Argentina coach Lionel Scaloni: “If we have to play, we will”

By
Roy Nemer
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66

Argentina national team coach Lionel Scaloni landed back in Argentina coming from Europe and spoke about the World Cup qualifiers.

With the World Cup qualifiers being delayed from March until September and September until October, there is a possibility that once more they get postponed. A final answer is expected today but upon his arrival at the airport, Scaloni spoke about the matter. Here’s what he had to say:

“We have had everything prepared for a long time now. Honestly, we still don’t know what will happen but we have everything ready thinking that we will play. After that, it will be the higher ups who decide.

“Hopefully today we get an answer so at least we know. It’s a very difficult situation, very rare. I was just travelling and the truth is that seeing airports like this, seeing the situation, it’s sad and worrying at the same time.

“The first thing is health. If they tell us we have to play, we will play. It’s a situation we have to analyze, to think about.”

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66 Comments

  1. A little late today,but thanks to @Dadir10 for bringing very interesting subject up. As others mention never off topic. Not much to add right now but I enjoyed reading everyone contribution to it and hopefully we can see more of these chats.

  2. amit brings an interesting point. We have strength in managers, that is significant number of Argentine managers work in top 5 European leagues compared to other south American teams.

    Also there are some non Argentine managers who like to coach Argentine footballers : Pellegrini, Mancini and Unai Emery.

    And there are some clubs who likes Argentine footballers.

    The main responsibility lies within Argentine clubs. They have to stop hiring mediocre players from Uruguay and Colombia. And instead of selling our youngsters to MLS and Russia, must give them chance to grow at home soil first.

    How many games Gaich started for San Lorenzo? Gaich is only known because of his performance with U20 side. This problem needs to be fixed first.

    • The point that was brought up by Amit is very interesting. Since the Brazilians are playing the scouting card we can play the coaching card and through it can push Europe’s elite clubs for signing more Argentine players. As @Amit mentioned Poch did a good job at Spurs for recruiting Argentines at Spurs, but I think Poch didn’t give our players the chance they deserved like Semione does at Atletico.

      @Mafioso, You are absolutely right about Manuel Pellegrini. That guy loves Argentines more than his fellow Chilean players. I think you remember his days at Villarreal when he had a good number of Argies (I think 6 in total). And at City Aguero, Zabaleta, and Demichelis flourished under him. Pellegrini and Svn goran Eriksson are my favorite non-argentine managers.

      Another name mentioned by Amit is Hector Cuper. Both Poch and Semione combined can’t do a fraction of what this guy did for the NT when he managed Mallorca, Valencia, and Inter Milan. At Mallorca he had at least five Argentines in the form of Ariel Ibagaza, Carlos Roa, Leo Franco and two more whom I forgot their names. At Valencia and Milan he worked with some of our best and brightest players. He is my favorite Argentine coach in terms of working with Argies.

  3. I feel young talents in Argentina should look at Italian league because they nurture better than the spanish giants ex lautaro i
    Icardi musso and so on

  4. Off topic: In previous threads many have talked about the reasons behind Barca and Real Madrid not signing Argentine talents from the Superliga or from other European teams. Some friends on Mundo like El Mangol, Choripan, and Coax analysed the root causes of the issue and shed light on the bad economic situation in Argentina and the failure of the Superliga teams for having good marketing plans in place. These points are very valid, but I think there are other things that haven’t grabbed our attention yet. For instance, Real Madrid’s head of South American scouting is a Brazilian guy called Juni Calafat who had close friendship with Reoberto Carlos and Ronaldo at the time they were in Madrid and was also friends with Perez’s son prior to joining Madrid’s South American scouting team.

    Although Argentina talent production line isn’t as good as it was 15 years ago, I don’t think such a guy who only has eyes for Brazilians will ever suggest Real Madrid for signing a good Argentine prospect.

