Former Argentina coach Alfio “Coco” Basile: “We will be champions”

By
Roy Nemer
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144

Former Argentina national team coach Alfio “Coco” Basile spoke about the team, the Copa America and Brazil while also stating that Argentina will be champions.

Alfio Basile remains the last man to ever coach Argentina to a senior trophy having won four trophies with the team. Basile coached Argentina to the 1991 Copa America, the 1992 Confederations Cup, the 1993 Artemio Franchi Trophy and the last trophy which was the 1993 Copa America.

Speaking to ESPN, here is what Basile had to say regarding the Copa America:

“This is the opportunity to win the Copa America. More because of the way Brazil are playing, they are a normal team, discreet. Taking out Neymar, they are normal players. This is our opportunity.”

In regards to Lionel Messi and a few of the other players:

“With Messi, we are already winning 1-0. He is a football beast. It’s a team still in training. I would would Paredes from the start. Lautaro Martinez is still learning but I like him.”

Regarding Lionel Scaloni:

“For me, he is doing very well. At the least, what he likes in football doesn’t differ much from mine. He plays the way I like. For anyone who watches the national team, they play like my team used to play.”

Finally, Basile spoke about his health as he was recently in the hospital:

“The truth is that I didn’t suffer, I had no problems. I was in the hospital for 10 days and they did everything they had to do. Obviously it’s not nice being there but it went very well. I am vaccinated. I think that did me very well. The doctors told me I was well. I didn’t even have a fever.”

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144 Comments

  1. Here we go… final with Brazil. This is going to be historical.

    We will need to make improvements to beat them, and the simple improvements start at playing Romero, Acuna, and Di Maria. I always fear Di Maria might play horribly but judging on recent form post Chile game he is playing like at PSG. Plus he will neutralize Lodi which will allow our RB to focus more solely on Neymar (which is going to be a major area of concern). People on this site seem to have some agenda against Montiel because most if not all of the complaints are directed at him being subbed on after Molina was horrible and made dangerous mistakes, like losing the ball in our half and failing to clear it in a silly manner which if I remember also led to a counter. I don’t know if people purposefully blind themselves to this because if Montiel had done that for all I know some mundoers would have gotten tickets to Argentina to burn down his house. Obviously Montiel was also poor and him and Pezzella’s bad defending nearly sent us to the devil if it were not for Dibu. But Scaloni has a tough decision on his hands because both of them are not geared up to defend against Neymar.

    Before the penalties was Mascherano around? Because someone must have told Martinez “hoy te convertis en heroe” (today you will become a hero). I was surprised to see De Paul miss because he is very concentrated, serious, usually confident, and a leader. For the nerves to catch up to him out of all players was surprising.

    The Colombians played a dirty game of fouling players. When Messi was rolling on the ground I felt my stomach sink. I am not surprised at all by Frank Fabra, I remember in a Santos-Boca game he stomped down on a Santos player’s stomach and got sent off. Imagine if Messi could not play the final because of him?

    Now here is a pattern I noticed. This year Inter won Serie A, Sporting won in Portugal, Lille won in France, Atletico Madrid won La Liga, Liverpool’s utter dominance from last year entirely gone, Colon won in Argentina (for those who don’t know this is a team that was fighting relegation a year ago and has spent its fair share of time in the second division. On top of that they sold some of their best players like Vigo and Chancalay this season, after which I thought they’d be entirely dead), Rangers won in Scotland, England actually has gotten to a final, Italy has also ended their horrible recent history (even though we have no winner yet). So for that reason this is a year in which I think we will win this final and change our luck. It seems like world football has been reset. But let’s not get too sentimental because concentration and focus is needed to win, not pre planned luck.

    Also even though I am generally supportive of Scaloni I must agree with Sula that his decisions do not always follow what is happening in games. For me I have a weird sensation that many of his substitutions are decided before the game with the team. They seem planned. I hope he is careful against Brazil and substitutes players as soon as necessary and brings on good players (instead of any Paredes for Lo Celso type thing). I believe with our talent on the bench that can be the difference between winning or not.

    • > I always fear Di Maria might play horribly

      Yep, same but i expect he’ll be consistent with last few games. Like Messi, this seems to his tournament

      > Molinea vs Montiel

      Spot on. Particularly harsh on Montiel but blind eye to Molina.

