Argentina standings scenarios for World Cup

By
Roy Nemer
-
56

A win for Argentina could get them in first or second in the group, a draw could get them in second place and a loss would eliminate Argentina from the World Cup.

Argentina play Poland and Saudi Arabia play Mexico, with both games being played at the same time. Poland have four points and lead the group as Argentina are in second with three points and a plus one goal difference.

Third place in the group is Saudi Arabia who also have three points but a minus one goal difference and Mexico are last in the group with a minus two goal difference. Here are the standings:

Poland: 4 points, +2 goal difference
Argentina: 3 points, +1 goal difference
Saudi Arabia: 3 points, -1 goal difference
Mexico: 1 point, -2 goal difference

If Argentina win against Poland and Saudi Arabia win vs. Mexico, Argentina and Saudi Arabia would make it to the next round with goal difference deciding their standings. These would be the standings:

Argentina: 6 points
Saudi Arabia: 6 points
Poland: 4 points
Mexico: 1 point

If Argentina win vs. Poland and Mexico win vs. Saudi Arabia, Argentina and one of Poland or Mexico would make it to the next round with Argentina leading the group. Poland and Mexico would be decided on goal difference. These would be the standings:

Argentina: 6 points
Poland: 4 points
Mexico: 4 points
Saudi Arabia: 3 points

If Argentina and Poland draw with Saudi Arabia getting the win vs. Mexico, it would be Saudi Arabia and Poland into the next round of the World Cup. These would be the standings:

Saudi Arabia: 6 points
Poland: 5 points
Argentina: 4 points
Mexico: 1 point

If Argentina and Poland draw with Mexico getting the win vs. Saudi Arabia, Poland would lead the group with Argentina and Mexico tied on points and the better goal difference would qualify for the next round. These would be the standings:

Poland: 5 points
Argentina: 4 points
Mexico: 4 points
Saudi Arabia: 3 points

If Argentina and Poland draw with Saudi Arabia and Mexico drawing, Poland and Argentina would make it to the next round with Poland in first and Argentina in second in the group. These would be the standings:

Poland: 5 points
Argentina: 4 points
Saudi Arabia: 4 points
Mexico: 2 points

If Poland get the win vs. Argentina and Saudi Arabia get the win vs. Mexico, Poland and Saudi Arabia would make it to the next round of the World Cup. Here would be the standings:

Poland: 7 points
Saudi Arabia: 6 points
Argentina: 3 points
Mexico: 1 point

If Poland get the win vs. Argentina and Mexico get the win vs. Saudi Arabia, Poland and Mexico would make it to the next round at the World Cup. Here would be the standings:

Poland: 7 points
Mexico: 4 points
Argentina: 3 points
Saudi Arabia: 3 points

If Poland get the win vs. Argentina and Saudi Arabia vs. Mexico ends in a draw, Poland and Saudi Arabia would make it to the next round at the World Cup. These would be the standings:

Poland: 7 points
Saudi Arabia: 4 points
Argentina: 3 points
Mexico: 2 points

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56 Comments

  1. There are many teams that play good foot ball and can still lose.. for Arg good football is beautiful, clinical, frustrating for opponents and a joy for fans. Whenever we play well victory follows.

    With such football we cannot lose…. let us get behind the team now and hope and pray they play beautiful football and victory will follow. We have been beaten up enough..now is the time to do some damage! ALBICELESTE style..

    Let’s goooo! VAMOS!

  3. Poland going for a 5-3-2 formation. How shocking 🙄
    So it seems we’ve been sussed out by other teams. Our pattern of play involves basic passing lines which isn’t there now due to missing Lo Celso.
    I just hope the players have the confidence to do the job in 90 mins. The win against Mexico is definitely the monkey off their shoulders, they can be free now to express their football.
    Play well and entertain is all I ask.

  4. Remember reading somewhere, Mr Bielsa taking a session to Poland coaches regarding their play after watching some number of their games. Hope that doesnt bite us.

