Argentina possible eleven against Poland at the World Cup

By
Roy Nemer
-
116

Argentina national team class is set to make a few changes to the team which won 2-0 vs. Mexico.

Lionel Scaloni could make two changes to the team which would start against Poland on Wednesday. According to TyC Sports, Nahuel Molina will start in place of Gonzalo Montiel.

Leandro Paredes is not expected to start as one of Enzo Fernández or Guido Rodríguez will start. Guido started against Mexico as Enzo was brought on as a substitute. This is the rumored eleven:

Emiliano Martínez; Nahuel Molina, Nicolás Otamendi, Lisandro Martínez, Marcos Acuña; Rodrigo De Paul, Enzo Fernández o Guido Rodríguez Alexis Mac Allister; Ángel Di María, Lautaro Martínez and Lionel Messi.

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116 Comments

  1. A creative and intelligent player like Dybala should be given minutes on pitch against Poland. But Scaloni seems to be happy with getting choked rather than bring in some real creative players. At least, we created a lot of chances against Saudi and their goalkeeper had to play a superb game to keep the scoreline maintained. Against Mexico we could not create any chance!! Messi’s brilliance came to the rescue and then Enzo’s. None came from a proper chance. Is Scaloni’s strategy to depend only on luck?

  2. Many people are asking for Dybala to come into lineup..ok but who goes out? Which role?

    Dybala is jewel I am in love with his gameplay.. but I also see him as a player that does not fall into any traditional role….he can sub for a striker in a comfortable situation but he wont be a full replacement.. he can sub for a creative midfielder as well but he will be a 70% midfielder…. I think scaloni trusts him to score or create but at what cost? I think this has been The Curse of LaJoya… not Messi..

    • In the place Papu Gomez in the first game and MacAllister in the second game.
      He can create, he can score and he even sometimes defends.
      The main argument I have heard is that he does not play in the left side. But he actually started his career playing in the left side. One can look at Copa 2019 3rd place match. He mostly played in left and center and played quite well.

      And Scaloni’s Argentina is dynamic. Messi, Di Maria and Dybala will keep switching positions to confuse opponents.

      • Trust me I would LOVE to see the trio play at the same time in the WC.. but unless Scaloni had secretly practiced this combination without us I knowing all hints point at reduced playtime for Dybala as a sub let alone a starter…

        Sad indeed…

    • The only player he subs without breaking the system is Messi.

      The player he can otherwise sub without too much negatives is DiMaria on the right . But Dimaria does help defend, so its a more offensive linup.

  3. People here overhyping Poland too much. Calm down we r playing Poland not Germany france spain etc hell they are not even in the category of Croatia, Denmark, Switzerland. This same team lost 2-0 against Netherlands and 6-1 against belgium this year. They r damn mediocre side. Mexico and Saudi Arabia absolutely dominated them. Mexico game was far more tougher now after a win our confidence will be high and i expect Argentina to beat them 2-0 if we can’t beat them we should not play in 2nd round as we don’t deserve it. Simple as that. Poland will sit deep and will concede the possession and will not press our midfield like saudi or Mexico did so we will not look as bad as we looked in this 2 matches only concern is their set peices bt if we can’t defend set peices we have no business challenging for titles

    • Little brother Anuparno, you have changed and certainly talking a lot of sense of late. Whatever you do in life, goodluck and wishing you the best!:-)

    • 💪🇦🇷💪🇦🇷💪🇦🇷💪🇦🇷💪🇦🇷💪🇦🇷💪🇦🇷💪🇦🇷💪🇦🇷💪🇦🇷

      It’s rationale to assume Poland’s going for a tie. Even though i like the idea of 532 / 352 that many are promoting, is it really the most effective against bunker down strategy?
      Some have called for ADM’s removal when he’s one of the only players capable of unlocking defenses.
      3 CBs also means removing an extra midfielder so Romero or Licha over 1 of Enzo, Palacios, Mac A, or Paredes?
      With 2 man mid, we can’t always rely on passing wide as we saw against Mexico. Just look how isolated De Paul was in the middle at times (Mac A also wasnt connecting well with RDP as El Principe points out). Don’t we need a 3 man mid for triangle passing supported by Acuna and Molina until a rare option opens for a killer through ball that splits the defense? Seems like overloading the final 3rd in hopes of seizing a rare opportunity is the way to go.

