Argentina in last place in Group C at World Cup after loss vs. Saudi Arabia

By
Roy Nemer
-
230

The Argentina national team lost their opening match at the 2022 World Cup 2-1 vs. Saudi Arabia but can still qualify for the next round.

Lionel Scaloni’s team are presently in last place in the group with one point difference between themselves, Mexico and Poland. Argentina have a goal difference of -1 having scored the opening goal in the group.

The second game in the group involving Mexico and Poland ended in a 0-0 draw. These are the standings:

Saudi Arabia: 2 goals, 3 points
Poland: 0 goals, 1 point
Mexico: 0 goals, 1 point
Argentina: 1 goal, 0 points

Argentina play Mexico on Saturday as Poland play Saudi Arabia. A win for Argentina vs. Mexico would get them to three points and should Saudi Arabia get the win vs. Poland, it would mean Argentina would go into the last match day in second place. The table would look like this:

Saudi Arabia: 6 points
Argentina: 3 points
Poland: 1 point
Mexico: 1 point

A win for Argentina vs. Mexico with a win for Poland vs. Saudi Arabia and the table would look like this:

Poland: 4 points
Saudi Arabia: 3 points
Argentina: 3 points
Mexico: 1 point

A win for Argentina vs. Mexico and a draw between Poland and Saudi Arabia, the table would look like this:

Saudi Arabia: 4 points
Argentina: 3 points
Poland: 2 points
Mexico: 1 point

A draw for Argentina vs. Mexico with a win for Saudi Arabia vs. Poland and the table would look like this:

Saudi Arabia: 6 points
Mexico: 2 points
Argentina: 1 point
Poland: 1 point

A draw for Argentina vs. Mexico with a win for Poland vs. Saudi Arabia and the table would look like this:

Poland: 4 points
Saudi Arabia: 3 points
Mexico: 2 points
Argentina: 1 point

A draw between Argentina and Mexico and a draw between Saudi Arabia and Poland, the table would look like this:

Saudi Arabia: 4 points
Mexico: 2 points
Poland: 2 points
Argentina: 1 point

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230 Comments

  1. The initial shock is beginning to settle but it’s still painful. We lost in large part due to some of our pillars shocking performance, Romero, De Paul, Di Maria and yes even Messi. The signs of how bad things were was when Messi started dropping deeper and deeper to get the ball. De ja vu of bad times. A possible silver lining in all of this is that we are no longer viewed as favorites, let that mantle be with Brazil, France, England. I would happily be an underdog now, starting from scratch and playing a final against every opponent.

    • Yes. I am hopeful. The team was too relaxed and also fitness wss obviously an issue. Better in that game than later on.

      The substitutes (licha, enzo) improved our game and this shock is what we needed to unseat those with seniority.

      Truth is if Argentina play just a little better we are still strong and both Poland and Mexico looked very very ordinary.

      Vamos Argentina!

      I would play:

      ……….. Emi …….
      Molina… Otam… Licha .. tagla (acuña is not fit)
      ……depaul …. Enzo……Macallister. (Dynamic mid)
      …………. …….. Messi …………….
      …… Lautaro…………….. Alvarez. (dybamic forwards)

      Dimaria cannot play 90min, sub him in for messi or macallister at 70th min.

      Dybala for the most tired foward at 70th.

  2. Comment moderation is very important. Csabalala and co made racist comments and people got angry (rightfully). However, some of those angry fella also came up with insulting comment regarding Argentina. Not good.

    I am here since 2010. I have seen extremely negative opinion, stupid and reactionary opinions. Those are ok, they are football related. But recently seeing attacks aimed at religion and race. Not good at all.

    I am here for Argentina NT only and everyone else too. What purpose does it serve by belittling others?

    If you do not like someone’s opinion, just ignore. Engage with the one you find interesting.

    Please behave and stick to football.

  3. Every favourite team like England, Brazil, Germany, Spain, France all has young bloods in their team. Fast, physical, aggressive young players. Who we have? Almada? 😂😂

  4. Now it’s the time. We only need a 6 match winning streak. That’s it. That 36 match long unbeaten run would be nothing before this 6 wins. Make it again a 1986=1+9+8+6= 24.2+4=6. It’s 2022= 2+0+2+2=6.

  5. First game shows us how poor speed of couple of senior players. Thy lacks speed
    At the same time Youngsters such as Alvarez licha Enzo played with very good energy and thr body language shows us. Laziness and tired legs of seniors seems to be a drawback of firstmatch history of this team in this Wc..

    • Senior players? Romero, Molina, De Paul, Paredes, Lautaro, Tagliafico were the worst on the pitch. When we realize 34 years old Di Maria is our fastest player then God save this team.

  6. Expecting atleast 5 changes.
    Out . Romero. Molina. Taglafico. Papu. Parades
    Licha, montiel. Acuna. Allister. Enzo…
    Anyone expect more ???

    • As per T Y C,
      Lisndro(Romero), Enzo (Paredes) and MacAllister (Papu) have the best chance to start next game.
      Acuna for Tagliafico plus Montiel for Molina also a possibility.
      Almost, same thing what we discussed here except Montiel.

  7. Let’s analyze what happened in WC 2018.
    1. Argentina vs Iceland first match:
    4-2-3-1: Caballero; Salvio, Otamendi, Rojo, Tagliafico; Masche, Biglia; Meza, Di Maria, Messi; Aguero
    Result:1-1

    2. Argentina vs Croatia:
    3-4-3: Caballero; Mercado, Otamendi, Tagliafico; Salvio, Mascherano, Perez, Acuna; Meza, Messi, Aguero

    3 changes and formation:
    Mercado-Rojo
    Perez-Biglia
    Acuna-Di Maria

    Result is 0-3

    3. Argentina vs Nigeria:
    4-3-3
    Armani; Mercado, Otamendi, Rojo, Tagliafico; Masche, Banega, Perez; Di Maria, Messi, Higuain

    Result 2-1

    5 changes:
    Armani-Caballero
    Rojo-Salvio
    Banega-Acuna
    Di Maria-Meza
    Higuain-Aguero

    Questionable decision:
    1. A new comer Meza starting in both games just because of one pretty good game in a friendly.
    2. Making all players equal, meaning even superstars like Di Maria or Aguero can be benched if they make the smallest mistakes. As a result Di Maria played very cautious in the first game trying not to make mistake which is never his game.
    3. Changing formation to 3-4-3 and make 3 major changes in the second game.
    4. Never play Lo Celso although he played a lot before the WC for Sampaoli’s team. Meza got the new love.

    Final Verdict: Very poor coaching. Too much overthinking and experimenting and gambling. The one closest to our best team is the Nigeria game but Sampaoli gambling with the first 2 matches. Now u know why the players were angry with him 4 years ago after the first 2 matches.

    Now Scaloni is the opposite. He used his arguably best starting 11 on paper against Saudi and he lost because of a fluke. How many changes will he make? How much he believes in his team?

    Spain made 2 changes in their 2010 WC match after they lost to Switzerland using their best starting 11.

  8. If my memories serve me right, Argentina have always struggled in their opening match except 1994. in
    1990 We lost to Cameroon,

    in 1998 we scraped past japan 1-0.

    2002, we did the same against nigeria.

    2006, 2-1 against ivory coast (they had a couple of good chances to tie the game too).

    2010 another 1-0 against Nigeria (it too was a tough battle, a heinze header is what gave us the win)

    2014 – a lackluster performance… sabella had to sub out a few players at half time.

    2018 – a tie against one of the weakest teams

    20222 – a loss…

    My point is, we have always managed to warm up as the tournament went on… so, I am confident we will improve. I am actually happy the burden of the unbeaten streak is over with… better now than later!

    Vamos

  9. I don’t know if most you remember this, We had this same headache & tensions in our previous WC too. At least we didn’t lose to Iceland on first match. But after Croatia match we all had this same panic. Somehow we found little joy when we beat Nigeria. But that joy didn’t last long either.

    Since 2014 WC joy, The WC’s been a disaster event for us. Till today, Dammit. This much stress in the early stage is difficult.

  10. 3 cm is the best option in next match enzo depaul and Paredes. Play all 3 in next match and use full backs to overlap run. Di maria needs help from molina. Molina can risk only if we play 3 CM.

  11. i think this is why messi will never become as good as Diego he is not a leader he just disappeared from the pitch.he has passed his prime with better players in psg his flows can go unnoticed but here it was laid bare for everyone to see.i was hoping Papu will start but i was wrong i was thinking of Atlanta Papu this was another player Saudi have an amazing coach we have to appreciate that he knew he knew Argentina front four was not fast so he played a high line may be that is the way they always play but it was very smart.and they bullied Dimaria they knew he doesn’t have the speed to go on the outside so they let him come inside but was surrounded by three players molina overlapped only once that was another thing we were so poor at.and there is the worst of all Depaul and Paredes u don’t know where to start.play guido enzo and palcios/alexis i know Depaul can improve but paredes will not improve they are average both atleast enzo and Palacios have a higher ceiling not Macallister the postive thing is argentina have a bight core of young Midfielders coming up after the world cup no paredes àtleast i know most of u won’t care about argentina post world cup because u are messi fans good news u have been following a chocker for the last 16 years who scored 7 goals at the world cup 5 of which are penality

    • Argentine fans r most ungrateful fans ever. They don’t deserve messi. Btw this is the first penalty goal of messi in a world Cup. He scored 6 non penalty goals in the world cup. Calling a player choker who is the main reason Argentina stayed relevant for long time who was the main reason Argentina won the copa America after 28 years who was the main reason Argentina reached wc final he was the main reason Argentina reached 2 consecutive copa final in 2015 and 2016.he was the main reason Argentina qualified for the wc in 2018 without his hattrick against equador in their home Argentina could have been out. If Argentina qualify for next round again it will be because of him. I have never seen such ungrateful fans in anywhere. Disgusting.

