gerardo martino this type of football is back again. I thing scaloni and team is trying to strengthen the back and given freedom to players up front to play their game rather than concentrating in formations.
    Overall pleasure to watch and the doubt is whether we cannperform this against strong teams.

  42. Finally!!!!!! I see Argentina has a medio campista in Lo Celso….really hope he takes care of himself, and as some in the forum have eluded to…hope he isn’t too impatient to leave to a massive club. In the 13yrs I’ve been following futbol I see a quality center midfielder!!! No Lazy Wizard! Lautaro cements his case for me to. Shouldn’t get ahead of myself considering the opposition. But I think this new gen may produce nice futbol for the jersey!

    Still to be seen…How this side reacts being a goal down and also… how the D will respond against tougher opposition. Alas, solid effort, i thought Acuna and Dybala we’re the ugly ducklings of the match…and I believe Scaloni made the right choice of players ans subs for the match. The cup may be far fetched but maybe they can build off this tournament and hopefully win next yr and finally win a cup in Qatar!

  43. PLAYER RATING
    DYBALA : MAN OF THE MATCH ,IS A MUST 10
    MATIAS SUAREZ: VERY ACTIVE,USEFUL 9
    PAREDES: ANOTHER MASCHERANO ,FUTURE DM 9
    MESSI: ONLY SCORE TWO GOALS NOT ENOUGH ,NOTHING SPECIAL 3
    AGUERO: USEFUL BUT MARTINEZ IS FAR MORE BETTER 5
    LO CELSO :NOTHING SPECIAL,WE DONT NEED HIM 3
    RODRIGUEZ: CLUMSY ,USELESS 5
    ACUNA: USELESS 5
    SARAVIA: JUST NORMAL 5
    OTAMENDI: VERY GOOD 7
    FOYTH: TOO YOUNG 5
    DE PAUL: ONLY ONE ASSIT IS NOT ENOUGH ,DYBALA IS FAR MORE BETTER 4
    PEREYRA: VERY LUCKY 4
    ARMANI: VERY GOOD 6

  44. Only 2 positives of this match, IMO

    LoCelso and Messi combo worked well
    L.Martinez is our next potent #9

    Those were seen in Venezuela match, so nothing new

  45. Yes the goals came but midfield is sloppy… lo celso, Messi, foyth, de Paul, lat Martinez, and Saravi played well..

    Honestly don’t know who is going to start in the middle, but Colombia to me has a stronger midfield unfortunately for us..

    I am not a coach so I don’t know who should be called, but I don’t get the same excitement in Argentina futbol. Very slow counters and first touch is not the greatest.

    Still a die hard fan and hope we win it all.

  47. Lautaro suppressing Dybala/Icardi hype under Conte can become new superstar in football

  49. I think this team doesn’t need PAREDES I wish exequiel PALACIOS never got injured he would have been better in a midfield 3 with Lo celso… also pereyra and de Paul played pretty good

  50. Lo Celso – Super star. He is getting better and better.
    De Paul – Another super star. Better than Di Maria
    Lautaro – Great performance. Very effective with our national team.

    Paredez – Useless player. Worse than Biglia….
    Acuna – he shouldn’t even be selected
    Martinez – Nicaragua’s winger is more skillful and quicker than him.
    Guido – I never trusted those Guidos.. whoever Guido is…

    I hope the clueless duck can see these.

    • Foyth and otamendi played good
      But funes mori shouldn’t be no way
      Near in the nt. He is the biggest liability
      I ever seen play for Argentina.

    • ya. & with Armani – penalty conversion is guaranteed !!! but on a serious note that was a well hit penalty which no GK cld have stopped. atleast Armani dived correct direction this time

  55. Paredes took a great shot on goalkeeper.De paul is true left winger should start over Di maria and Suarez
    With Messi Aguero/Martinez De paul our up front will be pure dynamite

  58. De paul with a great chip shot on goal.He should start over Suarez.Paredes needs time the opposition is not his type now but against quality team he will be much better he will show creativity from deep

    • looking forward to see scaloni win against strong teams. The only good team beaten till now is mexico & that was a understrength transition Mexico. this is more of a confidence booster before copa. like our gautemala match before WC

  62. Damn I wanted to see 10-15 minutes of the same setup but now with DePaul on the left before they took messi and Kun out. I think we need someone able to cut in and drive more from that side rather than a crosser.

