Lionel MESSI, Sergio AGUERO, Paulo DYBALA start for Argentina

By
Roy Nemer
-
162

Paulo DYBALA gets his first Copa America start for Argentina alongside Lionel MESSI and Sergio AGUERO.

Argentina will line-up with an attacking three which also sees Gio LO CELSO back in midfield against Chile. Here’s the starting eleven.

ARMANI; FOYTH, PEZZELLA, OTAMENDI, TAGLIAFICO; DE PAUL, PAREDES, LO CELSO; MESSI, AGUERO, DYBALA

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162 Comments

  2. I agree with almost everything you say Dfox, but no, no respect to the dirty, shitty yellow team at all, no respect to those dirty thieves, as it was not the first time they did what they did in this copa and you know it! Still trying to remember at least a difficult, not even a “group of death” group that they were drew in a big tournament, even the groups that they drew with are always the easiest ones.

    I hate these cocksuckers, filthy cheaters as much as you hate Chileans and i have no respect for pathetik thieves!

    • Sorry…please i hate Brazil with all of my heart, but in WC 18 (Switzerland, Serbia) WC14 (Croatia, Mexico) WC 10 (Portugal, Ivory Coast) WC 2006 (Croatia, Australia, Japan) were not easy groups, rather strong.

      • Maybe not group of death like argentine groups in 2002, in 2006 or in 2018 the strongest groups of these tournaments, but strong. Our groups in 2010 and in 14 were rather weak, be realistic.

  3. I hope this is the last we see of the following players while building on the others.
    Casco, Suarez, DiMaria, Otamendi, both Guido’s, Perreyra. In the case of Otamendi and DiMaria, I respect what they did for us in the past but they have nothing left in the tank and I can pretty much assure you this will be their last year in a big club. The others never were good enough players. A guy like Montiel or Barco would have gained lots of experience as a sub in a tournament like this even if he was given a few minutes of match time. Its a shame we wasted it on guys like Casco, DiMaria and Suarez.
    The future is bright as we have some very solid players in midfield and attack coming up even at the U20 level.
    In terms of defense, its a mess. You need a replacement for Otamendi and Foyth needs to go back to central defense. We will see who steps up. I think Montiel is ready now but not sure about Romero.

    • Yep, for Otamendi and Di Maria, this should be it. No more. Way too harsh on Guido Rodriguez, he still has many years left in him, too early to call. Done nothing wrong imo in the only game, ie 70mins he played in this Copa.

      From the u20s – Medina, Ortega would be a good addition in defense and Gaich upfront who gives different options in attack.

      I guess Mammana, Crisitan Romero, Barboza and Licha Martinez will get their chances too.

      And the return of Battaglia, Palacios and Lanzini. And maybe Nacho Fernandez.

  4. A comfortable victory. Another impressive performance, improvement game by game. Kudos to the TEAM! I’d never thought I’d see something like this from Argentina ever in my life. Yes, there are still flaws and room for improvement but can’t close your eyes to what you’re witnessing. The heart and desire, the character and spirit shown by every one them… Proud of the lads, they have my respect and I guess their nation as well too.

    If you’ve to pick the top performers in this tournament(Argentina perspective), I’d go with:
    1. De Paul – arguably our best player of the tournament
    2. Lautaro- he was a warrior, true Argentine
    3. Paredes- kept on improving game by game. Bossed the midfield. Excellent technically. Those who see him as a defensive midfielder are the only ones who may have an issue with him.
    4. Foyth- reckless at times(who isn’t at that age), but was very impressive
    5. Armani- people throwing shit at him rather harshly, and irrationally and he showed great character and spirit to silencing all that trash talkers, a reliable presence at the back . He had nothing much to do, but was equal to everything when called upon to action.

    Dybala’s flashes of brilliance( promising aspect) and Lo Celso although he couldn’t bring his A game but was effective and played for the team. And last but not least Kun Aguero. Certainly his quality didn’t show up as of his City’s displays( no surprise there, we’ve seen that before), but the heart and desire he put in for that shirt should never be forgotten. Though I don’t like him,I admire him for that. Well done Kun.

