Argentina will play two World Cup qualifying matches in June before the start of the Copa America.
It was announced earlier today that two rounds of South American World Cup qualifiers will be played in June. With the pandemic postponing the World Cup qualifying matches in March, CONMEBOL had not stated when the qualifiers would be played.
Originally, Lionel Scaloni’s team were set to play Uruguay and Brazil in the two biggest clashes in South America in March but that has been delayed until the end of the year. Argentina’s matches in June will not be against their eternal rivals but instead they will face Chile and Colombia. Scaloni’s squad will play those two teams before starting their Copa America campaign. Here are the dates and matches for Argentina in June’s World Cup qualifiers:
June 3 vs. Chile at home, World Cup qualifier
June 8 vs. Colombia away, World Cup qualifier
June 13 vs. Chile, Copa America
It’s going to be three matches in 10 days for Argentina, two of those matches against Chile as they start the Copa America.
Here is the calendar for the rest of the World Cup qualifiers this year:
September:
Versus Venezuela away, Brazil away, Bolivia at home
October: Paraguay away, Uruguay at home, Peru at home
November: Uruguay away, Brazil at home
De Paul and Pereyra with 2 assists each in Benevento vs Udinese. Molina with a goal.
Molina is stepping it up big time .
Yeah, I think Walter Samuel was checking him out recently on behalf of the coaching team. He might just get a call-up, never know..
That will be great. Lot of teams are playing 3 at the back and wing backs to make mid 5. We are well placed for that model with Acuna and Molina.
#molina4olympics
yes, absolutely!
Our players are killing it , Messi , di maria , I card I , paredes , de Paul , buendia , foyth , emi Martinez , tagliafico , Lisandro Martinez and not last but certain not least c Romero
If all goes well, we will have so many Matches of the NT from June onwards. Qualifiers, The Copa, Euro. Its gone be great time for a Football fan. Apart from the Defense and the Goal Keeping position I think Scaloni has sorted out the rest other positions, He may have to announce a 50 Men squad or something soon I guess for the Copa right?
Off the topic, was watching Messi suddenly was thinking, Who will be the next Argentine to ever win a Best player or Ballon D or Award? To be fair I don’t see it happening for some years now? We have talent for sure but to Compete at the elite like Messi (Against the odds and Ronaldo PR) has been doing for years will be an ardent task for anyone. (Had hopes in Dybala and Lautaro but they don’t seem to cut it) Imagine if Messi was not there no other Argentine would have won it, once Messi stops playing goodbye for the Argentine Presence in the Best player category. Let’s enjoy while it lasts. Soon it will be back to the pre Messi Era scene. (Remember the RO RO RI trio of Brazil, Figo, Zidane even Beckham (Oh Gosh Beckham such an overhyped player) its gone be Haaland, Mbappe etc etc.
Crappp…The standard of the Best player every year is going to be very low too. Nothing much to do rather than being frustrated as an Argentine fan. We may have to wait for a once in a decade generational talent for some years now. Thiago Almada, Matias Palaicos, Ezequiel Barco, Pedro de la Vega, Darío Sarmiento, Lucas Romero… Its any bodies guess.
Dybala & Icardi are in their late 20s so while they could still have many good years ahead, I dont think they’d even come close to Aguero & Suarez level.
I wouldnt write out Lautaro, even though he’s been playing for years , including 20+ caps for National team, he’s only 23. He’s Inter second top scorer with 15 goals + 5 assists and close to winning Serie A this season with few games remaining.
Also, Lautaro so far has higher scoring ratio in NT than Higuain, Messi & Aguero . It should be noted that Lautaro won 5 penalties for Argentina , all which converted by Messi and also Paredes.
He should be wise when it comes to making decision to move to another club. I think he should stay at Inter for at least 1 more season.
Match per goal ratio is misleading, Lautaro 123 mins/goal, Aguero 132, Higuain 165, Messi 164 as playmaker plus 51 assists.
Its not misleading in Lautaro’s case when in many of those 20 caps wasnt even full minutes, plus he won plenty of penalties that was taken by Messi & Paredes.
Among those 11 goals, it includes some crucial goals at Copa & WC qualifier, won crucial penalty againts Paraguay aswell.
Also, many players didnt even peak till 25-28 years old. Balon is about marketing aswell so being a striker will boost your chance to get a nod. Thats why you dont see player like Masche or Puyol on Balon list.
Lautaro may have a chance but he needs to really step up soon. He has the killer instinct as a striker in him. But Ballon d’or is actually an elite level prize. Lets see, it will take time.