      Its pretty crazy though. Our weakest point against Neymar. No clue how Scaloni plans on dealing with him. RDP + Molina/Montiel are going to have to mind meld.

  3. England robbed Denmerk……

    Maradona is actually goat….he even robbed biggest robbers in the world… A quote from a spain supporter friend 🤣🤣

    • You know what, as much as I wanted England to lose I do not care. Only so many of the teams we want to win can win. One can only have it their way so much. For me I wanted Spain to win and Denmark to win, but I hope this is paving the way for an Argentina win. Someone has to lose. Yes I am starting to lose my head and get superstitious about everything before this final, but don’t worry everyone I do not believe that zodiacs will define this haha.

  4. Scaloni, Ayala, Samuel and Aimar have done a very decent job so far. Is it flawless? Of course not, but all the hate Scaloni gets from some here is unwarranted in my opinion.

    The unity in the team is obvious as is desire to win. I don’t remember such unity since the times of Sabella.

    Dibu is one heck of a GK, wow!

    • @enganche It’s an easy answer.

      They’re a mix of reasons and one of them for the hate is that they want entertaining football and what fan doesn’t want entertaining football?
      Unity means nothing as long as the football is entertaining that’s why they’ve never said the word ‘unity’ before. They don’t care about that.

      – 19 games unbeaten.

      • Unity on the surface but in game it’s difficult to consistently see the defensive shape or his idea when attacking. We have been saved by individual brilliance too many times, like yesterday, 2nd half was horrible until ADM and thankfully Emi stepped up big time. Don’t get me wrong, i do respect and appreciate what he has done and the results. And of course everyone will take a shit win over a loss but the critique is often warranted.

        Enganches Art of War quotes comes to mind
        “If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle.”

        Often feels like we still don’t know ourselves so every victory, we also suffer defeat.

        • Yes, Still scaloni has to do a lot to become a good coach. Even Martinez came only because Armani had covid, just think of Armani in yesterday’s penalty shoot. Why he is obsessing with Pezzella, Montiel, Armani, LMQ and keep on-call them instead of better players. Romero should have been in the team before the last qualifiers. After Copa few mediocre players have to be axed and young talented players should be integrated into the team.
          Especially buendia, Medina, Lisandro martinez, Sensei, Foyth and dybala.

        • Spot On;
          We never looked comfortable against any opponent except against Bolivia;
          With Sabella we were comfortable against most teams; There’s a huge difference; Scaloni fails to read the game & if anything doesn’t work as per the plan, he looks clueless;
          But he shall be appreciated for what he has done so far given the circumstances & group of players he brought in;

  5. All the Scaloni hate and yet he’s undefeated in 18 games and one win away from our most important title since 1993. I’ll at least reserve judgment until after we play Brasil.

  6. ❤️ Lo Celso ❤️

    Easily one the most important players imo. The guy is allergic to passing backwards and fills that missing role that connects the defense with our all star attack. GLC – Guido – RDP all the way. Everytime GLC comes off, the midfield dies. I hope he’s fully fit to last longer next game. Obviously the guy defends and tackles really well but he’s a prime example of how an effective attacking player is so key. Between Gomez, ADM, GLC, RDP, and Messi, Brazil will have ONE hell of a time getting possession and will be forced to play more defensive.

  7. Very interesting day where 2 football giants takes a big step for a long awaited redemption. The script looks all familiar with rookie coaches, unforgiving passionate fans & heroic displays on field. While there is decent merit in some of these discussions like more minutes to dimaria, getting papu/ a correa to play instead of nico, a surprise RB in lmq to counter neymar, i would for now trust scaloni to go with what he deems fit for purpose. I am anticipating him to be cautious, sticking to his plans & the truth is that there is no right or wrong.
    My only wish is romero getting back 100% fit. Strange to see that he last played on june 22nd & still practicing with team while not being available for match after 2 weeks plus. Only inference is that its minor & there is hope

    • Valid observation. But an italy- england final in Wembley is what a neutral fan wld wish for. Also for last 30-40 mins, england deserved the win more than danes who didnt have gas in tank. Also for diego’s sake, i would love to see napoli’s insigne beat england in wembley with a cheeky solitary goal. ☺️

  10. Scaloni has been incharge for 3 years now and he still hasn’t learnt to change his tactics according to the situation of a match!! It seems like he sticks to his pre-game tactics regardless of the state of the game. His extremely poor substitution almost cost us big yesterday. He overlooked Nico’s horrendous performance for almost 70mins and by the time he was substituted it was too late for Dimaria to make anything happen. All of his team members were tired to capitalize on chances created by Dimaria. Had it been in the first half l, Lautaro would have buried that open goal he missed but when your body is tired your brain doesn’t work properly.

