Argentina rumored XI vs. Peru, Lionel Messi, Lautaro Martinez to start

1. Playing Nico in frst 11 is scalonis master plan. Nico is always more than useful in that position.D Maria as a sub is working well. Thr is uncertainty in wings. taglifico Molina Montiel and Acuna lacks speed ..Thts the only issue in scaloni s rotation policy. Similarly Locelso is maturing in Arg. playmaking job. but still need a backup for him..Using Lamela as a sub for locelso in CM can be useful I think..

2. Dont be too excited because this Uruguay side is very mediocre this days still they created 3 golden opportunity in first 25 minutes remember this same Uruguay conceded 4 against equador recently. There pressing was also not intense that made us play free flowing football i want to see more matches like that thn only i’ll be confident. Bt nevertheless still encouraging to see such a free flowing passing game it felt like i was watching lucho’s barca just that they had msn and alves and we didn’t have that quality.

   • Do you want to have your name in the hall of shame? This Uruguay team has some big names……

   • Why are you always so negative, I remembered before copa final you were crying saying Argentina have no chance, and what happened? however you still continue to be more negative probably bit annoying now , dude this Uruguay past likes Italy and England bk 2014 world cup they putted to sleep Portugal in 2018 don’t underestimate Uruguay it’s very good football nation actually Argentina and scaloni deserves more credit no one give chance that arg will be this good and now they will be one of the fearing team in the world trust me no country in the world will want to face rejuvenated Argentina and Messi.

     • Im just sceptical

3. Resting Le Celso and Paredes and having Guido and Papu looks fine. But Nico should start. He is young and takes an amount of load which Di Maria cannot take. Acuna and Otamendi have already built a good connect. Let Tagliafico and Otamendi create an understanding among them too. That was clearly and dangerously missing against Uruguay. It improved during the course of the game. Scaloni should again get them together against Peru to strengthen the understanding. Montiel replacing Molina is another need to ensure Romero and he get quality time together on the pitch. Instead of Alvarez, who seems to be contributing nothing, why doesn’t Scaloni give chance to A Correa? He is too dependent on Messi-Lautaro combination and not trying to build other probable combinations. Paraguay game showed that this is not a good strategic decision. He should try to build more combinations.

4. Flashback to our dismal 2010 qualifying campaign under Maradona’s management. Coming off a horrible run where we lost to Paraguay, Brasil, and 6-1 against Bolivia!

   We had to get this win against Perú in the pouring rain.

   https://youtu.be/-EmHqs3ov_U

5. As we are playing as good as we have since 2016 Tata Era… we must keep the midfield starting DePaul, Locelso and paracedes… and 3/4 of the defense ..Otamendi and Cuti along with Acuña if healthy and the “counter stopper “Molina. Tagliafico if acuna isnt ready.
   Messi and Lautaro up top and whether it’s Gonzalez, dimaria and even Papu at the left wing position.. go with the rotation for now … so Dimaria’s up again.

   • Tata era was pretty bad. We are better now. We may had talented upfront during Tata era but now we are playing as a team, hence getting good results. No body would dare to play us in world cup next year.

     • Tata was tactically not that great and never gave the confidence that he will win a tournament.
       Scaloni has a long way to go but this side looks promising.

       • Opinions are great and I respect yours but “people lie but numbers don’t!”
         Not only did Tata’s side go to back to back copa America finals but the 2016 team finished 6-0-1 with 18 goals scored and only 2 conceded… +16 …goal differential! Argentina, in our illustrious history has never played so well by the numbers. Just facts not opinion.

     • Opinions are great and I respect yours but “people lie but numbers don’t!”
       Not only did Tata’s side go to back to back copa America finals but the 2016 team finished 6-0-1 with 18 goals scored and only 2 conceded… +16 …goal differential! Argentina, in our illustrious history has never played so well by the numbers. Just facts not opinion.

   • Yeah Tata era never looked great to me……..just okayish…….This side far superior than Tata Era.

     • Opinions are great and I respect yours but “people lie but numbers don’t!”
       Not only did Tata’s side go to back to back copa America finals but the 2016 team finished 6-0-1 with 18 goals scored and only 2 conceded… +16 …goal differential! Argentina, in our illustrious history has never played so well by the numbers. Just facts not opinion.

6. The only position I am concerned other than a backup no-9 for Lautaro, is Center Back. We need both Otamendi and Romero to get used to one of the L.Martinez or LMQ. Centre backs are more prone to getting suspended so hopefully once we have qualified , Scaloni will give adequate time to one of these as solely counting on Pezzella as our third CB might result the same disastrous outcome we had when counting on Rojo in 2018 WC. Pezella can be our fourth CB but definitely not 3rd , he has lost a lot of pace due to which he gets booked a lot.