Lautaro
J correa Emi buendia Messi
L paredes E palacios
M acuna M senesi C romero J foyth
E martinez
Relax guys scaloni should called roberto preyra instead of Emi buendia
It would be a absurd reality.
Saw Atlanta United vs Chicago today. Heinze will set MLS on fire this season & another coach who supports Argentine players . Barco scored an awesome golazo & set up a sweet assist which was wasted. Great talent though erratic occasionally ( keep thinking DiMaria when i see him ) . But if he keeps up at this level , Batista will start him for Olympics for left wing. Santiago Sosa also had a solid home debut & a great orchestrator in the making . I hope Batista looks between him,Enzo Fernandez & Calpado /Fausto Vera instead of Colambatto/ Ascacibar.
Crazy to think now that Scaloni got the NT role ahead of Gallardo & Heinze
Brendia is a must ,he is versatile, I think paredes, lo celso, de Paul combination with Buendia, palacios as support are perfect.
As to defense ,Romero ,Foyth are first choice ,Balerdi, Perez, Medina are decent too . I am disappointed by Martinez quarta he needs improvement. Lisandro martinez I think as a central defense player ,he is too short .
some great match ups tonite for Argentine fans – Messi vs Foyth ; LMQ vs Dybala( hope he gets a starting spot) ; Depaul vs Gaich
I am not impressed by Guido Rodriguez. He didn’t show too much in attack .Definitely not Paredes type . His defense is not top class at the moment if paredes not available I prefer foyth as DM Both foyth and Rodriguez are the same type as DM .
top 6 midfielders forvArgentina should be-
1 Paredes
2 De Paul
3 Lo celso
4 Papu Gomez
5 Guido Rodriguez
6 Emi Buendai
Emi Buendai is a good substitute for De Paul as Buendai can also play as winger so he can also be tried in left wing. Emi Buendai is versatile player and he is a work horse and he is very consistent player.
Palacios can be dropped he is a good player but he is not as consistent as Emi Buendai. One match Palacios is good another match average.
Sorry to say this to you Kevin but you re unwise.Do really watch palacios plays since bayer Leverkusen
Sacked Bosz in case you don’t know palacios never had average game whenever he plays arg nt.
And Leverkusen now he is almost untouchable Vs bayern Munich had very good game vs frankfurters
Had great game . Please do your home work before you come with nonsense baseless arguments.Oh how I forgot you recently said saravia better righ bk than montiel well I’m telling you montiel way better than saravia who was one game wonder
Do you really watch copa 19 have seen how he coast fc port a place of uefa champions league 19/20 season
You becoming irritating now days
Please come up with facts and don’t jump around.
Yeah Sarvia is 100% better Right Back than Montiel .You should watch Argentina vs Uruguay match which happened in Saudi Arabia. And in case Sarvia was bad in Copa 2019 yeah he was bad in that tournament but players evolve with times now Sarvia is best Right Back of Argentina. Acuna was bad too (semifinal copa), but now Acuna has improved too.
Renzo Sarvia carries the ball to forward area easily with his speed and physicality while Montiel is more of a kind of midfielder who mostly chooses to pass the ball to other team mates,his speed is average, crosses are good, passing is good, defending is poor,weak in air, no physicality how can Montiel be Right Back for Argentina.
Hi! Any update on the GK and defence situation? What would we lineup?
Kevin I think you misinterpreted some of what I’ve been saying these days. I’ve been closely examining his performances since he returned to the starting 11. None of his performances have been “bad”, some of them have been more bland or boring compared to what we ideally want from him. That is due to tactical reasons, such as possession, how deep he is expected to sit, what his role is, how Bayer Leverkusen play as opposed to the other team. In terms of form he has been great all around. Today’s game was very different from the koln game from a tactical standpoint, but Palacios did his job in both of them
The discussion about our midfield is great. We truly do have many real talents and depth that a couple of years ago we didn’t (having to rely on Perez and a much older Mascherano in the world cup), not to mention that some of the best young talents in Argentina are midfielders. This is a sort of wild card prediction but I think it is possible that around the year ’24-’26 we may have one of if not the best midfield in the world. It may even overtake the talent in attack, dare I say. One of the things that are important to note is that our midfield is the most fixed out of all positions (lo celso-paredes-de paul), so I don’t think we should vouch for dropping anyone as of now. Here are my opinions on some of the discussions that we’ve been having:
Buendia: As I mentioned, the De Paul position is fixed, but without any doubt he should be called up to Copa to provide depth and a good substitute option. Coming off the bench for De Paul or a right winger could be very helpful.