    If Scaloni goes with average Nico then Brazil will wreak havoc on our midfield. We are unable to make 4 passes until Dimaria came in. Our midfield was overrun by Columbians for 70% of the match. This weak midfield is putting immense pressure on our weak defense. We are only superior in attack against Brazil , they have a far more balanced midfield and defense than us. Scaloni and his two inexperienced assistants need to figure out a plan to win the midfield battle, if we are to defeat them!!

    • > Scaloni has been incharge for 3 years now and he still hasn’t learnt to change his tactics according to the situation of a match!!

      my biggest concern is if the NT under Scaloni has reached its limits. We can all give him credit for new players (somewhat forced in many scenarios) and no losses, chem, etc but we need reach the next level now. Squad has great foundation but now its time to implement a system and i don’t know if Scaloni is the guy (to those that say he has a system, i can’t really tell due to all the changes but i’m not great at understanding tactics so maybe im not seeing something).

      the rest of your post im in 100% agreement. Im dumbfounded that he continues with Nico. How many games did Nico butcher a pass, how many games did Nico butcher an excellent opportunity, how many games has he killed the momentum? Sure Scaloni retreats into a 532 with Nico all the way back but that shit aint working, we look porous in defense and vulnerable in the midfield. As soon as GLC was subbed, the midfield died. Shows us how useful an effective attacking player can be.

      Gomez over Nico ANY EFFIN DAY. No comparison. I just don’t get how Scalonii leaves one the best players in Europe on the bench for underperforming forward that defends…Gomez is excellent at dribbling, beating defenders, passing, shielding the ball, making runs, etc. Like ADM, Gomez is perfect to throw Brazil off their game into more conservative style. Gomez or ADM should start ahead of Nico.

    • Totally agree with u Sula V. Because of Scaloni’s unable to cope with the state of game, just because he can’t read the game well enough and like u said everything seem’s like for sure pregame tactics and this i call bad management or i could use several words for this i think there is no need because i’m sure we do understand each other pretty well by refferring to your good post’s and more importantly for our beloved Albiceleste your very good point which i think everyone must have seen that literally we’re playing against Colombia allmost with no middfield at all !

      So i think we should attack instead go ultra Turtle deffensive Scaloni mode and only count on some individual skill, no that is not good idea or pregameplan from Scaloni and it will cost us this Copa for once again…

      With more attacking minded players and who are on form and have show’n us allready what they are capable it will for sure help also our defenssive play…

      So then our lost middfield could maybe return and hopefully give us what all have been waiting for so long…

      There is nothing to fear from our opponent besides the referee and world famous Varzil which long time ago was at least playing football called ” jogo bonito”…

      Theese days are long gone and with corruption, referee’s, Conmebolcriminals and Fifalsness they have had way too long of favourism on their side which have led them to the point where they are called as ”the mighty Varzil”…

      Also because nowdays Varzil the only way is play as attacktive as possible meaning bringing the game and keepin the ball mostly on their side of pitch and keep them constantly at their backheels and not give them time breathe at all and i think we have the right players to do that or at least give at a go instead of ultra Turtle defenssive pregame pian where u just give the ball to your opponent and let them do with it whatever they want and only wait for the maybe one golden chance and purely only count on that…

      Even it have at least worked once against them, but it was 31 year’s ago in Italy at 1990 and that team can’t be compare to this as the same goes for pretty much for any team, but 31 year’s ago we defended so greatly even Brazil had most of the ball, but we knew how to defend them and hit them back on counter no need to mention names everyone who remembers knows that this current Copa team is not made for to defend like we did 31 year’s ago and simply can’t defend like that so that is why we have to bring the game on their side and keep the ball running and not run after the ball…like against Colombia !

