Argentina XI vs. Bolivia confirmed, Lionel Messi, Lisandro Martinez to start

By
Roy Nemer
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72

Argentina national team coach Lionel Scaloni has confirmed the starting XI for the match vs. Bolivia on Monday.

Lionel Scaloni has made six changes from the team which got the 1-0 win vs. Paraguay. With six players on yellow cards, Scaloni has rested all six players who are one card away from suspension.

That means Emiliano Martinez, Lucas Martinez Quarta, Gio Lo Celso, Leandro Paredes, Joaquin Correa and Lautaro Martinez will all start the match on the bench. Speaking at a press conference, Scaloni confirmed the following XI for the match:

Armani, Montiel, Pezzella, L. Martínez, Acuña, G. Rodríguez, Palacios, A. Gómez, A. Correa, Messi and Agüero

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72 Comments

  1. Messi should have been rested and a couple of the yellow carded ones should have been risked like Lautaro Martinez. Anyway, he has lost his way and playing his last few matches with the national side until and unless he does something extraordinary in whichever league he would play this year. Instead of Correa there should have been Di Maria. Correa in Atletico and Correa in Argentina seem to be two different players altogether. He has been given enough chances to make a mark at the national level. But he has disappointed time and again. If Lisandro is there, Tagliafico should have been there along with him.

  2. Hi – If players on 1 yellow card – are playing this match and do not get another yellow card against Bolivia – would that single yellow still carry to quarterfinals?

    I do not think Emi Martinez should be rested?

  5. I hope julian alverez gets a go at least 30 minutes he is the future i havent seen a youngster as complete as him for us so long
    He scores with both legs, cool under pressure, heads well, great penalty taker
    And what i like most is he assist well if he was Brazilian he alredy have played in Europe
    We need to promitr our young guns to polish theire talent and confidence

    • Sorry to disagree but been watching Julian Alvarez since his U20 debut for Argentina. I don’t think he is our “best talent” among players his age. He is not bad but he is definitely not the next big thing. He’a got a bit of everything but he is pretty much average in everything. I am fine with him being called up but the moment I saw his name among the 28 squad, I knew it right away that he would be just called as a back up of the back up forwards.

      • @el principe Mee too watching him u20s and argentina legues i thing in that age group he is our best thiago almada, matias palacios are yet to improve they are not living up to the expectations

  7. Argentina will most likely meet Ecuador in the next round which is for me the weakest among all teams in group B. Venezuela would have been worse as Venezuela like to park the bus unlike Ecuador.

    This year things seem to be going our way, we should finish the top of the group then meet the weakest opponent in the second round and if we make it to the semis, we should meet the winner of Colombia and Paraguay/Uruguay (depending on the result tonight).

    The best scenario would be, lets hope Paraguay win or at least draw tonight so they will finish second and they will meet Colombia in the quarter and the winner will face Argentina-Ecuador.

    Brazil way is much tougher. They will face Chile or Uruguay in the second round and Peru or Uruguay in the semis.

    • Historically Brazil worst matchups are Paraguay (with their organization) and Columbia (most physical and athletic team, as we saw in Copa too), Paraguay eliminated them from Copa in 2011 and 2015, plus in 2019 made a draw. I dont think old Chile would be a problem for Btazil, Uruguay maybe, always hard to play against celeste, Peru is overrated imo and not a really dangerous team. Ecuador have good results with argentinian ex Boca coach Alfaro: 4:2 vs Uruguay, 6:1 vs Columbia in WCQ and statistically they were better in every group stage Copa match too (except Brazil in an even match statistically), only results didnt come.

      • The best scenario for us:
        Argentina – Ecuador in QF
        Argentina – Paraguay un SF

        Brazil – Uruguay in QF
        and if they won Brazil – Chile in SF.

        QF and semi are very tricky only strictly 90 minutes. If a team can defend really well for 90 minutes, they can eliminate a big team by PK shootout. I mean sometimes the likes of Elche or Levante can play 0-0 against Barca. So in general I am happier meeting a team that doesn’t park bus like Venezuela or Uruguay in any of QF or SF match.

    • Plus Ecuador were really unlucky in group stage, conceeded 6 goals with only 2,8 xGA, not that bad defense. xGdiff/90 Brazil +2,25, Ecuador +0,70 Columbia +0,35 Peru -0,80 Venezuela -2,62. Ecuador are not weaker with Alfaro than Columbia

    • Btw Bolivia so far in 3 matches combined 1,5 xG and 8,8 xGA, very weak team, average 0,5 xG and 2,9 xGA per match, have to raise our confidence with a minimum 3:0 win.

  8. Messi shouldn’t be played, we need him amply rested for the Knock outs, He may have been used as a Sub around 70 Minutes just to get into the sync, If he can score some goals then it will be a good, but it was better he was rested. So that there is no injury or fatigue scare. By the way the above squad looks good, All of them should be tested Pezzella-Lisandro combo will be interesting. We need to see more of Papu-Messi Combo too.