      • PSG plays 3-4-3 with two centre mids, 2 fullbacks , 3 CBs and MNM. In our case two mids would be Depaul and Enzo. Last match Dimaria was isolated and not much effective due to lack of a proper wing/ full back who would overlap and cross / pass into the box and which is why Lautaro was totally wasted. Also, Guido was basically played as sweeper/ 3rd CB to be replaced by Romero. So he is just being replaced by another proper CB and Enzo replacing MacAllister .

        • > PSG plays 3-4-3 with two centre mids, 2 fullbacks , 3 CBs and MNM.

          Wasn’t PSG struggling and not as effective as they should given gaps in the midfield so Galtier changed to 433. Now they look more convincing with Verratti DM, Vitinha, Ruiz/Renato and i think they stick to it for the remainder of the season.

          You’re right that ADM was isolated since Montiel didn’t overlap much but he also didn’t have too many options towards the center since RDP was often the only guy. In the past, GLC and RDP provided center passing options….

          • They were forced to revert to 4 in the back due to injury to their multiple defenders but yes PSG didn’t have the right players to pull the 5-2-3 formation. Very slow DMs and CBs often getting caught on counters.

        • I agree completely Sulav. You made a good point. Guido playing almost like the third center back against Mexico. In 3-4-3 new formation then Cuti would replace him and Enzo would replace MacAllister. It is as simple as that.

  4. I would recommend for everyone to watch these two tactical analysis videos that cover both of Argentina’s games so far. Pretty interesting and without El Mongol I’ve been craving a good explanations of the games

    youtube.com/watch?v=Q-8WzO_sAwY
    youtube.com/watch?v=etjeiY8UVkw

  5. It seems Scolani has no clue about what he is doing. I still beleive he will field same starting line up against Poland as Mexico and he will bring some changes.Next match its very important to have an ealry goal. Here whats normally happened with argentina. When Arg take an ealy lead one or two goals Scolani will go for ultra defensive mode and will normally stop pressuring the opponent and eventually they might score against us.Then Scolani will bring some changes which will bring immediate positive impact but the other team will go for super ultra defensive mode hence covering whole half of them. Arg will start pressing but it will be very tight to get the space. Arg knows well that if it were a draw they may have to exit from the tournament. The best part is arg have players who might score at any time and from any angle no matter how tight it is. Hope scolani will come up with brilliant plan to crack the polish defence in the early mins and will still try to press to get more goals.here mundo members are really frustrated as we are unsure about the out come of the next match.we all know we have great players who would score at any minute. But most of us do not trust and not happy about what scaloni is going to do. To be honest most of us not confident about scolani’s line up.we all are holding our breath. Best of lucky beloved argentina and messi

  6. Think this starting XI is the best option right now. As we cant have too many changes. That would completely derail cohesiveness of the team. McAllister for all his criticism and lack of creativity dill hold up well. We need that to start. If Enzo starts, we would have good energy, threat and some creativity as well. However, again while he is flamboyant going forward, he is a bit reckless in the DM position. So, I wont be completely surprised if Enzo does not start. However, I do hope the starting line up is exactly as listed by Roy with Enzo starting in place of Guido.
    Lautaro has been really unlucky. Those two menacingly close off sides have given him a bit of a setback. However, this is the game for the forwards to start dancing around the Polish defence.
    While I am positive, I am still concerned that this wont be an easy game and at least some of our players have to play one of the best games of their WC career. A open play goal in the initial minutes would be great for the team to settle down and work its magic.