      Offcourseit is not an easy task, but with right players and right tactics can be done and also i dont think that Varzil is expecting that from Scaloni as i’m also affraid and not really expecting this to happen from Scaloni rather it is just a wish of mine and maybe also someothers too…

      So i don’t think even how much i wish for change to pregame tactics from Scaloni to really happen rather i think unfortunatly most propably we see the same as so far…

      Even i Still dont really understand why we not try play like we did on the first half on that qualifier against Colombia just before this copa…

      Just same old, same old for myself and dont really know if can even dare to watch as usual for myself when our beloved Albiceleste plays as expectations allways on high from myside and as exicited as allways since 1978… even back then as kid i was allready so emotional everytime when our beloved Albiceleste played and Still the same emotions go through me every time our beloved Albiceleste plays and truly they have played great many, many times even like i said the first half in that quliafier game against Colombia just before Copa was so good like as we all know and have seen also before and for so long also luck never been on ourside, but once a fan allways a fan so nothing to do about myself just only wish as allways for our beloved Albiceleste !

  11. Wow, where do I even start. So many threads and so many comments. It gives me great joy to come here and share the moments with you all. About Emi…

    I am so happy that Emi is establishing himself as the best Argentine GK ever. Yes he saved 3 penalties and I am not surprised. I was confident he will save something. What I always liked about our good ol Damian Martinez from 2010 days, is his attitude. He said he wants to be the best at Arsenal, he did. He moved out of Arsenal and didn’t lick Arteta. He said he wants to be the GK of NT he did, inspite of politics. This is what a top performer is. They don’t cry and neither are soft.

    I loved it when he smiled on Cuardado’s penalty. He gave a message that I almost got you. You need that arrogance. This is something missing from our players, including Messi. Emi constantly sledged the opponents. He commands the box, he owns it, even over his own defenders. Everyone is secondary inside the box that he defends. We are seeing a ledend in the making and I am not surprised. No wonder Messi called him a “phenomenon”. Will say again, we need such attitude to win something. VAMOS!!

  12. On a funny note,
    I have noticed alit of guys here use the same language as the American channels use when speaking of the sport futbol,… I will call it soccer because I am afraid if I say football some of you may put on a helmet and tackle me. 😂
    These commentators spend the whole match speaking of what they would do and what happened in 1971 and what should be done, while major things are happening on the field. This may be a major influence why many here think they are Sir Alex Ferguson plus Pep gurdiola.
    Terms like “intercept” , “questions asked of defense” etc are not for this sport. I turned on fox and they said “player is asking questions of the defense” about 30 times in one half. Or, Brazil wearing “canary yellow”…muthafucka, it’s yellow, why you always have to include this animal canary in your bullshit. Yellow is yellow. For Gods sake, what happened to the old British commentators. And I’m not speaking of the ESPN group of old English men with false teeth, which I will say they are at least acceptable.
    Advice: stop watching the beautiful sport on fox, ESPN, abc, nbc… And if u have to watch on these channels then try not to mimic what you hear.
    Another surprise to me I’ve read in multiple comments is ” wow Messi is talking trash?” I guess you guys have never watched the Spanish league. Maybe because if the lack of crowd you just noticed.

    • Whenever I use terminology I always use what comes to mind, so not sure if I am guilty of using American terms (even though I technically am American) but when they say stuff like “questions of the defense” and etc it makes me cringe. Although for the word “intercept” it depends the context because the term “interception” which is a stat in games is commonly used in Great Britain as well

  13. Check out our eastern brothers during the “emi big balls” penalties

    “Kids in Bangladesh watching the Copa America penalty shootout and rooting for Argentina”
    reddit.com/r/soccer/comments/ofpz6l/kids_in_bangladesh_watching_the_copa_america/

  14. what exactly is coming home? Did England ever win a Euro for cup return home ? Am i missing something here?
    it is not coming home. it is coming to Rome.

    • this site explains it.

      sbnation.com/soccer/2018/6/28/17515674/world-cup-footballs-coming-home-england

      “Like all truly great song lyrics, this works on two whole levels”
      1) The first is literal: England were hosting Euro ‘96, and the slogan for the tournament was “Football Comes Home”. This is the country where some old men in hats first wrote down the rules. This is where it all began.
      2) The other level was half-prediction, half-plea. England, though they may be the originals, haven’t often been the best. Their only major tournament win was the 1966 World Cup, also held in England, and in the thirty years since then they’d been occasionally decent, often bad, and frequently a total mess. They’d lost on penalties, they’d failed to qualify for tournaments, they’d conceded to San Marino, and they’d been mocked at great length on Norwegian television.

