Lautaro Martinez commented on Argentina’s 3-1 win against Venezuela and about scoring a goal.
Martinez, now on 15 goals in 30 matches for the Argentina national team, scored the first goal of the match, his third in the World Cup qualifiers. Speaking after the match, here is what Lautaro had to say:
“The three points are very important. Venezuela is a very complicated opponent. In South America, they’re all difficult but we had a great first half. We created chances and after the goal we were able to work with more peace of mind. We brought home three important points. I think we had a great first half today, beyond the fact that they were down a man.
“For a striker, it’s important to score but the most important thing is that the Argentina national team win. You always have to think about the group.”
He also spoke about the match against Brazil on Sunday:
“The match against Brazil will be nice. It’s unique matches and we are going to try to prepare for it in the best way possible. We will try to face them the same way we did in the Copa America final.”
On a different note, anybody know of a reliable/virus free site to watch the ARG/BRZ game.
VIPSTAND.SE
thanks
We have to be clinical and careful against Brazil. On paper our team is way ahead of them as 5/6 of the starter of Brazil will
miss against us. Still Brazil is Brazil. We have to be careful. Totally agreed with Mamun even 50% strength Brazil can cause damage.
I didn’t watch the game last night but got to watch the highlights and I must say Messi played well and was involved in the attack and that was before and after that cheapass tackle that only seems to occur in South American competition.
Maybe he’s a bit rusty considering he hasn’t played since July with the exception of 20mins or so with PSG last Sunday but not as bad as some insinuations.
Martinez hates conceding goals but still didn’t refuse to low-5 the PK scorer, that’s classy on his behave and YES, finally, the COPA AMERICA CHAMPS CREST on their chests ;-).
My only concern with not just Scaloni but his predecessors is the inability to stop opposition players sneak into the box at crucial moments. For instance Richarlison in the Copa final or Gotzse in 2014. I understand no defense can keep opposition players out of d-box 100% of the time but it seems like our defenders and midfield players tends to drift way from their position at crucial moments. If Scaloni can find a way to address this weakness it will be quite difficult to beat us.
Also , Yesterday’s tackle on Messi could have easily ended his career. I couldn’t believe Leo was able to continue after that horrendous tackle.
Is Leo fine? I wasn’t being able to watch the match live.
I dont know but somehow he looks fine afterward. I remember when the Atletico Madrid guy putting a tackle that bended his ankle 180 degree, but somehow he returned 2 weeks later. If you look at the pic, it looks like career ending ankle injury. Looks even worst than Bilbao tackle on Diego.
Yea, I don’t know how Leo finished the match.
This looks like one of those injuries that are not realized until several games later. I do hope he is okay.
Messi is totally fine. The team already arrives in Brazil and Messi is 100% OK.
Argentina needs tall,clinical and powerful striker. Icardi,Alario and Aguero comes near this area. They will not be get bullied against top teams and big CBs. As Argentina midfield is world class only striker and RB position needs reinforcement.
Armani injured. That’s why he wasn’t among the subs.
Among European teams, I notice Germany, Spain, and Netherlands are not as strong as they used to be. Germany and Spain have too many changes from their golden generation to the new ones. The new coach of Germany is not as good as Low. He makes a new project like Scaloni did for Argentina but it will take time. He gets rid of some seniors.
Spain no longer about Madrid + Barca players. The non Barca-Madrid new comers are nothing special.
Netherlands have some strong players on paper but unbalanced, in some other spots they are very mediocre.
For me these 3 countries are below Argentina. The major threats from Euro for me are: Italy, France, Portugal, and England. Not Belgium for me. Italy have very strong defense and 2 world class midfielder in Jorginho and Veratti. France is pretty much world class everywhere. Portugal still dangerous especially now Bruno and CR7 being teammate. Dias also is one of the best CB. England have a lot of energy, power, and speed.
