Sergio AGUERO talks Argentina vs. Brazil at the Copa America

By
Roy Nemer
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294

The veteran Argentina striker spoke to the media following his team’s 2-0 win against Venezuela where he commented on the upcoming game vs. Brazil.

Sergio AGUERO has been a regular starter for coach Lionel SCALONI at the Copa America and brings a lot of experience to the team. Having faced Brazil several times in his national team career, AGUERO knows what it is to be both on the winning side and on the losing side of these games.

Speaking to the media, here’s what he had to say:

“We will try our best like we just did to make the shirt mean something. Argentina vs. Brazil is not played every day and even more so in a tournament like this. A lot of expectations are generated, not only in our country but in the world.

“We know that this game will not be easy but we are happy for having made the semi finals. Little by little we are becoming more comfortable.”

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294 Comments

  1. Neither Chile nor Peru win the tournament, winner between Brazil vs Argentina will win the copa, mark my words.

    • Hey Romance
      You may want to reconsider the hundreds of “farmer” comments you have made about some of these players now that you see how “farmer” Lautaro is playing…don’t worry though my young friend, we all make mistakes in judgement. I made one with Paredes.

  2. This is a follow up to an earlier comment I made yesterday.

    Why do some of you want Scaloni be sacked?

    Some even want us to lose against Brazil so that Scaloni will be sacked (We always had this kind of so called fans who wanted us to lose the match so that they can blame the players they hated. I wonder if any other teams have such deluded fans!)

    Because he’s not experienced? Do you think a proven coach would work? Sampaoli was the great coach we all wanted and we know what the result was. Some people now want Peru’s Argentininan coach to coach us after beating Uruguay? Did they forget Brazil beat Peru 5-0 just a week ago? These fans are deluded.

    Because his team is not playing well? Didn’t Argentina play well against Venezuela? What do you want? Argentina play like 2006? Do you really think making your team play possession football is that easy? Just drawing the movements and telling them this is how they have to interchange and pass? Well, football in not played in theory classes, but on the pitch. You need the same group of players play for a considerable amount of time to make them play attractive passing football? The squad was playing their first game together in the Copa. Again, this wasn’t Scaloni’s fault.

    Don’t you see any positives with Scaloni? Do you think they happened by chance or by luck? Its a pity you don’t value Qatar (Asian Champions) & Venezuela. The same Venezuela who beat us 3-1 not long ago and prevented Brazil from scoring. We scored 2 against them and limited them to just one shot. But still you’re not happy because Scaloni is in the touchline?

    Wasn’t it Scaloni who discovered DePaul, the player we lacked all these years? If we had DePaul we would have won a couple of trophies in the Messi era. Wasn’t it Scaloni who gave continuous chances for LoCelso another player with a profile we lacked a long time? Its a shame LoCelso-Messi combo didn’t click in this Copa, but I’m pretty sure it will work out. Wasn’t it Scaloni who found a formation with dual strikers ahead of Messi which resulted in goals? Wasn’t it Scaloni who gave continuous matches for Lautaro and made him a confident player he is today? Wasn’t it Scaloni who discovered Paredes at no.5? Wasn’t it Scaloni who found a team formation that can win us games with a hard working midfielders at both wings? And finally, wasn’t it Scaloni who built a team that was free from Messi dependence? We should discard all these accomplishments because our coach is not experienced or we don’t play as protagonists?

    As far as I’m concerned, Scaloni has been coaching brilliantly so far. In a tournament, you need to take decisions quickly and that’s just what he has done. Like any other coaches, some of his decisions didn’t work out. But he was quick to correct those decisions. He has built a team and a system that can score goals and prevent the opponent from scoring. That’s more than enough. The team will play better as the same group have some consistency and they are used to each other.

    Let’s give a round of applause to Scaloni for making the turn around. Go Scaloni, get us the cup.

    Vamos Argentina!

    • I agree that Scaloni has done well, not exceptional but well. This is his first competive test and our team has improved game after game. There have been brief spells where we have looked very very good (eg Colombia early second half and Venezuela before the first goal). I give him due credit for gradually getting a fix on his formation and pivotal players). We must not forget that 14 of the most inexperienced of our squad have only about 40 caps amongst them. In this context the shaping up of Lautaro, De Paul and Paredes in particular has been wonderful and Acuna also deserves a mention. If we get past Brazil, and we have a good chance, then Scaloni would have done his case a world of good as far as continuing as our coach.

    • @malabari Absolutely correct. I have gone from a Scaloni apologist to a hater to liking him again in a few months. We have to agree that the task before the man was and is not at all trivial. Taking a big team like Argentina through a period of transition is the dirty work that no one wants to do. Because after a point whatever decisions you take will create controversy and there is bound to be strong opinions on every little thing you do. He had to scout for players and get a team together. I completely agree with you he has reacted in very good measure. He has shown faith in a core set of players and sooner than later it will show. This group will hit a peak and in a year I have very high hopes that we will be in a good stead for the WCQ.

    • I read that in marca.com,too.
      not surprised as he is partnering well w/Messi
      If that happens then Neymar will kiss his chances to go back to Barca good buy.
      Lautaro, my boy, is in high demand. way to go Toro.

      • Lautaro should stay in Inter and develop under conte don’t want shit valverde to waste his talent. Only team i want lautaro to go is man city under pep even lautaro father expressed to be coached by pep.

  4. Argentina scores against Paraguay and Venezuela and some idiots think we;re lucky. Brazil couldnt score a single goal against those teams and these idiots claimed Brazil deserved to win lol

    • Don’t mind them whenever Argentina win
      Is lucky wharever Other nations like brazil do is well deserved that is double standard
      some guys in here Are working for ESPN
      Or maybe have too much influence from
      Pundits in ESPN

  5. Dybla looks like he is in good form he should be Martinez’s sub in 60 or 70 minute.Lo celso as sub for Acuna in 65 minutes.We can beat Brazil if our defence remains solid like against Venezuela.Pitch will be good this time so a lot of depends on Messi’s shoulder now.Our clinical attack and solid defence is our hope now.Paredes will be great again in midfield.Acuna needs to eat alive Dani Alves

    • No need to take out Lautaro. If he’s there.. there is always a chance of goal. He’s a fighter.
      He has a goal in every 92 minutes for Argentina….!
      He has a goal in every 75 minutes for Argentina since 2019..……!

      I don’t want Scaloni touch him against Brazil. Dybala should come for Aguero.

      Lautaro…a man with lion heart.., lion face…a fighter.

    • Where are you getting this information about the pitch being good, because last game at the maracana it wasn’t that good. It would be great news if true but do you have a source.

      • They may purposefully make the pitch bad, just to negate any threat from Messi. Brazil cannot sit back and defend and that means Messi may have more space. So giving a good pitch could be dangerous!

  6. Many times we have played Brazil but I remember being around 21 or 22 when I saw this match.
    Brazil was killing us statistically. For 85 minutes they pounded us. I really thought at the time we had 10 defenders and a goalie. And then this magic happened. A true dagger to the heart of Brazil. A devastating set back that destroyed the spirit of the entire country. Enjoy the video!

    https://youtu.be/3X3p0_R0Y5E

  7. Stats this and stats that, whats in the past is in the past.
    Its one game played on their home soil which means home field advantage, excellent pitch conditions, enormous pressure on them to not just perform but win.
    ARGENTINA made it to the semi finals after losing to Colombia 2-0 and drawing against Paraguay and both are out.
    Scaloni wants to prove his worth, GREAT, do it and even GOD FORBID, ARGENTINA loses then lose because they were outperformed and not because there was no clear plan like in the first 2 games.
    Messi is more of the X-factor in this particular game, use him as such because Brazil will do whatever it takes to pull, push, tackle, slow and isolate him and I don’t believe he’s afraid of them.
    Finally, ARG tends to play better against better competition than a lesser one for whatever reason.

  8. Some recent factual stats against Brazil vs Argentina match. Last 6 competitive match results between this two heavyweights.

    2018 WC Qualifier: Brazil 3-0 Argentina
    2018 WC Qualifier : Argentina 1-1 Brazil
    2010 WC Qualifier : Argentina 1-3 Brazil
    2010 WC Qualifier : Brazil 0-0 Argentina
    2007 Copa America: Brazil 3-0 Argentina
    2005 Fifa Confedaration: Bra 4-1 Arg

    So you see, Brazil is dominating for a long time against us. Argentina can’t even score against them most of the time! And this time, it’ll be tougher than ever.

    For information, Argentina last won against Brazil came in 2006 WC Qualifier match at Buenos Aires with a 3-1 result.

    Unbelievable Fact: Argentina’s last victory against Brazil in Brazil came in a friendly game at Porto Allegre in 1970 with 2-0. And competitive victory came in Nations Cup in 1964 at Sao Paulo with 3-0 result!!

    How badly i wished, Sabella’s Argentina get a chance to play a competitive match against Brazil! You yellow banana were so lucky that you host the world cup and didn’t need to face Argentina in WCQ. We could have break this uncomfortable records with that team! Damn….

    Are we going to lose again??? 🙁

      • Statistics mean nothing now days
        Arg wil win this copa. Argentina
        Hasn’t been lost Colombia for 12
        Years until two weeks ago which
        Arg lost 2-0 .I believe whoever
        Score first goal will win .

    • Statistic shows Brazil hosted the WC twice, losing both! In 1950, they only need a draw against Uruguay in final game, they still lost! in 2014, they conceided 14 goals (10 goals conceided in their latest 2 matches alone). If European team could destroyed and lifted a WC at their home, then any team can.

      The 2014 WC destroyed every myths about this or that team cant win because whats’ so called “past history”

      Argentina once beaten Brazil in 3 consecutive tournaments aswell, 1990, 1991, 1993 and Argentina finished as runner up, champion and champion . So if you’re talking about the past then you should have brought the successfull run aswell, not just the losses because the last time we lost to Brazil in major tournament, its well over a decade ago. Since then, Argentina was the only South American team to reached WC final in last 4 WC! (other 7 finalists were European teams), and we reached final at Brazil’s own turf.

      Remember there’s always first time in everything, just like when Spain finally did it in 2010 (even lost their first game there). I remember Brazillian fans used to proclaim Brazil is the only World champ to won outside their own continent and Spain disproved that myth aswell, followed by Germany.

      Another example, Germany finally beat Italy in major tournament (Euro 2016) in their 10th attempt. Before that, it was 5 wins , 4 draw in favor of Italy, not single win for Germany.

