Franco Armani has once more tested positive for COVID and could miss the Copa America for Argentina.
Armani, who is no longer contagious, has tested positive for COVID. Argentina national team coach Lionel Scaloni will, on Thursday, announce his squad for the Copa America. Should Armani continue to test positive, he could very well miss the tournament.
He has already missed both of Argentina’s World Cup qualifying matches this month, where he was replaced by Emiliano Martinez.
The goalkeeper would not be able to enter Brazil if he doesn’t test negative and if that would be the case, he could be one of the four goalkeepers cut from the team. He has been testing positive since the middle of May, which led to midfielder Enzo Perez famously replacing him for River Plate in a Copa Libertadores match.
While Argentina will be based in Argentina and not Brazil for the Copa, Scaloni would have the option of selecting Armani for the tournament and leaving him in Argentina. Once Armani tests positive, he would be able to travel with the team.
Foyth is very lazy player..and also very slow I don’t thing he is good in right back position..
get luis felipe scolari he can bring the cup of copa and world cup.
in last copa dybala was very good with messi, but argentina needs a tall striker,, bcs messi,aguero,lautaro,dybala all are short … though aguero strong in air still he is short,, alario injury is very much unexpected unessasary for the teams.
Aguero is a legend already (not for NT yet) and Lautaro is only 23yrs i think so it is not fair to compare. Also I didn’t see how Lautaro was faulty in last two games. He did create opportunities and he ran and ran in entire game. Also Dybala and Lautaro is two different players. However if you wanna compare who is better so far with NT or even this season with Club then Lautaro is way better then Dybala
tagliafico is not impactful in squad.. i don’t see he will bring any.. acuna though his performance wan’t very good in colombia but not bad either,, acuna will be very effectful if there is tall striker,, he is simply very necessary quality in the team will bring or fullfill something new necessary requirment anytime anymoment ..
if scaloni want to improve his squad he needs bring quality wingback.. team with pace, good in short pass, and quality play.. for me pace and short pass link up play is very important, in left back i see two players very much talented , one is angieleri another is bernabei,, angileri has two aspect which is very good,,
one is the pace another is his crosses,, but his linkup play or short pass play how it is i haven’t no idea,, if he improve in this section and defence… then argentina got another world class player..
i think tagliafico should be dropped.. but he is co-captain .. and scaloni surely won’t do it now, but it was necessity and good for the team
now about right back foyth clearly don’t fulfill necessary requirement when team needs to offensive.. but in that colombia match he should n’t be introduce as right center backs..
argentina needs a quality right back at this moment i don’t see world class talent in there .. hernan de la fuente seems to be good but world class it is unpredictable
argentina needs another center backs in this copa,, as a sweeper or solid defence or stregnth palomino will be good but ball in his feed ,, i think he is not good in this section as like as other
laotaro is not overrated, his workforce always effective or not ignorable if you have game plan in ur head
Quarta Martinez, Ocampus,One of goalkeeper,One of Otamendi or Pezella,Montiel and Alario(due to injury) should be out from Copa America. Overrated Lautaro Martinez is also in bad form but he can continue as substitute for Aguero and Dybla.
Why not Foyth as well? Right now he isn’t any better than the guys you have mentioned above. He may have a good future, but his current form with the NT is very bad.
Foyth has been phenomenal in Europa league recently we can not ignore that he pocketed Rashford so he deserves his place other did not ever show any phenomenal performance in a tournament except prime Otamendi
And Foyth bottleed two games for NT and didn’t even show nothing. Foyth has potential but he is too raw for NT now .Also Lautaro ain’t overrated! What are you on about? Otamendi didn’t put a foot wrong untill that stupid move cost us penalty. Romero and Otamendi and Martinez looked solid as ever. I thought Colombia was blocked from everywhere. At the moment Otamendi is better option than Pazzella or others with Romero
In front of Aguero and Dybla,Lautaro is over rated. Dybla and Aguero will be much better than Laudatory. As we do not have many option in RB unlike CF so Foyth should be in the team. Free kick vs Chile was not Foyth’s fault but he was unlucky. Yeah between Otamendi and Pezella,Otamendi is far better.