Way too early to draw conclusions. Flick did a great job at Bayern. He will surely make Germany better. Van Gaal is a process coach, his teams usually make priogress each game. Dutch team no longer has Robben, Van Persie or Sneijder quality.
“England have a lot of energy, power, and speed.”
They’re always no.1 contender on every tournaments. At least their pundits believes so.
Belgium got Boss Debruyne who is a danger in a dead ball, through balls, and shot power insane. They have beast Lukaku with power, strength, and speed (I can see our defenders bouncing off of him trying to tackle – only Cuti Romero looks to be a gladiator against him).
And you can’t sleep on Hazard who on his day can still hold possession and cause problems.
Belgium design to beat us in the counter-attack.
I know our history and team look better, but this modern football is definitely played on the field – remember 2018
Belgium is also a threat. KDB, Eden Hazard, T. Hazard, Lulaku,Doku,Courtious etc are always a threat. Even Denmark is looking great they are also WC contender now.
Good point on Denmark
The team is full of confidence ,players ratings
E martinez 6 : reliable performance
Molina 5: need improvement both attack and defense
Pezzella 5: nothing special at all ,perhaps it is time to give chance to young defenders.
Otamendi 6: Not too bad ,he has experience
Acuna 7: Decent performance, really good at attack and defense .better than tagliafico
Rodriguez 6: help acuna defense ,solid performance
lo celso 8: the man contributes a lot, important player
de paul 8: the same to lo celso
Di maria 5: below averaged performance, perhaps he is better to be a sub
messi 6: below averaged performance
L martinez 6: miss several chances ,still think he may not be the best striker in national team . not speedy nor tall enough for heading .but he is capable to score at the right place at the right time .
J&A correa 7: Both solid performance,
Conclusion :
The team still need improvement, the weakest point is molina and striker .We need a tall ,powerful striker as a substitute ,hopefully Alario ,Gaich or Lopez(lanus) Can help later . Still think Molina is too young
How can you mention tall strikers who can finish and not mention our best one… ?! Alario, gaich are no where close to Icardi. Icardi is the missing link at #9 or a healthy aguero. Yes, even has El Kun’s age.
Scalony doing great Job. Hope it will continue till WCF.
Really good result and a good game to boot. The boys attacked from the first whistle and did not let up and to ice the cake no one got yellow carded, thumbs up albicelestes!
Kudos to De Paul (especially in the first half with some excellent key passes) and especially Celso and Lautaro. The former was passing like Riquelme and Bochini while the latter continues his excellent game-scoring ratio (50%) for Argentina. He might not be as prolific as Kun, Pipita and Icardi at club level (when they were at his age) but he’s putting all of them to shame thus far when it comes to the NT.
Gotta give out some special mentions to the Correas, who brought the game to life with their substitutions, both goals were wonderful ‘team goals’ that we haven’t seen in a long while from Argentina.
Only a couple of negatives in an otherwise superb game, the first is that Buendia isn’t even on the bench, which is sad because the poor kid has to quarantine when he gets back to ‘ol jolly England, so if Scaloni isn’t even gonna put him on the bench then let the poor kid get back early.
The other negative is Dimaria, he’s usually pretty good on the right side and only goes headless chicken mode on the left but I think he’s more suited for games against big teams that don’t sit back like Venezuela did today, hence something tells me he’ll do better against Brazil, if he plays that is.
Spot on with Buendia. Maybe Bolivia game he gets some minutes. The traffic upstairs is too much for now😃 . Scaloni always is loyal to existing players & had to priortize Dybala in the changes. Coach’s loyalty quotient also ends up in slow integration /recall of blistering club form players ( Emi Martinez, C Romero, A Correa 2020/21 & ADM 2020/21 were examples ) . But for sure if Buendia continues his form , he is going to be a long stay in NT especially with Messi / Papu /DiMaria in autumn zone.