      • Good work mate let them know
        That Argentina has full rich history
        When come football even when
        The had disastrous mismanagement
        Form last 6 years from top to bottom
        Still did wonderful well . Imagine
        Argentina have the money and projects
        like European Football countries has
        that would have won a lot of trophies.

        • So you didnt count us winning the 1993 Copa because we need 2 shootouts? do you count Argentina reaching the final in 2014 ? I guess not since they won the semi through penalties.

    • There was a friendly here in Qatar…I was on stadium.. Argentina beat Brazil 1-0 where Messi scored at the end. It was not so long ago.

  9. @batigol_gaucho
    replying here incase if u miss my reply..

    any team can lose in finals.
    European teams never blame coach or players if they lose in final
    It’s a S.American mentality. which we should avoid.
    .France almost maintained same team after playing worst ever match in euro final. and then they became WC.
    Low was coach in Germany team which lost to spain in 2008 final, they kept almost same team and won 2014 WC.
    even losing Semi in 2012 Euro didn’t forced them to change.

  10. Call it an illusion, a fantasy, call it a wish, hope, not being real, call it anything you want !
    but if you ask any Albiceleste fan around the globe if there is a more devastating loss than losing to Brazil OR England – those 2 in particular – the vast majority will tell you WE rather lose against any team but those 2 maricones. So let us just set this straight, WE WANT TO WIN AGAINST BRAZIL ANY TIME, ANYWHERE EVEN IF WE FIELD 10 YEARS OLD PLAYERS OR 50.

    VAMOS ARGENTINA, VAMOS VAMOS A GANAR
    CARAJOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

  11. To be honest I am actually least worried about this Brazil team. If something to worry about them is actually the time. They had more time with the squad than us. If our players can contain this Brazil team till 20-25 minutes they will fall apart. And when time goes their fan will start booing them too. My only worry is how Scaloni goin to play his team. So far he didn’t give any clue for the press. Also apparently they are analysing how to crack Tite 4-2-3-1 formation. There is chance he might play another winger or a extra midfield. That means either Aguero or Martinez has to sit out. AGAIN it is just a RUMOUR don’t get bananas over this

  13. LOL!! played 3rd class football in last 1 year.
    1 win against Venezuela and suddenly Scaloni became best!
    I desperately want Argentina to win Copa, but for god’s sake come back in reality. We were playing worst football even last week. Tell me 1 match where we played tactically,or skillfully good match since tata martino left?
    just compare this team to 2006-2007 pakermen,basile era. even they couldn’t win anything, they played superbly.
    maybe we will won copa, but with this coach, we won’t be able to pass WCQ.
    like 2010 WCQ or 2018 WCQ, we will be struggling.
    if that you guys want, then I have nothing to say

    • i agree with you to almost everything you wrote just now it is not the time for this kind of critics.
      now the team is in the middle of the war about Copa america.

      maybe i have the worse opinion about Scaloni but i stand beside the national team.
      right now is the time that we all united against our biggest enemy.
      after that we will see about the rest.

      • Wisely spoken, wise man !

        “right now is the time that we all united against our biggest enemy.
        after that we will see about the rest.”

        Oh Argentina vamos,
        Ohhh,
        Oh Argentina vamos,
        Ponga huevos,
        Que ganamos…

    • “1 win against Venezuela and suddenly Scaloni became best!”

      Nobody’s saying Scaloni is the best in the world. You’re the only one making that up.

      PS: Rome was not built in a day.

      I’m curious to know, who you want to see as our Head Coach? And what do you expect from Argentina NT( playing style I mean)?

      • 1. I want Argentina to win against Brazil; a loss will really hurt me like always.
        2. Rome was not built a day, I agree, however, we can’t wait ‘Rome” to be built. this is a football team, where a good coach can make an impact in 1 month of training.
        I repeat, a good coach with experience can make an impact in 1 month of training. there are thousands of examples.
        3. Who do I want? I can’t specify, but probably someone with experience, a good motivator/a good tactician. Argentina has a good bunch of coaches with those qualities.
        I expect from Argentina to win and play good football, simple.
        losing match in tiebreaker but playing good football will hurt me, but I know for sure we will recover quickly.

    • Who said Scaloni became best. Nobody here. But he’s doing okay job. He’s learning. If he wins against Brazil…his graph will increase. If he wins Copa he will remain as coach of Argentina.

  14. I regularly read the posts over here.But to my disappointment,many over here criticise Argentina unnecessarily.When Argentina win; they say, it was just Venezuela,Brazil will demolish Argentina;Chile will haunt this Argentina like a hungry wolf.Such a pathetic stance for your own team.I can’t believe this.And to add fuel to the fire they turn their guns towards Messi.Why Messi is not scoring?I don’t know what wrong Messi had done to Argentina.Believe me if he was not there,Argentina would have been in the worst possible crisis.Do respect such legends and the team.It’s better to be silent than to talk trash.I’m sure our team will do best and will lift the trophy.It is better to win if even Messi doesn’t score goals rather to lose and Messi scores goals.But a few over here are such nice guys that they are not only optimistic but also benevolent.And they criticise for the betterment and improvement of the team.I want to face Chile in the final.

  16. I regularly read the posts over here.But to my disappointment,many over here criticise Argentina unnecessarily.When Argentina win,they say

  17. Some of the Argentinians fans are either coward or dumb or both.

    Some of them want us to lose against Brazil or Copa so that Scaloni will be fired.

    Some of them want us to lose against Brazil so that we don’t have to face Chile in the final and lose again.

    I will have a detailed post on the latter. What I want to write here is about the first.

    They are talking as if Chile reaching the final and winning it against Argentina is 100% sure. As if we can never defeat Chile. May be we will lose again, but we could win too right?

    I want us to defeat Brazil (that will be almost equal to winning the Copa) and put on a very good game against Chile. I wouldn’t mind losing to Chile as long as we play well. I am not afraid of losing to Chile. If we are unlucky and lose to Chile for the third time, so be it.

    • The same thoughts. Game against Brazil is our first final. Decisive for Scaloni future IMO. If he reach final, then even with minimal lost there – no way this time we will sack coach again.

    • “I want us to defeat Brazil (that will be almost equal to winning the Copa) and put on a very good game against Chile. I wouldn’t mind losing to Chile as long as we play well. I am not afraid of losing to Chile. If we are unlucky and lose to Chile for the third time, so be it.”

      We should not fear anyone !
      considering the fact that we are a new team, winning against Brazil in their backyard and knocking them off this tournament is the cake, winning the COPA is the icing !

    • Argentina can win this trophy, I don’t care who is coach or who the opposition is. Argentina have the same right to win as anybody else. Some people are just strange. They have no reason to hate Scaloni, especially now, somebody put that Scaloni has done one thing, getting Messi, Aguero and Lautaro pressing and defending – and that right there is enough to get Argentina in a good place, hopefully even a win in the final! I fucking love Scaloni, not only Scaloni but he’s brought in people who know the game, Samuel and Ayala can help defence, Aimar (Messi idol) to assist Messi. So Scaloni brought about 200 caps worth of experience with him.

      • “Argentina can win this trophy, I don’t care who is coach or who the opposition is”.

        To win it each subsequent game must be ouur best. What was enough for Venezuela will not sufficient for Brazil.

        • Agreed Argentina must up the game for Brazil. What I meant by that comment was in the bigger picture to me Argentina can rival any team in the world. People can say oh France bla bla bla but we had France by the balls and they escaped because tactically we fucked up. I think since 2013 Argentina has been top 3 team. Brazil are lucky to be in the top fucking 10 in this time lol

  18. Here is some food for thought. Scaloni keeping his job no matter if he goes out to Brazil, because of the progress the team has made, and importantly the ability of the team to respond when Messi hasn’t played well……

    • “…importantly the ability of the team to respond when Messi hasn’t played well……”

      Indeed, it’s the “biggest thing” Scaloni and Co managed so far in this short period of time. Even if it’s for a game or couple of games, it’s massive achievement. HUUUGE!!! Since the Riquelme days, I can’t remember a single manager/coach able to pull off something like that. Not Pekerman, Basile, Sabella(although he got the best out of Messi), Tata , nooo. When Riquelme is neutralized, we’re done. Post Roman, when Messi is nuetralized, adios. Finally a coach, “a rookie” has been able to break that barrier of a one-man team mentality. It’s a monumental achievement imo atleast.

      • No basile? no sabella, no pakerman???
        and pakermen team was one man?
        man which team are you following?
        did you even watched 2007 copa where argentina was destroying everyone with 16 goals in 5 matches?
        how beatiful they played as a team??
        are you paid by scaloni???and short period? he is coaching for around a year now.

        • 1. 2005 Mickey Mouse confederation Cup final
          2. 2007 Copa America final
          3. 2014 WC semifinal
          4. 2014 WC final

          The Sabella games (3,and 4) were different. Not like a complete shutdown like Pekerman and Basile games, but w/o Messi creativity was close to none.

          PS: Yes pal, I’m paid by Scaloni, Aimar, Samuel and Ayala whatever peanuts they’re being offered by AFA, if any.

          • “did you even watched 2007 copa where argentina was destroying everyone with 16 goals in 5 matches?
            how beatiful they played as a team??”

            No one’s arguing about the quality of football played during those era, are we? In fact, the 2007 Copa America, football played by Basile’s team was the best of Argentina I’ve ever seen in my life. I’ve stated that many times here. But the argument was about the team being revolved around one-man (ie, Riquelme in this case) and inablity of the team to respond when their star man is contained. Messi played in that tournament ofcourse, but you cannot deny the star of that tournament was anyone but Roman. He ran the show until the final, where the Brasilians marked him and didn’t give a breathing space for a second, frustrating him the whole match while other 10 just stood and watched.

          • any team can lose in finals.
            European teams never blame coach or players if they lose in final
            It’s a S.American mentality. which we should avoid.
            .France almost maintained same team after playing worst ever match in euro final. and then they became WC.
            Low was coach in Germany team which lost to spain in 2008 final, they kept almost same team and won 2014 WC.
            even losing Semi in 2012 Euro didn’t forced them to change.

  19. Messi will be super activated against Brazil. He wants to show the world…what he is capable of..and he didn’t lose the magic leg in this Copa..!