I agree about otamendi but I don’t think he was at fault for the penalty. It was his natural reaction to spread the arm to keep his balance as he was twisting himself to get the ball. Unfortunately, the referee was calling foul for simple headers when both parties were involved.
Some people are very allergic to Otamendi and De Maria for unjustified excuses while lenient to Parades or others. Parades scored a goal and played decent. But he also received an unnecessary yellow and will miss the next match. He also was the culprit of Romano getting the yellow and to miss the next match. Sometimes, he plays phenomenal but in most times he is just average or below average. His yellow card habit for unnecessary belligerence is worrying.
@Kevin, Lautaro is way more important for the NT than your beloved boy – Foyth. Yes, El Toro has ups and downs and he isn’t 100% perfect, but he did well with the NT so far. His scoring average is one goal every two games.
On the other hand, Foyth is the most overrated player in the NT now. I don’t know why you are loving him so much. Because of his errors opponents always cancel out our lead. You must have blinders on while watching football. How on earth you call Lautaro “overrated” and praise Foyth? Boy, watch football seriously or stop these fucking, useless posts you are pouring in the blog.
If striker does not score goals in clear chances that should be counted as mistake as it is could have given the lead and Lautato missed one or two clear chances. El toro has ups and down so as Foyth.But Argentina has better striker in Aguero, Alario and in Dybla but not in RB spot. In Serie A he is ninth top goal scorer despite playing for Inter who are winner of this season. Most his goals are against small teams.You also need to watch players properly you only see half picture
It is time they should bring Walter Benitez into the conversation. He should be the third choice behind Emi and Musso.
Scaloni is over thinking and ending up with foolish decisions. Also he is biased towards few players who are actually causing lot of problems. We deserve a better coach for sure. Like Lampard he too is doing lot of good things but the end product is pathetic. Like him scaloni too has skipped lot of steps to become a coach for the great footballing nation, Argentina. Under circumstances he should continue till Copa and AFA should reconsider based on the result. For me MONILA & BUNIDEA is a must also two of Pezzella, Ottamandi, Di Maria, Montial and Taglo should be axed.
Lionel Scaloni is taking too much time to add new talented players. Buendai and Molina are sure starter. They must play in playing eleven.
Scaloni is thinking new player will perform in their club then he will select them, it gonna take too much time. Mollina, Buendai,J.Correa,Emi Martinez will always play good. He needs to give them chance and give second role to overrated Lautaro Martinez and drop Ocampus.
mr.messi dont trust scaloni and afa. they put your career into drainage. so plz go and players with spain. those countries are well prepared for 2022 world cup except argentina. still argentina is finding a win with below par team(hunduras, trinad toboco, guatenamala, india, bangaladesh and srilanka) in friendlies.
For all of us in this platform let’s just accept this truth and it’s a simple truth. This player selected are good players to win any trophy but the simple truth is Scaloni and his crew are not even average coach. They are coaches with no experience and no tactical abilities. The coaches in the whole world and in Argentina knows that. Give this same team to Marcelo bielsa & Gallardo and see how the will turn this team into a winning team and dreadful team. But see Argentina national team playing like Latvia such a shame. How many big stars are there at Leeds United that they play the kind of football the are playing under bielsa. Let’s even ask what is the credentials of Scaloni at club level b4 he was given this team to handle how may trophies does he have in short how many semifinals has he played at club level. See crespo doing excellent at club level so AFA is just a Joke.
Many players are weak they do time wasting, complaining and crying. it is hard to see this team play full flowing game even for 45 mins.
Agreed.
I was skeptical about the talent pool just after 2018 disaster. But not any more.
The players are all good and class.
We have multiple quality players on all positions,though fullbacks are a little concern.
Just on comparison with pre 2014 squad,
1. Attack is more or less same. No 9s are more reliable now, better than Higuain & Palacio in Argentina shirt.
2. No one can replace Masherano. We have to live with that. But as a whole our midfield is equal or even better in squad depth now.
3. Cristian Romero & Lisandro pair is much more reliable than Sabella’s Unreliable Federico Fernandez. Garay was really good, so is our new talents. Only thing should worry us is the selection of CB pair. Fullbacks are a concern, but Rojo was never reliable or solid before the world cup tournament. Sabella stick with them, and they gave a solid performance and played as a unit & gave us the result. Hope the same with whatever we got in the fullback roles.