    • Isnt amazing? They consider themselves footballing power, yet they only got as many international thropy as Denmark & Greece.. one thropy after more than a century 😀

      • They consistently make it to quarterfinals, have a title, and have bred amazing players. Plus the world is biased towards European soccer, so marketing, etc also elevates the country.

        • quarterfinals? lol . Netherlands was in 3 WC finals + 2 semi, Hungaryhas been in 2 WC finals, Greece and Denmark has already won Euro. If quarterfinals is the standard, everyone is footballing power.

          Argentina reached 29 Copa finals, 5 WC finals, 3 confederation finals and those European journalists always consider Argentina as a failure.

    • trophies are more at home and comfy in Uruguay than in England haha. Argentina has more finals won in the world cup than England ever played in WC and Euros

      • Portugal won Euro in 2016 and aging Uruguay side beat them in WC 2018, somehow those European fans still think South American is always behind.

        Didnt Colombia lost only on penalties to England?

        The reason why European sides has won more WC is simple, there’s countless European countries while there’s only 4-5 South American teams that participates in WC.

        Spain was beaten badly Chile in WC 2014 when they’re reigining champ in WC and Euro. England was beaten by Uruguay.

  16. Please don’t wear dark blue kits in the final. Worst luck ever in those kits…stripes with white shorts and socks like Italia 90 quarter final clash or Stripes with black shorts and black socks like 2014 Semi final.

  19. if romero is not fit…why not use Licha instead of pezella….pezella keeps inviting pressure from the opposition by passing backwards or sideways and pls don’t take out molina…he’s at the moment much better than montiel

    • Sorry. But pezzella is the best option we have with Romero hurt. And the goal v Colombia wasn’t on him but instead on Montiel who lost his mark. Pezzella had to try to cover but it was too late.

  21. The final is in 3 days and still no word or update on C Romero , I don’t get it . Our defence can be shaky without Romero and it doesn’t take 2 to figure it out , we need updates .

  23. I would like to try Licha at RB. I’m convinced both Molina and Montiel are not yet ready / good enough. I have seen Licha play as LB, so I guess he should be able to do the job. He has the attributes to play as RB.

    And then Romero at CD is a must. May god heal his injury. He’s going to be the saviour of our defense along with our superman Emi.

    Lautaro
    Nico | Messi | DePaul
    LoCelso | Guido
    Acuna | Otamendi | Romero | Licha (hoping for a surprise)
    Emi

    • We have to understand that Brazil have 2 deadly players from their left side. Neymar and Lodi. If they don’t feel like Argentina is a threat from their right side, then it would give freedom for Lodi to move forward. So again we can’t be too defensive there. For me the inclusion of Di Maria is crucial here as he is a right sided player now. He would counter Lodi/Neymar whenever he sees a space.

      But knowing Scaloni, most likely he would play safe and play De Paul there instead of Di Maria to help defending Neymar and Lodi.

      I remember in World Cup 2006, we had a very attacking left back in Sorin. Sorin moved forward a lot to help the attack. Then Germany made a modification in the second half, they inserted their fastest right wing, David Odonkor to neutralize Sorin’s movement. The result was Sorin was mostly defending in the second half because he was worried about Odonkor’s speed, if he left his space wide open then Odonkor would be dangerous in counter attack.

      Now it is the same situation with Di Maria vs Lodi. The inclusion of Di Maria would make Brazil less dangerous from their left wing.

      • @el_principe,

        There was friendly against Brazil in Doha under Sergio Batista. We won 1-0, thanks to Messi’s goal.

        In that match, Brazil was dominating in first half due to their left back and Dani Alves. To counter that Batista introduced Lavezzi at 46th minutes. As a result, Brazilian LB was restrained for rest of the match.

        I am seriously dumbfounded that Scaloni does not learn from mistakes. Ecuador gave fair warning but he continued the same way against Colombia. That passive approach after first goal. We could not complete more than 3-4 passes together.

        If he continues with same XI and approach, we will loose against Brazil.

  24. Emi martinez, papu gomez, Romero, lisandro, Armani, Dominguez , Marchesin and Aguero will do light training today at 3:30 PM. Rest of the squad will remain in hotel. Messi is tired but injury free. Romero as of today is still doubt. He can do normal training but can not go as hard as other teammates.