    • I hope so my man, I grew up with Messi (we are born same year) and I followed Barca then. Everybody was hopeful he’d make it. He had a hard time even Barca but he always fought back. To me Messi has suffered so much with Argentina, he’s only shown 50% of the player he really is and sooner or later it’s due to happen, that moment when we can say oh yeah, that’s the Messi we know..!

  20. From TYC Sports.

    “The Argentina National Team is preparing for the match against Brazil and Lionel Scaloni could repeat the team that started against Venezuela in the quarterfinals of the Copa America.In case Scaloni decides to put the same eleven, he will cut a streak of 40 consecutive games in which the National Team did not repeat the formation. The last time Argentina played two consecutive games without changes was at the US Copa America 2016”

    WTF..it makes total sense given shitty performances but goodness that’s infuriating to see the actual number – 40.

  21. “No rather a knock out against Brazil than another final loss against Chile”
    @csabalala1
    First of all, we’re not in the finals yet, nor is Chile.

    You want us to lose against our arch rivals Brasil, man??! Seriously?? Never mind semifinals, or finals, or any game. Brasil?? Brasil?? Mmm…

    • lol this is quite the conundrum for Fans.

      Whats behind Door #1: Lose to historic archrivals

      or

      Whats behind Door #2: Lose to new archrivals.

      The salt from the Chile loss still burns so i get it. Losing to Brazil is awful too. No good answer here.

      • Actually, If we win against Brazil, and meet Chile in the final, if the players put a good show, they are winners in my book,regardless

        VAMOS ARGENTINA, we can do it !

  22. “Can you guarantee that Scaloni wont be another coaching statistic? and two years from now we’re back where we were with Bauza with a year to go before the WC and only a handful of MUST win qualifiers!!”

    @dfox1942 Nope. I cannot guarantee. Nobody can. In the same way as you can guarantee a proven experienced coach won’t be another coaching static! But whatever I’ve seen during this short spell of time of Scaloni and his team, I’m optimistic. I see sparks of a team building. What more do you want than our players running around giving their all for the nation?? Even Aguero, Messi.. Common. Which proven coach managed to do that before?( Sabella may have a say). We are not a finished article or remotely close to that yet, but promises are there. A team spirit, a solidarity is there among these group which I failed to see in majority of the recent previous groups before. I believe in this group, they made me, they showed me.

    But I understand your point as well. You want an expereinced proven coach at the helm. Nothing wrong with that. But for me, I’m tired of that drama. It’s a cycle like I’ve mentioned before. The fans and media beg him to be appointed and see as our saviour and as soon as the things go south, they turn on him and want his head and they’ll get what they want. He’ll dance to the tune of AfA, media and fans and sell his balls to them. That’s the theme. I’m not against any proven coach, but he should have the balls and complete control of the NT and the project, otherwise it’s the same old story.

    • I completely agree with you. If you want to succeed in modern football you must give time to your coach. Look germany, France, Uruguay and many others. They give there coach reasonable time. Argentina exactly lacks this. Sacking coach is regular in AFA after every tournament. That is why no establish coach want be Argentina coach. Project is must to succeed internationally. And a young coach is more suitable in puruing project. In short period of time Scaloni’s most success is building team sprit, which Argentina lacks long time.

    • It seems that in the last 2 games the professional sports media in Argentina has begun to come around re: Scaloni.

      The biggest arguments in support of him staying as DT are:

      1) Discovery if De Paul, which many in Argentina didn’t have in consideration.

      2) Paredes as the deep lying playmaker

      3) use of Acuña

      4) Establishing Lautaro as the next Bati (the undisputed 9 for the next 2-3 world cup cycles); This has also become the Icardi, who? Crowd.

      5) most significantly the seeming ability to put together a team capable of staying the course even when Messi is having an off day.

      I have to say I’m a little skeptical, personally but generally agree that continuity may be the better part of valor here. While Scaloni is still somewhat of a Noob. He has shown some flashes of being a pragmatist, and this is encouraging to me.

  23. Last time Uruguay knocked out of the copa America quarter final via penalty shoot out 1993 , that was also the last time Argentina won a major tournament…. I hope history repeats itself…

  24. Watched the previous match we played against Brazil, 1-0 loss, hard fought and could have gone either way. Argentina with Battglia, Dyballa, Correa, and Icardi; whereas Brazil with Neymar and minus Alvez. Argentina held its nerve and created more than a few chances, it was not easy for Brazil to have a go at Argentina even with Neymar. I feel this time with Lautaro, Aguero, Messi and De Paul and Brazil minus Neymar, we do have a better chance regardless of the team that Scolani plays (same team that played against Venezuela or change Acuna and bring in Lo Celco or Saravia instead of Foyth).
    Messi has to step up big time, he needs to have a performance like the one against Manchester United or first leg against Liverpool. He has spoken about winning something with the NT, well here is one golden chance, he may not have as many chances considering he is 32- it may be one more Copa and the WC. This time no one expected us to be in the semis so this is just the best scenario possible. Ronaldo scored a hat trick against Switzerland in the nation’s league, Messi needs to have a super performance against Brazil and take us to the finals, it will shut down his critics for the next few years. I really hope that he shines and Argentina wins, or atleast Argentina wins, for the entire team and coaching staff, this is a perfect opportunity, stars are perfectly aligned and they need to go for the kill.

  25. We have nothing to lose and all to gain. We have to break their rhythm and slow down the game. One thing i notice about brazil is if they do not score in the first half they become nervous and then they lose their composer and commit mistakes. No gifts it is nit even christmas

  26. If we are going to lose to them at least lets give them a run for their money and not humiliate ourselves. I dream of victory against our archenemies. We need balls of steel and ice cold nerves to get this one. Remember they are as scared as us and the pressure on them is crushing lets use this to hour advantage. It should be rugby natch not football. Give them hell.

  28. For Scaloni’s critics I have some info: most likely he will stay with NT after Copa if only reach final (even without win it). That means this upcoming game against Brazil is decisive. If Argentina will beat Brazil I suppose he will stay no matter of final result. Like it or not. I could support him too if he reach final not because he is that good but he is young and can learn a lot while we need finally stop the chasing scapegoat politic of changing coach every year. Continuity is the way.

    • No rather a knock out against Brazil than another final loss against Chile, from it this NT and football nation will never recover, every young player will be instantly traumatised, media will kill the young players too and the cursed cycle wil never end. The third loss against Chile would be a shame, rather keep Scaloni with a bronze medal and with much better mental health of the team. Copa 2020 is easily winnable, but not with another final loss. 7th in a row since 2004…

      • “final loss against Chile, from it this NT and football nation will never recover, every young player will be instantly traumatised, media will kill the young players too and the cursed cycle wil never end”

        And the dark stuff will all turned away if only we’d fire Scaloni after the lost final???! I doubt it.

        Whatever you say if only Scaloni make the final this will be success taking into account the state of NT yet at beginnings of the Copa. Circumstances matters. These are two different things to reach final being runner up of WC, having all the European stars with big experience and reach final with almost brand new team of inexperienced youngsters with little chemistry.

        However I agree that it would have negative fatal impact for the football nation as a whole to lose another final.

      • Another factor on final decision would be what style we lose the “might be” final. Lose 0:1 it’s different to lose 0:1 after beatifull play.

      • “No rather a knock out against Brazil than another final loss against Chile, from it this NT and football nation will never recover, every young player will be instantly traumatised”

        Disagree,

        AS I mentioned few times, winning against Brazil in their backyard is crucial and inspiring, IF we do that, the momentum will carry us to win this COPA no matter who is the finalist ! and If we lose-provided that the players put a good show-, that is an accomplishment by itself, specially for the younger generation. losing against Brazil is traumatizing !

    • A lose in Brazil as underdog is not a catastrophe, another loss vs Chile in a final IS.
      ARG neirly never win against BRA in their home or in crucial matches for a long time.
      Such important matches: 1990 WC ARG-BRA 1:0 1991 Copa ARG-BRA 3:2 1993 Copa ARG-BRA 1:1 (6:5 on penalties) but in that time BRA was in deep crisis and played without their star players (Romario, Bebeto, Dunga etc.) 1995 Copa 2:2 (2:4 for BRA) still without their biggest stars, plus a hand ball goal from Tulio, and an early ARG sent off, so this was a shame 1999 Copa ARG-BRA 1:2 Ayala missed a penalty against the strongest Brazil side, unlike Argentina with a lot of local players 2000 WCQ BRA-ARG 3:1 with Bielsa 2004 Copa final ARG-BRA 2:2 (2:4 on penalties) usual Bielsa curse 2004 WCQ BRA-ARG 3:1 with Bielsa again 2005 Conf final BRA-ARG 4:1 with Pekerman 2007 Copa final ARG-BRA 0:3 with Coco Basile, huge surprise and defeat 2008 WCQ BRA-ARG 0:0 our only draw in Brazil since a while 2011 Superclasico de las Americas with local players BRA-ARG 2:0 2012 again BRA-ARG 2:1 2017 WCQ BRA-ARG 3:0…we can only compete with them in friendlies or sometimes in home matches

    • That was 1 thing I worried about after the draw against Paraguay. I said here if we beat Qatar and another dummy team in quarter(let’s be honest, Venezuela is just average). AFA will consider that achieving the semi finals was a success and nothing will be changed.

      Many fans here suggested to use Foyth as right fullback long long time ago. I personally said we should have Acuna as left defensive midfielder and a right midfielder like De Paul to support Messi, and we should have 1 fullback who is a natural CB…etc. My point is all the tricks that he did during the 2 recent games many fans have already thought about before he made the actual changes.

    • Surprising? No better promotion for youth than call them up early and give them chances during international tournaments. If you don’t do that very little of them will goes to so called big clubs.

      • That’s my point as well. Brazil did that gracefully well. We instead wait for kids to go and click in Europe and come join MT with an iconic image. Scaloni for one drafted Palacios, Pity kind of younger ones in. Lot more to come, hopefully..

        • “That’s my point as well. Brazil did that gracefully well. We instead wait for kids to go and click in Europe and come join MT with an iconic image”

          Yeah, so true and aberrant

      • Laztaro signed to a big club without significant NT appearences (30mins vs Spain), on the other hand players like Pity Martinez, Meza, Vargas, Pavon and co, couldnt profit from their several NT matches, only talent matters, big clubs and scouts are not stupid to fool them with friendly matches or try to overhype our talents by AFA, Saravia was lucky to transfer to Porto before the Copa lol

        • still waiting for Palacios, Balerdi, Almendra hardly played in their clubs, Thiago Almada 25 mills for some matches and huge potential, talent and potential matters

        • Not really. Angel Correa signed for ATM because he was superb for San Lorenzo in Libertadores @ 18 years of age. If someone proven good at Libertadores is visible on european radar, NT performance is just the doctor order for any kind of profiling. Mammana played few minutes under Sabella before being transferred to Zenit. Dybala went to Palermo straight from the Arg second division.