Spot on about Dimaria. The current version of Dimaria is built for the counter-attacking game. He thrives against a tiring defense after 60 minutes or when we park the bus as we did against Brazil. I also think this ARG team is better suited for counter-attacking football. We simply do not have that much creativity in midfield and upfront. We scored 1 goal today after the red card and 2 goals after 70 mins against a tiring defense. Before the red card, we were struggling to create clear chances. Plus for possession-based football, we need fast ball-playing defenders and a good DM. If we play possession-based football against big teams with the current crop of defenders and Paredes, we will be massacred on the counter just like WC 2010 against Germany. Although the current Italian team defies this logic. Maybe it’s because Bonucci and Chielini are great at reading the game and have exceptionally good positioning sense. Also, Jorginho is no Kante, but he is also good at reading the game.
Argentina was good today though most of the players has some rusty touches due to extended vacation after Copa. This team will improve hopefully against Brazil and we will beat them. This will give me huge peace in mind. We need to be bit more clinical against Brazil as we missed two/three good goal scoring opportunity in the first half. Will be very pleased if we will able to beat Brazil in next WCQ. I don’t know why I always hate Brazil and try to find reason but failed but still hating them. May be because of their arrogant supporter. Vamos Argentina.
What you think about the match against brasil?
A comfortable win or hard time?
Comfortable win? Against Brazil?….never! Even at 50% strength Brazil has a good chance of beating Argentina, it has something to do with psychology and the fact that Argentine coaches in the past have had the tendency to attack Brazil full on, only to get countered to death. It happened with Bielsa, Pekerman, Basile, Diego and Tata.
The good thing is that Scaloni doesn’t seem to do that and tends to play conservatively against Brazil, especially after copa 19 semi-final where he went with an all out attacking Kun—Lautaro—-Lio trio up front where he learned that a tight, compact, physical 4-4-2 formation is the better option and managed to win the last 2 games against the yellows.
I think winning probability of Argentina is 75%.
Brazil lacks key players and Neymar is lacking match fitness.
On top of that, they don’t have Marquinhos for the Argentina game.
Brazil is without 7 of their Copa America final match starters. We have all 11 available. Clearly their team is depleted with local league & Tokyo Olympics players. At a core level the 2 CBs & GK will be a new combination in upcoming match. Having said they will come all out for revenge .
I believe it will be narrow win for us though i will never write off a Brazil weak squad ( one of my most heartbreaking losses was when a 2nd string Brazilian team beat our top class in form team in 2007 Copa finals )
Brazil without a lot of key players but the replacements are still very strong. Instead of Marquinhos they will have Lucas Verissimmo, Otamendi partner at Benfica who is on fire. Instead of Richarlison they will have Vinicius Junior who has scored 3 goals in 3 games for Madrid this season.
I would say their defense and goalie are not weaker at all than the original starters. Then they still have the best DM in the world, Casemiro too and Vinicius, Neymar, and Barbosa upfront. They are strong.
I expect a win, but a draw game is quite likely too. We will go full strength though.
I dont think Miranda/Verissimmo – Militao- Weaverton can be as strong as a well oiled & better skilled Marquinhos- Tiago Silva – Ederson/Aliison . With all due respects to Verissimmo , at 26 if he has just moved to Benfica ( & that too a Brazilian who normally gets hyped by scouts ) – we are for sure not looking at the next Ayala or Dunga.😃 . Its pretty clear the team is much weaker than their Copa America squad . Also the tuning/ chemistry has to be discovered in short notice . Jesus/ Richalison is a miss.. If we play at same level as we played in Copa , we will not lose points to this Brazil for sure. I would say we enter the game as favorites & should just go all out to play to our potential. Scaloni has now won twice against a stronger Varsil & we can beat them.
Scaloni said during Copa America that there are 17-18 players that are equally good and that he feels comfortable rotating them. These 17-18 are his key rotation players. If I could guess they are: Emi Martinez; Molina, Montiel, Acuna, Tagliafico, Cuti, Otamendi, Pezzella; Paredes, Guido, Lo Celso, De Paul, Papu, A. Correa, Di Maria, Messi, Nico Gonzales, and Lautaro.