    Interestingly, Aguero was supposed to be one of PK taker. But substitution chance did not happen during last minutes.

    • many things.

      estas nervioso. mírame en la cara. mira que te como!

      you are nervous. look at me in my face. look at me destroy you etc…
      (loose translation)

          • That’s the goalkeeper we been dreaming, wishing, praying for, hoping, and fantasizing about forever.

            Honestly, I liked the Mina dance after he scored vs Uruguay on PKs, I was cracking up and I wont lie about it BUT didn’t wanna see it again especially last night.

          • 🤣🤣🤣

            Thanks el Mongol for translation
            Dfox & sorinXcrespo always entertaining oldmen
            But why did messi told Mina “dance now!” I saw its written somewhere , want him his former teammate ar barcelona!??”

          • Bombonera, Messi said that in retaliation for disrespecting his homie Suarez during the Uruguay-Colombia penalties last game.
            Mina scored and danced like crazy during the penalties.

        • haha! i suppose i was not the only one thinking of goycochea last night watching that performance. I was a kid back then, but man I thought there was no way we could lose with that giant in goal. I was so obsessed with goycochea then, i pestered my mother to get me his replica jersey – the iconic black one with the colored patterns for ages after that. Never got it though lol.

          • I have one…The classic black with purple, pink and blue patterned front with green stripes on the arm…Doesnt really fit anymore and the wife wanted me to get rid of it…I almost got rid of her.

      • @Chejose,
        Ha ha ha ha!
        That was Muhammed Ali(esque). Lol!

        I also understand Messi told one Colombian boy to dance (after Emi stopped his penalty) the way he danced when he scored a penalty a few days prior..

        I didn’t know messi would talk trash. Lol!

    • He said that ” you look and are nervous” and ” you ain’t ready” and ” I’m blocking your shot brother”… The best is for Mina, he said, ” your boy before you got blocked, you going to try the same side of the net, you going to get blocked too”
      And he did get blocked

      • 👍 thanks – I never saw such confidence in our keepers since I first started watching national team the confidence this man has attained .. beyond this will be arrogance 😆

  27. the happieness is very big for all the fans of this national team.
    i am happy as much i can t explain myself.
    One more final. congratulations to everybody that give us this happy.

    without i want to complain i want to mention 2-3 things that i keep from this game that we should not overpass them so easy and let the win to cover them.

    1. referee didn t give us a penalty and VAR asholes didn t “see”. i am speaking about Otamendi s jersey hold from a Colombian defender. i don t remember his name.

    2.Colombians played dirty in many occations and referee allow it.

    3.Di maria make the difference 2 last games because he enter fresh in second half and faced easy the much tired Colombian defenders. Scaloni take big credit about that.

    4.Lautaro s miss is unecceptable. He is proffesional football player and make money that is much more than the salaries of all the mundo posters united together. it is forbiden in this level this kind of miss. Unecceptable miss. i don t want even to imagine if we didn t qualify what could we do after this huge miss.

    Scaloni doing wonderful job. Personally day by day make me convinced for his work.
    well done coach. well done to everybody inside team.

    • As for your question number one, why was it not a penalty? I was reading the conversation between the referee and the VAR team. They said that the jersey pulling of Otamendi occurred prior to Messi corner kick, so it would not be considered a penalty. It makes sense to me.

      Anyone knows why Emi Martinez did not celebrate right away when he saved the third penalty?

    • “make money that is much more than the salaries of all the mundo posters united together”

      That’s disrespectful.

      • Disrespectful? why? How is that ? if you take so much money like Lautaro Martinez then i am so sorry to you that i offend you then. Me and the majority of people inside here i guess we are not payed like you and Lautaro.

    • Lautaro can’t score in every kicks. He’s scoring in continues match. What we all want is he score all the opportunity he gets…huh…even Messi can’t do that.

      • in every kick sure no but his chance was not this kind. it was in almost empty net and without goalkeeper. he is suppose a profesional player of highest level. Isn t he? it is unacceptable in this level.in my opinion of course.

        • The one he scored was okay if he didn’t score? And he scores here to make it 1-1 you will be happy I think. Anyway Lautaro should have run closer to make it difficult for defender.
          He will score in final that’s my confidence. I believe him. He will make all of us proud.