    • I agree. Dope jersey
      I am sad for them. They need to play more offensive.
      Other may disagree, but I think Portugal is the real deal this cup. They have all the right people in the right places and a great coach with experience.

  8. Does Argentina not have a decent coach? I can only see sturbbon coaches who sticks with pathetic players when there are decent like scolani sticking with Armani,montiel etc. It seems he does not have any game plan and a back up plan.His sturbboness only gives more and more pressure to the team specially messi and co. The whole world sees it that way. IDK why he is starting medicore players like montiel, mac alister, when there are decent players on the bench. Looks like he has been experimenting for the last three years and never learnt.IDK why AFA giving chance to such unexperienced coaches. He won copa by luck and the hard work of players. This is not copa America, This is world cup. Im very sure a decent coach will be more than happy to play any formation with these set of players. We have so much talent and depth however our coaches do not know how to utilize them properly. If it were not messi, dimaria this arg team had never won the copa. Arg won the copa not the plan and tactics of the coach, but they won becuase of individual brilliance. They have played as a team only in few matches eventhough they had 36 unbeaten streak. Arg will never win the worls cup unless scaloni leave his sturbboness and come with brilliant plan ( and plan B too) to play free flawing attacking game hence defending at the same time. Among the so called title contenders I can only see argentina plays like a shitty team where there is no connection from midfiled to the forwards. The midfielders what they do is back pass and just passing to the back,no long ball, no through ball, no bulid up play, and our wings were’nt able to make one decent cross. I have not seen the spirit and the hunger amongst the players which they had shown in the copa. Arg won Mexico not because of brilliant plan of the coach. They won due to individual brillaince of Messi, Dimaria, and Enzo. Most of the players were like headless chiken during most part of the first half. I totally agree that this argentina team has quality and depth to win the cup however i can only see that argentina will not be qualified from the group stage unless Scolani leave his sturbboness and change the starting line up and tactics. Scolani have never learnt crack bus parking teams by free flawing play. Poland will be a tough opponent and i predict they will park the bus and will try to counter by using Lewandoski. It will a be a tough nut to crack guys. You guys may think I am spreading negetive vibe, but im being honset and its my view. I have been supporting argentina since 1998, and have been following this blog since 2004 ( when it was worls cup blog).Howver I comment on rare occasions. I hope some of you guys .ay agree with my view

      • 2004. argentina worldcupblog.org was there. I remember posting a line up in 2004 when i finished my high school.
        Zanetti,Ayala,Sorin,Samual, German Lux, Abondenzari, Lucho Gonzalez,Killy Gonzalez,Maxi Lopez, Simione, Veron, Crespo,Burdisso, De’Alesaandro, Heinze, Requelme, Cambiasso, Aimar, Saviola. these are some team members in 2004 Copa America of my memory is right

      • Im from Maldives.Javiar Saviola was my guest when working in One & Only Reethi Rah Maldives.I was his prrsonal butler when he came there in 2006 for vaccation. I Think he was playing Barca at that time.He was a friendly guy

    • If Scaloni doesn’t have clue, he will not bring in Enzo and Alvarez in the second half against the Mexicans. Yes, sometimes we feel frustrated that unfortunately, the coach has not maximized the talents Arg has. Similar to Belgium missed their golden generations. Let’s be optimistic.

    • Hi Farzan there are some points of what you said that I agree.

      “Arg won Mexico not because of brilliant plan of the coach. They won due to individual brillaince of Messi, Dimaria, and Enzo. Most of the players were like headless chiken during most part of the first half.”

      This part I agree. Scaloni was overthinking and was scared, that’s the result of the line up he made. It was a horrible line up that resulted in one of our worst first half performances ever in his era. Messi, Di Maria, and Enzo saved us.