          So therr are all sorts of ways how someone manages to catch attention from European powerhouses. If you feel Zenit and Palermo are not so big, consider Real’s interest in Exequiel Palacios, although his proneness to injury has subsidised their interest eventually. He was the least performer for the U20 team at 2017 WC; even LB Milton Valenzuela performed better against England for an instance. But under Scaloni at NT, he’s been brilliant so far. So someone having a foot in NT means he’s bound for fame and recognition. It’s just a fact, take it or leave it.

          • The way one perceive talent could go astray w.r.t the ensuing ground reality. For example, Racing club was spearheaded in attack by Vietto, De Paul, Centurion and Farina. Those days, though all the four could look phenomenal on their day, Vietto was apparently a class apart. De Paul was playing second bid to Vietto. But where is he now? And don’t we have De Paul as our key player today? So my point is the way talents develop is upto their innate desire and circumstances. NT should try to give space for youngsters – a few of them. Not every player should find space there only after excelling in Europe.

          • Csabalala

            What about De Paul? Within a while some big club will after him while they didn’t saw his potentiall before. Valencia wasted that. Udinese and our NT get the credit for take care of him.

          • @Sabarish

            I remember Farina very well. Watching Racing of that days he seemed to me most talented of the bunch. What a pity he is nowhere now. Injuries also contributed to his broken career. My favourite players for some time.

        • “big clubs and scouts are not stupid to fool them with friendly matches or try to overhype”

          not stupid?
          ??? Just look at PSG and Lo Celso case

          within a while they could send off Paredes too

          • PSG or Real Madrid particular talent on wasting our talents that shined later in other, smaller clubs.

        • “on the other hand players like Pity Martinez, Meza, Vargas, Pavon and co, couldnt profit from their several NT matches”

          you lumped together different cases

          this is always hard for older players to get attention of European players even if called up. This is Meza and Pity case.

          Pity Martinez – 102 mins in NT – it’s barely more than one game. THis is not “several NT matches”. His problem is also lack of EU passport

          Vargas’ several NT matches”? – 44 minutes so far in NT. He will go to Europe sooner or later. Maybe next NT call up will be decisive for the big clubs attention

        • What about De Paul? Within a while some big club will after him while they didn’t saw his potentiall before. Valencia wasted that. Udinese and our NT get the credit for take care of him.

          • Farina was one hell of a dribbler. Beating 2-3 defenders on every take on. With a touch, he’d get past 2-3… lost in wilderness..

          • Yeah, when he joined Deportivo I thougt his career will hit the ground running… that never happend.

          • Cartabia was also showing few similar signs. Not even he’d click. Only time will tell at what rate Franchu can develop at RM; depends on the coach. Mateo Garcia is similar type, hope he comes good after a year’s good spell in Greece.

  30. I’m missing my crush Wanda very much wish icardi called up instead of suarez, can’t wait for summer and new season.

  31. From my analysis, one huge determining factor of our victory on wednesday would be how we’re able to contain Everton on the right. So far if you guys watched some of Brazil’s matches, the only threat they’re capable of posing is from the right with Everton who’s fast, skillful and has decent shots. Since Neymar and the physically imposing Richarlison are out, their attack has been quite toothless. They lack genuine ideas especially due to Neymar’s absence up front.

    The good news is we’ve finally found a defensively solid right back in Foyth who more than makes up with his overall pace, strength and reading of the game for his lack in acceleration. De Paul supports him defensively very well too. If we can get this correctly, we are surely on our way to upset the tournament’s favourites.

  36. Team that started the tournament losing 0-2 and 0-5 are new in semifinal. I think the remaining teams has equal chance to win the tournament. Chile and Brazil are favorites but only based on recent history , nothing more.

    Argentine coach seems to be doing well (or just having plenty of luck) when managing another country. Imagine Tata reached a final with Paraguay now if Gareca guiding Peru to the final…and he’s only one game away from doing so

  37. ON A FUNNY NOTE:

    Anybody ever watch the movie, “”Molly’s Game””, good movie that was based on a true story.
    A question is asked about what is the worst thing that could happen in sports, and the leading actress goes on to list the answers from a survey and one of them was when Brazilians were asked and the answer was the following: “LOSING TO ARGENTINA AND NOT JUST IN THE WC, ANYTIME, EVER IN ANY CONTEST”
    ALL the pressure for a change is on the “banana yellow’ team as my buddy Pablo would say, where are you man??
    LETS GO ARGENTINA.

  38. @ batigol_cowcho
    I’m put my response here so you don’t have to scroll down to find it. I see and understand your point but ‘time is of the essence’
    I didn’t know about Bauza being on the list of the best 50 coaches in the world, or at least when selected by ARG and how he was hired with limited time to fix Tata’s mistakes and failed and that is EXACTLY why a coach needs to be hired ASAP with enough time to get all his ducks in order before the qualifiers start.

    Can you guarantee that Scaloni wont be another coaching statistic? and two years from now we’re back where we were with Bauza with a year to go before the WC and only a handful of MUST win qualifiers!!

    ON ANOTHER NOTE>>>>> why are many here so sure that shitty-Chile is a lock to win Copa?? let them beat Peru and whoever is next and then talk.

    • We should have a good coach. Period. even if scaloni wins a cup.
      a good coach can change a bad/avg team. just look at the teams like Peru,or even when u look at the club football you will notice how a good coach is everything. however in Argentine team we need a more like a motivator and good coach combined, who can motivate messi,aguero, and bulid new players.
      I like pakermen most because he is a great motivator.
      sabella was a good motivator,too.
      Sampaoli is not a bad coach, but he didn’t clicked with argentina and did too much experiments.
      Tata martino had a bad luck I believe, taking 2 finals is not a bad stuff.
      Just don’t bring another mad one like bielsa please. who will start experimenting again and will call 50 + players

      • Scaloni is more than enough. He’s doing something that Sampaoli couldn’t do. If he can improve the team so much within a year, he will be able to much better things with time. Show some patience.

  39. I know you guys won’t like my comment . But I feel that this change in Argentine team has to do with Pablo Aimar.
    Scaloni was always bad, suddenly he won’e be that good.
    I feel and hope that Aimar is running the team behind and hope that AFA sees that. he was good with under 17.

  40. Scaloni and coaching staff deserves
    Big credit everyone bashing Argentina
    Defence is weak but that is not true
    Pezzella and the general are really
    Good especially pezzella looks so calm
    I haven’t see arg defender look so calm
    Since ezequiel garay the only difference
    Argentina and Germany Spain France
    The recently world cup winner is
    Lucky If luck was Argentina side could
    Have won world cup and couple copas.

  41. I don’t know if I am being too harsh or something but I feel Uruguay deserves it because the way they play. They are way too defensive. They need a upgrade. Some of the tv pundits was referring that we shall take Uruguay as example. Now I am wondering who they gonna refer next?!

  42. I know a lot of people are reacting and saying penalties are extremely important, which is sort of true. If these games had a full extra time I dont think all 3 go to penalties. Probably just the colombia chile game if that. Brazil and uruguay would’ve won with an extra 30 mins. And there will be extra time in every game that remains

    • It was later in his career for the doping thing. WC is the biggest, we already won a lot of Copas. Now Copa becomes a big thing for us as we didn’t have anything since 1993.

      You can’t insult our legend like that.

      Remember an under-strength Brazil beat all-star from from the two generations in Copa 2007 final.
      We always lacked that damn mental strength, from both the coach and players in key moments. That’s what I emphasized here, and I’d like the team to improve on it.

  44. If we do get to the final, IF, then we have to do everything in our power to prevent penalties. If we go to penalties we guaranteed will lose. Now, we must focus becoming a unit more than ever, instead of worrying about player selections. Any team that is a unit can win.

  46. I absolutely love Argentina, only luck stopped victories from 2014, all the teams know it, they need luck to beat Argentina. These fuckers luck are about to run out…!

    • “…penalty shootouts is not really important, rather the most important in todays football.”

      Csabalala,pal “Penalty shootout?!” Nooo. The “coin toss” is the most important in modern football!

    • Yes, it’s not most important. It’s lottery. Suarez the only who didn’t scored – enough said. Messi didn’t scored in last Copa final. You can’t guarantee anything by practicising penalties. Lottery.

  50. Wow, Argentina is the only team that won during the 90 minutes in all 4 quarterfinals! Not only that, we scored two! Maybe Brazil should fear us?!

  52. What a weird tournament this is.
    Colombia did not concede a single goal, but they are out
    Uruguay were the favorites and better than Peru but out
    Argentina the only team to score in the QF

    Looking forward to the semi’s.

  53. Damn, didnt Uruguay come in as favorite to win?!?! That sucks, Chile got a shoe in the final. They wont win. Mark my words, Argrentina / Brazil will lift.

  55. Just imagine if Peru qualified now! Damn….some teams have fvcking luck. Chile will eat alive them in semi and reach another final easily. Can’t believe, favourites are probably getting knockout from the tournament!

    God know what’ll happen to Arg vs Bra match. We are losing everytime against them!

  59. Yes, Aguero, the match versus Brazil isn’t easy, but I believe and hope that Argentina will win and go to the final.

    Be the winner! Be the champion! Go Tango! VAMOS ARGENTINA!

    God bless everyone….

  60. Brasil, decime que se siente
    Tener en casa a tu papá
    Te juro que aunque pasen los años
    Nunca nos vamos a olvidar
    Que el Diego los gambeteó
    Que el Cani los vacunó
    Que están llorando
    De Italia hasta hoy
    A Messi lo vas a ver
    La Copa nos va a traer
    Maradona es más grande que Pelé

    VAMOS ARGENTINA VAMOA A GANAR VAMOS ARGENTINA VAMOA A GANAR VAMOS ARGENTINA VAMOA A GANAR VAMOS ARGENTINA VAMOA A GANAR VAMOS ARGENTINA VAMOA A GANAR VAMOS ARGENTINA VAMOA A GANAR VAMOS ARGENTINA VAMOA A GANAR VAMOS ARGENTINA VAMOA A GANAR VAMOS ARGENTINA VAMOA A GANAR VAMOS ARGENTINA VAMOA A GANAR

    • i have and other version for you my friend 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂

      Brasil, decime que se siete
      Quedar afuera del mundial
      Te juro que aunque pasen los años
      Nunca nos vamos a olvidar

      Que Neymar te abandonó
      Que Alemania te goleó
      Qué vergüenza que me das pentacampeón
      Te pusiste la de Irán,
      la de Suiza y Bélgica
      Cómprate la de Alemania en la final !!!