      • But that miss was atrocious. 99/100 times any quality forward takes that gift on a silver platter and they would make it. He really effed up. Only reason why its not a bigger deal is because of Emi aka spiderman.

  28. brazilian tends to shoots inside outside of box .. fast short passing movement .. fast pace movement from the wings ,, neymar and danilo contribute in the pace from the wings… brazilian coach try to compact their play in the defensive midfield to defence… using messi,dimaria,correa,locelso, gomes will be very effective against them so time should be divide effectively amongst them with changing in playing position each other… nico or lautaro won’t work perfectly… nico and lautaro if play they should only play for their things.. such as nico for pace with defence and header,, lautaro for his workrate .. and they should use in moment of need… i’m again saying lautaro should sub when there is need of energy and workrate

  29. a.correa is tiny margin behind than dimaria in attack or almost good… but one things angelo adds is defence… so dimaria .. and angelo should use efficiently complimentary resorce to each other..

    messi dimaria a.correa share the fields each other center mid, wings , up attack it will be the best scenary of attack… i want locelso also take part amongst them as starter or one of them correa,dimaria,locelso as sub,,,

    argentina don’t have perfect finisher which is primary attribute of striker so why not playing correa,messi as false 9

    • use lautaro, nico for there pace, workrate and energy when there will be need of energy…

      use your things with best of attribute they holds in the play to match with

  30. Referee was not helping us at all !! Messi’s feet was covered by blood, so many times they pulled, grab and pushed him we while he was advancing to score but those interruption hadva in impact. Referee should have shown yellow card after Ward. Messi was brutally kicked by those assholes!!!!

    • Same you can expect against Brazil. That’s why DiMaria is very important to unbalance the defense.
      Gomez too will be helpful.

  32. Kung Fu Jesus is suspended for the game………1) they’ll be missing one of their main players and 2) CONMEBOL seems to be playing fair……..so far

      • European referees? If you worried about a referee helping Brazil then you definitely don’t want a euro referee. Do you know the politics between Argentina and half of Europe?
        All due respect, but have you ever been to south America ? Thanks

    • Is this gentleman 1942 the DOB ?
      May God keep you live longer past covid era , I really admire your comments . Looks like a person of high personality if not your age – lol!! 😆😆😆

  33. For me…the best players should play final… formation should be accordingly…no weak link please…
    1: Messi
    2: Emi
    3: Lautaro
    4: DiMaria
    5: Romero
    6: LoCelso
    7: Acuna
    8: Alejandro
    9: DePaul

    2 more or 3 more by removing anyone from the above. Plan to fight….not to sit back against Brazil….

  34. gomes-nico-lautaro.. one spot

    if you want early goal use gomes..
    if you want to player contribute in defence and with good with speed .. use nico..
    if you want work rate .. then use lautaro…

    and i want nico and lautaro as sub in second half for gomes

  36. I am against the idea of bringing DiMaria at 60th minutes in final…I want him to start. Scaloni protected him until final without injury…now you use it. Anytime ha can have a brilliance and the chance will be created. Block and foul Messi will be Brazil’s first intention as he’s the one behind all of our goals.
    1. Romero
    2.DiMaria
    3.A bold decision to use Lisandro Martinez as RB…what he never played there…! Yes but still I believe he can do better than Molina and Montiel.. even though it’s not his position. Or even Martinez Quarta is fine.
    3.Alejandro as sub
    4.Aguero as sub

    Anyhow we should beat Brazil

    • dimaria can’t run with same speed more than 45 to 55 minutes.. and final is not about a play of only 90 minutes.. dimaria start in first half second half both is good .. but it is also needs bear in mind he can’t play like that full minutes

      • What he can do..let him do all…he’s the one of the best in the world..still.
        Use him…until he’s exhausted. Now, he’s fresh.

    • I don’t know why Scaloni is against Di Maria starting. If the one playing like him were someone named Ocampos or Gonzales or someone else; Scaloni would have made him a key player right away, but no matter what Di Maria did, he could only earn less than 30 minutes/match.

      I know Scaloni likes attacking players who defend, Di Maria defense may not be as good as Nico Gonzales or De Paul or something but he is not a Riquelme or Messi defensively. I don’t think starting him would bring a liability for the whole team defensively especially the other forward, Lautaro defends quite well too.