    And finally, the Messi-dependencia is beginning to vanish. With or without Messi each and every one of them, will give their everything and deliver, they’ve proven it.

    We did all these without a defensive midfielder and defensive minded players in our first team. That’s huge. That emphasizes this “TEAM” and their “Team Spirit” even more. Before you come up with the defensive midfield theory and thats why we lost against Brasil, you need to think again: We’ve fielded defensive midfielders and packed defensive minded players at times and still could’nt do shit against the worst of worst Brasil teams, so give that thing a break. But that doesn’t mean ,you’ve to avoid using defensive midfielders/destroyers, No. What I’m saying is no more one-dimensional destroyers such as Mascherano.

    Scaloni, Samuel, Aimar and Ayala, well and truly deserve to continue lloking at the teams progress and what they’ve instilled in this group so many of the predecesors failed to achieve. They’ve earned their right.(We’ve discussed all the scenarios before so please don’t come up with the corny stuff).

  5. I was hoping the team would gel and play better as the tournament progressed, which was really natural since all the other teams have been doing that for years except ARG, always the odd one out.

    NOTICE>>> Messi was feeling it and relaxed, New Flash ARGENTINA>>> YOU WANT MESSI TO PLAY? get your shit together from coaching to player selection to the damn water boy.

    Oooouuuuhhhhhhh Walter Samuel was HOT, did you see the glare he gave the REF. THAT’S WHAT WE WANT DAMNIT

    • Copa 83, 87, 89, 97, 99 (ok these 2 were B teams) were worse, with Batista in 11 too…at home…WC 18 too with an idiot coach, Scaloni at least not an idiot…and WC 2010 team was a joke cause of Maradona too

      • No way. The 97 Copa went out only because of a handball that Brazil got away with. 99 got beat by a competent Brazil side. I’m not talking about results. But talent wise, this is the worst Argentina team since 77

        • That handball was in 95…talent wise? A lot of genial attacking talent (Dybala, Lautaro, Aguero, ADM, Messi…Icardi…a lot of talented younger midfielder….the defense is weaker yes)

  7. Red card was asinine. Glad Messi bailed and didn’t show for the bronze medal. Fuck giving conmebol more messi press opportunities

    • Without dirty referees we may get chance for silver or gold. And they even want to give bronze to Peru! Why everyone got VAR but not Arg?! Totally agree with you. Hope more press publicise this.

  8. This team has a future. I see a team with fighting spirit. Congratulations!!!
    However, I truly think we still need Messi. Today, La Pulga on his bad day is still the best Argentine player. We need him until that is no more true. Dybala can play forward.

  9. & I think again & again that how dare the son of a bitch Medel has! 4 times he pushed MESSI by his chest! OMG! That Chilean bastard Medel must be crossfired!😎😎

    However, not a bad achivement overall, specially from a region where everything & everybody is against us. It is important that the New Argentina is developing day by day. Go ahead! Vamos! 💪💪

  10. I think the REF. was doing well until the incident between Messi and that cocksucker happened, who in turn was the one who kept bumping Messi and swung at him as well while Messi just lifted his arms. That idiot was getting his 2nd Yellow and the REF. said, hey what the heck Messi too and then it was down hill from there.

    that SHIT team was going to play exactly as they did and being down 2-0 in a flash showed their real colors REAL quick.

    GOOD WIN< Messi was on it and DYBALA FINALLY SCORED FOR ARGENTINA and oh yeah, FUCK YOU CHILE, I HATE THAT FUCKING TEAM LIKE I NEVER HATED ANY OTHER, more so that banana yellow and the the Krauts ……..at least you have respect for these two, but these low-lives………

    • I mean really with you, Brazil or Germany, much respect. But this Chile feels themselves way too much. They think they can play with Argentina but we showed on the pitch that they are overall inferior. They got lucky in those two finals, back to backs, to end up with two rings. They can never beat Argentina otherwise. That cocksucker always a hot head. Messi did not deserve a red, he had his hands way up.
      Anyway, second, second and third the past three Copa. The team is leaving the competition better than when it came in, the progress was there and the move in the right direction. Give it another try next year in Argentina.