    • ggod to see Dybala in. lets hope he settles in. will be very reassuring to have an inform Dybala in bench in Copa.

  63. I just created an account because I am really annoyed. I am not from Argentina, but I have always liked your team, and I never understood why your national team coaches keep playing old guys from the Argentine league and leaving a player like di Maria on the bench. di Maria has played for Real Madrid, Man U, and he just had an excellent season with PSG, one of the top clubs in Europe, and Scaloni is playing Suarez on the left wing, a guy who is out of position, and when he was in Europe the best team he could play for was Anderlecht. Are you telling me he has gotten better in Argentina at the age of 30? BS

  66. 1.Left side is paralyzed . Paredes and matias suarez are useless. vs a very weak team ,we need to have box to box MF and tall striker.

    2.NO one touch no look pass which is useful vs parking bus tactic.

  67. I wonder if it would be good to bring on someone else on the left. But I don’t think we are doing horrible.
    Paredes needs to get some more good passes in. Lo Celso is becoming my new favorite player.

  68. Want Aguero goal now, Lo Celso market value increase 2* if Argentina win the copa he will be the key in MF peck at the right moment matter in copa 2016 Argentina picked early

  69. lo celso u beauty….
    .i think guido rodriguez is slow that’s why i think we r slow with the build up and paredes is also not much better……acuna will definitely expose us against good opponents…..tagliafico needs to start.
    and matias suarez isn’t doing much with that much of space but he is working hard alongside aguero even messi is looking to press….. great sign for the team.
    di maria give us more option but with di maria we definitely hv to play tagliafico otherwise our left side will be exposed badly.

    • locelso will have more impact if we can get him central . 2-4-4 where midfield is a diamond formation. lo celso at top . guido at bottom ( don’t have an option for now . ) 2 hardworkers in both sides ( 1 can be pereya & other can be DePaul / dimaria

  71. I have seem some promisimg combination. But either paredes or Guido and Suarez is a waste. They can’t really do anything on the field. Locelso and Messi combination is started to work.

    Starting Di Maria on place of Suarez and using box to box midfielder in place of Paredes or Guido should work. If we wish to use double pivot then we should ask one of our full back to make frequent offensive run.

    • I think guido is needed there. we don’t have a better option ( except battaglia / ascacibar who are anyway not in squad) . maybe parades replaced by pererya & surely suarez by DePaul.
      Di maria is always an option in copa – but we should keep him to a super sub for max impact. I am hoping scaloni tries DePaul instead of dimaria for this match.
      We will miss Palacios bigtime . The left midfield is jus missing inspite of huge space . parades continues to disappoint . Seriously why cant we advance Foyth as a CDM ( post Copa)

    • messi’s 1st goal can happen only with weak teams like Nicaragua. with Colombia, brazil , Uruguay – you cant expect messi to break 3 defenders like that & score.

  73. I know Argentina are up but if you play like this against the likes of Brazil and Uruguay, they will beat the hell out of Argentina. I don’t see any balance in the midfield. All I see from midfield is back pass over and over again. In upcoming match, they need to start Di Maria, Pazzella di Paul together..

    • goals are goals

      and what will happen against strong or weak team about the missed chance of messi when Locelso assisted like banega

  75. finally messi had to do it all alone once more. but you wont get this low level of defenders in copa & solo hits will be rare.

  76. 10 + 20 combination is looking great. Good sign for us.
    But too much of the build out is jammed on the right like always. Nico, guido, leandro need to look for more balls to the left. Kun and suarez need to do more work pulling the defense out to the left.

  81. against 129th team in the world, the gap in MF is hugeee!! disaster in Copa is coming.
    Look at the Local players like Matias suarez,G.Rodriguez …they are Sh*t

  90. Love seeing kids eyes light up when they see Messi and Aguero. Funny though…commentator said the nicaragua coach had to demand his players refrain from selfies with Messi until after the game. Lol.

    Holy shit im fucking excited!! Come on!!

  95. Mixed feelings. Nice line up on the one hand and – as always – spar level opponent that hardly let us to know anything about our real combatt readiness and tournament potential.

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