      It is the final match, use our absolute best 11 players.

      • di-maria starts or not he is equal good .. but i’m against playing him more then 60 to 70 minutes .. use ur sharpness best of the time possible it is either as starting or as a sub

          • i think di maria is second best player for attack after messi.. i want to ask you a question.. what do you think about a.correa

  37. u will get max 120 minute for final..
    so use ur resorces efficiently..

    ————-messi———–
    gomes —-locelso—-correa/dimaria
    ——-guido —– R.d.p——-
    acuna–lich/ota–romero–molina
    4-2-3-1
    bring.. dimaria as early as can in second half.. if he starts in first half then let him play until he tired..

    bring nico or lautaro around 55 to 60 minutes for gomes for there working rate and speed…

    bring paredes for guido around 75 to 90 minutes… paredes is on of the finest penalty taker..

    if locelso needs to sub .. correa could be sub for locelso .. also aguero could be also.. messi and aguero could be share center mid and up..

    messi,dimaria,locelso,a.correa,aguero they will share 3 spots

    messi,dimaria,a.correa,locelso must be in play… left side of attack is good with.. gomes,nico,lautaro … they will share one spot

    guido,rdp,paredes … will share two spot also palacios as extra..

    now the problem is in the right wing backs there is no backup for molina

    if anyone notice argentine player for penalty they target same left sided direction… colombia target right sided target direction..
    only paredes penalty was nonstoppable pinpoint…

    i think argentine players didn’t practice shoots both inside and outside box

  39. Congrats everyone!
    A few thoughts….
    Does anyone know why Molina was subbed out?
    Pezzela didn’t do bad last night. I’m happy for him.
    I like paredes alot, but I felt that other than his penalty kick, he only contributed by Kicking a downed Columbian player and talking shit from the moment he came on.
    Columbias coach did a great job by re adjusting before the end of the half and making his final adjustment at start of second. Brazil also has a good coach fyi.
    And finally, did we run out of subs after di maria and paredes came on? Isn’t it 5 subs in this tournament. I felt that we needed one more set of hungry legs on the field at the end of the match.
    Argentinooooooo for life, vamos!

      • Maybe you havnt seen him play before, In comparison with his previous terrible games he didn’t do so bad last night. Wow.
        Anyone know why Molina was subbed ?

        • Molina made two horrible mistakes losing the ball if I remember correctly. Was very unsecure against Luiz Diaz. Both of those obvious mistakes led to dangerous counter attacks from Colombia

          • Both had a horrible game, but Montiel’s first touch gave the ball to Columbian player at the edge of the box and nowhere to be seen for the goal. Montiel is a traditional right-back playing for a club like a river plater, but his performance is not up to the national team standard. He should not get called again. It is all on scaloni for dropping foyth for this guy is an absolute joke.
            Whereas molina is RWB and he was doing a good job before yesterday’s game.

  40. I won’t be surprised if Scaloni goes ultra defensive mode with Lautaro Messi and Dimaria for counters and rest of the team holding back and parking the bus.

  41. I found Messi very fit now, almost no fat at all and probably at his best form since 2017, we can see the difference on the pitch. I think lot of work on his fitness has been done on his side. I have no doubt that he can still play at his best level the world cup next year.

    In this final, the key is to block the opponents on each side, I think the best way to achieve that is to play with 2 wingers that have high work rate in order to prevent the Brazilian fullbacks from attacking. Maybe a 4231 starting a bit more defensive and progressively more offensive:

    0-70th minutes: Emi Martinez-Montiel, Otamendi, Romero, Tagliafico-Palacios, Guido-De Paul, Messi, Acuna-Lautaro
    70th-90th/120th: Emi Martinez-Molina, Otamendi, Romero, Lisandro Martinez-De Paul, Guido-Di Maria, Messi, Papu-Aguero

  44. Messi bleed in Brasilia last night !!! Hope rest of the team take this in their mind and play with their hearts off!!! If everyone fight like Messi or in this case Di Maria we will be the 🏆 chamipion.

  45. Vamos Argentina NT. It’s in the hand of GOD now. Both teams are equivalently strong, so will play the finals.
    With Messi, we will always have the advantage, lets pray he can drop a masterclass on the final and finally let Argentina NT to win the cup.
    Vamos Argentina.

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