   • True

   • Medina is third CB

     • Not really, he was only called up this time because of Acuna doubts. Although good thing Scaloni chose to give him minutes ahead of Pezzella

   • Everyone keeps calling for Lisandro but he didn’t even make bench against URG while Medina got minutes. For a reason unknown to all of us, LM is clearly not in Scalonis plans.

     • Scaloni likes height in defense and his height is going against him bt he is great at ajax in a league where the tallest players play in whole Europe. In another 1 years time we don’t know if otamendi is fit or not or if he gets injured or gets card u can’t play pezella or lmq as that will decrease our chance significantly. We saw in 2014 wc just 1 player thisgo silva absence against germany made Brazil so weak at defense that they conceded 7.in a long and gruelling tournament like wc iits vital u have at least 1 substitute for every position specially considering it will be played at Qatar which will be hot injuries and fatigue will be a major factor there. I want to see lisandro and senesi getting minutes soon because defense chemistry needs time

   • Obvious backup for Lautaro is Icardi. Is he still in the doghouse?

     • Alvarez is already better

7. Need to experiment now – before you run out players due to injury etc..there should be always a backup 11..

8. You know, the old adage – don’t change a winning team.

   If it ain’t broken, don’t fix it.

   • Correct … minor chances but not experiment !
     Scaloni is doing it right… giving 15 minutes to Alvarez, , L. Martinez…every other game is as much for an “experiment” as we should do. We have a great rotation right now!!

   • Yes, I would like 90% of the starting team to be from the Uruguay game and maybe some other back up players to get minutes at the end of the game. Important for our back ups to get some minutes now and again so it is not disastrous when we lose a starter.

9. I sat down with some friends from Uruguay over dinner last night and they brought up an interesting theory. They said that Argentina played so well because they were comfortable on the field with Uruguay who they don’t hate, don’t have any blood or misfortune with. I countered the argument by saying that Argentina vs Uruguay is one of the oldest rivals in the sport. But their logical counter was that there is never controversy between us, and the cultures are similar allowing the Argentina team to forget emotion and play to have fun. Very interesting theory.

   Also, I’ve supported acuna to start over the last 6 months… But after the last game it may be a good idea to give the start to tagla. Both are good, but the passing from tagla vs Uruguay was special

   • Allow me to counter your friends’ argument. Argentina and Uruguay have a love-hate relationship, yes the countries are very similar, it’s true, but the football rivalry is intense and in fact is the longest derby in football!

     In the past it was never easy for us to break them down, always a tight contest, it was only in the last game we won by a large margin. And if not for Dibu’s saves, it could have been a different game altogether. Last time we won by three goals was in 2012 I think. Also, many games in the past were very physical with our players constantly fouled.

     I think we won because we were on fire, as simple as that. Godin, Coates are not young anymore, Muslera was always a somewhat just above average GK too. Messi, Lo Celso and De Paul were just too much for them. As well as Dibu and Romero.

     • I agree with you fully. But it was an interesting thought that I wanted to share from my Uruguayan friends.
       To be honest, it is impressive that they can find 11 good players from their small population. That alone makes me respect them.
       If we play the way we played the other day then I don’t see any team giving us trouble.

       • Yes, for a small population they pack a punch in footballing terms.

         To be honest, there were times when I wished some of their players in their prime, were born on the other side of the River Plate.

       • Are you sure they were real Uruguayans? Argentina vs Uruguay matches are intense and we normally play terrible against them.

         Examples:
         Disastrous Copa America in Argentina 2011
         The last qualifier for 2010 WC under Maradonas coaching stint when we almost missed the WC.

         Last match was one of the cleanest rioplatense clásicos I’ve seen.

         • Yes they were real Uruguayans 😂. I know they are hard to find as there aren’t many of them, but they are real…. 😂
           I agree Elcholo. But They are not speaking of our complete past, they are speaking of the last 5-6 years. I remember some very intense matches also. But the difference now is that we are coming off a championship win and we are comfortable. One reason why their argument is interesting is that last week we had big problems against Paraguay. Now we all know anyhing can happen on any day in this sport between any team….. But we can all agree that Uruguay is much better than Paraguay on paper at least

   • Tagliafico doesn’t have good translation defense or offense… and is a push over compared to Acuña whom plays with huevos. Every time Tagliafico starts to do something that gets me off my feet… he then proceeds to fuck it up or back pass when he has already create forward space!!! Lol

     • Acuña plays with huevos lol

       El huevo that he is hahaha

       • After otamendi and depaul… acuna is next in line … as guys you don’t want to owe money to…

     • Exactly why I like acuna. But we had such an elegant possession of the ball with tagla vs Uruguay… Which leads to my speculation

   • The Uruguay – Argentina rivalry is an interesting one. Sometimes it feels like our only difference is the name of our countries and the economy haha. It’s no coincidence why most of our Argentinians and Uruguayans in clubs are good friends. Sometimes I imagine what a combined Argentina – Uruguay team would have won (culturally it could easily be the same country) in fact once it was the same country. We probably could have won 5 world cups, but that is just speculation. We ended up with a unique rivalry instead.