  13. We grab the bronze and what is best thing here is that we would only be better. This is ascending unlike descending of recent years.

    Messi finally seems to be just one of players that let other shine. I expect this process to continue.

  15. So NOW the VAR WORKING!!?? AFA or someone has to do something with this BIAS CONMBOEL scandals. It has to solve or do something about it. It is painful. Biggest platform would be Messi keep posting in social media or all the players. Fifa has to investigate about it. Can’t find a word to describe it.

  16. Scaloni injected fighting spirit in this team. Scaloni learns quickly.If he can balance this team…by calling some important players…no need to search for another coach.

  17. Finally we played a few gears higher than normal. A lot of one touch football which brings out the best in some players. Great to see Messi and Dybala link up. Shame that it did not last long because of that stupid card. At least the fighting spirit is back with players like De Paul, Dybala and Foyth.

    Hopefully Messi and Aguero return for the Copa next year. I think both will pass on the friendlies that are coming up next. Barca and City will urge them to skip those games.

    WC 2022 is far away. I would be surprised if Messi and Aguero would take part in the qualifiers. They will be aiming for a Copa victory on home soil next year. What a farewell would that be in his 10th major tournament.

    • “Hopefully Messi and Aguero return for the Copa next year. I think both will pass on the friendlies that are coming up next. Barca and City will urge them to pass those games.”

      I hope they don’t. if they are serious about their NT future they need to show up as much as possible for the friendlies to build the chemistry that is taking shape now. its against the rules to hold back players so its really up to their desire.

  18. I got this from the Brazil team blog

    “The afa/Argentina fans are going to blow up VAR. Chile gets this penalty but Argentina got nothing vs Brazil. I hate Argentina with all my heart but I’m an honest fan. They var should have been used in the Brazil game”

    • Most of these Argentina cards were undeserving.
      They had pointed out from starting…where to shoot.
      The only team improved as the tournament progress. We deserved this trophy.

  20. ok shoot this ref too… how on earth can that be a penalty when the guy has his back to goal even if it’s a foul it’s still not a penalty… and wat on earth was lo celso thinking when he made that play the guy is going away from goal no need to do that at all….. and that messi red card… really???? that needs to be appealed by the AFA. And that sending off affected the players….. such a shame would have been a real thrashing for chile if that hadn’t happened. Hopefully will not be too much chopping and changing of the squad.. but defense and mid really needs more work.

  21. Good game, finally a medal for the young guns. The referee is strict except favoring Chile a bit. Next games we should start all young players, it’s a great way to advertise them to the European continent.

    No teams won without superstars, and we only have a few, which are all strikers and getting too old.

  22. Conmebol doesn’t want Argentina win today. But they couldn’t prevent us winning. Every fall of Chile player a card for Argentina. Where as same like Brazil game… serious foul…no cards for Chile.

    Anybody who still think… Conmebol not against us…is blind.

  24. 3rd place finish for a team that had a high chance of getting knocked out in the group stages before the start

    The two best tactical things scaloni has shown in my view is (a) the strength of the 1-2 trident up front with many possible combination of players and (b) the use of a ball circulating midfielder paredes in the heart of the midfield flanked by a half wing/half midfielder like de paul. the third spot there is open and locelso has a battle on his hands there and that’s good for the team.
    the back line is still the biggest worry. its time to thank otamendi and see who from the youth ranks steps up. the lack of serious width is a concern whether coming from wingers or full backs. as discussed below, with the 1-2 in use it has to come from the FB’s, but without a strong pacy CB duo to give confidence to push the FB’s we have to wait a bit longer to see how this evolves.

  26. This young team on their first tournament together, where many players have not many NT starts, made only one podium step below of the famous generation of recent times. This is good achivement. Scaloni should stay. He is young and open minded. Can learn new things.

      • At the start of the tournament Chile, Columbia, Uruguay, Brazil were stronger than us, Paraguay, Peru and Venezuela not weaker, at the end a much stronger team, but still not better than Columbia or Uruguay or cheater Brazil.