      That’s why I said, Scaloni is a good coach but some good coaches becomes mediocre when under pressure. It is like they lost their winning mentality and become scared. Even the commentator of Argentina-Mexico kept repeating “keep in mind that Argentina would go home if they lose this game” meaning that he must see ugliness in Argentina game.

      Tha fans also booed Argentina in the second half until the 60th minute. I mean it was obvious an anti climax performance until Messi scored that goal.

      That’s why I am really curious what kinda kinda line up Scaloni will put against Poland. If it stays the same (the line up that made us look ugly and got booed by the crowd just for the sake of not conceding any goal), then Scaloni deserves a criticism. That line up obviously needed a major change, not being used again for the second time.

  9. Midfield is such an important factor in a team yet Scaloni keeps playing De Paul who is CLEARLY not in form.

    It doesn’t matter how well he played the last 38 games if he isn’t up to par now he does not deserve to start.

    Wish that crackhead Scaloni would understand this.

    • > Wish that crackhead Scaloni would understand this.

      Scaloni is gambling that RDP springs back to life. Sometimes coaches have to trust players turn it around, especially for a player as vital to la scalonetas system. RDP also pressed and fought in 2nd half so there’s a bit of redemption.

      What would your midfield look like without RDP?

      • Completely agree. I think that if there is one player to gamble on to play into form, it is De Paul. To give an example, I wouldn’t really risk playing Foyth into form at this stage (even if Scaloni sees a big improvement in training it will be tough) but De Paul is different.

        — I recommend everyone to watch this tactical analysis which is in English:
        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q041bA4BVdE&t=271s
        —
        If you watch that you’ll see that De Paul responds to Messi and it is crucial to have someone who can cover for him. Additionally, even when De Paul does mistake passes and has atrocious stats his is still the soul of the team. He dies on the pitch for Argentina. He runs his heart out. He puts in a huge shift every time he puts on the shirt and that hasn’t changed. If his poor form does continue into the knockouts, then we do have a huge dilemma on our hands because even if he runs and dies on the pitch one bad pass and we can be punished. For that I really hope for a first place and easier draw so we can continue improving him without massive risk. I’ve maintained for quite a while that he’s our 2nd most important player tactically, no less than 3rd at all. People need to understand this when they want to drop him immediately, it’s not an easy seamless decision.

        • Love that analysis and highlights how important he is. RDP basically reacts to whatever Messi doing. If Messi drops deep center, RDP runs out wide for a passing option. If Messi leaves space, RDP rushes in to close it down. Perfect player to Messi’s heliocentric role.
          RDP also great at short triangle passing, pressing, and always getting into available space for passing options. He’s critical to our midfield and no other player can replace him. I remember El Mongol wrote RDP is the squads “glue”… great way to describe him.

        • RDP is world class. Even in his bad days, he still contributes in some other things. His positioning as a midfielder is top notch. He is the engine of the team. I am very confident that he will be great against Poland.

  10. people on this forum are so good at making other teams look good. you hear “Brazil is good…”, “Portugal is a complete package”…. while shitting our own players, team and coach. If you have nothing good to give sh*t up.

    • That’s why 1 I’m never here while a game is going on and 2 I JUST SIMPLY choose to ignore a certain people and their comments.

      There is a difference between making an observation that is true or not which is fine either way and to keep going on and on and on how this and that team will destroy ARG if they don’t do this or play that player or bench this guy ……..etc

      Its like they’re praying for ARG’s demise so they could come on here and say, “SEE, I TOLD YOU SO”.
      Constructive criticism is good but THAT ain’t it and honestly I WOULD BAN people for this constant annoyance IF it was up to me But Roy is much nicer than me.

    • the majority of people in this forum have very limited knowledge of football. so you will read every idiotic thing can come to somebody s brain. ignore is the key word. no reason to waste your time read or respond to nonsense.

  11. Scaloni, too, in his post-match press conference, highlighted Enzo’s great contribution to the game.

    “We played better in the second half. We started to see improvements and with Enzo [Fernández] we were looking for more forward passes,” he explained. “Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. Today it worked out well. Today it went well.”