        • 1.messi has better team mates than maradona had
          2.copa america was not a big deal back then if u see the 2004 copa final it looked like under 23 match both brazil and argentina played with young players
          3.@anuparno you could look the stat you listed in other way and say its because of messi and co argentina struggled in the first place.and saying argentina reached two copa final because of messi is funny u don’t say that for a team that won copa 14 times before that
          4.messi never scored in a knockout round a worldcup that shows he is not mentally strong
          5.and again i will say it again asian Argentina fans only love messi not argentina most of u will stop supporing argentina after the world cup

          • Maradona world class teammates in 86: Pumpido, Ruggieri, Burruchaga, Valdano+Bochini+cocaine+hand of God+a legendary tactician coach+Maradona threw out Passarella.
            Messi world class teammates: 34 years old Di Maria.

          • If you think Enrique or Batista were worse midfielders than Paredes or De Paul you are 100% wrong. Plus they played way over their usual level, on real world class midfielders level in 86. Bochini=Riquelme in quality. Just the usual Maradona liar myth that he had weak teammates. Another lie,:winning Seria A was a monumental performance with new rich Napoli while Hellas Verona and Sampdoria did it too in that era.

      • With this logic Maradona was the biggest Copa America choker ever 16 matches 3 goals vs Venezuela and Ecuador and zero result. Without cheating Diego won nothing with NT. And ofc cocaine made the biggest part in his WC86 performance. In 82 where were Diego without cocaine? (Which give you self confidence).

  13. Past is past. Hope everything for the best. Now we go to the features of next game.

    1. Mexico were incredibly fit and never stopped running. Their young players were really hungry. We must focus on our fitness. Feel Asado is kinda distraction all the way. Too much meat will really spoil our fitness. We must go for more vegetables and fruits and juices.

    2. Lozano is electrifying in the left yesterday. We must give extra focus for him. Not sure Molina alone can handle him. Guido is a must if he is fully recovered.

    3. Mexican crosses and corners were well executed.

    4. Their keeper never ages..

    5. More pressure on us than Mexico.

    How we are going to react will set the tone of rest of the tournament. We lost yesterday purely mentally and pychologically. We have the ability to turn even five goal advantage of the opponent. But we are shaken and frightened yesterday. In reality life and tournament like world cup only going to give these kinds of situations. We must be mentally prepared. So sad MEDITATION is never mentioned here. It will bring miracles. Messi is unable to run for more mental and psychological Reasons than physical.

    We can go all the way if we keep our cool.. don’t react to the situations emotionally.. try to play our game.. results are in the hands of God but the attitude of the playing are in our hands..

    This time we will win..

  14. I’ve been a lurker in this site since the days of Seba. Never commented once, but today I had to. I don’t know how Roy allows such xenophobic racist comments on this site. Probably Roy is still not awake, since I assume he lives in Canada (?). But anyway…. There are some people who need to be reminded that this is a fansite for the Argentina national football team. Not for Argentina the country. Its the same kind of relationship someone with an affinity for an EPL side has. Its not a geographic affinity. Its an emotional choice, most likely from a childhood experience. (In my case, watching Maradona play in my home country in 1983). So, as much as I love La Albiceleste, I have no similar love for Argentina the country. You can make fun as much as you want of the South Asian countries. But the reality is Argentina is a shithole 3rd world country itself. Its a joke of a country in Latin America since forever. Argentina also has a white supremacist past. Its reflected in the mentality of some morons on this site. I have a strong suspicion this site has more fans from South Asia than from anywhere else. Its also likely that the bankrupt AFA is kept afloat by the Jersey sales from these same South Asian countries. Perhaps, if fans from South Asia are not respected or welcome here, they should look for another forum to discuss and move on from this site. The credibility this site has is also likely due to the traffic it gets from the South Asian countries anyway.

    • first probably you are kidulthood and sure you are not new here. he was insult the same way Argentina in past. anyhow it is not important. second the fact that you hide your country shows what kind of human you are. Probably because your country backround is not so clean and you hide in shadows because all people will laugh with you.
      Argentina is what it is. you have your opinion i don t care to change it. i just want to say that we are PROUD for our country even if it is in first or second or third or tenth world.
      on the other side you accuse as racist and xenophobic people here when exactly same you do too. you are too. shame on you.
      lastly you are not man enough to say directly against me your insults because you probably was speaking for me about Argentine morons etc
      this place is for Argentina national team fans yes but the ARGENTINA national team belong to….ARGENTINA !!! i will speak for Argentina whenever i want and as much i want and nobody fasist and rasist like you can stop me. ok ? now go back to your hole and enjoy your life in your first world country. we are good and fine in Argentina. don t worry about us and our country. you can just stay away far from us. ok? have a nice day.

      • LOL. I actually was referring to one post by Csabalala, which he already deleted now. Unless you’re also Csabalala. BTW, I’m not that guy kidtoadulthood you mentioned. And I’m Singaporean of South Asian ancestry… Quite proud of my country too.

        • i see. ok. Csabalala is from Europe. i am from Cordoba Argentina.
          anyway. you should be proud for your country. just no reason you insult mine. as i said you can keep your opinion. i don t care to change it.

          • Ok. I apologise for getting a bit carried away. I was just riled up bcos that other guy made a racist and xenophobic comment against an entire ethnic group as well as skin tones. I might be Singaporean, but I’m also of Indian ancestry. I used to work in the Mid-East. And I used to get treated like shit for being “Indian”. But when they find out I am actually Singaporean, they treat me much better. They don’t seem to get it that I’m still of Indian ancestry, just a different nationality. I think its sick that people get judged and pre-judged based on how they look. So it hurts when fellow Argentina fans insult us and say “actually, you’re not one of us”. I’ve flown all over the world to watch Argentina play and get treated like family when sitting with Argentines just bcos I wear the same fan jersey. I’ve even sat in the Brazil section once when they played Malaysia in a pre-WC friendly in 2002, wearing an Argentina Jersey. They were a cool bunch though… More amused than offended. Anyway, my apologies again cox4 if I offended you.

          • you are man with honor. people that have the power to recognize one mistake and apologize for it are people high standard. of course i couldn t expect anything less from a India person. India have a very rich and wonderful history and culture and anybody that have open a book in his life beyond the school ones can t have different feeling than admire and little kind way jelous from India civilization.
            if you wear an Argentine jersey and you sit between Argentines there is no way we treat you differently. you are one of us. one last i find funny. for me is just oposite. just because i don t know much about Singapore if i was supose meet with anybody from there i would behave normal and kind as everybody else. But if that person told me he is from India i would feel more interested to learn more about him/her !!!

          • Funny thing though, I’ve never been to India in my lifetime. My ancestors came to Singapore 100 years ago. I was born and raised here. But I still speak my Indian mother tongue (Tamil) fluently. Anyway, from one Argentina fan to another, let’s pray our boys win the next 6 matches.

          • See how easily people get confused with the origin of Casabala and turn the tide towards Argentina.

            To me, it’s difficult to separate Argentina as a country and a football team. I can not be in love with the Argentina football without being in love with the country. I wish I will visit the country, especially the Patagonia.

            Something happened this morning that surprised me and can’t stop sharing with you. I was watching the game between Germany and Japan and my two year old daughter walked in and start shouting “Argentina”, “Argentina”! I don’t know how/when she learned that name. How lovely it will be if my children takes the love for Argentina football from me!

  15. Heaven hasn’t fallen. Saudi beat us. Big deal. We had a bad day. Our players played below par.
    That’s it. Nothing more, nothing less.
    We need a good left winger, to provide width. Acuna is the best we have in that position.
    Put Lisandro Martinez as the left full back and Acuna as the left winger. DePaul and Enzo as DMs. Dybala right wing.

    Emi
    Molina Romero Otamendi Lisandro
    De Paul Enzo
    Dybala Messi Acuna
    Latauro Martinez

  17. Calm down folks, it’s not over yet.. remember 1990 when in the opening match we lost 1-0 to Cameroun.. then argentina was fantastic.. brazil, yugoslavia, italy were all defeated.. only an unlucky penalty that made argentina lose in the final against german .. 2018 with a uglier squad we also lost in the early match… but passed .. just because it was unlucky to lose to france… let’s be enthusiastic about giving support .. rest assured messi cs will rise and achieve his dream world cup 2022 ..

  18. leave no stone unturned. Nobody or nothing in this world is bigger than the team or the mission. If changing all players is a necessity
    then so be it. Because this was the worst performance ever by an Argentine team in a WC.
    I still believe we can still finish above Saudi and salvage some pride whole going out.
    Tapia has a big task in hand. They need to hire a proper coach instead of reflecting and finding excuses for this early exit.

  19. I found a way to make y’all happy. How about this:
    Rulli -> Emi. Emi was below average
    Foyth ->Molina. Molina was bad. Foyth should be fit after a week together and training.
    Licha ->Cuti. Cuti not fit
    Pezzella -> Ota. Pezzella is in great Betis form
    Acuna -> Tagli. Acuna better
    Guido ->Paredes. Guido in great Betis form
    MacAll -> Papu. MacAl in great form
    Enzo -> De Paul. De paul was bad. Enzo in form
    Alvarez -> Lautaro. Alvarez in form
    A Correa -> Di Maria. Di Maria back to super sub

    Only Messi keeps his spot but if not fit then Dybala startin. How about that? 11 changes all make a lot sense. Happy?