Guido: It is great to see that he is in such good form right now. There used to be a discussion about dropping Paredes to take advantage of Guido’s defensive ability but now that Paredes is performing so well I don’t think its necessary. Nonetheless he provides a great backup option and depth. Hope he goes to a bigger club to get European football.
Nico: As mamoun said in another post he does not play to his strengths in Bologna. He should function as a backup or Olympic player for the time being, hopefully we see him in a new club or with a new manager in the future.
Palacios: Great to see he is getting minutes now. Some games are bland and some are great. Definitely should be called up as a back up option, considering that even without minutes he performed great against Bolivia and now he is actually getting them.
Papu: can function as a winger as well and a cm (I noticed that against Levante which I watched half of that he was mostly in the center-right as opposed to the left of midfield, I don’t think he is a clear option that tactically would be good to use in the same position as Lo Celso and Palacios).
Mac Allister: He does not start every game, but still gets some minutes as a sub. I do not know how he is every game but I believe it was games against Man City and Leeds in January that I was very impressed with. He has potential for the future.
We even have Acuna who can operate in left midfield, Ocampos who can in some formations, Lamela, and Ascacibar.
Other young talents are: Almada, Velasco, Ayala, Urzi (not as certian about him after his u23 performance against Japan), M. Palacios, Simon.
Heartening to see the midfield options. But i still feel Scaloni will not bring in Buendia . If thats the case – just hope he is pulled into the Olympics team . Can be our rockstar there as an overage player.
Its really tough to pen down who will make it in Copa squad assuming no injuries . If Scaloni goes for 12 players between attack & midfield , maybe :
NicoG, Lautaro, Messi , LoCelso,Parades, DePaul maybe starters & subs cld be Ocampos , Alario, DiMaria , Palacios, GuidoR & Papu .
There is also J Correa , Icardi ( if he shows some magic in last leg of CL & tight Ligue1 race ) , Dybala & Aguero ( if they manage to hit form & get some minutes in next month ) , Buendia ( richly deserving ) , Lamela ( utility man) , NDominguez & even Angel Correa who can also make it
Nice post Olive, yeah the midfield is looking good right now. We all know how important the starting midfield of Celso——-Paredes———De paul is but seeing how the NT is gonna be playing games at neck-break speed (2 WCQ *just* before copa, 3 WCQs a piece at the end of the year) from now until the end of the year, ROTATION is now the name of the game and depth will separate the haves from the have-nots.
Luckily Argentina now has the best pool of talent since 2010 (which Maradona didn’t use sadly). For now I see Papu——-Guido——–Palacios as the backup midfield and on paper those 3 would make a hell of a midfield trio with the AM, the DM and CM respectively. Ofcourse what works on paper and in practice can be -and often is – different, but bringing those 3 and allowing them time to jell and they can become key to Argentina’s copa chances and WC qualifying.
The attacking options are (as usual) plentiful. You have Ocampos, Nico, J.Correa and Maria competing for a LFW spot, then you have Lautaro, Dybala, Icardi, Aguero and Alario competing for the no.9 position and then you have Lio.
The defense is sadly suspect and for once it’s not due to lack of options because Licha Martinez, C.Romero and to a lesser extent Senesi are all excellent options but sadly they will all take a backseat to Otamendi and Pezzella (who hasn’t been good this season at all). LMQ is a good CB but should be behind Licha and Romero IMO.
Even the GK position is better than it’s been for years thanks to Emi, Musso and heck even Manchersin but we all know Armani will get the nod.
What happens from mid-year this year and on wards will depend on Scaloni’s ability to rotate and select the right players, so we’ll see.
Lastly regarding Buendia, I said before that I think he’s world class and if it was up to me he’d be Messi’s backup at RFW and while I think he’d do fine in a midfield 3, it’s in the attacking positions (CAM, RW, RFW) where he’d excel and that’s where he should be placed. Sadly Scaloni doesn’t even seem to have him on his radar and neither does Batista, which would be a shame because if he can’t go to copa he should atleast be in the olympics.