     • Good points Olive indeed !

       olive October 12, 2021 At 1:06 pm
       The Uruguay – Argentina rivalry is an interesting one. Sometimes it feels like our only difference is the name of our countries and the economy haha. It’s no coincidence why most of our Argentinians and Uruguayans in clubs are good friends. Sometimes I imagine what a combined Argentina – Uruguay team would have won (culturally it could easily be the same country) in fact once it was the same country. We probably could have won 5 world cups, but that is just speculation. We ended up with a unique rivalry instead.

       Yes, a very, very true every single word !
       Also Uruguay was the first wellfare country in the whole world !
       A South American country ! Not an U.S or a country from Europe !

       Hat’s of for Uruguay as country and also for their fantastic history in world football which is Still remarkable as we seen for example in the last WC or in the previous one’s too !
       Specially with a such small population sometimes it allmost feels like their players get picked by european clubs before Argentiinan players which is a bit strange, though not because of quality, but more like because of so little quantity if u compare to Arg for as example…well i know that about the guru’s in India they have this saying that so much of quantity, but very little quality, LOL ! Nothing against India or anyone from India instead i allways liked Hindustan !

       But, using this same phrase with between Uruguay and Arg can’t deffenetly be used as simple as that as both countries have had tremendous football talent and players past decades and i really do mean decades !
       Only Arg will allways have and also has had more quantity for sure and also the quality is for Arg’s favor and has been for quite long time, but may not allways been the case as we go pass in the history book’s and look how well Uruguay has also done in world’s foorball history as Arg has deffenetly done also, but with little bit of luck and not being looked as downwards by FiFA and with all their contraversy etc…anyone can just simply name it !

       so Yes Olive one could have only dreamed of theese 2 fantastic countries staying united forever as they once were and if so would have continued no one would have never ever been close to that combined football power house from Arg with Uruguay together as one !
       Brazil would have never won so many world cups for sure, but not so sure about the Italians and the German’s , though it would have been for sure intresting specially looking at past finals between Arg and Germany as it had been forsure 2 more for Arg than Germany as Arg allmost managed to do that bythemselfs and also deserved to win those 2 WC finals against Germany for sure !
       Also 1982 WC would have been intresting to see as replay with combined team from Arg and Uruguay, though DIEGO would have Still got all the shit kicked out of him by Italians and Brazilians, but maybe those tight margin’s against theese to teams which both were fantastic teams as one was coached by Tele Santana and the other one had Tardelli and Rossi who just got out his long spell doping ban, LOL ! Or actually in the end were they that good ? Well, the Brazilians had a best team forsure of the whole tournament, but Rossi killed them by his 3 first goals after that long doping ban he had served before, LOL !
       In the end i think Arg was just unlucky to end up in the same play off group with both Italy and Brazil as it would have been intresting to see how they would have played against German’s or France as also we have to remember that Italy’s 2 previous world cups were all the way back from 1934 1938 just before the second world war !

       As at the Euro’s in 1960 in Italy they first won Soviet Union in the semifinal by a coin toss, LOL !
       And then 2-0 finally over Yugoslavia in the replay which had ended 1-1 before, so it took them 44 year’s to get their 3rd world cup as they should have won the 1994 WC !
       And 61 year’s to won the second Euro Gold as also this happened at 1982 with Italy at group stage which is quite intresting indeed :

       In Group 1, newcomers Cameroon held both Poland and Italy to draws, and were denied a place in the next round on the basis of having scored fewer goals than Italy (the sides had an equal goal difference). Poland and Italy qualified over Cameroon and Peru. Italian journalists and tifosi criticised their team for their uninspired performances that managed three draws; the squad was reeling from the recent Serie A scandal, where national players were suspended for match fixing and illegal betting.