        • Still a lot of work to do, and with Messi and Aguero in friendlies, chemistry between them and younger players is crucial, no more idiot experimenting, De Paul-Paredes-Lo Celso or Palacios (depend of opp and Palacios form and improving)—Messi-Aguero/Dybala-Lautaro…Di Maria as super sub against tired defenses

          • DI Maria? Joke. Waste of place. We need to invest in youth on the position.

            Also Dybala should take Aguero place

          • Fastest without brain does not make difference. He had weak tournament. Prove he is declining. You might be blind not to see this.

          • No the joke is Matias Suarez, Meza, Chimy Avila, Nacho Fernandez, Cervi, Pity and the other absolute useless “older” experimenting players with their mediocre qualities, only maximum 21-22 old players from Primera with much higher potentials than above listed players (Barco, Almada and co. if we want to experiment)

      • You always go with “stats”, don’t ya? Never mind.

        Brasil, better than us for sure and everyone else and Uruguay have a point: they’re definitely a better team defensively and got workhorse midfield and two quality warriors upfront, they tend to find a way to win things ugly no matter how. So Uruguay just edges us. But Colombia, seriously? Defensively yes. But going forward, they didn’t do shit. Quiroz and his team were hammered for the way they played against Chile. Yeah, they beat us 2-0, but it was a smash and grab victory, both teams playing poor.

  27. THIS IS WHAT I POSTED IN THE PREVIOUS ARTICLE:

    Dfox1942 July 6, 2019 at 11:17 am
    ARGENTINA should be 1st seeking revenge today for the last two Copas.
    2nd should be pretty pissed off after their last and take it out on you know who.

    Remember how Chile tried to get Messi suspended for the qualifiers after allegedly he spat on the side REF. when he, himself said nothing happened. Off course he was suspended for 1 or two games ONLY to be reinstated when the idiots there realized there was nothing.

    Or how Mess’s family was harassed in the 2015 Copa in the stands.
    Or all their shit-talking after 2015
    I forgot the name of the person here who mentioned some years ago that Chile allowed England the use of their airfields during the Falkland war, when Brazil refused to do so.
    Funny how their Dictator from the time, Pinochet was arrested when he went to England medical help LOL
    so yes, I don’t like these #$%^&*()$%^&*(

    if you don’t know that these fucking Chileans are a bunch of low-lives garbage, NOW YOU KNOW.

    FUCK YOU CHILE TO THE MOON

  28. It is clear that CONMEBOL is against Argentina..I doubt that Argentina never qualify for the world cup 2022 because conmebol is against us with an unknown reason..if i was the president of Argentina then I will induldge the Boca river fan to kill these referees…

  29. Nowadays football, very specially south american football became a joke!!😜🤣😂
    It is clear as day light. The bullshit refferey, the fucking VAR, politics etc all r against Argentina. Isn’t it our real victory?? Definitely! Bcz, Argentina & Messi are something else which made the CONMEBOL, the whole world crazy & zelous!
    Vamos!🇦🇷🇦🇷💪💪

  36. Typical over dramatic South American ref, this game is over as far as conventional game is concerned, now it’s all about who is gonna take a better advantage of the referee

  39. What the fuk1 Now you know VAR working…but against Argentina. Fuk1ng Conmebol it again. They informed Referee…there is a chance…give it to Chile.

  40. this is another test of scaloni right here. still 2-1 up, with lot of talent on the pitch. can scaloni keep the team focused and calm without crumbling. lets see.

  41. Conmebol fear Argentina will thrash Chile when Messi there. That will make Argentine sound louder for the cheat they have done in SF. Now they made this match 10 man. They don’t want Argentina Winning huge with Messi.

    How on earth…that’s redcard for Messi..?

    Anybody think what happened in SF and what happened now is because of referee…? No it’s Conmebol…not even VAR…they consider. They all hate Argentina…

    This red card is most undeserving in history of football. Shame on Conmebol.