    — If he says “we played better in the second half” (which is very obvious) then logically he won’t use the same line up as the Mexican game.

    • You once said that Scaloni isn’t a moron and he is quick to react and fix things.

      Starting McAllister and benching Enzo will go against that spirit. No coach in sound mind would plan to defend for 60 mins and bet on come out victorious in the last 30 mins of open play in a must-win match. Needless to say that our performance in the first 50 mins against Mexico was one of the worst I can remember, maybe during the Bauza times. What if Messi didn’t score that marvelous goal! This will not happen always.

      This guy still doesn’t know his midfield!!! Would Portugal start the match leaving Bruno on the bench? Brazil leaving Casemiro on the bench? Scaloni is super genius. Or are we incapable of understanding his logic of leaving Enzo on the bench!

      • Exactly. That’s why I can’t wait what kinda changes he mades against Poland. As far as I know he is not moron, but I criticized his players selection against Mexico. I mean for 3 days it had been Paredes-De Paul-Enzo. It was not even speculation. They did practice with them for 3 days!

        Then suddenly in the last 12 hours, he changed it to Guido-Mac-De Paul. What is that??? A new midfield trio formed in the last 12 hours? Why would u practice with Enzo-De Paul-Paredes for 3 days then?

        I question Scaloni winning mentality. It is not enough to play “not to lose”. We are Argentina, we are not Iceland. We are greater than that.

  12. Forget about this petty Messi vs Cr7 fans rivalry; Portugal team is a complete package capable of beating any big giant. Should Argentina face Portugal with Scaloni’s gambling formations, Argentina will be roasted. I have to admit bitter truth, Scaloni never approached this tournament well prepared. DePaul recent bad performances is making things look more frustrating for Argentina fans. As it stands now, France, Brazil and Portugal are the top favorites to win this competition.

    • I agree. So many teams are superior than us. I will be happy if we reach to last 16. That will be enough satisfaction. Scaloni don’t much experience playing against european teams. Only Italy we played who is not even playing in world cup. Scaloni needs to understand copa and world cup are so different.

    • Please go to the Portuguese blog and talk about them there … Lol Argentina is current copa champion and also beat the current euro champs… Do you really think these Portugal pretenders stand a chance, lisandro, otamendi and Argentina midfield will eat these guys alive…. Vamos !!!!!!!

      • Shut up. Why don’t you tell others who are commenting about the same ongoing Portugal match. If you can’t bear other people’s contrary opinions, then internet is the wrong place for you. Excuse me!

      • But we are talking about Argentina only. We are copa champions but currently we are playing world cup not copa and struggling against weak teams. If we loose to Poland we are out

  13. If we beat Poland and finish first
    We play again on Saturday
    The scheduling is so bad
    Hope scaloni rotates and give players rest if we are leading by 2 goals against Poland

  14. If Scaloni goes without Enzo in the starting lineup and fails to defeat Poland. He will have to go, Bye Bye. He made that call and he has to take responsibility for it. The team that outplayed all its opponents and Italy couple months ago is struggling to string 3 passes together and if he persist with the same approach as the first half against Mexico then he is a mentally weak coach thats all!! Playing safe and playing like the Mexico first half is totally different things. If weaker teams like Canada, Japan, Serbia are able to play better attacking game than us then its the fault of only one person and that is Scaloni and SCALONI alone!!

    Also, the two players that still remember how we pressed when we attacked and defended seems to be Palacios and Enzo who didn’t play a single qualifier. Depaul Paredes are completely out of form. MacAllister is a safe option but nothing close to Palacios who reproduced his sublime national team form last match. Depaul is too big to be dropped but on current form Palacios and Enzo in midfield with 3 CBs and 2 wing backs to support the front three would be the best way to go but Depaul has to be given one more match!! If he again displays the same pathetic performance then thats it. We can’t carry his poor form any longer. He needs to be dropped if we make it out of the group!!