    Looks like No Penalty, No Tapins etc means a No No show from Miss highness, enough of that F*** Face this should be the beginning of the end for him, such a disgusting player who didn’t had any impact in most of the matches he plays added to that he is always diving and whining, His Biggest achievement will always be, being mentioned in the same breath as Messi, which is such a disgrace to Football. “You can fool all the people some of the time, and some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time.” Sooner or later the world has to know that Cr7 doesn’t deserve to be mentioned in the same breath as Messi. Kudos to Belgium for doing the favor, Belgium vs Italy is gonna be a cracker.

    I for one never likes Arrogant players, No matter whichever sports, Cr7, Djokovic, Mayweather etc. etc. All of them has arrogance as their trait.

  9. I like this 4231. As I said, this formation gives better protection to the fullbacks, gives more freedom to Messi because he plays in a more axial position, it should also allow the team to play more compacted and press the opponents in their 40m. And most of all, we have the players for that.

  10. Messi is a hard working, never want to take a rest longer. hopefully he got his chance to score against Bolivia. The team is just fine in whatever formation Scaloni used. The chemistry has keep growing between the veteran and young players. Not to worry much. Although still missing the mid-field creativity and good transition between defense and attack; The tango dance and attraction is rare to watch nowadays

    Vamos Albiceleste !

  11. Piero Hincapie (19 years old) is looking very good for Ecuador of Talleres Cordoba. Too bad he isn’t Argentinian. Talleres will probably be able to sell him for a great sum

  12. Belgium 2014>2018>2021

    Overall Italy should be happy to play against this current Belgium team compared to Portugal. Portugal would have been more of a threat to Italy compared to Belgium. In 22 meetings Italy have only lost four times against Belgium. Italy won against Belgium at the 2016 Euros, so history and championship prestige is with Mancini Italy..

      • @Rattle The point is, Italy defeated a stronger Belgium team at the 2016 Euros. The 2021 Italy team is way stronger than the 2016 version. Head to head does matter, just ask Portugal whenever they play against Germany. I wasn’t talking about trophies, I said Italy dominated Belgium in their last 22 meetings between the two teams.

        • No, you’re just tryin to put portugal high on pedestal even though they won zero games at group stage in previous euro and won just 1 game in this tourmament. They’re worst than Greece 2004.

          Portugal only won 3 games in last 10 Euro games.

          A worthy loser.

  13. Damn I do not like this result today. Gustavo Alfaro is one person who knows very well how to play for a draw and take a game to penalty kicks.

  16. i like molina a lot,, he is young and he has plenty space improve his play.. he should improve his defence and little more offensive ball control movement and trickery play then he is the perfect combination

  17. Huge opportunity for Licha Martinez, hope he grabs the opportunity like Romero did and replace otamendi in knockout matches. Pazella gives more confidence in back line than otamendi.

  18. i see lo celso is fullfilling in this argentina team something like iniesta role… in the middle argentina missing someone like xavi with high visionary of assist.. i don’t know what kind of role messi exactly fullfills in argentina team he always didn’t click in national team like in the club during the time with xavi,iniesta,messi.. he didn’t finds that kind of partner from middle..
    i think xavi deserve balond’r unfortunatly presence of messi didn’t make it happens

      • messi talents is more natural than cr and messi talents is something like collective.. unfortunatly most of his talents goes waste.. due to lack of proper partner… which is clearly happens in barca last 4 season and with argentina most of the time.. dimaria was always proper backup for messi..

        messi play with the chemsitry of xavi,inista, and dani alves was something great excellence

    • Yeah I would have given the ballon d’or 2008 to Xavi and 2010 or 2012 to Iniesta. But anyway … I think many football fans who have seen the barca 2008-2012 will always remember the football they played during this era: dani alves at his prime, busquets-xavi-iniesta who control the game, pedro/villa/sanchez made those unselfish run, messi dribbles and goals.

  21. Huge opportunity for LICHA and Angel Correa to perform….so as Papu gomez. If Papu plays well and score / assist it will give team another advantage.. I still prefer molina as R.B because ADM is not available. Only Molina and Nico Gonzalez have pace

  22. Concerns for Belgium are KDB and hazard injury .. if they don’t get fit against Italy then potentially against France. It’s very difficult they will beat them…

  23. Cortious currently the best GK in the World along with Neuer, Won Golden Glove in World Cup 2018 and on the verge of winning in Euro 2021. MOTM against Portugal 💪

  24. Did I mention HOW MUCH I HATE that conceited Ape AKA Christina???

    Notice how she was PRETENDING to show concern for De Bruyne, WELL KNOWING that his day was done, he couldn’t contain his inner happiness for his injury ……F**ER

  25. Belgium defence looks great although there are aging player but they were very compact. Despite they were not playing for top clubs but they are world class defenders.