    [Juni Calafat: The king of Brazilian talent]

    “Trying to find the brightest young talent in the world is a difficult task, but that is part of the reason why Real Madrid revamped their international football department a few years ago, with it now being overseen by Juni Calafat.The days of coaches going to watch potential signings is a thing of the past, particularly with regard to younger players. Instead, there are a select group inside clubs around the world whose job is to put in lots of hours of methodical work in the hope of finding talent that others may have missed.In fact, all sorts of games, news and alerts are tracked, as well as any sign that might be the clue or first step to finding that hitherto unknown talent.
    Spending 40 million euros, rather than 200 million euros
    After the first analysis of the player, you go on to watch whole games and, of course, you end up seeing the talent live.
    Calafat has worked his magic to bring Fede Valverde, Martin Odegaard, Vinicius Junior, Rodrigo Rodrigues (currently playing for Castilla), Adriano (no longer at the club), Eder Militao and Rodrygo Goes to Real MadridEach of these signings has their own particular characteristics, but all of them have the stamp of the international department at Real Madrid, whose aim is to find young players who are capable of being the best in the world in their position in the near future.Also, something that unites many of the latest additions is that they are of Brazilian origin, a market Calafat dominates like few can in the world.His ability to strike up relationships with clubs and the players’ families, as well as the player themselves, has seen Los Blancos able to beat some of the world’s biggest and richest clubs to sign Vinicius and Rodrygo, while they have just done the same with Flamengo prodigy Reinier Jesus, who was wanted by Manchester City, Paris Saint-Germain and Barcelona.The goal is to find the player who makes the difference and to do so before they are worth 200 million euros or more.”

    Source: Marca

    • Same with Barca
      — Barça has spent a total of 500M on Brazilian players in the last 12 years. Most of these players young and unproven, their transfers are for the benefit of Andre Cury and different agents around Brazil. The names include recent signing Gustavo Maia and more.

    • This is not off topic. This is very much the topic we should talk about rather than commenting on random news.

      Abidal turned Barca into French heaven. Benzema would not survive in Madrid without the French power.

      Koeman intends to turn Barca into Dutch nt. Nobody objects. Martino tried to sign Vergini and Samuel as backup defenders but did not happen. Martino had to change his playing style after 6 months because that was not Barca philosophy but Valverde lasted for 3 seasons.

      Talent is not everything, internal and external politics matters a lot. Football is like evey other corporate job.

      So if an Argentine player does not play for barcelona or Madrid, don’t write them off.

      Cambiasso, Samuel were Madrid rejects but won the treble with inter. Milito was Genoa player. Basanta the player who shut Hazard off was a Liga MX player, 29 years old.

      • @Mafioso, I said “off topic” coz it’s not something related to the topic of this very thread, but looking at it from a different angle it isn’t off topic since this stuff is something about one of the many Argentina football issues. Hope we see many of your informative posts as I enjoy reading them though we haven’t seen enough of you lately.

        • Its also about how we play to our strengths . In club management space in Europe – we maybe have Zanetti & earlier Valdano to leverage. Scouts are pretty deep rooted & cannot be fixed in short term. But we do have one strength in terms of the Europe level coaches . Remember when Pochettino was with Spurs he pushed Steven Hitchen ( Spurs Chief Scout ) to Argentina for scouting. 5 Argentines were in club at same time. Beyond Simeone, Bielsa , Pochettino ( matter of time he will get a new job) we also have Almiron in Europe. Even neutral supporters will agree that Sampoali , Berrizo , Tata Martino , Hector Cuper, Pizzi ( argentine native) already have European club manager quality. Some of them should leave the National Team coach route & get back to European leagues . If we look at new to Europe category – Gallardo, Heinze, Almeyda , Beccacece , Ricardo Garcea & even Scheletto can break in . Defocus MLS dollars & think Europe top 5 leagues. Crespo will make it into Parma or one of the other italian clubs soon . German Burgos can also break into one of the La Liga clubs soon. Pellagrino , Antonio Mohamed , Santiago Solari had stints in Europe that can always be revived. In 2018 WC we had maximum coaches in 24 teams. If max of these coaches can get implanted in Europe top 5 leagues – it will obviously increase our player scouting probability.