  20. I’m now trying to look forward for the upcoming Matches. The positive Side is, Mexico and Poland are gonna think they have a Chance now against us. So they are gonna Play and try to score goals. They are not gonna park the bus.

    For the Saudi Match. I’ve watched it again… Lots of pain again. But I tried to figure out what happend. Watching it a secend time was completly different I could try, as good as I can I’m no pro, to analyse the problems.

    We had, at some point, three decent players. That was Messi, not Godlike but decent, Paredes, the best in Midfield, well still bad, and Otamendi. From the Subs only Acuna played decent, the other were mediocore to bad.

    Nothing special from Di Maria, the worst game of De Paul and I’m really sorry but Papu doesn’t deserve the call up. Molina wasn’t at his best either. Tagliafico mediocore in defense and nothing offensivly. Lautaro can not get offside that many times, just bad timing.

    By watching the second time I also saw, both goals against us wouldn’t have happend to the Copa Squad. Bad defending from Romero and not the best positioning from Emi. The second one Emi had a had on it. Some pro GK say if you have a hand on it you can save it. And Emi had better positioning thru out the Copa.

    Alvarez and Enzo didn’t bring the Change we needed. The best sub was clearly Acuna. I was really excited about Enzo in the Squad… But he was not even close to the worst Benfica Game he played.

    And once again, why not bring the most inform Argentine DYBALA?????? He could’ve changed the Game. So unfortunatly bad coaching too. We need to play 433 with a left winger. It’s either converting Di Maria to left wing or we try Correa.. I don’t know. Or mybe try Dybala as LW… I don’t know what changes we can make. I think midfield need to be De Paul Paredes Mac/Palacios. Or RDP Guido/Enzo Palacios…

    I just know, now we need to win… So let’s gooooooo

  21. I agree with Emi Martinez said. He was also upset with the loss, but he said it best “it is better to lose now than later”.

    You guys remember Italy in 1990 as the host? Italy’s Zenga never conceded any goal until semis and they had to play Diego’s Argentina in Naples Italy. That night Zenga conceded 5 goals (one from Cani and 4 from PK shootout). It would be super pain in the ass if that team would be Atgentina.

    I mean how does it feel like if we keep winning, never even conceding any goal until the semis, confidence super high, and then we lost that way like Italy did. It is super painful.

    So agree with Emi 100%. “It is better to lose now than later”. Anyway guys stop freaking out. Argentina is NOT that bad. Once in a while the greats have a bad day. They are not immune to that.

    Steph Kerr one time said when Steph Curry the best shooter of all time shoot 0/10. He said “I have seen it among the greats, even Michael Jordan is not immunue to that (having a bad day)”

    • Man I said same something yesterday if we ever going o a lose game in world Cup it should have been in group match and this may turn out best for arg and go far.

    • Yes, Walter Zenga indeed, how could i not forget that game….though i also remember the one after as well….like 2014 or 1998 Ok 2002 i have kind forget, though Still can remember, but even crashing out as favorites as from group with Sweden,England and Nigeria was not so painfully as 1982, 1990, 1994, 1998, 2006, 2010 and 2014 as 2002 and 2018 just did obviously felt bad, but not that bad as those other ones mentioned above, but that is part of football and also part of of the past, but beaten 4 times by German’s and 2 times in the final is Still pain in the ass, but the more older u grow i quess u may have to accept and my advice is for those who may not seen or remember those year’s or some of them is that the more quicker u start accepting things from the past the better it will become at least one day, though u may never get rid of that bitter sweet taste in your mouth and also even it is hard and painfully as it is now 36 year’s ago since Mexico 86 or 44 year’s ago since Argentina’s first WC at 1978 and before last Copa the previous one was from 1993 Still any of theese wonderfull memories when Arg won are at least allways there to somehow trying to balance out those year’s that when Arg did not win and specially 1990 and 2014, so life is life and one must better enjoy while they can !

      • thanks for the above keep the chin up and it’s not the end of the world comments from the long timers here (even before me). yes, i certainly recall the SWE,ENG,NIG group and sigh… yes, there were other really low lows than yesterday. let’s really improve and do the beat for the rest of the matches!!!

  22. Take a look at Paredes trying to slide tackle to block the Saudi prime messi #10 2nd goal. He should have stayed on his feet and throw his entire body at him to block the shot. I’m not an expert here so maybe someone will correct me but isn’t it better to block with the body to create greater surface area than slide tackle at edge of box?

    imgur.com/a/wWR4e70

  23. I was watching this video of the WC group being finalised and Emi ecstatic and saying easy when he saw Mexico being grouped with Argentina in Group C.

    Hope karma doesnt hit us back once again on Saturday.

  24. The result is not good by any means. But what frustrated me the most was the reaction after going behind. If the team had displayed more intensity and lost, I would have been a little more confident on our chances. But the timid response from our team shows that we need a long way to go from a mentality perspective.

    We were outcoached today but with the talent we have, we should have won. Overconfidence was definitely another issue. All the talk about keeping our feet down did not materialize on the pitch.

    Fielding four 34+ year olds, Lo Celso’s absence and three players (Paredes, Di Maria and Romero) who have not played a lot recently did not help. Back to the drawing board for Scaloni and team. We were over reliant on a small group of players over the past few years and not having a plan B has come back to bite us.

    The next moves that the coaching staff tactically makes will define our World Cup

  25. Ones true character & Will to survive will be shown when we are forced against the wall and nowhere to run or hide.

    Literally that’s the Situation for this group of players in this WC. They had a fantastic run till now. But now they are facing their toughest tests from Saturday on wards. Its a tough situation. But nowhere to run or hide. Other than facing it. Lets hope for the best.

  26. Guys did u feel the pitch was also not that good as it was having odd bounce and ball movement off the turf was slow. I know that’s not a reason for our loss but this Lusail stadium is supposed to be the main one and this is the same where the final is gonna take place

    • May be but the reason for defeat was not pitch….. We just missed lo celso who always used to run behind the defence, he was our best passer after messi.
      Fully fit gonzalez has threatening pace( would have been too much for saudi defence)
      But still sone fools think we are not weak because of they are injured.
      I am not saying we can’t win the world Cup but definitely we are weaker than before because of those 2 guyz injury.
      We need some pace(it is clear to see)
      Molina needs to make more runs he has pace.
      We have no answer for creativity but McAllister and palacios is the best we have, we lack creative midfielders.
      Papu was a waste other than his through ball to lautaro he didn’t do anything good in the match.
      For me paredes was playing better than de Paul at least he was trying to make some quick passes. I didn’t see anything good from de Paul.
      We need to play macallister, enzo and palacios all three. Our midfield was the biggest reason for our loss. No quick passes and no energy and no movements.

    • Bro yesterday it was miracle and that happens in football now and again my Saudi brothers had two shoots on target and they score but our team ridiculously look bad never seen Argentina this bad before but that happens scaloni team last two copa we starts so badly but ended well .I’m confident we will bounce back next two games and finish Top of our group I don’t blame any player but it was depressing performance collectively.

      • Agreed. it was a historic upset. Shots 15 vs 3 / Shots on Target 6 vs 2 / Possession 70% vs 30%. i also read their expected goals was the lowest of past 50 years.

        i agree with you, they got really lucky with the offsides and our sudden drop in our collective performance. Any other day, we would trash ’em. Also, i don’t think they could repeat such amazing goals too often. That mofo turned into prime Messi for the 2nd. I actually felt comfortable (but disappointed) by the end of 1st half and then the rest was a slow agonizing display of impotence.
        There were weaker performers with Cuti, RDP, Paredes, Gomez, and Emi but yes, the entire squad was off.

  28. Guys calm we will win the next two matches. Mexico and Poland won’t defend like SA. We were so unlucky with all offside goals. Dybala should play at least as a sub.

  29. Paredes locelso and DePaul are Args current first choice midfielders. They seems to be a very gud unit in recent matches. If any one of them left it certainly affects teams entire chemistry built by scaloni. Tht is what is happening now. Scaloni never rotate locelso in.most of the matches. Scaloni had couple of technically creative players left in hand but not used properly. Lamela buendia or some local young creativ talents are left to rotate..

  30. I have commented before. Scaloni should have played Garnacho against UAE. Just to see if fits as a LW. but people here criticized me.. When you loose nico gonzalaz you loose lo cleso 2.0 with all the works he do for the team…

    • True Scaloni made a bad guess work when choosing J.correa replacement. We could have benefited from direct football and found solution for that LW. And Garnacho would provide that.

  32. UNFIT players cause problems for coach and team in thr progress .Here clearly visible the performances of certain players Especially Messi himself shows his unfitness by lack of running and interceptions . Dmaria Cuti looks clearly unfit. Laziness of Paredes and DePaul also affected this teams progress.
    Another priblm of Scaloni he never found or tried and rotate Locelso’s perfect backup. It is now Messi needs to do his duty also. That affected Messi’s game. I think in next game it is Lautaro ∧ Dybla combo in front and Messi in locelsos role will be better ad Guido in place of Paredes and Acuno in place of taglifico Will be better choice

  34. Beside Messi and Dmaria, no player above 30 year old should start the game again. This team has no midfield talent to hold all old players. Today’s games clearly shows what we need new talented players.

  36. I am totally devastated🥲, since yesterday increased the dose of my hypertension
    medicine.
    Friends can anyone throw some lights as regards our chances of winning next two matches. Mexico seems to be very tough opponents as seen yesterday.
    TIA

    • We need to beat both and expect anyone of poland and maxico to beat saudi… Then only we have decent run till semi finals. Else if we come second. We play France. If won play england .