    • Wow…we’re the only team to go through with out penalty.

      I’m starting to get a good ferling about this Argentinale squad.

  61. Juan G Arango: “One that will not get many plaudits today is Juan Foyth. First time ever as a 4 and has been stellar. #ArgVen”

    He must have meant in Argentina colours ofcourse.

  62. Pochettino when asked what he thinks of Foyth at right-back for Spurs, he replied: “I think he was very good. He played so well. The signal that he’s giving us in the training sessions, you can see and you can feel and you can trust him in that position.”

    • who we said is the RB of Spurs?
      Foyth? i don t think so.

      so if i was in the place to ask him my question to him will be “Pochettino why you don t have Foyth as your regular RB in Spurs?”
      this is the real question.

  63. Aguero had to turn 31 to become a starter for Argentina. One of the greatest strikers ever. We have seen everyone from Benedetto, to Meza, to Palacios play instead of him. That’s what a horrible job Argentina coaches have done in the past.

  64. Messi is not playing well. But I am happier that guys like Paredes DePaul, Lautaro, Foyth, Tagliafico, Lo Celso, are performing this well than Messi underperforming.
    If these guys keep doing there thing than there is little to worry about. Only when they don’t it puts great pressure on the older guys.
    What I don’t understand is there are other great players we should have called that didn’t. Pizarro and Rodriguez are not both necessary. DiMaria wasn’t needed either. There are better options and this points to Scaloni player assessment being weak or politics.

    • Maybe it is not wise to talk about players that should have been called, but look at how the presence of Aguero makes Lautaro shine?
      Lautaro very mobile, young and full of stamina compared to the older less energetic Aguero.
      What Aguero brings is ‘EXPERIENCE’ and Lautaro for sure is benefiting from his presence.
      A point that many stressed here for the last year, this is how you transition form one generation to the next. the smart way of transitiong would have been to include
      Mercado as a sub for Saravia as Mercado is a true RB, not a makeshift RB like FOYTH or Casco
      Banega as a sub for Paredes
      and most importantly Ascacibar instead of Pizzaro. I am still baffled at how Scaloni left Ascacibar out of the team.
      now, please don’t twist this as ‘backward’ thinking or ‘old guard obsession’, this is how teams go forward, by injecting experience/competition into their younger ‘generations’ . it is only a discussion for us fans to value what is proper and what is not in staying competitive, rather than working in disarray and have players playing out of position.

      • Sure. SCALONI done some mistake. Mainly in team selection. From the time of announce I am telling that Ascacibar and Lanzini should have been there. He will have his reasons…but Pizarro and Saurez..!

    • from September friendly games till next March that begin the 2022 wc qualify games Scaloni or whoever will be our next coach should start build the team chemistry by use same players.
      he should take in every call up one specific group of players and create a TEAM.
      like every normal national team. that way we will find again our ID.

  66. IMO, there are 2 main disucussions going around after last match vs Venezuela:

    FOYHT vs SARAVIA
    Messi’s performance

    I would like to throw my ‘2 cents’
    FOYTH natural position is a CB, and he is on his way of being one of our best CBs, he can play as a DM somehow better than being a RB, this kid is tough, but reckless, that is not against him in any way, but he is mastering clean tackles as he grows, clean tackles come with experience. against Brazil, I would go with Saravia as he is the true natural RB we Have and the safer option, keep FOYTH as a backup CB or DM. Saravia is a good RB, he is only caught out of position when we press high. against Brazil if we press high, we will be slaughtered. they are fast and have high energy level, they are known to hit their opponents when they run out of energy towards the end of the match. In that case Scaloni needs to use his subs wisely, to keep the stamina and the energy level of our players to at least match the Brazilians and not go into overdrive.

    as for the second discussion, I think WE should not worry that much about Messi, or be disappointed by his ‘not so Messi’ performance !
    He was alright compared to how the match went, and he was just fine, he was not Messi, he played at a lower level of his usual higher level that we are used to . That itself should have been taken as a good sign that he does not carry this team on his shoulders anymore, the players are showing determination and persistence in playing for the shirt, WE all wanted this for years, a team that plays without Messi being involved in every goal. the players are growing out of his shadow, and to my surprise, he is just letting them grow, intentionally maybe !
    I think he is trying to force the players to show that they have what it takes to play without depending on him. He had given up his usual positioning for the benefit of the team. He is more as an AM than a forward now, Aguero/Martinez combo proved lethal for us more than Messi/Aguero combo.

  67. Foyth could cost us dearly …Sarabia is no guarantee either…So please stop walking and just give your best 90 minutes. Even Kun came to defend many times yesterday but NOT Messi!!!

    • Thank you. I’m saying this as a huge Messi fan. What is most frustrating is that Messi is also the best presser I have ever seen when he actually decides to do it, he comes for the ball, and if you don’t give it away you’ll lose possession. He is that relentless, when he actually engages. Instead Venezuelans players close to him had all the time in the world to make any passe they wanted to make. With Brazil in sight I’m sure he’s going to be more motivated. And if he is, Argentina wins.

  68. Don’t know why everyone is after aguero, he was involved in all the goals scored so far was also really good in all the games. What else they want….goals?but being involved for scoring goals is equally important as scoring goals ourselves. Hope same display from kun
    Vamos

    • Those people are blind haters.

      Even if he does great, they focus on 1 or 2 plays and claim that to be his overall performance. It’s asinine. really.

  69. It’s too tough for us. I really hope we can step up our game! Brazil play at home, the referee will be against us, on the paper they are much stronger too.

    I have watched Argentina in the past three decades. Only with Maradona, they over-performed otherwise it has always been the other way round. It’s the mental factor. We have two failed generations in the current team, Messi’s generation and Scaloni, Aimar, Samuel, Ayala’s generation, please learn from your mistakes and lift up the team spirit and tactics. You must learn when you failed, you can’t fail forever like that!

    • In Messi era, Argentina have been stronger than Brazil. Argentina were victorious many times, unfortunately we didn’t meet each other in any competition between 2014-16.

      I think this Argentina side can beat this Brazil. If Messi is at 80% and the rest plays just like Venezuela, Bra can kiss their ass and say good bye to Copa.

      • “In Messi era, Argentina have been stronger than Brazil. Argentina were victorious many times,”

        How many times since 2006, pal? I can count a friendly victory in Qatar 1-0, 1-0 on Sampaoli debut and 4-3 (against their olympic side. u23) and one more if you count the domestic league based SuperClasico 2-1 victory. That’s four in total, FOUR!!!

        Now Brasil victories: 2007 Copa final(their B/C team), 2007 friendly(both 3-0), the WCQs2010( won both or won 1, drawn 1), friendly 2-0 win over Tata’s side, 3-0 drubbing over Bauza in WCQs2018, 1-0 friendly win over Scaloni side. How many now? 6 minimum.

        Argentina were the favourites and the strongest on paper since that time(2006) over Brasil except the Scaloni match and arguably Maradonas/Basiles two matches. And yet they struggled to beat Brasil like they should have done considering the strength and depth (on paper) of the two teams.

        The worst thing of all was the 1-1 draw at home with them in the WCQs when Tata was in charge. Arguably the “worst Brasil” side ever and yet the strong Argentina team with an experienced coach couldn’t beat them. The 2-0 friendly defeat with Tata in charge is the second worst.

          • > Deluded? What if Brasil is 100%?

            If 2 players of equal quality play 100%, outcome is a toss up.

            I think he’s trying to say at both 100%, Messi > Brazil so favor tips our way.

          • I don’t rate this Brazil team much. If we play compact defensive game and our players perform at their best against Brazil who play at their best, Messi can unbalance the match and win it for us even if he’s at his 80% best.

  70. Scaloni played against Venezuela and lost 3-1. But Scaloni learned from that…now he defeated Venezuela in Copa.

    Scaloni lost to Brazil 1-0 with Neymar. Hope he learned from that as well and prepare team accordingly to beat Brazil.

    For me, first goal is so important against Brazil. When they score first…they will go extra gear in this match. When Argentina score, Brazil will be panic and more chances will open up for Argentina.

  71. “madness is ARGENTINA having arguably the best footballer in history who plays and played on a team with others, like Kun, Tevez, Higuian, Di Maria, Dybala, Icardi………………………etc and never won anything……nm WC finals when they should have won and two back to back Copas to the same INFERIOR Fucking Chileans……who failed to qualify for the last WC who now think they’re invincible.

    THAT is madness, HIRE a PROPER coach and enough stupidity and nonsense already.”

    @dfox1942
    “etc and never won anything……nm WC finals when they should have won and two back to back Copas to the same INFERIOR Fucking Chileans……”

    Well Dfox, who coached during that period?!

    • Tata and Sabella…………so coaching should go backward instead of forward?

      So they go from Bauza to Sampaoli to Scaloni!?

      I don’t know what exactly some people want to happen, keep Scaloni on and hope he improves the team instead of hiring a proper coach that knows how to run a team already instead of learning on the job.

      • Dfox
        You say they didn’t win anything and yet you want them or coaches like them back. Sabella did a great job, but he didn’t win anything, but we lost to a better team, infact the best team in the tournament, the favourites, he did what he could do. Unfortunately his players couldn’t take the golden oppurtunities they were offered.

        But in Tata’s case, as you’ve pointed out we lost to an INFERIOR side! We were miles better than them on paper. But we still failed. Not once but TWICE in a row! In tactical point of view and preparation, the execution of plan and motivation of players , Tata “a PROPER COACH” was a complete failure. I know he’s your favourite, but you said that yourself.

        Since 2000s, we’ve had proper experienced coaches and some of their teams played scintillating football but none of them managed to win anything. At the final hurdle, their teams choke. Most of them due to naivety I must say.