Emiliano Buendía Characteristics
+ Strengths
Passing Very Strong
Through balls Very Strong
Key passes Very Strong
Long shots Strong
Dribbling Strong
Taking set-pieces Strong
Crossing Strong
Holding on to the ballStrong
Defensive contributionStrong
– Weaknesses
Discipline Very Weak
Emiliano Buendía’s Style of Play
Likes to cut inside
Likes to play long balls
Likes to do layoffs
Gets fouled often
Likes to tackle
Commits fouls often
Rodrigo de Paul Characteristics
+ Strengths
Key passes Very Strong
Through balls Strong
Dribbling Strong
Taking set-pieces Strong
Long shots Strong
Concentration Strong
– Weaknesses
Aerial DuelsWeak
Rodrigo de Paul’s Style of Play
Likes to play long balls
Gets fouled often
Likes to dribble
Plays the ball off the ground often
Giovani Lo Celso Characteristics
+ Strengths
Direct free-kicks Strong
Blocking the ball Strong
– Weaknesses
Aerial DuelsWeak
Giovani Lo Celso’s Style of Play
Gets fouled often
Likes to do layoffs
Likes to dribble
Likes to tackle
Commits fouls often
Looking this statistics a lone tell us emi Buendia Must be in the squad and deserves chance to compete with those players. It will be criminal if scaloni and co doesn’t consider Emi Buendia especially when gio lo celso has been disappointing in this season so far.
since Di Maria is having a wonderful season I don’t see dybala getting in the team, at am I would rather pick buendia instead of dybala because of his chances creation as well as His work rate are notable, these two traits can change a game coming off the sub If we need to chase a game. Dybalas work rate is not that good.
I just watched the vedio of buendia.what a player. he is a midfielder that we have been missing for years.after requelme will be perfect.he has work rate+ skills+ passing. More like a complete package.im pretty sure that big teams are eyeing on him.he is so underrated. I just enjoyed his vedio very much.i think he is Iniesta in the making.scolani should give him a chance.drop useless defender or under performing midfielder and just give him a chance to show his potential in NT. He deserves call up.what u guys say about that?
Buendia plays right winger/midfielder in 4-2-3-1, (but imo he is much better in the central areas, or would be even more dangerous on the left), but thats Messi place and De Paul covers the ground behind him, on the left side we need a fast player Nico or Ocampos, De Paul place is fixed, so maybe he could fight with Lo Celso/Palacios in 3 men midfield formation, but Scaloni loves taller players. 3 hard working midfielders, defensively imo Palacios>Lo Celso>Buendia, creativity/chance creating ability Buendia>Lo Celso>Palacios, goalscoring Buendia>Lo Celso>Palacios, build ups Lo Celso>Palacios>Buendia.
who do you want to drop?
baundia occupy right midfield. if the things surrounds then
depaul – paredes – locelso ,, (guido – palacios/gomes- ocampos) this three don’t occupy that right midfield, ocampos can play in both wing and each one has importance in there position. now dimaria who is the taking position on that right. and he gives the variation on that position as player..
Dybla is also showing good form in Juventus.Both Di Maria and Dybla should be in the team.
Dybala and Buendia are not competing for the same spot. Dybala competes against Martinez, Aguero, Alario, Icardi, Nico
Guido Rodriguez was awarded with man of the match against Real.
I watched the game I really impressed with him. What I liked about him most is. he wins the the ball Without going to the ground he also very calm
When he has the ball on his feet not panicking at all.
We have so much talants on the midfield ,Palacios, de Paul, parades, Le Ceslo,Buendia ,Papu Gomez,Ocampos,Angel correa and so much talents on the from as well , Messi,Lautaro, Alario, Nico, Dybala, Di Maria,Aguero
We have decenr defenders as well. Romero, Lisandro, Acuna, Quarts,Tagliafico, Sensi and old school boy Otamendi
And finally we have world class goalie as well.Emi Martinez
Overall we have very decent and a balanced team if scolanai knows how to find the chemistry and a methodology. Sure we do have a winning .entality.scolani just need to select right players on right time
EXCELLENT game from Palacios. Much better than the last two with much greater involvement in the beginning of attacks. I started watching around the 20th minute with who knows what else I missed.
102 touches
88% pass accuracy
4 key passes
(4)6 long balls
(12)15 ground duels
8.4 SofaScore with a yellow card
Also had a pretty impressive shot that went over
Not to mention alario comes on as a sub and scores within minutes, a great cool and calm finish.
Palacios is shoving it into Boszs face. I wonder what he thinks now.
Even with the new manager alario is a sub so I think he should leave to a club like Sevilla
Alario will always be a sub for Argenina, so its not a big problem if he is a super sub type of a player. I dont think in Sevilla he will start ahead of En Nesyri.