No doubt these 18 played major roles in our Copa America trophy. And you can tell today that all 18 took part in the match (showing that they are important to Scaloni’s team) but Nico Gonzales, Montiel, and the 2 suspended players: Cuti and Paredes.
What I like about the game today is Scaloni will likely add one more to that “secured” group, that is Joaquin Correa. Correa was not impressive at all in Copa America, but now he deserves to make the Scaloni’s untouchable list.
Very good PK by Soteldo…
This is just the beginning of Argentina New Era. The era of champions. Trust me we will only get better from hear. We are not perfect yet but I saw good signs and I ve been following Argentina since 86. Thanks to Scaloni, when 75% of the Mundo was bashing Scaloni I kept quiet, I believed in Scaloni. Most of us were so Impatient. I dont blame anyone, after all we were so tired of heartbreaks, that we did not see the prospect Scaloni was creating slowly. And another person I always believed in was Lautaro. You can name Dybala or Icardi, yes they are talented on their own rights but Lautaro is a different beast. He is more afeective against any opposition. His numbers are the proof.
Very well said.
Vamos Albiceleste
Vamos
Happy with the win!. But i still believe this team needs fine tuning in defense and more energy in midfield..Need someone who can be a leader and orchestrate midfield and defense..
This was a special win.
I have seen all the Argentina teams since 86WC. Might I say that , if this team keeps together and keeps building their chemistry and confidence, they will play the most beautiful passing game any Albiceleste team had played, before or after 2006.
I dont know why, but today I had this strong strong feeling that, this team can reach wonderful heights in beautiful game. There are clear signs in my opinion.
All 3 goals today came out of nice passes and moves.
Rodrigo Paul should be protected and taken care of by all means. I dont know if we have a good replacement for him if injured or so. He and Messi, with Lo Celso can really work the ball forwards even through parked bus, it seems.
Muchas gracias to Scaloni and his team too.
Brazil is 90% qualify for WC, so at this point, having them beating any team behind us would only benifit us instead. Even if they somehow lose few games from now on, they’d still finish 2nd or 3rd at very worst.
The current Uruguay team is a sinking ship now. Only Argentina and Brazil could pose challange against the likes of France, Italy , Spain and Germany. Colombia was great at Copa but havent show any consistency in qualifier.
Messi looked a bit rusty, but he hasnt play since that Copa final except that 20 minutes as a sub for PSG. If that brute tackle was on Kun instead of Messi, Kun would be injured for 2 seasons lol
Great game overall – a bit rusty in patches, ball control still problematic but not as bad as earlier. Found myself wishing they’d play for more time after 97 minutes… looked like we would have scored 2 more..also Happy to see Dybala and Messi play passes to each other after a long time…hopefully start of something new… Lautaro, J.Correa and Palacios were really good…esp JCorrea and Palacios were slick on the ball… Molina had a good night as well…
Lautaro Martinez his all around game was good today, Probably he is the most complete strike Argentina had recent times Plus his work rate. Armani will go soon, I think juan musso is second keeper now.
Scaloni since he took over arg nt.
Won in Bolivia after 15 years
Won in peru after 16 years
Won in Valenzuela after 14 years
More importantly he Won 🏆 copa after 28 years. I’ m glad I was one of the few people who backed him all the way.
Same here bro. I still remember the hatred against Scaloni before the Copa let alone in the early days.
Bro you know what More even impresse about him, his choice of players and most of the them become hit, I can list the names if necessary.
We really underestimated the potential of our coaching staff i.e. Scaloni, Samuel, Ayala and Aimar. I decided to reserve my judgment on Scaloni and support him until Copa. Because it was evident to me that every successful team in history had one thing in common: patience with the coaching staff. Even I never expected Scaloni and co. to win the Copa. But here we are. The last 3 relatively successful/solid teams of Argentina NT (current team, 2014 team and 2006 team) have had a coaching staff that was given proper time to build the team. Now I’m optimistic about the WC 2022. We just need to fine-tune and work on our weaknesses. But we have to be really cautious. No team in recent history has won back-to-back Copa and the WC (Same for the Euro except for Spain).