    • f*ck this ref,,,f*ck conmebol- this competition is an embarassment god damn it,,,in the group stages and quarterfinals wayy too much V.A.R being used like in that uruguay peru match where three goals were disallowed…then in the semi argentina was supposed to have 2 penalties vs brazil and surprise-no var at all now….then in this 3rd place match messi sent of for just giving a tap on gary medel–wat the fak–even medel doesn’t need to be sent off-just a yellow—god damn copa america and conmebol

      I hope this all changes next year

      Anyway VAMOS ARGENTINA-finally we’re destroying chilie…

      • god damn it now they just gave chilie a f*cking penalty and vidal scores it—every var decision in an argentina match is always against our favor-i swear it–f*ck this shit

        • Ha. Yeah. I must be wrong, right? I mean how can the refeere get it wrong and see the foul in the box even after going to VAR? What the hell?!

  42. Red card to Messi?

    Well, i am not surprised after all the hatred towards Argentina and Messi throughout the tournament from Conmeble and the host Brazilians. And after the criticism of controversial VAR incident to favour Brazil against Argentina, it’s expected.

    It’s now clear, some organizations don’t want Messi to win a trohpy for Argentina. And Europeans definetly have some money on the table to make this happen both in the case of Fifa Balon D’or and International tournaments! Just involved Messi, you’ll get headlines from all over the world. Football corruption getting worse and worse nowadays. Something bias going on against Messi since 2016. It’s now daylight clear!

    A red card for what?? Haha…

  44. How on earth is that a red card to Messi? This refree is disgrace. If that was a red card, then Sergio Ramos deserves a 100 red card. This the biggest joke of the century. Messi didn’t even touch Mendel. I’m okay with a yellow to messi.

  45. I loved listening to Alejandro Moreno. He is savage and brutally honest. Why have they changed him and hired a bum of a commentator tonight? This guy just said, “Referee had no option really other than giving red card”. WTH! Messi did nothing. Medel shoved him throughout and Messi just stood tall.

    • Horseshit right?! Mendel exploded and leaned toward Messi. Messi stood his ground. And the refeere shows Messi the red card first. Rubbish!

  46. The fucking referees of south America..our Indian referees are far better than them..Messi just push him when the ball is rolling into the field but garay medel dine just shit thing on Messi..and the mother fucker referee give Messi the red card..I am fuming on that fucker referee..

  49. what a talents we hv in midfield and attack…..we just need a good defence that’s all…….i m fine with paredes i think he is the best DM in the world with the ball.

  50. What would you like more? Have Messi still on the pitch ( he does not deserved the red IMO) or have the free kick that lead to first goal given by referee (there was no foul on Messi)? Anyhow referee is shit.

    • Certainly the former. Messi will probably miss some WC qualifiers now. This group of Chilean players always act like thugs when they’re losing. I remember Jara once grabbing Cavani’s balls. When you have no football skills, this is what you do.

    • in my view this is just a special friendly. I’d rather take the strongest 11 v 11.

      but maybe winning against chile in open play in a knockout competition helps to heal the national team psychology.

      • I think the second.

        Bronze coin might be good boost for the youngsters for the future. They have just few games in NT and already close to Copa podium. De Paul and others might get some kind of stepping stone to attack from the third position the highest step next year.

  52. Disgusting South American referees. I remember an idiot Brazilian referee in the 2016 final against Chile, ruining the game by giving two red cards for no reason. South American referees have no respect for the game. They’re probably failed footballers who want to be bigger stars than the players. And well, the referee is Paraguayan. If Messi misses some WC qualifiers, Paraguay has a better chance qualifying. F*** this.

    • So true! Except in 2016 the red card for Chile was well deserved but then the Chilean players kept escalating tension and the ref decided to even things out. Typical South American bs.
      Much of Argentina’s failures in South America is because we don’t play this bs, we are more like a European team when it comes to these things. Same for home advantage, the only Copa America in my memory that the host team got no preference was the 2011 one.

  54. god lord he red carded both of them?
    this stuff is a joke. a yellow card warning would have been enough. softest shit.

    it doesn’t really matter for this match, but man that messi/dybala connection needed more testing than 40 minutes. another chance lost.