4. Emi & our goalkeepers are much better than our 2014 scenario, Romero was always shaky even though he stood up to the occasion in the tournament. But on paper, we are much better now..
Concluding, talent pool is not the biggest concern now.
Only thing worries me, is the lack of a decent manager and crew. That is going to hurt us.
but what about full back ? we still have a proper LB but what about RB position?Montiel my foot. Molina out of the squad after 1 game.why?
Who will solve fullback problem. We can not win anything with this Fullbacks
Argentina has no good right back right now if scaloni don’t want buendia to play in midfield or wings then he can play him in makeshift right back he has pace can attack and his tackling and defensive discipline is quite good he can do the work easily according to me bt obviously his best position is attacking position
In modern days football full back positions are most important. Every coach try to select good full backs when they build a team. Full backs control the tempo of game. Helps midfielders, forwards and defenders in overlaps. But unfortunately Scaloni don’t believe in that. In last 3 years he still could not find a genuine RB. Why? Don’t he understand the importance of RB position. He selected Romero after he came to limelight. Romero solved CB problem somehow. But who will solve RB position? He selected Molina. Molina performed well. But still he doesn’t want to take him in the squad? Why? I have doubt about Scaloni. Scaloni does not understand modern days football. Yes he is the best coach after sabella but he does not understand modern days football.
I think Montiel links better with Messi & Molina is untested on that front. Molina needs game time with the National Team.
What? Monitel did nothing in last 5 games with argentina. Molina played few minutes in RB in first match.Romero was also untested before he got a chance.You have to give chance to new players when you senior players are not performing well. Molina performed well with Udinese in Seria A. Other position are still ok but RB position is total mess.
I don’t think Argentina has any world class right back or even left back right now foyth is playing well for villareal Molina still inexperienced we r not sure how strong he is defensively
Molina is better than montiel any day .He deserve a chance over montiel
In the long run, I guess Molina will get more games but now Montiel is ahead. We can just hope that he does well when he gets his opportunities.
I’m sorry to said that if armarni keeps being positive it’s good side we don’t need him at gk forget about him emi martinez is better I just get mad because against Colombia Pessi did not providing anything why not subtitute him by Gomez who prove it at Sevilla and Atalanta it will help us This is my wish I hope argentina can come back strong for the Copa America and don’t playing like this because argentina always hurt me I want Messi to win something with argentina but he nerver providing anything for big games nerver score or providing anything Pessi need to take example for cristiano Ronaldo when he is not on the field he mentor players he made the best subtitute that’s the job of captain when the team need you in a most important games you should provide like batistuta or Diego maradonna I want Pessi to be more agressive as a captain if Pessi is like that we will be crown champions but if he kept chiken it’s self we not wining anything like against Germany I like how Messi is playing but he was not lucky
Wish you a speedy recovery Armani, it will definitely take some time to recover from COVID even if he is tested Negative he will have to rest to recover completely means he won’t be completely fit at all, So logically he may have to be dropped, Its sad reality. Hopefully he gets well soon. As he may be bringing something to the table that’s the reason the Goalkeeping coach and Scaloni is sticking with him, we have to respect that decision.
I would hope Emiliano is 100% fit to play by the Copa Starts, If he is not fit Scaloni should go for Musso, I for some reason never liked Marchesin’s performance for the NT. He never looked like a convincing Goal keeper for the NT.
I seriously dont know why scaloni is hell bent in selecting otamendi armani and pezella…while kicking out buendia, lisandro and emi Martinez
I just dont understand why we are cursing at our National Team players. If the players are not good enough they should be replaced and if they are not replaced its not their fault they can only do what their abilty let them do. I am sure each and every player in the team worked really hard and sacrificed a lot to get to this level and fight for the nation. Its easy to sit back on your couch and make judgements. I respect the shirt and the players, those are playing today and the players who wore the jersey previously.
If the team plays bad we can debate and argue, share our thoughts and feelings but nothing will change unless the management do something about it. But why are we swearing and cursing? I know you all are frustrated but please dont disrespect and get carried away. Its not the end of the WORLD. We have not won anything for more than 2 decades with great players. We are fans today only because they are players fighting for our team to entertain us and give us hope.
Respect.
Vamos Albiceleste.