  37. Scaloni had 4 years to select the best staring 11 but he is still not figuring out his best 11. He is shampoli 2.0 who always changes stating 11 during the important matches. He should have been fired long time ago, but his copa america luck shaved his job.He should have never called Lazy players like parades, Papu Gomes , Tagliafico, Aramani and Montiel.

  38. Next match line up should be emi, Acuna, romero, licha, Tag, Enzo, Guido, Mac, Alvaraz, Lautaro and Messi
    Di Maria is a disaster against Saudi and don’t want tired legs for the 2 matches if we win 2 matches we ll be 1st in the table, so don’t worry something is happened for some reason as Messi said, we can avoid France. They are super form but will see against Denmark.All our players are tired and out of form. We can go for 4-3-3 format not another formations. Cuti played longback for the club but he will bounce back soon and retain form. Be confident another 2 matches are treat

  39. Until now scaloni is still thinking about Enzo ,Mcallister to replace lo celso . The answer is definitely wrong . You must realize argentina’s
    recent sucess base on two engines ,diamond shape midfield . Lo celso is an engine ,Enzo ,Mcallister are no.5 . how to use a no.5 as an engine ?

    Diamond shape central midfield base on 433 formation with only one winger that is di Maria on right side .That means if left side engine shut down ,left side stroke .unless you find a replacement or move di Maria to the left.

    Angel correa ,angel correa is the one you need . Angel correa support by acuna connect with messi ,depaul . dimaria on the left ,Messi on right side .Only this formation can help .But I am still not convinced we can go too far in the tournament.

  40. We simply need at least 1 win to have any chance of not finishing last in the group. Hopefully we rise from here and get some points and go out with some respect. I believe there has to be a whole clean up including relieving that retard Scaloni of his role. Senior players respect this and walk out on their own.
    Most non Argentine fans who bought tickets are trying to sell them off and heading back home early, remember it is a costly affair staying and watching matches in this country.
    Saudis apparently inspired by Argentine players’ cocky attitude starting from the tunnel itself.

  41. Guys ,no need to watch the last 2 games ,I would say argentina is game over already .The reasons are

    1, Left side still no suitable replacement for lo celso
    2,Not enough powerful back up for acuna or di Maria, either one injuried will be diastrous
    3, No more wingers ,nowadays football need fast tall wingers rather than short small slow guys.
    4, Romero the most important defender is not fit
    5, lack of height and speed how to tackle mbappe?
    6,the coach actually don’t know how to tune the team.
    7,every one know our weakest link ,Mexico, Poland, France know .they will attack our left side heavily .

    Go out have a good day with your family ,keep calm let’s hope for a better future .

    after world cup I hope
    1,retain some of the team coach ,actually this team is led by scaloni ,Aimar, Ayala, Samuel. Let scaloni go ,appoint Aimar as chief coach with Samuel, Ayala continue

    2,Find out new young ,tall ,fast ,strong players ,no more small guys unless they are as good as Salah, Foden but definitely not almada playing in MLS

    3,using tall strong striker replace one of Alvarez, lautaro .They are the similar players ,we need different type of player bring different things

    4,Emphasis on two sides ,we are crying out speedy wingers

    5, must realize Enzo ,Mcallister, Palacios are No.5 material they are not lo celso type .If they are not as good as mascherano defensively, no need to select them .Look at de Jong or England’s Defensive midfield they are young strong tall and fast .we need an all round no.5 (Tall ,Fast ,Strong with skill that is a bonus)

    6, don’t try to build up a team surrounding one player .Nowadays we need team work

    7,Try to play friendly with Europe team to practice different formation

    8, construct a local national team ,regularly train to select useful local player as a back up

    last but not least ,we need to realize technically, physically there is a gap between Europe and South America. no more player as tiny as Gomez ,Almada

  42. @Roy Nemer

    I second with San Isidro for the need to screen for xenophobic comments.

    Mr. Casabala has been on the forefront. No doubt that he has been a good contributor to this blog. Unfortunately, He recently has been incessant labeling all Asians “idiots”, “clowns”, “Third World country people”.

    People from South Asia are known to be emotional (but it’s not an excuse). Otherwise, why would there be several times more Argentina flags in that part of the world than Argentina herself during each world cup year? Why would people take their lives because Argentina has lost a game? Why would people sell their houses, domesticated animals, agricultural lands just to make the longest Argentina flag to rival Brazilian fans? I don’t think many people born in Argentina can grasp or appreciate the love and emotion they receive from half the world away.

    Fans do react after a loss, criticizing team tactics, player performance or the coach’s decisions. This is not uncommon no matter where you were born. In fact, if we see the people who have the strongest hatred for Gonzalo Higuain or Sampoli in this forum, some are from Argentina. As long as the criticism doesn’t cross the decency, such expression of emotion shouldn’t be discouraged. This is part of the normal coping mechanism. But, there is no excuse of insulting or name calling players or coaches, be it from whoever.

    Talking about teams mistakes and how the opposition capitalized doesn’t make someone a fan of the opposition team. People are quick to label others who they do not agree with and be condescending. I do not think many people here have the capacity to value the amount of support and love Argentina has been receiving since the Dieago era. Many people fail to understand that Madonna or Messi might have born in Argentina but they belong to the whole world.

    I wouldn’t disagree that some people, mostly from Asia have crossed the limit in the past and recently. No doubt that they lack basic decency. But, calling all Asians “idiots”, “third world country people”, “clowns” should not be left unnoticed. Otherwise, they will only be emboldened.

    The first world colonial white supremacy ideology is not something to be proud of (if it is a matter of pride to Mr. Casabala).

  43. A below average with high line pressing tactics, and rough play spoiled the foot ball.

    Any body ready to play open football with us?

    No, They know they will be done.these mediocre teams with roughby like tactics foot ball will be kick boxing,

    Shame on foot Ball😔

  44. Some analysis, pointing how bad Paredes, Papu and DePaul were in thi match. And they say MacAllister and Enzo would have been perfect in this match from the starting.
    May be everything happened for a reason. Use Enzo and MacAllister in the coming matches instead of Paredes and Papu. Hopefully DePaul will be back to form in the coming matches.

      • “Alexis and Enzo can play 5,8 or 10.” This is the word from Paredes. I am also thinking same.

        At the current scenario we have to go back to 433 that will be 442 while defending. For the sake of balance, we need to move DiMaria or DePaul at the left side.
        DiMaria -Enzo-MacAllister-DePaul
        Or
        DePaul-Enzo-MacAllister-DiMaria
        This will put Enzo and MacAllister in their best role, what they are playing every week, same time we will have balance with DiMaria and DePaul at different side.

  45. I cannot believe we’re still peddling formations here. Scaloni should try 433..523..442..I mean what is the point? You can have any formation and still play bad or have a bad day. I don’t know Scaloni but I know enough to say he is not getting his soccer advise from this forum… so why bother?

    Can someone tell me what formation did KSA play today?

    442 transiting into 343 in attack and 532 in defense? And perhaps a hint of 2422 sometime?..I mean who TF cares really? Formations mean nothing of the players don’t play..period..

    This is just measuring d!cks…. just trying to show you know formations and have strong opinions..but I see no use coming from it…

    Yeah yeah I know I’m pissed off… I still can’t think of the Gotze goal from 2014….it is a suppressed memory that gives me mild ptsd.

    • Man, we didn’t have a midfield. Go and do the analysis. We were playing old Bauza kind of play..6 at the back and 4 at front..or 5 and 5.!..with a huge gap in the middle.
      Whatever the formation…we suddenly split in to 2 units.

      • I know.. but my point is formations are an old school concept that only help to select a.playing 11. Most fluid modern teams don’t play strict zonal football except for in the wings- every player is groomed to be transitional and flexible. Unless players move their asses formations don’t help (or even matter much) after you get ‘punched in the face’

  46. On paper maybe they say it was gonna be walk in the park againts lower ranks such Saudi, but the only way you can beat lower ranks team is by playing as if you are up againts brazil or france. Undermining opponents like saudi will only put you in the same level of playing, and got beaten !!!

    And in the first place, we dont supposed to teach this shit to those in The Albiceleste team !!!

  47. Unless we wake up and show our potential and win the next matches confidently then we are anyway gonna be in trouble if we finish second.

    France will eat us alive. We were thinking France will mess us up and the Champions curse will hunt them. But its happening vice versa. We are messing it up now. God save us.

    We have been waiting for this for 4years. Its a long wait. Sometimes i think the Bineal WC idea by Fifa was good. 4 years is too long wait. And then something like this happens? The pain is unexplainable.

    • If everything goes well, France vs England will be in QF rt..? So, only one in SF.
      Somehow we should avoid going to other path. That path looks scary from second round. Win next 2 games…and wait for Saudi lose the points.. surely that they will…

    • Sometimes I try to be logical and tell myself not to care so horribly much about a result in the World Cup. It’s every four years and only one team can win it, it’s designed to almost always cause heartbreak for almost everyone. But I can’t stop caring and being heartbroken about every single loss even if it’s impossible for a team to be champions every time. I can’t stop thinking about it every single year.

    • There is talent but they are at home… Garnacho. Gio simeone i don’t what crime he did that almada selected ahead of him. Nothing againts almada but when you need goal you need striker…

  50. I said before . i am telling now. Selecting similar type of player was biggest mistake. Before we had lo celso nico gonzalaz. But what we have at WC. palacious-enzo-mac same profile…. At max 2 of them would go to WC. Dybala should have played but we have messi and di maria so he can’t play… Pls go back to 433.. Try to figure out how to stop lozano. I would prefer
    Martinez
    Montiel Otamendi Licha acuna
    Depaul guido enzo
    Dybala messi lautaro… As 433 or 4231 with
    Guido MacAllister
    Dybala messi alvarez
    Lautaro…

  52. Being upset about our team is one thing, blaming our players, coach, cursing or mocking the opponents, these are all normal, we can understand those emotions.