  57. 2-0 up look I’m not complaining. always fun to smash the chileans.
    but there is zero natural width in this set up. 30 minutes anyone see a single play even get to the touchline? nope.
    maybe with MAD on the pitch you don’t need any but really it will be tough to crack packed backlines than this dead legged chilean team.

      • “Full backs have to give the width in this systam”

        I agree. I think this is a version of the saying ‘good defense makes good offense’. With slow pezella and otamendi in the back it is too risky to push tagliafico too far and foyth natural tendency is of course to hang back a bit. it boils down to what many are saying we need a more powerful, faster, stronger, back line immediately.

        i am more comfortable with our midfield now than before. not perfect. but getting there further than back line.

  59. Chile’s existence was to deny us of two Copas, they were shit before and been shit since then.

    • You could count Venezuela a decent team now. Watch they will be hard to beat in WCQ also with Brazil it was a WIN. But yes Scaloni team has to improve. AFA made a blunder not thinking about future again. End of the year they will make another blunder. I hope I’m wrong

  68. I expected that Musso had to be given a chance at least today. He is young, energatic & smart gk!
    After seeing Argentina loosing years after years, I really don’t know what our future is. But, hope that I’ll be able to see my beloved Argentina wining a trophy in my lifetime!😜
    However, Vamos!
    Love from Bangladesh! 💙🇦🇷🇧🇩💪

    • Bro in future ami Bangladesh er maye ke biye korte chai, ghurte ele tomar sathe dekha korbo I’m searching for my love for a long time in dream

  69. Sad to see musso hasn’t given chance and messi wasn’t drop too. Seems scaloni trying hard to save his job losing against Chile will confirm his exit

    • Lo celso point of view yes but scaloni must be blamed for this who failed to team playing under system, when messi Aguero is there no room for other to show individual brilliance, Otamendi and pazella is expected for me one is slow plus not fully fit where other is finished, Saravia is the biggest disappointment for me who suppose to be lead our RB position till next world cup.

    • We have some young promising CB. They need just playin time to improve and get better. CB has to play to improve. Foyth and Mamamna is big big prospects for future but their club ruined them. Same story repeats with every Argentina players(past or present). Club buys promising players than bench them. Somehow they are not good enough for clubs (myth)

  73. Scaloni made a big mistake by not playing a proper DM against the Brazil. He is making same mistake tonight but nobody cares about this meaningless game. If he continue to be the manger of this team, we will never win anything.

    • If we as a football fans notice scaloni is immature and tactically week hope Mennetoni recognize it and select a good coach, big name isn’t necessary but good tactician is must.

      • Man it’s not that easy. It’s not like fruits hanging in tree that you could pick any. Plus you got a situation with AFA which makes it even more tough. But most like Gallardo gonna come. I have feeling that he is already agreed maybe

  75. Messi or De Paul should score today. They should exploit the rght side when Chile has slow Beausejour.

    • Scoring useless game can’t make messi goat, icardi can score in crucial game for us.

        • How much game icardi played post 2014 when icardi become one of the top scorer, scoring 1 goal out of 5 in which one goal ruled out and other turned into own goal, icardi is the most clinical striker for Argentina against Brazil icardi could have scored the header which Aguero failed.

      • You better start getting serious with what you say. Icardi is our most clinical striker and previously you said Martinez got nothing on Icardi. Icardi 1 in 5.. Martinez 6 in 11.. how about that if you wanna play stats.
        Ok what about work off the ball? Martinez is way better and most importantly he has passion for that shirt. Icardi has passion for other people’s wives that’s it!

    • Bronze coin might be good boost for the youngsters for the future. They have just few games in NT and already close to Copa podium. De Paul and others might get some kind of stepping stone to attack from the third position the highest step next year.

  77. This should be our lineup against Brazil. But Scaloni started Acuna over Lo Celso to compensate lack of defensive contribution from Lo Celso. I don’t know why he opt to begin with this lineup in a meaning less game. None of our players will be motivated to play. I think Chile will take the advantage of our Mental blow. But I have hope for this group after their positive showing against “mighty Brazil’.

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