        I’m not saying we’ve to appoint/continue with an inexperienced coach for the sake of it, No, absolutely not. But the circumstances particularly with the AFA, it’s the only realistic option. Considering that and the record of “experienced proper coaches” over the last two decades, why not Scaloni?

        And btw, who’s in your mind as a proper coach who should be the National Team Head Coach? And who in their right mind is gonna take the job right now? Realistically…

        • Tata was never my favorite nor did I want him back but I mentioned how he helped Atlanta Untied win a championship in only their 2nd year of existence and now undefeated in Mexico. He refused to infuse the new with the old, sticking to the formula that got ARG to the final and just sat on it and that was his downfall.

          I said the following 3 times already on this forum and here comes the 4th, Sampaoli should have been hired the second he left shitty-chile, instead AFA messed around wasting a whole year with bauza and maybe just maybe he would have done something positive instead of the disaster he created.
          Pekerman would come running for job and yes I know i know what happened but how long are we going to relive the past.
          Gallardo is another option many mentioned.
          I know the options are very limited especially with no money but something has to be done and waiting to see whether this experiment succeeds or not is not an option in my opinion.

          • “Tata was never my favorite”- My bad, I must have mistaken, I take it back. Wasn’t meant to offend you.

            Regarding Sampaoli-Bauza:
            “instead AFA messed around wasting a whole year with bauza”
            —First of all “the mess” was created by Tata Martino, not Bauza.

            Second, Bauza is not a rookie or a novice or an ordinary coach like you imply, is he? He comes with huge reputation. He’s a proper coach. Infact, he was named as one of the best 50 managers in the world at that moment in Sao Paulo by “the Guardian” if I’m correct.

            Third,Bauza was thrown into pressure cooker games from the start, no friendlies for him to warm up.

            “I know the options are very limited especially with no money but something has to be done and waiting to see whether this experiment succeeds or not is not an option in my opinion.”

            I would like very much to see this experimentation continue and hopefully succeed or even fail rather than watching AFA appoint expereinced coaches with pedigree and dance to the tune of media and fans and does the same thing as his predecessors and fail during a short period of time and the same media and fans turn against him once they hailed and eventually gets kicked out. Fed up of that cycle.

  72. Another “TEAM” performance, another “heart and desire”,giving their 100% performance! Credit to Scaloni-Aimar-Samuel-Ayala and all the players. They gave everything for that shirt, which is a rarity in Argentina colours over the last two decades. Kudos to everyone.

    And second of all- we’re winning and doing all this stuff without having Leo to carry us on his back! That’s a HUUUUGEEE positive! A miracle! No experienced coach was able to make that happen and “a rookie, a novice” is making it happen! I’m not getting carried away but as I’ve said before, all the sparks are there.

    Brasil are huge favourites , atleast on paper: they have the best team/squad in this tournament. No one comes closer in that aspect. Their creative play that was on fire during the Tite honeymoon period has come stuck. But still they have enough, we all know their capability as they’ve shown during that period. However their defence looks unbreachable. Nobody even gets close to testing Alisson, never mind scoring.

    Argentina just have to do what they did in the Clasico 6-7 months ago albeit with more aggressive tackling and tactical fouling with more caution(ie, withing legal boundary) and frustrate the Brasilians as much as they can. To their limit. And ofcourse take the 1 or two or how many chances you get down the other end, ruthless like never before.

    PS: Argentine media and some fans at it again. We all wanted to see a “TEAM” peformance and anyone but Messi to step up and finally we got it and yet they’re moaning: Messi didn’t do that, Messi sang the anthem, blah blah blah… You can never please those guys as it seems. Always moaning and bitching. Even if the team shows promise and does well.

  73. Saravia might look like a safer option on paper but his positioning has been really poor so far in this competition. He doesn’t look any where close to the player that shut out Neymar!! If someone is constantly out of position , obviously he is going to look like a safer option because he is no where near the ball,which means Paredes will always have hold back to cover him, disrupting our flow!! Additionally, his crossing and offensive skills are next to nothing and on top of that he lacks the skills of making good tackles like Foyth. If it was Saravia yesteday as our RB, Venezuelans would have breeze passed him numerous times, putting extra pressure on the rest of the back-line who are finally starting to show some kind chemistry. Foyth is unpredictable but he is faster and more talented than Saravia on every aspect. Moreover Scaloni is not using him as an out and out RB but more like a third CB. Yes , playing Foyth against Brasil will be a big gamble but playing Saravia means destabilizing and weakening the whole team!!

    • When Saravia joined this squad for Copa..the very first day Scaloni said…he’s not in good condition. Still he got two chances. But nowhere near his actual level. Casco also didn’t do well. So Scaloni forced to try Foyth. It was a success. But there is a risk. Foyth and Otamendi are players..who can give away penalties…or free kicks in dangerous area any time in a match. They take risk.

    • Saravia is RB.
      Foyth is not.

      Foyth tackle most of times in the limit of yellow card.
      against Brasil the most possible is with the first tackle to take yellow card and with the second red card or make penalty.

      no, no more gamble. no more idiotic moves out of football logic.
      Saravia is not in condition he was some months before sure.
      just he is much better than Foyth anyway.

      Foyth weakening entire right side not Saravia.
      RB players should play in their positions as CB players should play in their positions.
      this is the normal and logic in football.

      not to make idiotic changes to pretend that you are “smart coach”.

      • @Cox4 Too harsh on a 20/21 year old kid Cox. Yeah I agree he’s a bit too rash at times, but he’s only 21. If you fear the kid, then what about the experienced Otamendi? The guy ,young player should look upto and learn from?!

        It’s not Scaloni to make a name for himself as a “master tactician or smart coach” by deploying Foyth a traditional centre half as a fullback. It was for the team, for what was the best for that game, although it was a gamble.

        And also it’s normal for the coaches/managers to deploy young centre halfs as fullbacks in their early days particularly in the senior team. It’s not stupid or weird and it’s totally logical for me.

        • just to make clear myself. i don t intend to attack to the kid. that kid is our future CB. i am speaking about now. the present.

          if we suppose to use him he should play in his position.
          you don t think my friend that it will not be fair to the kid to take all the blame of one possible failure?

          except that other thing to take one DM and use him as CB and other thing to take one CB to use him as RB.

          it is not mach those things.
          i am strongly against of use Foyth as RB.
          i am not against the kid or against use the kid at his normal position.

      • Cox, Foyth has played RB at Spurs. He was “man of the match” 2 times when he played RB against Manchester City and West Ham. He also played RB in Champions league against Ajax and did really well.

        The problem i have is that Foyth is risky as hell. (those 2 fouls were very lucky)

        For performance, i thought he tackled well and did a good job of neutralizing attacking down the wings. Brazil will be very tricky because they will put 1-2s down the wings easily and they are very fast. Scaloni has to be very careful whether its saravia or foyth to not push them up to wings too much.

        • ” Brazil will be very tricky because they will put 1-2s down the wings easily and they are very fast. Scaloni has to be very careful whether its saravia or foyth to not push them up to wings too much.”

          I am almost certain that Scaloni will do just that. pushing them forward and higher up the pitch will def. leave us exposed at the back. I am expecting him to play defensively for the major parts of the game and save our forwards energy for counter attacking, and count on
          De Paul/DiMaria/Locelso/Messi/Martinez/Aguero up front to force Brazilian defense on committing mistakes in their half. Our forwards are working hard at being ‘defensive forwards’

  74. With Brazil we should have plan how to play. Specifically when we attack. Playing long ball would not work. I don’t know about you guys but I feel we still lack of a plan when we attack. We still missing basic when we attack to open opposition. Hopefully Brazil will play an open game. I really want even more link up play,1-2 between Messi-Kun-Lautaro. Hopefully team gets better and better in next game.

  75. • Scaloni’s substitutes the last two games have been on point!! Hats off to him from someone whom is not a fan.
    Dimaria and locelso combined to score that second goal against Venezuela between the defensive pressure and good positioning on the rebound .. and dybala assisted aguero against Qatar and locelso help control midfield…

    • we got a lot of defensive practice against Venezuela for the Brazil game… defense wins championships and our offense is lightning quick with aguero and Martinez up top!

    •Argentina is like Portugal in Euro Championships…rather win ugly than lose pretty!!

  76. The only chance vs brazil is make the field as small as possible and destroy their rhythm. It should be rugby game. Limited space and clutter midfield and 11 players defending like a unit. We have to slow hem down and take our odd chances or play for PK

    • i agree with you 100$
      we will try to do it as we did in 1990.
      as you said we should play close meters our lines and try keep the rhythm slow.

      take time and sure we will find one chance in counter with Diego (Messi ) give the ball to Cannigia ( Aguero or Lautaro) to score.

    • Venezuela had 60% possession and Brazil are FAR better at it than they are. We we’re not effective at closing down and leaving limited space against Venezuela let alone Brazil. If we chase the ball against Brazil, we’ll burn out quickly. We just need to stay compact and behind the ball at all times and counter attack (or as Scaloni prefers, build up slowly starting off from GK or Ota)

  77. our problem still remain same. our poor defense.
    we didn t improve. we just played with less quality teams.
    that is why it look like we cover that.

    i don t try fool myself.
    we can t do something about that now.
    so against one fast team we should play more defensive.

    so put Saravia in place of Foyth and the rest 10 same with last game.
    Saravia is maybe not the best RB in world but he is RB.
    something that Foyth is not.
    we can t risk to use him to give 1 or 2 penalty kicks to Brasil or take red card.

    that kid is our future for CB but now he is not ready yet to be starter in his position.
    how much more to one other position (RB) which is not his normal position.

  78. i must say next match is very important for scaloni . those two win vs qatar and Venezuela is a must and not impressive at all .At the same time we lost to colombia and draw with paraguay ,so if we cant beat strong team .it is meaningless .

    frankly vs Venezuela,argentina looks like A madrid playing counter attack rather than possession football .That is very different from the past ,we need to test it when playing with strong team like brazil. IF we win no matter what happen in final ,i support scaloni otherwise he should be fired ASAP.

  79. I think Scaloni has achieved his target of taking Argentina to Semi final….

    I am sure, he is going to screw up in Subs against Brazil..so am happy with Argentina making to Semi’s which is a good progress..

  80. The result is fantastic but the overall squad “progress” gives me the most confidence. Every game, we’re improving.

    Aguero – Martinez
    Messi
    Acuna – Paredes – De Paul
    Tagliafico – Ota – Pezz – Foyth
    Armani

    Subs: Lo Celso, Dybala, Di Maria. Saravia

    We also have great depth quality. I have not see this in a while but our bench are capable of improving the starting players.