        • @Dadir10, I know what you meant 🙂 Thanks for brining this subject. I just hope that this type of analysis comes as main post as it did in the past. Nowadays, it just regular news so any other thought is “off topic” as you have said.

  5. FIFA predident Infantino said World cup qualifier going to happen in October in south America and a Paraguay baded entity is sought guarantee that clubs will release their players, 8 and 13 October are ratified

  6. Villarreal have signed a defender from Watford so I guess Juan foyth’s move to Villarreal might not happen. foyth needs to leave spurs as he is literally last on Mourinho’s pecking order . If he doesn’t play for spurs argentina should not call him up as there are many other young centre backs and right backs who are playing regularly.

    • Not really . The watford player is a left back. I think he is bought bcos the Villareal key LB Moreno is out with ACL injury.
      Foyth is targetted by Unai for Raul Albiol replacement as right center back. Raul while he played decently well last year is already 35 & in last phase. So still a chance . But the issue with Foyth movement is Mourinho . Mourinho is the blocker & keeping him as reserve which is very unjust. Just hate Mourinho – Already downgraded gazza , rotting Foyth. He wants to kill the Pochettino legacy.

      • Mourinho is joke soon he will be gone.
        His football is so outdated.
        I firmly believe we won’t see best of gio
        Under him because his team will have 27 %- Of possession and that won’t suit for gio He is one of those who shine more when his team have more possession to Control the rhythm of game.
        As foyth I believe he will move
        No chance for him under Mourinho
        But one thing they can’t deny is
        What they see in training ground
        How unbelievable talent he is that is
        The reason they want him to go loan.
        In my opinion foyth is better football than Dier but the difference is no one will talk About dier’s mistakes while they will harm foyth for smallest mistake.

        • Absolutely agree 100% @godin11 . Foyth error in Norwich match is being so badly hyped . Even Van Dijk did blunders in last 2 matches including Community Shield final . Varane in CL knockout was a joke. Ball playing defender will make errors & unless Foyth gets consistent chances how can he fix mistakes. But amazing talent & i would rate him highest on talent in Argentine defender youngsters. He is just unfortunate to be under Mourinho helm & just hoping that he manages to escape Spurs & not rot like this. Mourinho just now living on past legacy & the Amazon prime show on Spurs was too pump some oxygen into his dying legacy. He will get fired here & he wld have destroyed the fabric of Spurs before that

  7. Emi martinez signed 21.76 million euro by aston villa. It was the history of the Argentine football as a most paid goalkeeper

  10. Lionel messi believes the Argentine national football team will end its title drought at the 2021 Copa America, Goal reported, without citing its sources. According to the sports website, the 33-year-old believes in the team’s new manager Lionel Scaloni and completely trusts the coaching staff. Messi reportedly thinks that with the players that have recently come to the fore – Giovani Lo Celso, Leandro Paredes, Rodrigo de Paul, and rising star Lautaro Martinez – a competitive team will be formed, Goal writes.

    According to Goal, Barcelona’s star believes the new national team is capable of great things in the upcoming football season and is excited to take another shot at winning international trophies.

    I 100% agree with leo

  11. Guys who is alex luna? Almost every giant club like barselona, sevilla , athletico madrid, valencia, villerial, Manchester city, Manchester united, everton, lille, psg, bayern Munich etc. Every club wants our kid

    • Atl. Rafaela juvenile player. Don’t read too much into these news. There are a few wonderkid stories everyday usually agency fuelled or YouTube inspired.
      If he’s really that good we might see him with the U17s next year. At this level, we have a few good players to work with; Romero, Axel Encinas, Valentin Barco, Thomas Kummer, Leonel Coira and Juan Gauto.