Over the 2 matches, we saw the problems that have been already mentioned here many times:
– Otamendi, Pezzella better in a defense of 3 CB, despite their experience and strength in 1 to 1, too slow and made too many faults
– Foyth, despite his talents with the ball, made too many mistakes
– same fullbacks issues
– Paredes, despite his goal, is too static, no enough support for the others
– Lo Celso, invisible, either found behind the opponents when the team had the ball, or found in the same zone as his team-mates.
– Ocampos and Lautaro don’t have the level(technically)
Which meant over the 3 years, Scaloni still struggling with the same issues, I doubt if he can find any solution before most of the players of the current team get retired some day. No, it’s impossible to continue like that. He only selected players like Emi Martinez, Romero, Lisandro, Buendia under pressure, not by his own will. Copa is his last chance, maybe many teams will play with their team B, so if Argentina cannot even win, there is no point for him to stay.
Whats the obsession with the worst international GK in the circuit today? Time to move on. Emi is the best GK Argentina has had since generations.
A 35 million pound player Emi Buendai should be on the Copa America. He is one of the best for Norwich city and in Aston Villa he will be 2nd best after Jack Grealish. Scaloni please select him.
Emi Martinez
Molina. C. Romero. Lisandro. Acuna
De Paul. Paredes. Lo celso
Messi. Aguero/Dybla. N. Gonzalez
Interesting that you dropped Foyth 🙂
Mollina looks better at Right Back. But Foyth is substitute.
In the background some of our best talented youngsters are being scouted seriously for good Europe moves :
Alan Velasco – Brighton/ Lille / Newcastle
Thiago Almada – Marseille
Pedro De La vega – Fiorentina / Norwich City
Sergio Romero was injured… he lost the place in the WC 2018.
Emi taken over Armani only because of Covid(otherwise Scaloni will continue to use him)..and history will repeat… nobody can remove Emi from now on….he will be glued to this position together with Cristian Romero.
Waiting for Buendia’s turn…!
Why getting so bothered about dumb Armani??!! If his test result comes negetive, do we really need him?? Why ignoring Musso??!
Martinez & Musso more than enough! Kick out Marchesin, Armani etc dumb old shits from the team! How they come into negotiations I don’t understand!
Can’t u remember Mr. Fucking Willfredo Caballero in 2018?? 🤭🤣
Its so nice that put such kind of dumb shits in the field in every tournament & stay trophyless for another 280 yrs..simple math!
Anyway, hope any miracle will happen & Argentina will win this copa, wc or anything else! I’m just tired!
All the best my team….
Emi Buendai and Dybla are must for Copa America just leave players like Ocampus AMD may be Lautaro Martinez too. Dybla would be best no. 9 for Argentina he knows how to play link up game unlike overrated Lautaro Martinez whose ends product is zero. Emi Buendai is creative hub for Argentina.
Hi Kevin. I did not see a lot of Buendia but the kid is promising. He needs some exposure in the top tier Premiere league next season. After all he only competed in tier 2. But I am sure there is a chance that he might become promising for national team. The national team is a complete different game. I like Dybala but everytime he played for National team he was not the same Dybala from serie A. I dont know what it is but it could be that Dybala is not suitable while Messi is on the pitch. And Dybala is not a pure no 9. He does not possess the predatory instict. You may not like Latauro but he does possess what a no. 9 should possess. The chances he got yesterday he did not miss or messed up, his shots were great and on target. He was unlucky Ospina predicted right. I dont want to take anything away from Ospina. Latauro’s poacher-like first touch shot was great too. On another day its a goal. Infact if we compare Dybala vs Latauro in the national team, Dybala played 29 games but only 2 goals scored. While Latauro scored 11 goals off 22 games played. The kid is effective please be patience with him. He even created goals out of no where and won penalties for us too. The thing is we only have 2 genuine no 9s in the team. Latauro and Aguero. You take Latauro out of the team we only have old Kun. We cannot take this variety off the team. Dybala is also important because if Messi gets injured only Dybala can fill the spot I believe but not as a no 9. Just be patience i believe we will get better because I saw that in the first half against Columbia. The second half we can say a lot about the issues but the truth is the core of players that played the first half looked solid to me.
Vamos.