    But calling the men wearing the Jersey of another Team as ” Monkeys” ? Seriously? Do these kind of people really exist? Do they have a place in this amazing forum?

    Those kind of people deserve to go. They do not have anything to do with Football. Apologise at the least, you Racist Moron. This is 2022 and you need serious treatment.

    • Roy Nemer, anybody using racial commentary should be banned from this forum immediately. As much as I love Argentina, I respect what Saudi Arabia did today and how they played. It breaks my heart but they took advantage of their opportunities and we did not. Condemning them with racial slurs is sickening. We are all one community of people, and respect for each other is essential to society and good sportsmanship.

    • It hurts but KSA outplayed us in tactics.
      Csabalala(Racist) needs to learn respect talking about opponents. Racism must be punished.
      Hope we can come back from this. This is so heartbreaking.

  54. After a day to collect my thoughts, which might not be perfect because I’m still in sleep deprived shock, I’ll say a few things. For one the loss is a shock. It feels wrong. It feels surreal in a bad way, after three years of not losing to lose in a game like this against a rival that in theory we should beat comfortably. I still couldn’t believe it when I woke up this morning. Like other people have said, if there was going to be a wakeup call, good thing it’s now. I am disappointed at how overconfident and cocky this team went into the World Cup. The 36 game unbeaten streak is obviously a culprit. In those 36 games there’s Estonia, Jamaica, Honduras, UAE. There’s a reason why they aren’t in the World Cup and Saudi Arabia is. To hell with those 36 games. Starting now, EVERYONE needs to put their head and foot down because we CAN NOT LOSE. Only one viable option left — win. I am happy that this team has a strong togetherness and is willing to die for each other. That is precisely what we need in this situation. Where is the team that gave it their all in the Maracana against Brazil of all teams? We need those balls again, everyone looked nervous and we didn’t do what we should be capable of doing, which is win against SA with a clean sheet. I hope this shock brings back that Maracana team immediately. From now it’s do or die. We are 200% capable of beating Mexico and Poland. I know that. But we can’t beat ourselves.
    A couple of positives:
    -Enzo looked really promising, he and/or Guido may become important soon. And large part of the reason why he was promising is because the occasion didn’t faze him like it did to others. If the occasion doesn’t faze us we can make it out of this group. If.
    -A potential second in our group might give us a better bracket. But again that is thinking far ahead and now we are in bottom. The mentality should be to win both games NO MATTER WHAT.
    -Again, if we had to lose a game I’m glad it was this one. But this loss will only be interpreted positively if we use it to improve and win both games. So it depends. Right now we lost against Saudi Arabia. It just feels wrong.

    We can talk about Spain 2010 (even I mentioned it), Argentina 2002, 2006, losing against Cameroon, defending champion curse, etc etc etc. But the truth is World Cups don’t happen often, there’s really a small sample size to draw these conclusions from when it comes to applying them to the present. I hope social media and journalists and the headlines don’t look at the past and only think about World Cup 2022. We have two games, and we need to win them. That’s it.

    • Today Enzo did well at LCM.
      Also, in the spirit of keeping the same tactics, I’m really curious to see Enzo in Paredes role. Shame Palacios isn’t fit enough for LCM.

    • well summarized as always Olive. I was also thinking being group 2nd gives a weaker knockout draw. But seeing France last night, i feel we should avoid them in PQF. So topping group bcomes equally important. I am betting on the assumption that we will improve with every match. Another minor positive i feel is we didnt get any cards. Last 10mins,i was worried if some of the players lose cool & pick cards.

  55. I hear a lot of talk about Papu. He delivered several through balls that if our runners timed the run well, should have scored. He only digressed in the 2nd half. He did not play as badly as we people are saying. However, Enzo should take his starting spot.

    Messi had a few glimpses but good play, but other than that, he was poor. Held the ball way too much, overthinking, cannot dribble, and lost the ball in his half that caused the first goal, whereas he should have quickly passed to a player to release DiMaria or Lautaro. He put our defenders in that situation. Surprisingly I expected Cuti to deal with the matter, but he handled it the way I expect Foyth would. I still don’t blame Cuti, but I can tell he is not fit.
    I also don’t feel that Messi should continue to take all set pieces or Free kicks from the left side. Even the goalkeeper knows where Messi wants to kick. Whatever happened to our historical set plays?

    DiMaria moved around a lot I guess. No real threat if we’re honest. Look at Dembele or Saka – these players are a constant threat. Dam it at this point, I would take a Raheem Sterling! Perhaps I’ll say DiMaria had a couple of low crosses where Alvarez & Lautaro fails to make a run near or far post. It seems our players love to receive the cutback that Messi expects.

    Lautaro is a threat so I would play him again since he scores every other game. Although I admit, this game needed a Simeone header or power shot.

    DePaul did not look comfortable on the ball. Too much looking for Messi or a long ball for DiMaria. It’s too predictable.

    Acuna should start. Tagliafico was underwhelming.

    Enzo looks like the ball needs to be played through him. We are already wasting his talents if he is not pushed up the pitch more.

    The Left side needed a player like Garnacho or Lamela.

    Paredes needs more tenacity or we should bring in MacAllister or Guido.

    I was so disappointed with this result but it looks like we have a chance to win the group if we do right.

  56. To lose one game is not end of the world. We still have two game left and hopefully we will win both of them.
    Yes Scalony miscalculated the opponent. He should have thaught to give game time to Cuti Romero to get match fitness which have been misfired. He was rusty and slow from his usual speed. Not to worry mundos. It was better to lose first game then the knockout.

  57. Some idiot fans of Argentina sang racist songs against black players of France and got filmed. And now the team got humiliated and I call that Karma. If we support the team, never act like those idiots and do nice things in life.

  58. It is really crime in soccer to have Argentine team lose to the monkeys. This Saudi team is collective of monkeys that only play local. There was something wrong with this game to have Argentine lose to a very low class team and players. All I can say is sham to all players and coaches to lose to these monkeys

  59. It is really crime in soccer to have Argentine team lose to the monkeys. This Saudi team is collective of monkey players that only play local. There was something wrong with this game to have Argentine lose to a very low class team and players. All I can say is sham to Every player in the team, shame to the coach to have Argentine lose to monkeys

  60. I watched Poland Mexico and the good news is the other 2 teams look quite shit, especially Poland. So if Scaloni comes back to 433 with the fit players, they can still win the 2 matches. Nothing is finished. Saudi may end up with 9 points.

    • yes, we get back to basics (la scaloneta) and we’ll do fine. Intense pressing, do-or-die attitude, accurate passing, and focus. + Few players changes

  61. Scaloni and his staff had underestimated the physical intensity of world cup. Weird because Aimar and Samuel should have known about it better than anyone because thats why they were ko in 2002. Unreal to see they make the same mistakes 20y later. They were not serious in preparing the matches. They think a 50% fit Romero was enough.

    • They under estimated Saudi Arabia. They thought they will park tye bus defend deep. Argentina will have 90% possession and they thought they will play lightly without intensity and will still win 3-0. Even here people underestimated KSA so much that they adviced messi, dimaria to rest.

  62. It’s so hard to understand why we keep sticking with players who are proven WC failures and way past their primes.
    – Di Maria is old and slow
    – Papu is old and slow and barely even starts for his club
    – Otamendi is old and slow, and has been rubbish ever since the 2010 WC
    – RDP is so overrated
    – Paredes is average at best
    Every year there’s more tattoos over their bodies too, surely it’s affecting their brains and speed. Wish our players would concentrate more on football than on stupid, ugly tattoos (these tattoos have become like a disease). Morons are all worried about their image with their haircuts and tattoos rather than the game plan and tactics.
    I can’t wait for all the old players in our team to get so old that they’re in wheelchairs (not literally, lol). Hopefully then we’ll finally have a coach who doesn’t pick them.
    How do you not start with Angel Correa and Alexis Macalister instead of Papu and Di Maria. Papu shouldn’t even be in the squad. Di Maria can’t last 90 minutes, his old legs were so slow and tired. Bring him on for the last 35 minutes at best.
    Please bring Dybala on for at least 35 minutes also, we have wasted enough of his time and talent sitting on our pathetic bench
    Put Guido Rodriquez and Enzo Fernández in the middle.
    Stop playing with one striker, it has never suited or worked for Argentina.
    Please stop picking Otamendi in the squad. Our central defensive pairing now and for the next 2 WC’s should be Romero and Martinez.
    And please, someone donate a tattoo removing machine to the NT.

    • Yes, Scaloni needs to spread some time around. Licha is in fine form as is Enzo and Julian. These are fresh legs…DiMaria back to super sub level. He doesn’t seem fully fit.

    • The tattoo thing is an absolute disease with footballers. They somehow think it makes them look like warriors when in fact they are fake tough. And the frosted hair is hilarious too. And my god can someone tell Leo that his beard is the dumbest looking shit I’ve seen on a face since Duck Dynasty. Seriously it looks stupid. Makes him look like he is 60

      • “Victory has a thousand fathers, but defeat is an orphan”
        Why do we criticize things after a loss when we used to praise that same thing after a win?
        Di Maria was a HERO around here and still is, yes we know he’s up there in age and not as fast as he used to be but he was fast enough last night!
        Messi has been constantly adding tattoos for few years now and nobody ever said anything!
        We questioning hair, tattoos, attitudes…….none of that had anything to do with the loss today.
        THIS TEAM was GREAT up to the sec the 3rd goal was disallowed and then everything went to shit because there was NO PLAN. The plan was simple, Long passes and get in behind, No dribble or passes on the inside and everybody forgot to shoot and pass.
        Like I said before, ARG didn’t play great in last year’s Copa opening game and then Took off and Messi was himself until the end….lets hope the sleeping giant is awake Now.