  26. Diego Jota played Higuain role now Belgium is favorite to win Euro, these Portugal team 100 times better than 2016.

  27. Great squad except for Armani.. but most likely he wouldn’t have much to do. Lol. And of topic.. renato Sanchez is the heart of Portugal. But cr7 gets all the credit for his tap ins and penalties.

      • @Anuparno Musso is the best Argentina GK on the par with Emi Martinez, Armani ahead of picking order because of seniority and scaloni personal relationship.

        • Musso is not on par with Emi. Musso is not as complete as Emi especially in distribution. Musso’s clean sheets have gone down as well

          • Musso was ahead of Emi Martinez last season and won Golden Glove in Sera A but his form declined compare to last season and you just can’t blame musso when whole Udinese team sucks and Musso De Paul saving them from relegation. I said ability wise musso is par with Emi Martinez but current form and specially the season Emi Martinez had with Villa even better than Emerson. Emi Martinez 🆚 Musso should be no 1 & 2 for Argentina.

        • Here we go again with the stupid sexual innuendos Raj.

          Excelling in Scaloni’s bed? Is that what you are trying to say. Basically the same things that get you banned from here all the time.

          • Right enganche. It is not because of Scaloni personal relationship (the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard). It is because of the TEAMS relationship with him. You can’t just kick someone out suddenly that is a part of the team because that makes the relationship between coach and other players pretty awkward. I am convinced some people here have never had the experience of a friend group. That is not the way human behavior works. Yes I agree with siddiq that Musso should be no. 2 behind Martinez, yes I agree he is better football wise with Armani but this notion that it is because he excels in bed is counterproductive and irrelevant. I actually laughed the first time I saw that joke on here but it is getting out of hand and I am starting to wonder if it is not meant as a joke. Armani will be removed over time. The only mistake Scaloni made is digging himself a hole where Armani was a starter for way too long ahead of other keepers, but the whole Armani thing was not even started by Scaloni himself in the beginning

  33. In the interview Scaloni said he has 7-8 players who are his starters/key players that will always start. the other 3-4 are his rotation players.

    But he also said that only one player who is untouchable (everyone knows who), others have to earn it.

    Let’s guess who the “7-8 players” who will always start are.

    My guess:
    1. Lionel Messi
    2. Emiliano Martinez
    3. Cristian Romero
    4. Nicolas Otamendi
    5. Rodrigo De Paul
    6. Leandro Paredes
    7. Lautaro Martinez
    (8). Nicolas Gonzales

    The 3-4 key rotation players should be:
    1. Giovani Lo Celso
    2. Exequiel Palacios
    3. Angel Di Maria
    4. Sergio Aguero
    (5). Guido Rodriguez

    I did not include any wing backs because the other day Scaloni said that none of his wing backs are back ups, all 4 are his “starters”, which mean: Molina, Montiel, Acuna, and Tagliafico.

    • Or maybe Scaloni means 7-8 are his definite starters. The other 3-4 positions he has 2 players.

      If that’s the case the 7-8 should be: Messi, Emi, Romero, Otamendi, De Paul, Paredes, Lautaro.

      The 4 where he has 2 players in each position:
      1. Molina-Montiel
      2. Acuna-Tagliafico
      3. Lo Celso-Palacios
      4. Nico Gonzales-Di Maria

    • Lautaro isn’t a starter as we saw during the last match, Celso on the other hand (if fit) is.

      Acuna and Molina seem to have leapfrogged Tag and Montiel respectively while Papu and Guido could threaten Celso and Paredes if they continue to play well.

      I personally think this is a good thing, to have multiple players competing for places, it lights fires under all their butts and keeps them competitive.

      Lastly I hope Scaloni will realize his mistake for leaving out Dybala and Icardi because thus far Lautaro and Kun haven’t done enough to guarantee their place.

      • Right on! Acuna and Molina are deffinetly looking better indeed than montiel and Tagliafigo! Lo Celso if fit is a must for me personally, but Papu has been great too and like u said this just good news because they all will have to compete with each other constantly to get in to starting eleven and this eventually will profit any team aroun the world, but also like u said the issue we are having right now is with our strikers so i remember u mentioned another day that a we should try use Messi as false 9 or let him be our finisher because he is the most clinical finisher in this team, but i hope that this will change one day and that we could have strikers like Batigol, Crespo, Caniggia, Claudio Lopez and this list goes on etc… but unfortunatly things are not like that for our striker options at least in this team at Copa at this time, but i hope our coaching staff will figure something out to provide more better quality to our up front so we would start firing more goals in which literally means that at least someone has start to finish them off ! I don’t care who it will be, just get someone firing more goals for us! Because we will need those goals in the end of the day or should i say at least one day or maybe better to say that ”on that right day” !

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