He proved me wrong. I admit that I 1st doubted Scaloni even to the point where I said I would rather Argentina bow out in the group stages of Copa so that we can select a new manager to ensure WC 2022 competitive team.
I can’t believe I wrote such a blasphemous thing. Although I said I hope that Scaloni proves me wrong, I repent now. The joy to see Argentina win the trophy made me eat my words.
Even people here asked me not to be so toxic and a couple thought I was some guy by the name of “kid adult hood” over whatever.
Anyways I now feel the same energy that we had 2012-2016 except, it feels that this time we can win it all!
Mate only brave man come out and admit that credit to you.
Argentina keep winning despite of Lautaro Martinez…. He scores but still is sub par for a #9.
All that matters is that he keeps scoring (30 games, 15 goals so far). We had more prolific strikers that couldn’t do these numbers in NT shirt.
Would you rather have 30-goal a season Higuain in a WC final or a subpar playing Lauturo who still managed to score goals in a Copa we all thought he played poorly in?
You are searching for a young Ronaldo..Ro9..I think..!
No just wanting a healthy Aguero or a disciplined off the field Icardi.
Icardi is needed for sure. I see we are afraid to give crosses cause we are too short in the box. Aguero can’t be relied upon due to injury.
Bad news- Brazil won, let’s do what Chile couldn’t do
Good News- Colombia, Uruguay, and Parqaguay dropped points, so our main contenders are Brazil and surprise package Ecuador. My main hope by the end of these next two games is to increase the gap between us an Ecuador, then we will have more breathing room.
Joaquín Correa was on fire his touchs and finding messi was superb, Angel Correa movement without the ball was amazing, lo celso thought ball was joy , I haven’t seen that kind through ball pass since riquelme days. Nothing against di maria but I thought he had average game.
As i said Messi will never be the same player after leaving Barcelona, he is not motivated enough to play at Psg. It was a transfer in compulsion.
what’s your point?
PSG, Barcelona and Argentina are different teams.
Yes but if he doesnt train well and play competitive games enthusiastically week in-out , his level will decline gradually.
i look at it bit differently. He will more relaxed at PSG & can conserve himself for a final dash at Doha. PSG definitely has the armor to go for CL this time with Messi , other additions & also Mbappe staying. At best they may need a full back more on loan. Other great thing is this time there is sufficient time gap between CL finals ( may 22) & World Cup ( Nov 2022) .
You’re giving your judgment on Messi just after one sub-par game in a million? Not to mention he just played 30 mins for PSG and it’s still early in the season. Hilarious.
Mrinal, habibi, you are a pessimist, aren’t you? No pasa nada, todavia..let’s judge Messi after a while, not enough data to warrant your conclusion yet.
You are quick to judge. It’s his first start after Copa final..! He just played 20 minutes for a new team..in a new league between this.
Last season how he started..? And how it ended..?
Dont think so.
This man just want attention 😀
Doesn’t matter as long as he keeps inspiring his team mates in the national team. Winning for the national team the biggest prize is all that is left for him. He has achieved everything else. In spite of taking that dreaded foul he was on the pitch for the entirety of the match. Running, pressing hard, passing, dribbling between defenders, what else do we need from him?
Chile, cant freakin score if it doesnt involves penalties lol. Didnt even qualify for WC after winning Copa. Rubbish team .
Marquinhos gets a yellow now. So he is out of Argentina game as this is his second yellow👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼
Great. They will probably go Militao-Verissimo now. The fact that we managed to avoid a single yellow is also impressive and I was very nervous about that
Marquinhos is out of Argentina game due to yellow card against Chile.
good news as they won’t have thiago silva either. those 2 are starters.
Good. They are playing without many starters. But still they are good team.
Comments are closed.