  5. I hope and that Argentina score an early goal and Poland still sit back to go through on goal difference(with Mexico taking 1-0 lead before half time) and not to concede more and we attack and score another(to calm down nerves) and win.

  6. I just read that some Mexican boxer is threatening Messi with some totally unfounded allegations. Boxing really can be injurious to brains.

    And I am always in favor of playing Dybala.

    ========Lautaro/Alvarez===========
    Dybala=========Messi=======Di Maria[sub:Gomez or Almada]
    =====Enzo==========De Paul======[sub:Guido or Paredes]
    Acuna===Otamendi==Lisandro===C.Romero[sub:Molina or Foyth]
    ============= Emi =============

    At least give it a try. And Messi, Di Maria and Dybala should keep switching positions.
    If not Dybala, then play either Papu or Almada in that position.

  7. My prediction is a win for Argentina with a score-line of 2-0!! Also we will see significant improvement in attacking & creating areas and return of our high press game!! Scaloni will again approach the match with safety in the back as his highest priority that is not conceding early and not conceding at all !

  8. Today’s match is not only important in terms of points. What I’m more interested in is the team’s performance to imagine how they will improve in the next games if the team can go deeper step by step. Poland will be the test of quality. Hopefully the whole team will play with a relaxed mentality, make sure not to concede a goal and make good use of the opportunities created and get 3 points. Vamos Argentina.

  10. 6 hours to go.
    I know it’s being greedy at this point when even KO ticket is uncertain, but still I hope we play Champagne Football Today and seal the Starting XI. I don’t care who gets into that, I love all of them, like all of us do.

    Vamos Argentina.

  13. I might sound petty but this game is just more than qualifying for me. That Lewandowski has been running his mouth since talking about “deserving world best ahead of Leo” and calling Leo an hypocrite on Live TV. I have been hoping a chance will come to shut him up for good. I hope our team would be able to do it.

  14. Argentina vs Poland head to head stat.

    Total match – 11
    Argentina won – 6
    Draw – 2
    Poland won – 3

    Biggest win for Argentina; 3-1 and 2-0
    Poland biggest win; 3-2 and 2-1.

    Last 4 meetings, Poland won 2, draw 1, and Argentina won just 1..!

    Messi never played against Poland.

  15. I was planning on getting some rest last night but the crazy heavy RAIN😳 kept me up all night and it’s still raining.
    Anyway, coffee in hand. It’s my 3rd and probably another soon LET’S GO ARGENTINA 🇦🇷 💙 💪 I unlike some here HAVE A GREAT FEELING ABOUT IT and GOD willing will bag the 3 points and get going 👍

    • I usually Google “Librefutbol” and go with the 1st hit. I’d try every link to see which one gives me the best feed with the time closest to live. If there are multiple options in the individual feeds, I’d choose the last one, which seems to always work. I.e., if there are opcions 1 to 7 – always choose option 7

  18. Lazadowski will be dangerous trying to steal the ball from our defence like he got his goal against the Saudis. The defence can not do any dodgy passing. Pass straight to the feet.

  19. My fantasy team would be.
    ……………….. Szczęsny……………………………
    Cash…… Ota………… Lisandro…….. Acuna
    Di maria…. Zilenski…… Mac allister………. Enzo
    ………… Messi……….. Lewandowski…….

  20. We all know and Scaloni and his team must know better than us. Optimized Enzo and Alvarez; play like the second half against Mexico. No overthinking and experiencing another weird formation. Bring the fittest players. The Key is balance with an effective attack. Every single player put in their best effort and united. Vamos Albiceleste

  21. If you can’t win then you don’t deserve the second round. It’s simple. Enter the pitch with one aim and scenario. Stand on your own feet. Make a GOAL and SCORE – WIN the match!

  22. I want other players to step up not only Leo. They might try to man marking Leo with many players. Also park bus since they need one point that is why our players most be accurate with their long range shots. That is what disrupted Mexico.

  23. I think scaloni was forced to play Montiel, Pezzella. River plater has something to do with this. Otherwise Armani & these 2 guys wouldn’t even play for 2nd tier team. Montiel cant even makes one fwd pass or proper cross. How come Sevilla bought him is beyond any logic.