True, it’s not like alario is a right back of the same level, then we’d be more concerned. But it does make me feel bad for his career because he is better than Schick and Volland. It would be good for him to go to a club like Sevilla so he could have chemistry with some other attacking players to, like you said, possibly make a big impact for us as a sub
Last 3 match icardi scored 5 goals. One of the best finisher
Alario has a scoring frequency of 113mins in Bundesliga this season. To put some perspective to that & keeping a min of 10 goals as a filter – the only South American forwards in top 5 leagues with a better frequency is Messi , Suarez & Muriel ( maybe the most deadly sub ) . He betters Cavani , Zapata , Lautaro , Jesus , & even better than players like Kane , Lukaku , Benzema, Aubameyang etc. Will clearly be among the top 5 in Bundesliga on scoring frequency behind Lewandoski, Halland & maybe a few more. Not a bad stat at all . To me like Guido R , Alario is a sureshot substitute in the 23 man squad.
Palacios raises his level, 4 key passes, 10 tackles, most touches and passes, good win against a strong Frankfurt, Alario with a goal as sub after 3 minutes, next game he will start.
We have so much talants on the midfield ,Palacios, de Paul, Parades, Le Ceslo,Buendia ,Papu Gomez,Ocampos,Angel Correa and so much talents on the frot as well , Messi,Lautaro, Alario, Nico, Dybala, Di Maria,Aguero
We have decent defenders as well. Romero, Lisandro, Acuna, Quarts,Tagliafico, Sensi and old school boy Otamendi
And finally we have a world class goalie as well.Emi Martinez
Overall we have very decent and a balanced team if Scolani knows how to find the team chemistry and a plan and methodology to work as a team. Sure we do have a winning mentality. Scolani just need to select right players on right time
Nico Dominguez out for a month and a half. Will barely make it to qualifiers. If we have other players in the midfield positions that are getting more game time then I don’t think he’s worth it for Copa. But then again I don’t watch Bologna so I am curious to see what you guys think about his performances this year. Do you think he’s adjusted well? Do you see more potential in him or is he not really that special?
You all know how often I’ve sang Nico’s praises, I honestly think he is a legit talent but thus far he’s done just ok in Italy. Mijalovic is an average coach at best and he almost never played to Nico’s strength (CM), instead playing him in a double pivot setup. The one game that Mijlavic played Nico in a CM position as part of a 3 man midfield he beat Inter and Nico was MOTM.
With Guido doing so well not to mention that Papu and now Palacios are both kicking ass in CM positions I don’t see a place for Nico in the copa squad, which opens up a place for him in the olympics squad if Bologna are willing to play ball.
Buendia is too much of a talent to not be included for the copa along with C Romero . Otamendi needs to be dropped for good , sub maximum .
squad vs squad
oblak
s.dest-araujo-vvd-a.davies
sancho-rodri-k.de.brune-mane
lewandowski-kane/mbappe
emi
romero-lisandro-senesi
depaul-paredes-locelso-gomes-ocampos
messi-nico
We r already lagging behind the european contenders. They r having money and might. They r consitently playing which inturn builds team chemistry. We r not playing at all.Europeans will dominate the World cup due to all these.
Cant blame any body due to this Covid situation.But Covid is unfortunately here to stay. Nothing will change till next year. Its gonna be an unusual world cup which was already criticised a lot for its scandal. Hope we some how qualify.
Our only chance is the Copa America. Which if we get more team chemistry may actually win it this time.
What? Chile and Colombia was always planned for June 3 and 8, no?
I am an avid argentina fan and have been following this group for years. People please tell me what happened Fabricio Bustos? Two years ago everyone was like he is galactico material. Now he is totally out of the picture. No one bothers mentioning him. What happened to him why could he not make it to europe yet? So much cry for the RB position but no mention of Bustos in the group.
Sampaoli did called Bustos and played a friendly game; at the moment N/T have got the RB and Scaloni is firm with his selection
No disrespect to Bustos but I don’t think he has anything for a galactico… He has the will but nothing else. I watched him many times especially against Spain before the WC he was like Sampa a disaster. We had Javier Zanetti that’s means we should know what a galactico means. I encourage everyone on the forum to mention Argentine players with real talent but not everyone who kicks a football. BTW, River has a young player called Santiago Simon I think we should watch him he has potential…..
Arg is no longer a host nation in the Copa because of COVID. Lets see where their games will be played
Yes!!! Hope that exhaustion won’t be an issue but this should leave no excuse to not call up Emi and do a Romero – Lisandro pairing. Hope they take advantage of this to the maximum
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