Dybla’s final touch is way better than Lautaro Martinez ,Dybla can play no. 9 with Messi. Match vs Chile is great example.There is no power in Lautaro Martinez’s shot any average goalkeeper can can save that. It is not about Dybla’s 29 games he rarely started any games but was a substitute. Lautaro Martinez’s most goals in friendlies or against weak team in group stage. Dybla never got proper chance last 10 or 15 minutes of game.
Dybala will get his chance again. But Latauro have not done anything wrong yet. Time will tell who is capable of what. I hope both stays in the team because both of them are very good at what they do.
Lautaro has not done anything promising too. In Copa semifinal vs Brazil what he did at least Aguero made some shot on goal he was just unlucky but Lautaro nothing. Scoring goals against Mexico, Bolivia, Qatar is not enough he has to show against top teams.
Lautaro was picked for simple reason, he scored more often in national team than Dybala. 11 goals in 22 matches vs 2 goals in 24 matches, not even close. Lautaro won 7 penalties for Argentina, all converted by Messi & one by Paredes. If he takes all of them himself, he’d even have more goals.
Dybala has total of 4 or goals in Juve this season, Lautaro has 16 goals + 8 assists.
In a team that we have now where there’s no creativity outside Messi, it doesnt matter who you choose as forward. Without any services & link up play, the #9 will always be isolated.
Its not PS game where you can pass it to Kun and have him dribbles everyone in his path.
Dybla was injured most of season.With Ronaldo in your team other do not get much chances.Just look at Benzema when Ronaldo was there in Real Madrid how many goals Benzma scored.
In last copa in the 3rd place playoff against Chile Messi, Dybala and aguero were playing some scintillating football. I don’t know why it hasn’t been tried again…
Lautaro can play instead of Aguero, no problem in that…
i don’t really see Dybala as a #9. He can play as a #9 now, but when Messi leaves, he will have to play as the #10. Or they can ignore the fact the ‘Pity’ plays in a low level league and still call him.. ‘Pity’ can add a lot in that team
My point is there are no reasons to Drop Latauro for Dybala. Dybala is the future I am sure there is room for Him. But Latauro has scored and earned penalties for Argentina. We can play Aguero or Latauro as no 9. Its good to have 2 options. With more experience Latauro can get better. He has already proved himself in the team so unless he does lots of mistakes there are no reasons for him to get dropped. I see him a surplus to our team cos he can change a game by himself. If it was not for him we would have lost in Bolivia. We usually dont win there but Latauro made the difference in this qualification. That 3 point can earn us a spot in 2022. Latauro is a unique beast we dont have another of his type in the team, he brings variety in our attack.
If we can get this team running without interruptions we wil do great not only in Copa America but also in the Future..
———————-Emi———————
Molina–Romero-Lisandro–Acuna
—————-—Paredes——————
——-DePaul—————LoCelso—–
—Messi——————-——-—Nico—
—————-—Latauro——————-
Subs:
Musso
Armani
Montiel
Senesi
Nehuen
Tagliafico
Guido
Buendia
Palacios
Dybala/Papu (Messi Alternatives)
A Correa
Aguero
Note:
Gaich and Alvares may have some chances in the future but its too early to predict.
wish Armani a speedy recovery and play for River again
One word ! Drop Armani
Crazy how this Covid stuff works, it feels like a long time ago since the Covid scandal happened in River. Does this mean Musso can not be dropped?
I guess so. Marchesin missed a great opportunity to impress. He definitely is a much better keeper than Armani & shown in CL this season his skills. Even in the Nigeria friendly before WC 2018 he messed up. Maybe a case of nerves or he needs a string of matches to settle in. Musso has been just average this season unlike previous year & also had an injury break . Ideally it shld be Emi, Armani & Marchesin- though we shld be good with Emi, Marchesin & Musso also as long as Emi is starter.
If rumors are true , Buendia will be a bad miss. I dont see why Scaloni wants to have a Alvarez or Dominguez over Buendia who can bring a X factor . With the Aston Villa deal done , its impossible he can play in Olympics as pre season in new club will be super crucial for Buendia.
Yep. I think people are forgetting Marchesin practically knocked out Juve from the CL. He should be our third choice.
if some one is not fit – go behind the player and select him if he doesn’t want to and risk everyone…this is team selection?
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