  63. Friends even if we win or lose the next match, it was a wonderful journey. A lot of happiness, togetherness when put on that jersey. As a superstitious person I was a bit sad regarding the awful things happening to us in the form of injuries to lo celso or nico. Yes it was a cruel month of fixtures in October. But the players that was out of the wc like lo celso or nico were playing less football and no UCL or Europa league and we lost them due to injuries. And look at Brazilians, they most play in PL and UCL and all come without any injuries. This itself made my mind blank. Just hoped the wc was in June.

  64. well the day was finally awful. the real reason we lost today was clearly our mentality. we play with football arrogance and we pay it. simple as that. Plus 10 blind minutes in begin of second half and the damage happened. Anyway. let see now where we are. one team that had to lose game from 2019 is not possible to forget play football in 1 day. we need to respond back. Is it posible? i don t know. maybe yes. maybe no. if that team have a character then we all will learn it on Saturday. the lose in game with Brasil in 2019 was the turning point. they stand up and arrive till today to be unbeaten. they show that our players had character. Now it is time to stand up and do it again. The problem is that the lose today was major. not for football view. from mental view. we lost from saudi arabia. not from Brasil or Croatia. Exept that to stand up and recover after one huge blow like that is not easy.time is limited and looks like our chances not favor us.But everything is not over yet. it is necesary somebody Messi, Scaloni or anybody else with strong personality in our camp to step up and lift the team mentaly. in 1990 after Cameroon we had DIEGO. in 2018 after Croatia we had Masche and Leo that take that responsibility. Now? who? Leo? Scaloni? Ota? Angel? somebody else? i don t know really. things is very very hard and difficult.i don t lose my hope but the questions is more than the answers right now. As i said on saturday we will take our answers for many things. let s hope for the best.

    • Too much arrogance and too relaxed. I don’t know why but all of a sudden no more box to box midfielders. DePaul is not running, and Paredes I think is our third best defensive midfielder after Enzo and Guido, yet he still plays. And then there is the forgotten player Palacios. Every time he plays he creates wonderful chances but he is a ghost to Scaloni. I don’t know why this team is so injured. But if some player is injured you don’t need to play them. Also, DiMaria will get injured if anyone thinks he can play 630 minutes in 7 straight games. This is madness. Anyway, I think nobody will ever remember Copa if we lose to Mexico or go out in group stage. And no chance Scaloni continues with that embarrassment. The team is in very bad shape mentally and they have to play the best game of their life to beat Mexico. Sad, where have all the lions and warriors from Argentina gone? Pasarella, Diego, Masche…all warriors..now not so much

      • The only person that needs to be blamed is Scaloni and SCALONI and nobody else. He was outwitted by Saudi coach and still waited till 70 min to make changes. Cuti was clearly not fit and struggling losing the ball few times in the first half. Tagliafico is not an offensive FB and Saudi was easily dealing with his non existent threat. Papu was the worst, he did nothing at all, not sure if we should play him again. Parades was clearly not fully ready to play and Scaloni just watched the midfield pass the ball to Dimaria multiple times while Messi was surrounded the whole time. Lautaro was struggling to get any kind of touch and he left Dybala to rot on bench. He needs to raise the spirits in the dressing room. Mexican and Polish team are nowhere near our standards and if we lose it will be because of our coach failing to motivate our players. Licha hopefully will pump his team-mates like he did in United because mr Messi clearly was busy avoiding tackles today!!! He is our captain and if others see him with defeated body language then we are done before we kick the ball.

      • my friend when you play relaxed and show yourself cool this is exactly the definition of football arrogance. this is exactly what we did today. this huge blow wake them up it is 100% sure. the question is can till saturday they clear their heads and respond? my friend this is very very difficult thing. exist chances but it is not favor us.

          • Because all the established players that playing in Europe are in that age. can you imagine to put play in national team for example young players from local league? if 1 coach do something like that he will be hanged from Obelisco.
            look for example this forum as example. Scaloni take 1 kid in squad as reserve and morons from all around the world pop up sudden and jumping like tarzan because of that. what you expect?

  65. Acuna is a must … Praying he will be fit for all games. Left side was active only after he arrived… Papu needs to retire and give the spot to Garnacho now itself. Argentina should come first for Papu than his own ambitions.
    .
    Lautaro was off colour… He seemed very lost.
    .
    My biggest anger was on De Paul… Drunkard
    .
    I’m 2000% sure Christian Romero will not start anymore on these world cup games … Scaloni realised it late.
    .
    Either all players were hiding thier injuries and the medical staff were supportive of the players or Scaloni has erosion in his brain and thought we will win no matter what.

  66. After this game, everyone from Middle East who in charge of this event is super happy because of this very rigged upset. Tremendous amount of money also went to sports betting groups due to this game. Don’t underestimate their ability to manipulate fifa and return the favor. We fans shouldn’t overreact because this temporary pain will take us to the final and permanent glory. Mark my words, we will have a convincing win this Saturday.

    • I’ll be more than happy to believe that BUT how?
      The 3 disallowed goals where all shown on the screen clearly showing an elbow or body part leaning outside the line.

    • Every game is a final now and playing like that can be beneficial. They will be eager to restore their self respect and will come out hard against Mexico. It isn’t over yet. The streak is over by a punch in the face. They were arrogant and the offside calls and disallowed goals were draconian but it won’t happen again. If they expect to be champions then it doesn’t matter who they play, they must show respect to every single team they face and they didn’t show KSA respect today. Papu out, Tagliafico out, Paredes out. Give Enzo, Julian and guido their chance. Licha as well…there are clear injuries and fitness issues…it’s evident. Game 2 will be the true measure of this teams character. If they lose then they were never going to be champs if they win big and show what they are all about then we’re back in business. Far from over lads far from over. Destiny is in their hands

  67. A few of my family members shaved their head bald and their facial hair too. They said I have to do the same to “make a fresh start for Saturday”.
    I’m not shaving my head, too cold here for that.
    It took me a long time to grow this Andalusia Spaniard Buenos Aires beard 😂. Or what I call a beard at least.
    Anyways, I shaved just now. 😢
    I don’t think our system should change, our system was fine. I just think our mentality should change. We have to go out there thinking this is the last game of our lives, same mentality we have had the last two years.
    For those blaming themselves, this is also my fault, as I didn’t light up the wood, and I didn’t wear the jersey.
    Won’t make that same mistake this Saturday, vamos vamos!

  68. I have to agree with @el_principe that Scaloni shouldn’t make too many changes. At least that’s what my rational thoughts are concluding even though my emotional side wants to see many changes.

    We have played very well and consistent game after game. Scaloni et al established clear tactics and all our boys have great chemistry. Today’s performance simply contradicts everything we’re used to seeing and expected. There has to be a lurking variable and im afraid its internal but i can’t quite put my finger on it. I refuse to believe we’re suddenly an inconsistent team that doesn’t know how to press, pass, or beat an offside trap.

    Today, we clearly lacked intensity and ability to press effectively. Pressing and Intensity is one of our trademarks, now all of sudden it disappears? The boys passing was atrocious at times. Too many missed passes, either weighted too much or too little or worst of all straight to the opposition. I also refuse to believe, De Paul and Paredes for example, suddenly forgot the basics of passing.

    So, i’m going to write off today’s performance as a fluke and a needed slap in the face to wake up. With 3 days to practice and get our heads straight, I think we’re going to see our strengths shine again vs Mexico and Poland. Vamos!

    • Enzo/Macallister for Papu and Acuna for Tagliafico is a must. May be we can give Paredes one more match to see if he can get his form back but we can’t start with Papu and Tagliafico. Also we need to find a way to involve Dybala, especially with Messi being man-marked by multiple players we can’t just depend on Dimaria. Having said that the priority will have to be not conceding any goal. We will create chances but if we concede early then this team could panic and concede more!!

      • > Enzo/Macallister for Papu

        I’m torn. I know Papu is great but today certainly reduced my confidence. Enzo or Mac A will beef up defense and stability, allowing our attacking stars and fullbacks to flourish.

        > Acuna for Tagliafico is a must

        Yep. Acuna suited for Mexico anyway. They’ll open up and Acuna can take advantage of the wings. From Tags last few games i was sky high on him but today was concerning.

        > Maybe we can give Paredes one more match

        I’m REALLY torn on this one. It’s a dilemma. Try another game in hopes that he rebounds or go with Guido for added defense. Enzo is another possibility. Most people want him at LCM but i think can do as good of a job, if not better, than Paredes as DM. Loved his energy and accurate and more vertical passing. We don’t have history as proof so it’s a gamble too but i say fuck it! Let’s roll the dice 🙂

        > Also we need to find a way to involve Dybala

        100% agreed. We could have subbed off Messi for possible fitness issues or ADM. Heck, even better would have been subbing off Toro for Dybala at half.

          • Oh yeah, we forgot about Cutis performance. Clearly not fit and a bit rusty. He was subbed out early and had goal and clearance errors. Licha would do great and his leadership quality will boost the defense confidence and positioning.

  69. Win or lose we love this jersey, there’s no other team or football match that can give us more thrill & Buzz than watching our victorious beloved Argentina

    if someone has a negative comment doesn’t mean he hates the team or he’s not a fan we should all respect each other

    we all love Argentina.

    You never know hopefully that lose is blessings in disguise.