      • yes these rumors have a big chance of being fake. his name has been around in argentine media all this summer. i think some clubs like velez, newells were negotiating and trying to get him so it might be possible someone local just released the article about european clubs to get a deal complete.

        he played in the torneo international in croatia in 2019.
        If you like such things here is an old radio interview in spanish to listen to him
        https://es-la.facebook.com/RadioRafaela/videos/alex-luna-la-joyita-de-atlético-de-rafaela-en-vivo-en-deportesveintiocho-rafaela/2308227326066955/

      • yes these rumors have a big chance of being fake. his name has been around in argentine media all this summer. i think some clubs like velez, newells were negotiating and trying to get him so it might be possible someone local just released the article about european clubs to get a deal complete.

        he played in the torneo international in croatia in 2019.
        If you like such things here is an old radio interview in spanish to listen to him
        es-la.facebook.com/RadioRafaela/videos/alex-luna-la-joyita-de-atlético-de-rafaela-en-vivo-en-deportesveintiocho-rafaela/2308227326066955/

      • Haha… That was interesting. I was also surprised like who is this kid? I read somewhere in news that a total of 19 clubs from Europe’s top five leagues were targeting him, so I thought, he would be special. And just like you guys I started searching for him in web and youtube , everywhere. I got some clips, I watched and I liked him. He is not bad but I think we Argentine fans have become so used to it, especially after drugging ourselves with the quality and charisma of messi, that we feel like if anybody else shows up who had similarities with messi then we know that he’s just a copy of that or either he will burn out over time. Not so special when thought about it from this spectrum.
        But anyways I like the kid and there many others as well.
        And if u remember I also heard about a 8 year old kid named ” Claudio nancufil” who was heavily in the news for his impeccable similarity to messi. And he was nicknamed the ” snow messi” if you remember.
        I think it was in 2012 when he broke through the football World but after that I never heard about him again. I might guess he’s playing football even now? Or maybe not?
        If he is, then it will be great but I’m too unsure if he is playing it legally or not.

        • Snow Messi hahahhaah 😂 man the media really are on a mission to ruin every short left-footed kid’s future by naming them our savior new Messi… “look an 8-year old who can dribble it’s the new Messi!!!” wtf

          • I witnessed the “New Maradona” era and it lasted long until Messi showed up and now it’s the “New Messi” era, I wish someone could soon break the cycle for Argentina although it’s very, very unlikely to see someone with the qualities of Messi or even close to that.

          • @dadir10 Agreed. Statistically, the chances are closer to 0%. It’s possible that it will take another 30-50 years for another NT player of their caliber to arise. It’s also possible that we’ll never see one again.

            But the “glass is half empty” ain’t fun to think about :). Here’s to hoping we see one much sooner.

        • @rohandybala21. Thats pretty funny, man. I like the way you described our view of Messi “especially after drugging ourselves with the quality and charisma of messi”. Seeing world class players like Aguero, Di Maria, Messi, etc perform so well for so long is very difficult to beat let alone surpass.

    • He is lazy af,literally invisible the whole match. Camps in front of goal,he is a system player. Even Rashford is better than icardi

    • I think( I might sound disgusting) he should play for Italy instead. I know it is bizzare but knowing that he has already made a name for himself, it’s awkward to not play him in NT. He is a quality striker who can score but he is also not the typical striker that scaloni wants now. Which makes thing complicated for both him and scaloni.
      Honestly, I think it would be better if he chooses italy, it will help him keep his reputation as the best striker and would also free us from the thought of not playing a world class striker.

      • Icardi love and commitment towards Argentina can’t be questioned, without him Argentina can’t winning anything

    • Icardi is an assassin, he could just stick his thumb up his derier through most of the match and then out of nowhere would latch on to a loose ball and score. Essentially he is a player that would thrive in a creative environment e.g. Mancity but would flop hard under stiff, defensive tactics e.g. Simeone’s Atletico or under Mourinho.
      I tell you what, it would’ve been very unlikely that Icardi would’ve missed any of the 3 major chances that Pipita did. He is the type of player you need in big matches because he doesn’t shrink infront of big challenges, that’s why if you look at his CL record (apart from the Atalanta game) you’ll realize that he is a big game player.

      • Yes true, Icardi will tear up tired defense if matches goes to extra time, Argentina should feel lucky having a world class striker like Icardi, he can win crucial matches for NT.