       Well, quess what the German’s as another finalist of the 1982 had a little bit of similar story too :

       Group 2 saw one of the great World Cup upsets on the first day with the 2–1 victory of Algeria over reigning European Champions West Germany. In the final match in the group, West Germany met Austria in a match later dubbed as the “Disgrace of Gijón”. Algeria had already played their final group game the day before, and West Germany and Austria knew that a West German win by 1 or 2 goals would qualify them both, while a larger German victory would qualify Algeria over Austria, and a draw or an Austrian win would eliminate the Germans. After 10 minutes of all-out attack, West Germany scored through a goal by Horst Hrubesch. After the goal was scored, the two teams kicked the ball around aimlessly for the rest of the match. Chants of “Fuera, fuera” (“Out, out”) were screamed by the Spanish crowd, while angry Algerian supporters waved banknotes at the players. This performance was widely deplored, even by the German and Austrian fans. One German fan was so upset by his team’s display that he burned his German flag in disgust. Algeria protested to FIFA, who ruled that the result be allowed to stand; FIFA introduced a revised qualification system at subsequent World Cups in which the final two games in each group were played simultaneously.

       Is this just an COINCIDENCE…? LOL !

       Also Hungary beat El Salvador 10-1, but lost to Arg 4-1 and did not Qualify as Belgium won the group as Arg became second !

       Also England won France 3-1 at group stage, but couldn’t Qualify from play off group with even they draw with Germany, but could not beat a total flop team of whole tournament Spain as the Host’s who German’s beat 2-1 Still only to Qualify for the semi against France who did beat Austria 1-0 and then Northern Ireland 4-1 to Qualify to the semi’s against Germany to get beaten by Tony Schumacher, LOL !

       Poland, though had quite good tournament as they won their group by beating Cameroon 5-1 who had drawed with Italy and then beat in the play off group Belgium who had upset Arg in the group stage by 3-0 and then drawed with the Soviet’s to end up loosing 2-0 the semi against Italy without their star player Zbigniew Boniek who had a hatrick against the Belgium in the playoff group, Still they end up beating ” the beaten french by Shumacher ”, though french played mostly with their reserves …

       as all this make’s me wonder what if Arg had just won Belgium in their first game or even a draw would have been enough to win the group and end up in a different playoff group than with Italy and Brazil as Arg did beat Hungarians 4-1 and also El Salvador 2-0, so where was the famous Lady fortuna again when Arg did really needed as happened so many times after 1982 like in 1990 in the final , 1994 well, clearly FiFA did not favour us anymore after Arg had refused to loose the Semi against Italy which was required by FiFA at semi’s in 1990 ,
       1998 were if ” Borazzo” Ortega would have kept his temper down and not spat on Van Der Sar as Numan had been sent of at 76th minute as Ortega at 88th minute with Blody Bergkamp winning the game for the Dutch at 90th minute as if Passarella would have had Redondo to keep his hair and include him in team Arg would have won for sure !,

       2002 only if Bielsa would have played Crespo up front together with Batigol !
       2006 in the penalties against German’s as Pekerman took his best player by far as Riquelme out at 72th minute and then Crespo at 79th minute before blody Klose levelled the game !

       and 2014 again in the final with German’s, well no need to mention how superior Arg was as only the finishing was so, so poor Unfortunatly !

       So my conclusion in the is that Arg cou,d have won since 1978 also maybe at 1982, but for sure 1990 and 1994 also an maybe as also maybe in 1998, but 2002 forsure ! 2006 a good chance to win again and deffenetly 2014 Arg deservedly to win, but lost because of poor bench and too many unfit players and chokers who could not kill the game ! What did we do with Ricky Alvarez in team as Lamela or Pastore could have been selected or Palacio instead Tevez or injury prone Gago who could not last even a game if i rember right instead Banega as Perotti should have been there to as due all the respect to Maxi Rodriquez as one my favorite players at his prime, but not anymore at 2014, though as u said he Still does play for Newell’s so hat’s of for him !

       Luckily things are looking good indeed now even without being a one country together with Uruguay, though it would have at least been a great deal in football terms, bit also economically wise…well hopefully Argentina as country can one day get back to at least were they were before those IMFucker’s and the all the rest responsible for that very sad economical crash down ! All the best for Argentina as not only in football terms, but also in life at general as it was so great to see the MONUMENTAL WITH SO MANY FANS !

       • Sorry for such a long post as i got carried away with my memories, but with combined team with Uruguay as one Arg would have won god knows how many WC’s as every single one would have been won since 1978 til’ now !

         As being own country Arg should have won at least 4 and without the 2002 dissaster, maybe a 5 ! Also at 2006 it was quite realistic in the end…though it did not happen as it did not also even Arg should have deservedly won at 1990 and specially 2014 against German’s in those 2 WC’s Finals !

10. Injuries and fatigue excluded, I would start the same team as last game. Let them keep developing chemisty. Bring in the alternative players at the 70th min all at once.

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