  81. One thing is certain. Whatever good we hear now about Scaloni from new converted for him Argentina fans, all that will be gone in no time if we lose against Brazil. And those who now say good things about his last decisions will claim he never did one thing good.

    • I stated before and I say it again, AFA should find a PROPER/ABLE/PROVEN coach EVEN IF ARG WINS COPA as soon as the competition is over.
      Qualifiers will start soon, HIRE HIM ASAP instead of 2 years from now when everything has gone to shit and them running around like a chicken with its head cut off, desperate for wins!!

      • Don’t expect AFA will throw a manager who wins Copa. That’s pure madness.
        A manager who won a cup for NT after several years…and throw him by saying you don’t have identity…and then get another one…who have identity and can’t assure a trophy…!
        If it’s not madness what is….!

        • madness is ARGENTINA having arguably the best footballer in history who plays and played on a team with others, like Kun, Tevez, Higuian, Di Maria, Dybala, Icardi………………………etc and never won anything……nm WC finals when they should have won and two back to back Copas to the same INFERIOR Fucking Chileans……who failed to qualify for the last WC who now think they’re invincible.

          THAT is madness, HIRE a PROPER coach and enough stupidity and nonsense already.

    • then i will make clear myself from now that i want Scaloni fired after Copa.
      just because we beat Qatar and Venezuela does not mean that this person is quality coach.
      i don t have short memory.

    • Initially his players choices were wrong and no tactics was defined before this copa. Players were distant and not helping each other much. But now he knows how to fix his mistakes with some old methods used by other coaches and other teams. It’s a little bit luck too. We still need another coach after that even though I said he did the right thing on the last 2 games.

      • Just to be FAIR to the guy:
        Some players are missing due to injury or whatever.
        This group of players only got to play in an actual game together in Copa, disregard their last and only friendly, chemistry what chemistry, nonexistent.
        Brunt of criticism should fall on the AFA not him, close your eyes and shoot, hoping to hit something was their strategy!! they knew who they put in charge of the team.
        THIS IS ARGENTINA not just some unknown club or country just getting into football, A PROPER COACH SHOULD BE A GIVEN, not a luxury.

    • beating qatar and Venezuela is not that big deal when you lost to colombia and draw with paraguay at the same time. I will support scaloni only if argentina can beat strong team such as brazil .

      next match is very important not only for argentina but for scaloni. If we beat brazil ,okay let him continue otherwise he should be fired! just look at two wins vs qatar and Venezuela, we are not that impressive at all .

    • No, as Cox4 and Dfox1942 point out. Most of us don’t have short term memories.

      Scaloni et al really fucked up with all that wasted time. Endless player selection madness and formation changes at the expense of developing Chemistry, a System, and the core 11 until 10 days prior to 1st Copa game is unforgivable. He should be criticised for that dumbass decision but at the same time, he should also be praised if he does well.

      Even still, we can all see his limitations and Gallardo or Tata level coaches are needed for the for the WC.

    • At the end of the day it is often hard to discern what is coach part of blame for a lost and what part falls to individual players. The same with merit for every win.

      I just wanted to provoke such declarations of consequence you guys wrote above. Not a big enthusiast of Scaloni now unless he really can learn some new things with the time.

      Also didn’t surprised the members who declared here any assertive and consistent opinion are the members which names are mostly more familiar on Mundo at least during last months. Many of those every-tournament-newcomers who are not going to stay here longer may throw every possible judgement – it’s ease if you can left the site anytime.

  82. It is clear and clear now Scaloni don’t have a particular tactic. Neither possession based nor Counter attack. It’s just go along with the flow tactic. Whatever it is it’s just working, somehow we r scoring scrappy goals. It’s OK if it’s working.

    Foyth did Gud as per me. Even though he didn’t get forward at all. He did well defensively even in the later stages of the match 1 or 2 times he was beaten but that’s OK. I don’t think Saravia or Casco could have done better for us. So as of now it’s working.

    Brazil will be tough to beat. They r in their home soil. It’s always hard to beat them at home. Our only hope is like I said above. Score 1 or 2 Scrappy goals. Just hope something clicks for us. We r inferior team here. May be element of surprise will work for us. Neither Messi will save us too. He is not looking in Gud touch. Which I m seeing from him after long time.

    Anyway all the best.

    Off the topic. Is it me nowadays most of the Goal keepers r making school boy errors, for some reason its happening to every Goal keepers out there. It’s a tough position.

  84. I am glad Scaloni and his team(Aimar, Sameul and Ayala) are not stubborn like their predecessors and are willing to accept mistakes and make changes accordingly. I have turned into a big Scaloni hater but you have to give credit when credit is due. Perfect team selection, good substitutions,long aerial passes, threatening crosses and everyone including Messi pressing to dispossess the opposition has worked wonders!! As someone has mentioned here, we fielded all European players yesterday except our GK. We have plenty of friends here who would like to see the local players get more opportunity but you got to understand there is a reason these players have been stuck in local league forever. European clubs have scouts who are extremely good in analyzing players’ potential. It’s not like we don’t have any good player playing in domestic league, our sure shot starter Palacios injury has been a big loss for us but we wasted 4 important spots by picking dead weight average players like Suarez ,Casco and 2 Guidos, most of them were picked based on the performance of one game.

    Argentina are known to start every competition with a bang and then slowly our form and manager’s thinking ability goes south and we are knocked out in quaters!! This time it’s the opposite. Yesterday,we were in full control of the match except for 15 mins(55 to 70) and when we scored the 2nd it was all over!! But it was to be expected. In the second half Scaloni’s strategy was to sit back and defend and hit them on counters and that is why it looked like Venezuela was better than us in that short period but his strategy paid dividend and Lo-celso scored. Some of you blamed Aguero, he instead of passing to Locelso went for the goal , but you guys did not notice Aguero’s first touch was very poor which made it hard to pass it to Lo-celso, but nevertheless we scored. Our man (player of the tournament) De-paul , created so many chances out of now where but we could only capitalize on few of them. We have been wasting Acuna by playing him as a full back all this time. I have been really impressed by him in these last two games, what a player this guy is. A perfect winger!! As our Granpa “El Principe ” has mentioned, Dimaria should only be used a forward and nothing more, he looked extremely comfortable taking shots at the goal yesterday. However, he should still be behind Dybala in pecking order. Paredes is finally starting to come out of his shell and is displaying his usual game , providing extremely effective long passes. The player we are missing the most is the pit-bull Battaglia. His return will further strengthen our midfield.

    Foyth , what a fearless defender he is!! He doesn’t shy away from making risky tackles inside the box and got most of them dead right. However, Venezuela tried to capitalize on this impulsive attitude of his . One wrong move inside the box and it would have resulted in a penalty!! Nevertheless he was five times more effective than Saravia. Argentina has already found it’s another great striker and perfect replacement for kun, Lautaro Martinez!! His work rate of a horse and pressing to disposes opposition made the life of our mid field so much easy. Seems like Messi has caught Dimaria’s contagious disease . He is not able to deliver the final ball for some reason. Our every opposition are applying the same technique on Messi, don’t let that man have the ball more than couple of seconds or he will create something out of nothing and it’s clearly working. In frustration, he is trying to dribble pass defenders but they are fouling him and not letting him through. But Messi is Messi he will figure something out!! Confidence is key , and after that Penalty save Armani’s confidence has sky rocketed. He has been extremely good in air and doesn’t make us feel insecure anymore!!

    Now we meet our biggest nemesis in the semi final, Brasil. I hope that our management will not get intimidated and make stupid changes by playing average players like 2 Guidos or Suarez or even Saravia in the sake of making our team defensively more stronger. Yes, Tite will try to get his players to draw a foul from impetuous Foyth inside the box but it’s our coaching staff’s job to mentally prepare Foyth for that. It doesn’t matter how inconsistent Brazil has been so far, when they meet us even their average player will put in 200 % extra effort against us !! Finally, it is the biggest test of Scaloni, Aimar, Samuel and Ayala’s coaching career. They are up against a very smart manager Tite, and it will need something special to out smart that man. Let us all pray that we continue our winning run and defeat Brasil!! Vamos Argentina!!

  85. For our sake this is probably the best version of Brazil we could hope to face. They are streaky, without a clear leader, and vulnerable when under increasing pressure. We’ll be the best team they have faced all tournament, and I think we’re rising at the right time. Let us be underdogs, that’s fine. Even if our defense continues to be a liability, they will have experienced a confidence boost after having kept two consecutive shutouts. The same can be said about our attacking line, now having scored 3 goals that weren’t from Messi. In all likelihood I imagine Scaloni will put out the same starting 11, even if there is some merit to adding another CDM like some people have said. Our quality is rising, and I expect Messi to take it to another level, now facing a team that offers more competition. Vamos.

  86. We won but that shouldn’t get in our heads. Hopefully the looming presence of Brazil keeps Argentina on their feet and motivates them to work even harder to achieve their dream!

  87. One thing to be remembered and keep in mind, don’t get to over joy with the 2 wins; dreams is a must as life will be dull without hopes and dreams. However we can’t neglect history of Arg journey in football arena since last decade and how we got some weird coach who over confidence with experimental strategy and their own unique game plan without the sense of adjusting the right and available player. Although it looks like at the moment the team are growing and get more cohesive , well balanced and every body are more concern and do their best to learned and erase the previous error.

    Keep the feet on the ground and trust that luck will be at our side this time.

  89. I think Guido R should start this game over Acuna for some solidness at the base of midfield but everything else should stay the same. Acuna and Dybala should 100% be subbed on later for De Paul or Gudo R and either Aguero or Lautaro and either Lo Celso, Di Maria or Saravia should be the third sub depending on how Foyth and Aguero are playing. Paredes IMO will get over run by the Brazillian midfield, although he has been Argentinas best player so far.

    • Honestly Acuña did good work yesterday. He won us the ball a lot and gave us pace on the left wing. He gave good support during counterattacks.

      • But imagine that extra energy against tired legs towards the end of the game. He will be a almost definite impact off the bench so would Dybala.

  90. I have always said putting Dybala and Lo Celso on the bench doesn’t mean not to use them. I am happy that Scaloni executed what I thought is the best for the team: asking Aguero and Lautaro to do at their maximum during 60 minutes, and then give playing time to Lo Celso and Dybala. In any case, you got to use all players at their max of their potential. There are in total 5 great players in attack and we should use all of them.