  14. I don’t get it only max of 5% of contracted cases are in critical health.
    We need to protect people who have compromised immune system or some other health problems but still this virus is not that dangerous. More than 40% of contracted cases are asymptomatic.
    Above all we need to protect important people and players are important people so we need to make sure they don’t get contracted.
    With good preparation it can be done.
    So without further ado we should start these qualifiers.

    • > We need to protect people who have compromised immune system or some other health problems but still this virus is not that dangerous. More than 40% of contracted cases are asymptomatic.

      Critical health isn’t the only metric at all.

      Long term lung damage for midl cases are already showing and we have no clue the final impact years later. So far, its not looking good even for milder cases.

      Rates of hospitalization compared to any flu and other cold like viruses are A LOT HIGHER

      Number of available hospital beds were completely stressed and in many instance, insufficient which led to more deaths. In regards to infrastructure, we clearly have seen countries like Brazil, Italy, USA (new york), have their medical system fail because of the insane demand for treatment. That never happened with virus like the flu.

      Transmission rates are a lot higher too. The multiplier rate passing the virus to other people is effin scary.

      I mean, theres a reason why Covid has stopped the planet. yes its that dangerous.

        • Yes, everyone does have different ways of looking at things, nothing wrong with that.

          But statements like “I prefer Choripan more than Hotdogs” or “Martinez will perform better than Musso in the future” is a matter of opinion. Judging the severity of Covid resides in “fact” territory.

          Countries like Italy who’s entire economy and health systems were on the brink of collapse should serve as an obvious example. Or the fact that Covid passes via asymptomatic carriers is another. Or the dangerously high rates of hospitalization and transmission is another. The list goes on an on.

          The scientific and medical community are not split in their objective opinion.

          You may see fringe studies or professionals downplaying but the vast majority are unanimously aligned. Statements like “covid is not dangerous” really conflicts with findings and observations of scientists and doctors. I’ll place my bets with these people any day all day. To each his/her own 🙂

  15. Nehuel bustos

    Nicolas gonzales Lucas ocampos
    Rodrigo de paul Lo celso

    Juan foyth

    Lisandro martinez senesi pezzella L vera

    E martinez

    • Foyth and Saravia are good RBs …problem is just that Saravia isn’t in a good team and Foyth doesn’t get minutes in spurs..otherwise RB would’ve been as secured as LB is under Tagliafico

  18. —————–Lautaro
    -Ocampos—————–Messi
    ———-Lo Celso—–De Paul
    —————–L.Martinez
    -Acuna—Senesi—Pezzella—Montiel
    —————–E.Martinez

  20. Thought i will post something different today different from the transfer buzz. I am a native of Kerala in India. A football crazy small state which is a paradox in a cricket crazy large country like India
    We have a football commentator called Shaiju Damodaran who is very popular in local football circles & wanted to post his iconic commentary piece when Messi scored against Nigeria in WC 2018 Russia. I would dare to say that he is our local Hugo Morales !!!

    You can hear that at 3.50 min to 4.45 min in this youtube video which is his interview
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B7l0fF1YPi4

    In that 1 min of Messi magic & celebration , transalating what Shaiju says
    ” Mark the time .
    The clocks have stopped
    The Lionking has arrived in St Petersburg ”
    Just find this one of the most amazing 1 min ever experienced.

  21. South American Qualifiers should be played.In Ecuador only 10000+ active cases are present and Bolvia have only 35000+ active cases present in country.With right arrangement matches can be played.It is just a matter of 2 days.Club games has already started in South America.Ecuador,Chile,Maxico,Canada,Brazil Uruguay all league matches have already started.

    • How familiar are you with geography of South America? Parts of Ecuador and especially Bolivia are very high altitude, not an ideal place to breathe let alone play.

    • i don t know where you find this numbers but situation in South America is very bad and everything is a mess about covid.

      things is very complicated. Health systems in all the countries in South America is far worse than Europe countries. it is joke to even try to compare.

      so the problem is big and football is not and should not be our priority i believe.
      i want like you the games begin but we are not Europe unfortunately.

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