    More than ever Vamos Argentina

    That team is way too good to be eliminated so early

    • Gonzalo

      Spain was laughing stock at 2010,but still had a last laugh

      Portugal didn’t win a single match until the Semi Final , yet they became European
      Champion

      Real Madrid lost a Champions league opener against the Mighty Sherif , still
      Ended up European champions

      So keep Faith, it’s not over till it’s over

  71. I honestly feel ill, the food has no taste, I’m annoyed and agitated and I have a whole month off from work, I should be happy, relaxed and content but I’m the exact opposite.
    I thought this bullshit game play is behind us where defense is the norm and crisp passing and goals are easy to come by, its 2022 not 2018 and everywhere you turn its the WC BIGGEST shocker and idiot friends calling me and texting me trying to get a rise outta me…….this sucks, IT REALLY SUCKS BUT as ALWAYS Let’s GO ARGENTINA……their backs are to the wall and its do or die and they better represent all their fans……….shit, at least make it respectable if they’re going to lose

  72. There is a big question doing the rounds in twitter ‘if Argentinians were paid big sums to throw the game?’
    .
    I don’t believe it, but yesterdays loss has destroyed so many good things.
    .
    But still I’m having faith.

    • I call bs. A federation earns a lot of money if they win a World Cup, certainly more than any proposed amount for losing a game (if that even happens here)

  73. Could not sleep was awake most of the time … Felt so sad and mad…. Had we waited 4 years for this?
    .
    I’m not sure if we can turn things around as our players are either injured or out of form … Even if we get through this group how are we going to fare against the big shots? Its all a question mark.
    .
    But Faith is the only thing that keeps my hopes alive still.
    .
    Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

  74. For all those people saying chill out and relax I respectfully disagree. In football, more different than many other sports, minnows don’t beat sharks on the biggest stage in the world. Friendly games maybe, not often on this stage unless the shark is a pretender. You basically have prepared for this game for four years, and we fail to overcome a simple offside trap set by a team that has minimal skills. Argentina as much as I love them shit the bed too often in big games. We shit the bed in three finals, Messi shit the bed in the last Copa TWO times, one missing a clear breakaway goal making it 2-0 and the second was the last pass before the whistle kicking it right to a Brazilian player. I mean seriously what the fuck was that? Why didn’t anybody say anything just because we won?
    All this happens because the team, the whole country for Gods sake has taken one footballers personality. This is absolutely not Messi’s fault, but nobody has an ounce of intestinal fortitude to say I’m doing it for me, and if I have to drag your asses there with me I will. Everybody falls subservient to one guy. Again, not Messi’s fault. When we last beat Mexico 4-0 we did it with Palacios and Lautaro running their asses off. Do I agree with every selection Scaloni made? Probably not, but this squad has enough talent to destroy Saudi Arabia even if they were all half drunk, and they again shit the bed. The frail psyche, the lack of warrior spirit, the fact that some of these guys are just there because we are winning, the over reliance on one damn player, and the failure to hold veterans accountable gets you this result. Let’s be honest, this team has no young superstar. Lautaro is the closest thing, and a few that are very very good. Messi is our star, and he is an old one at that. Most teams don’t have them. But the answer to this is to work your ass off and run. Our guys haven’t done that since the Finalissima game, against a suspect Italy that is in transition. My point is today was a giant embarrassment and cannot be discounted. This may be who we are. This is who we are until we prove we are not. If we lose or draw against Mexico it is over, make no mistake about it. All this talk of Scaloni over the next four years will be over and somebody new will start a new project. Saturday is everything.

    • > You basically have prepared for this game for four years, and we fail to overcome a simple offside trap set by a team that has minimal skills

      It’s called a fluke. Every player or teams have off games. It doesn’t define us though.

      > shit the bed too often in big games

      I wouldn’t say this was a big game. It’s important game but id say big games are against better teams or when the Albi need a point to pass the next tourno stage.

      > I mean seriously what the fuck was that? Why didn’t anybody say anything just because we won?

      First, EVERYONE said something. You clearly weren’t reading. But you know what, Messi had a MONSTROUS tournament. One of the best displays i’ve seen from any argentine player. And in the final, Messi was solid. Better than most of all players on the pitch.

      > All this happens because the team, the whole country for Gods sake has taken one footballers personality.

      WRONG. The entire team has the lowest dependency on Messi that i’ve seen in decades. Just because they adore him and fight for him, it doesn’t mean they do not do their parts. Team is first and Messi is another cog, a large heliocentric cog.

      > but nobody has an ounce of intestinal fortitude to say I’m doing it for me….Everybody falls subservient to one guy.

      Our past games completely contradicts you. Everyone plays their role and dies on the pitch. Again, fluke performance today.

      > The frail psyche, the lack of warrior spirit,

      Yes i saw that too but isn’t it odd that it suddenly disappears today when that defined us for so many games? I’m going to call it a fluke, not a defining characteristic of the squad.

      > the over reliance on one damn player, and the failure to hold veterans accountable gets you this result

      right we should blame Aguero like you want to..more BS.

      > My point is today was a giant embarrassment

      Hell yes it was but maybe needed slap in the face to wake up the squad. Something strange happened but im confident well rebound. Vamos

      • I hope you are right about everything and that I am wrong. I just think this team has been too stagnant for too long. I have watched their past games during the build up and the last three games even though we won are not great performances. After finalissima it’s been sleep walking. But like I said, I hope you are right and I eat my words
        Also, if this is a fluke, this team better play like their lives depend on it because if they lose to Mexico this World Cup is all that will be remembered and not Copa so much.

  75. Still am mad at Scaloni calling that MLS fraud instead of Garnacho. Most of Argentina players are short, Midfield is average.
    The only players who deserve to play in future especially in 2026 are Enzo Fernandez, Lisandro Martinez, Cuti Romero, Alvarez, Garnacho, Lautaro. Likes of DePaul, Paredes who are more focused being Messi’s bodyguard should retire alongside him. Lastly players above 30 years should never be selected plus team’s selection should be based on merit.
    I don’t expect this team to turn things around in remaining 2 fixtures; no need for giving myself foolish false hope.

    • Again, not Scaloni fault. Almada was not a factor today nor was his selection. This loss is purely on the players. Too casual, not serious, and they only have themselves to blame. They took an easy situation and shit the bed. Simple as that. This game should have been over in the first half. But if you are too stupid to adjust for an offside trap you deserve to lose. Maybe they can fix it over some mate and their beloved fucking asado.

      • I disagree that it has anything to do with Scaloni. Scaloni made tactical mistakes and was slow to respond. MaxiLopez, even if many don’t like him, explained what mistakes Scaloni had made.

        Let’s call a spade a spade. His 4-2-3-1 wasn’t working. Why you even consider changing your formation from 4-3-3? Of the four 3+1 upfront players, 3 are old and all four are physically weak. Against a physical team in a thin strip of midfield, Argentina didn’t have a control of the game. It took Scaloni 60 mins and a 2-1 score line to understand it.

        He was outclassed. Period

        • He was clueless to respond to the offside trap and things never changed. He exposed his weaknesses as a coach and his tactics clearly demonstrated that he’s not a top notch coach ready to guide his team to glory on this international level.

  76. Roy, I do not think this is correct.

    A win for Argentina vs. Mexico with a win for Poland vs. Saudi Arabia and the table would look like this:

    Poland: 4 points
    Saudi Arabia: 3 points
    Argentina: 3 points
    Mexico: 1 point

    They do not look at Head-to-Head. They look at the goal difference. So, if Argentina beats Mexico 3-0 and Poland wins 2-1, Argentina would be in second.

  77. In all this madness, my take are:

    1. We underestimated our opponents, as Messi said every match should be played as “WAR.” I didn’t see that today. it was like our boys were playing in easy mode. JUST MAINTAIN THE SAME LEVEL, WE HAVE BEEN SEEING , DON’T CHANGE STYLE.

    2. The officiating of this tournment so far is atrocious . I don’t like the way they were kicking our players, the Ref decided not to give cards in time. Had it been he has been delivering the cards in time, they would have settled down. My point we should not expect favours. WE HAVE TO BE PREPARED FOR ANYTING.

    3. the offside or canceled goals were demoralizing, NOW WE CAN PREPARE FOR THINGS LIKE THIS AHEAD.

    4. Scaloni needs to limit the use of overage players atleast 2 players – In today’s match they did well for 60 minutes after that the energy drastically declined.

    5. Alvarez should start in left wing ahead of Papu, Enzo should fill in the midfield for Locelso and Dimaria should be a sub.

    6. Players that are “unfit” should not be played, I don’t know what those Medical Staffs are doing by clearing them especially Romero. It was like his legs failed him, he should just rest, we know you love your country but it so disappointing that a player we have learned to love playing like this. Their first goal could have been stopped.

    7. Now our opponent we think that they can pull the same thing on us like Saudi, I am sure they will watch the game. WE HAVE TO BE READY WITH A COUNTERPLAN.

    8. Dibu should not be too comfortable just because we have good defence. He needs to be focused 200%.

    9. Taglifico needs to hit the gym, he was bullied. In fact the whole was bullied. I mean we played Copa that was full of physical teams. I don’t know whether they think the same will not be found in WC. Wake up guys anything goes. I WAS SO SUPRISED THAT OUR TEAM ALLOWED THE BULLY, I EXPECTED THEM TO FIGHT BACK BUT THEY TOOK TO LONG TO DO ANYTING, NOW THEY PAID THE PRICE.

    10. for our next match we have to be 1000% focused.