  91. For once, Scaloni did the right thing against Venezuela. Lo Celso is obviously the best midfielder but he has the ball to put him on the bench. He realized finally that he need a box to box for the balance and Acuna can bring that to the team, give more balance on the left as well. De Paul has been efficiently used, even better than at his club. He is not happy with Guido Rodriguez and Pizarro so he stuck with Paredes, and try to fix things with other players. It’s also a good idea to use Foyth as the right fullback, always good to have a fullback able to play as CB, most of the winning team plays like this(Argentina and Germany in 2014, Spain in 2010, France in 2018).

  92. I am very happy, as all fans. Now to beat Brazil, in my opinion, the key is their defense Marquinhos-Thiago Silva, those 2 guys play for PSG and we know how bad they have been against big teams in Champions League. I observed that this Thiago Silva tend to drop too deep in order to play safe. Marquinhos tends to press higher and that always created some gap. They are weak psychologically. If Aguero and Lautaro continue to put the same effort, then I believe we can score not only 1 but several goals. Just look at PSG-Manchester, 0 opportunity and 3 goals against PSG. If we can score the 1st one, should be more to come.

  93. Finally Argentina reached semis of Copa 2019 and If Scaloni manages to outdo Brazils’ Tite and makes Argentina NT reach final of copa 2019 then his contract hopefully is extended till WC 2022 because stable environment is needed in ARGENTINA NT which was not available since Sabella left nothing would be accomplished by every time changing coaches atleast Scaloni is not arrogant like Sampaoli(Respect him beacuse he left his high pay job at sevilla fc to join NT),Martino(when he coached Argentina NT no idea how he is at Mexico NT), and Bauza and Scaloni knows when to compromise with playing style he prioritizes victory rather than which style the team plays which is good and Scaloni learns from his mistakes the same starting 11 (against Venezuela) is good enough against Brazil only change that would be good is Guido rodriguez instead of acuna or giovani lo celso( who can come later as substitutes )

    • this is not any big accomplishment for Argentina.
      win cups or at least reach finals can be counted as success for Argentina.

      • If you compare it to pass achievement then even reaching final isnt really a success since Argentina has won this tournament 14 times and has been runner up 14 times. Argentina reached the final 28 times in 46 Copa and has been in 4 finals in last 5 editions. If that’s the standard, then only winning this tournament can be considered as a success.

        However, you look at the team condition prior to this tournament, we’re in transition period with new manager who tried out 60+ different players in friendlies, failing to win our first 2 games in this tournament…beating Brazil and reaching a final would feels like its already more than victorious campaign.

  96. As I told before we have to stick to this selection now…

    Only change for me is still Lo Celso over Acuña… I love this kid Lo Celso is our best midfielder

    And about Lautaro I was hoping for him to be good. And now he is totally smashing it… He is awesome a real striker. Exactly what Messi needed…

    We can’t compare Barca Messi with Arg Messi. He plays a different role in our NT. Providing space for the midfielders and Strikers finally it works now

    I’m very happy but Brazil is gonna be a hell if a match

    vamos

  98. Yes, the team are more comfortable, the atmosphere are great and the spirit are rising so everybody are heading ahead for another el classico game with full head ups. Let’s not to worry about the level and standard of Messi, pretty sure Messi will regain his form and do magics especially in the important game like this; Argentina are playing as a team now which is a great achievement on this last 2 games. Just hope that Scaloni did arrange a right game plan with fit starting Xi and the subs. The games are more about physically and better strategy with the individual talents and magics. The game of the tournament !

    Kun and Lautoro will be the starter with Di Maria and Dybala as a replacement is the best applied game plan so far. With Messi playing as engance a true #10 we have a deadly striker up front, The team are more balanced now with the support in the mid of De Paul, Acuna and Parades or Lo Celso. With 4 defence Tag,Pezzela,Ota and Saravia and GK Armani. Arg can put the steps in the final. Good Luck

  99. Remembering 1990 WC prequaterfinal match. Argentina dragged themselves similarly into the knockout. Brazil came in as favourites & dominated the match . Luckily no goals hit & finally in the 81st minute , 4-5 seconds of magic from Maradona & a cool finish by Cannigia.
    While Brazil is the favorite again this time , with the GOAT in our side we maybe singing ” Brasil, decime qué se siente, tener en casa tu papa ” at end of match . Our team I believe will play well . Its just about will Messi raise to his known levels that may determine the final result.

  100. This is what I felt after the first group game, – This team would improve and we are improving. But Brazil is still going to be a tough opponent. Even if we lose that game, I hope AFA will stick with this group and allow them time to grow further. We had many glimpses of excellent team play in this game, which gives me lots of hope for the future. With better pitches, this team might make passing moves reminiscent of the 2006 WC team.

    Scaloni’s big problem would be to find alternate players for resting/injury with ones like Paredes, Tagliafico..
    Using Foyth as a RB is a good decision, but but.. he seems to be kind of Sergio Ramos, might gift a red or penalty any time. However, even with a CB as RB, our defence is not giving us confidence. Hopefully we improve.
    Aguero – glad for him. This is his best he has played for NT in long time, working really hard.

    Fnally a word on Messi. So many here seems to be kind of negative about him. Of course he does not look like anywhere near his best. But friends, have you seen him live. His presence alone gives nightmares to the opposition defence. I was lucky to witness their nervousness and trembling live, even when he was playing at 40% fitness, and that was incredible.
    He is playing kind of enganche and this is definitely giving more spaces for Lautaro and Aguero. It was crystal clear yesterday. Its been long long time that our strikers saw that kind of space. And Messi is not just waiting for ball like CR7 in the box. He and Paredes are the reason why our midfield is moving forwards. I dont care at all, if he score or not. Finally, he seems to have got a team around him. This group will work for us, if not in this tournament, may be in the next.
    De Maria looked motivated yesterday, but still hes not the future.
    Hope we have a wonderful day on the 3rd..

    • Foyth showed against Paraguay & Venezuela that he could deal with opponent physical strength and won. We should let him play & improve his game, he’s still very young and player of their age can easily run for 90 minutes… that alone is an adventage.

      I dont care if he could risk himself a booking because defensive players are always prone to that no matter how good they’re. Masche earned alot of bookings, he even got sent off in 2011 Copa quarterfinal, in case anyone forgot.

      More extreme examples would be Ramos and Materazzi. You only need to look at their achievement, they’re great defenders regardless their recklessness.

  101. I would love to add guido into the line up against brazil to add some muscle in the middle but disturbing the chemistry of the 1-2 trident is probably not worth it anymore since that’s where the sacrifice would have to come from. So I suppose the questions again are locelso vs acuna and saravia v foyth since the rest of 11 is set now.

    Acuna’s game was as per my expectation yesterday and though I don’t have complaints I might like to see LoCelso against brazil. I really don’t want arthur and casemiro outnumbering parades in this one and locelso in the middle would be useful against that. we would have to sacrifice left side penetration but I think I have confidence in tagliafico pocketing jesus or richarlison.

    saravia vs foyth is such a tough decision. a learning on the job center back or a full time right back versus felipe luis/everton/coutinho drifting to his favored position. They are going to throw a lot of overlaps and 1-2’s against whoever is the right back. I suppose the coaching staff has confidence with foyth. But as someone rightly observed in other thread his first step and anticipation is not of a true full back yet. Saravia is Saravia, he will push up but might get caught. I don’t know, every second I flip flop on this one.

    Whatever is the 11 the plan should be obvious. Venezuela/Paraguay vs Brazil on one hand and Peru v Brazil on the other shows the template is clear. Even our match in Saudi Arabia against them shows it. If you pack the middle against them and suck out room they do not actually have the creativity to unlock you without neymar. As long as you don’t allow any of their wingers to stretch their legs at you from the outside its fine. Pick and choose the press, do not go 100% for 90 minutes and Aguero would have to play out of his mind again adding to the 4-3 block. Even juan pablo sorin showed this on telemundo. if your block is tight in zone 5 they have trouble breaking you. Scaloni grew up as a video analyst. I think it will be obvious to him.

  103. pezzella and otamendi solid partnership.
    Love taglafiaco he will never let you down
    Foyth well done kid Armani keep proving
    Why scaloni made me first choice goalie
    The reason I’m mention this
    They will be key to our victory against
    The yellow bananas

    • If Aguero and Messi plays at their usual level… Argentina will win against Brazil without much issues. Dybala should be first sub…for Aguero not for Lautaro. Messi with Lautaro and Dybala will be more effective than Aguero as he’s not in form. Just my thought.

      • No, Aguero & Messi play in dominant clubs, they trained everyday & each players knows where & when they have to make a run and always stays compact to provide passing option for each other.

        In comparison, Scolani made an overhaul of the veterans once he took charge. He tried 60 players and didnt even find the right combination until these past 2 games. In fact, Messi & Aguero only played 1-2 games prior to this tournament, so expecting them to play at same level is impossible. However Aguero has showed his killer instinct in last 2 games, hopefully Messi also will against Brazil.

        • Come-on man…team chemistry is one thing…but agree they perform way below their level. You watch from the first Copa match. Take out their mistake by team understanding…then check their performance. They are not on same level of their usual.

          • “team chemistry is one thing…but agree they perform way below their level”

            this is true. You can’t explain this Messi presence by chemistry itself

            Messi barely exist in the tournament. Aguero keeps solid level. As far as the team progress we may aside asks about his goals he could have scored more (as big European goalscorer) but generally he is the only old guard player who defends himself so far.

    • role to play in all five goals so far.
      drag and cut back for penalty, pressure on defender for qatar first, scoring qatar second, (mistimed) assist for el taco finish, shot at keeper for rebound goal.

      • Agree. Don’t think Dybala can’t do better. Aguero and Messi still didn’t reach their level. Real Aguero would have scored more goals already.

        • I don’t know what these guys are talking 😐what should messi do tell me.. he is playing in deeper role.. look at where is he playing very deep.. in first two matches Argentina played only two CF how many chances did they get..they didn’t even get any clear chance..midfield couldn’t provide service for CF then in Qatar match Messi drop to the deep and connect with midfield and creat so many chances for CF..how many chances messi created for Aguero and Lautaro they didn’t converted..if Messi get a services like that he would be top scorer..

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