  15. That Mexican boxer whatever the hell his name is crying about Messi allegedly stepping and kicking a Mexican jersey in the Locker room after the game.
    IF truet hen good for him because all the shit talking they did before the game about him and ARGENTINA

    • Mexican supporters have been really nasty towards Albi. I guess that’s what 31 years of trauma does. For Messi and the kit, i doubt he meant anything, unintentional, heat of the moment while celebrating.

  16. I have to say that this Portugal team looks very strong and has all the championship materials.

    Now they can rotate their starters in the next game. I can clearly see them reach semi final at least.

  19. Remember the WCQ against this Uruguayan team?? Remember how we completely outplayed them?? If we can reproduce that form against Poland, we can easily destroy them!!

    • The team needs to play proper football as they’ve been playing disjointed all of a sudden. Every single game since 2018 in the worldcups showed no identity and matter of fact, even in 2014, we played so ugly to get to the final but atleast it’s some form of catenaccio and there’s identity. Every big team has an identity and are playing free-flowing football. They need to get their act together now or it would be curtains and another ’02 disaster!

  20. This Uruguay team can give Brazil lots of troubles if Neymar can’t be fit in R16. The midfield duo can absolutely outplay Brazil midfielders.

  21. Re-watched the game and Guido made the most mistakes with passing distribution.
    Against a better countering team, he would have cost us dearly.
    Let Enzo start as he is box to box with an offensive threat compared to guido’s limited defensive attributes.

      • Palacios seems to be best box to box option. Palacios – Enzo – RDP prob closest replacement for star trio copa performers. Mac A certainly picked up offensively during the 2nd half…we FINALLY got see him progressing with confidence. I just don’t know if he will continue to shine or revert back to being conservative.

        The good thing with Paredes is that he is great and retention and possession, and has great chem with RDP. His presence may help RDPs form. It’s not certain though so maybe assume the worst, that’s why he missed Mex and might not start against Poland.

      • Enzo, RDP should have McAllister. He looks good with retaining the ball even if he’s does not open up defences. As long as RDP and McAllister provide ball retention and rotation, the other four can try to work their magic around Polish defence. Vamos Argentina !!!

      • You should watch the video of Bruno and Christina right at the start of training camp before the WC…….Her highness standing with hand extended and Bruno doing everything he could to avoid eye contact until what seemed forever before he acknowledged her and shook hands
        I never liked Felix….something about him, annoys me

        • Lol..yes.. that makes my blood boil even more..we have the firepower..our game play is like we’re driving a Bugatti Veron at 30mph in the Autobahn.

  27. Unable to comprehend that Darwin Nunez sold for 100million and Alvarez 13!!

    Shameless Christina claiming goal when he didn’t even made any contact with the ball.

  31. Then who will defend against tall Lewandowski? I support Scaloni but I am not a blind supporter. And Montiel comes again I will stop supporting Argentina team in this world cup.

  33. If this is the starting line-up expect a 3-5-2 in possession with Guido dropping between the centre-backs again a la sweeper or libero and Acuna & Molina pushing high up. Creativity again a burden for Messi and Di Maria, unless Mac Allister and De Paul also contribute in that department.

  35. Our short backline would be tested aerially by Lewandowksi and co if Poland are able to find him from the flanks. We will be sitting ducks for any decent cross or corner kick. Hope Guido starts over MacAllister to aid us for the latter.

  36. Playing armchair coach for a minute, given our issue is more psychological than tactical, I hope Scaloni has atleast 3 strategies.
    1. Starting strategy for every half
    2. Leading strategy (when we take the lead)
    3. Lagging strategy (when we are down by a goal)

    And hopefully 1st half and 2nd half strategies for 2 and 3 above.

    Each strategy would involve formation changes, role changes and substitutions

    Vamos Argentina!

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