  80. Now equations are easy win 2 games hope Saudi Arabia drop points and finished below 6 so that we top the group and avoid France.
    My starting 11 will be
    Emi
    Molina otamendi lisandro acuna
    Depaul guido enzo
    Dybala messi lautaro
    Here guido and Enzo will provide the defensive stability and Dybala will provide the creativity. Dimaria doesn’t work against defensive setup. Both teams will play defensively no doubts about that

  81. Btw France look scary. Mbappe is in super saiyan mode. Giroud is older probably than all of our old players, but he looks just as good as Benzema. Definitely France won’t miss Benzema. Varane will be healthy soon. Only Griezman is below average. Dembele was good too. One of the teams to beat for sure.

    • France is completely at a different level. You get a feeling that even a mediocre performance from them is good enough to beat Australia or similar teams by 2-3 goals. They are surely winning the group and going far.

      If we get on the way in round of 16, it might get ugly, worse than 2018.

  82. This is why winning first match is so important. Saudi had stopped its local league early to prepare playing multiple friendlies and were in much much better shape fitness wise. Our talisman Messi looked clearly unfit and was trying to avoid any tackles. Paredes looked extremely rusty, Depaul misplacing passes and not even trying to shoot from outside. Messi and Dimaria waiting too long to shoot. There were too many negatives in this match.

    Next match, hopefully Scoloni won’t go full Sampaoli mode and attack leaving the defense vulnerable. Our priority should be not conceding any goals whatsoever. I have no doubt we will create numerous chances but preventing opposition from scoring has to be no 1 priority. If we happen to concede early then we will again get into the dire situation like today. Please keep it tight and take your chances man!! Plenty of chances were wasted by Messi, Dimaria and Lautaro today. We need better finishing and tighter midfield and defense. If Paredes is still struggling it will wise to start Guido, if has recovered from flu. Enzo or MacAllister for Papu who looked so washed up. Scaloni needs to figure out a way to involve Dybala and Correa , not when we are trailing but to score first to put pressure on the opposition. Please play Acuña and bring Tagliafico when we need to defend. His offensive skills are quite poor.

  84. I will not watch another minute of this tournament. I woke up late and watched 5 minutes and in those 5 mins KSA scored twice…I quickly turned it off and went back to bed. I blame myself for having watched it and I apologize to every fan. Rest assured I will not watch another minute or even check a score unless someone tells me or it comes up on an internet feed. Mea culpa, I’m sorry. Best of luck Argentina

  86. ARG plays first, loses and all the other big teams take note because they don’t want the same to happen to them and play better :/
    Look at it this way, The WC is basically win and you keep playing, lose and you’re out, the same ole cliché that I hate to use but I will, Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the face (Tyson)….Q is, how will they go forward?
    This team deserves MUCH better than to go out in the first round

  87. Plan for Mexico game.
    Don’t lose. If we lose, we are out. Somehow win or at least get a draw.So, go back to 433, that’s a kind of 442.
    Why all of our attacking options are at right? Messi, DiMaria, DePaul and Molina. This is too much overuse, with less defensive strength. Meanwhile our left side is completely dead after LoCelso and Nico out. I would like one of them shifted to left.
    IMO,
    Play DiMaria at left. We used him there before, I know he’s better at right but now we don’t have options at left, so we can plan for that. That means Acuna, MacAllister, and DiMaria at left and Molina, DePaul and Messi at right.
    At DM, we can use Enzo, he will be better than Paredes. His long passes are superb, that’s missing from Pardes now a days. Also, he is more aggressive, fast, tireless and inform than Paredes.
    Until, Cuti is back to form, use Lisandro. So, all the inform players except Alvarez will be playing. Alvarez will get his chances as a first sub in almost every game.

    Dimaria-Lautaro-Messi
    MacAllister -Enzo- DePaul
    Acuna-Lisandro-Otamendi-Molina
    When DiMaria defend, Enzo and MacAllister will be at center, this is the place both playing for their club. I think, we will have a great balance on this lineup.

  89. I never wanted that copa America winning jersey to be changed. That jersey was lucky for us. We never lost a game wearing it. Some superstitions are good

  91. Imo, Scaloni should use the team that he already knows for the Mexican match. It is the worst timing to experiment. Use his “17 starters”, if there are changes, change among them. They already know each other. They are proven. If he makes too many changes, it is very risky. It makes him very Sampaolique. Even Sampaoli in his worst moment where we needed a win badly, he returned to the original team that he already knew vs Nigeria instead of continuing experimenting.

    The changes I would hope to see (IF THERE IS NO FITNESS PROBLEM) is 2-3 at most. Maybe something like Acuna for Tagli. And one of the defensive minded midfielders (I hope Enzo or Palacios) instead of Papu to make it balance because Papu and Acuna together will make our left a bit vulnerable defensively. That’s all. Keep others.

    Cuti and Otamendi deserve to start if Cuti is healthy. Together they formed an amazing duo that resulted in deadly duo in defense (and 2 cups and a bunch of clean sheets). One bad game of them both don’t mean we need to break them up. Molina needs to start because Montiel is much worse and Foyth is very far from being match fit.

    If there is a third change probably Guido instead of Paredes who looks unfit . Keep other starters. As much as all of you would like to see 7-8 changes and most of your favorite players to start, you don’t do that unless you are an amateur coach. Go ahead experiment in friendlies after the WC, but not here when we need 3 points more than ever. In second half, we can always introduce the new ones slowly until their team chemistry improving.

  93. To simplify, we cannot afford to lose. We lose – we are out.
    We should try to win both our remaining matches.
    We should also hope that Saudi doesn’t lose another match. That will make things easier.

    The 0-0 draw between Poland and Mexico gives a glimmer of hope to Argentina. Now Argentina can force entry to next stage if they win the next 2. Further, if Saudi doesn’t lose any of their next 2 matches, then even 4 points(1 draw and 1 win) will be enough. In case Saudi loses one, Argentina needs to beat the team that beats Saudi with a big margin.

    Theoretically or mathematically, it is possible to qualify from group stages even with 2 points. But in practice that has never happened.
    Chile in 1998 and Italy in 1982 have actually qualified with just 3 points. Italy even went on to become champions.

    But it is also possible to get eliminated with 6 points. It happened once I believe(Algeria in 1982). But now that it is a 0-0 draw between Poland and Mexico, Argentina will definitely qualify if it gets 6 points.

    The most hilariously optimistic scenario is Saudi beats both Mexico and Poland by 2 goal margins and Argentina draws the remaining 2 games. Then even 2 points is enough to qualify.

    By my calculations, Argentina can qualify with 6 points(guarantee), 4 points and even 2 points(with great luck), but it cannot qualify with 3 points. So a loss is out of question.

  94. Scaloni should try 4-3-3 formation and play counter attacking football against Mexico. Messi, lautaro, di maria is enough in attacking. Play de paul in lo celso’s position and enzo in de paul’s position in central mid field. Also Scaloni can try Palacios as well. Most importantly players need to give their 100%

    • Been calling him out from the last world cup. He’s the weakest link in that defence. If Acuna is not fit, play Licha there, he’s good enough to play in mid and his passes and composure are top notch.

      • Absolutely…Tagliafico appears like he would offer defensive stability but no, the guy is not good enough. Ringing in too many changes is suicidal as that’s what Sampaoli did against Croatia last time. Let’s wait for the 2nd game…

  96. The game against Mexico will be the most important, right from team selection to mentality and in game adjustments from Scaloni. If you see Tagliafico on the pitch, know that we’re out. I expect at worst Licha at left back if Acuna is out, that’s if Scaloni has learnt his lesson.

  97. I’ll start off by asking many to chill out and stop all the doom and gloom emotional breakdowns. Now that Poland tied Mexico, we still have a very good chance to advance. Vamos.

    Few notable reasons for the loss –
    1) Lack of intensity – Our player normally close down space and chase the opposition as if their lives depended on it but failed miserably today. We looked lethargic and lacked hunger. too much walking for all players.
    2) Poor passing accuracy and timing – Almost everyone suffered with few standouts. We couldn’t pass properly even if their lives depended on it. Either the balls were passed too far, too short, or directly to the opposition. The timing were particularly frustrating. How many times did we fail the offside trap because the ball was released too late?
    3) Offside trap – we failed on multiple critical moments. Messi and Toro too often the other side hoping to drag defenders but they stood very strong and disciplined. Furthermore, our players couldn’t time the passes properly which led to multiple offside calls. KSA effectiveness had more to do with our shitty passing.
    4) Defensive errors –
    KSA goal # 1 – Messi dispossessed and attacker passed close to a player outside our box. Link – imgur.com/a/78BZAhQ . You can see Otamendi hesitate and instead of charging the ball he let the attacker gain control and start the play going left around Romero. Romero was then horribly beat and the attacker shot. i do think Emi should have blocked this one. Overall, this goal is due to the entire core defensive unit.
    KSA goal # 2 – the errors started with Tagliafico when he allowed the attacker to race passed him and pass towards the center directly to Ota. Otamendi then failed horribly to CLEAR the ball and passed it straight the attacker who shot on goal and it deflected really high to another player who then turned into prime messi, scrambling and dribbling passed 5 argies and shot a perfect goal. Truly amazing goal tbh. The entire squad is almost to blame for goal #2.
    5) Failed Clearances – whether it was Paredes, Otamendi, Romero, or others heading or kicking the ball incorrectly. The center penalty box was particularly frustrating. There were multiple clearance attempts that landed right at the opposition in very dangerous zone.

      • that is the point. we had 40 mins and couldn’t wake up and get one goal against mighty Saudi Arabia. We didn’t even create anything meaningful. Cannot say we were unlucky. We couldn’t create anything in 40 mins.

        • because the coach was left up high and dry with no clue how to proceed. It was a game between two schools of coaching. Scaloni has not been tested by this type of play, and his limited experience as a coach was exposed.

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