  24. Here is the current new updated statistics. All the games are after Copa America 2021 (the last 14 games including the Saudi and Mexico games). How do you see the stats?

    For example Lionel Messi played a total of 948 minutes in his last 14 matches) and Argentina scored 26 goals while he was on the pitch. He was off the pitch (being a sub) for 132 minutes in those matches (948 minutes + 132 minutes = 1080 minutes or 12 matches) He was absent in 2 matches in the last 14 matches.

    When the team played without Messi in 132 minutes, the team managed to score 2 goals. Compared to 948 minutes with Messi on and the team scored 26. So Messi’s team goal/minute rating is 1 goal every 36.46 minute.

    With him off the pitch, we scored 2 goals in 132 minutes or 1 goal every 66.0 minute. So Messi’s impact is 36.46 – 66 (+29.54)

    The higher the + number, the better impact the player is when it comes to scoring goals.
    Here is the top 14. My new statistics update:

    New ranking:
    1. Leandro Paredes
    (New 572 minutes/15 goals
    A goal every 38.13
    without him 148 mins and 1 goal
    a goal every 148 min (+109.87)

    2. Lionel Messi
    (New: 948 minutes/26 goals 36.46
    without him 132 and 2 goals 66.0 (+29.54)

    3. Julian Alvarez
    (New 425 minutes 15 goals 28.33
    without 475 and 10 goals 47.5 (+19.17)

    4. Marcos Acuna
    (New 597 minutes/13 goals 45.92
    without 223 and 4 goals 55.75 (+9.83)

    5. Nico Gonzales
    291 minutes/8 goals 36.38
    without him 340 and 8 goals 42.5 (+6.12)

    6. Papu Gomez
    (New: 408 minutes/10 goals 40.80
    without him 132 and 3 goals 44.00 (+3.2)

    7. Nahuel Molina
    (New: 877 minutes /23 goals 38.13
    without 203 and 6 goals 33.83 (-4.3)

    8. Angel Di Maria
    (New: 749 minutes/16 goals 46.81
    without him 241 and 6 goals 40.17 (-6.64)

    9. Rodrigo De Paul
    (New 1011 minutes 26 goals 38.88
    without him 159 and 5 goals 31.8 (-7.08)

    10. MacAllister
    (New 398 minutes/11 goals 36.18
    without 232/11 goals 21.09 (-15.09)

    11. Lo Celso
    Lo Celso 603 minutes/11 goals 54.82
    without him 119 and 3 goals 39.67 (-15.15)

    12. Lautaro Martinez
    (New 673 minutes/11 goals 61.18
    without him 229 and 6 goals 38.17 (-23.01)

    13. Guido Rodriguez
    (New: 428 minutes/6 goals 71.33
    Without him 382 and 14 goals 27.29 (-44.04)

    14. Gonzalo Montiel
    (New 371 minutes and 5 goals 74.2
    without him 169 and 9 goals 18.77 (-55.43)

    Notes:
    1. Only these 14 players can be done. Others (midfielders/strikers/fullbacks only) have received too few minutes to be considered as of now such as Palacios, Enzo, J Correa, A Correa, Dybala. I do not put defenders or goalies here as center backs or goalies usually have nothing to do with us scoring goals.
    2. I can not put Nicolas Tagliafico as his stats is like this
:
    Tagliafico 611 minutes/16 goals 38.19 without him 29 minutes/0 goal
    3. Molina ranking jumped up because when he did not play, Argentina did not score against Mexico. When he played, Argentina scored 2 goals against Mexico.
    4. Paredes is number one? I am also surprised, but in the last 14 matches, Argentina only managed to score 1 goal in 148 minutes without him. That’s a bit surprising but it is real number.

    That’s maybe why Scaloni said “This team played the best futbol when Paredes is on the pitch”.

    5. Lautaro ranking was really down because of the Mexico game. Similar to Montiel, the team scored none when he played. But when he was substituted, the team scored 2 goals in just 37 minutes.
    6. The difference between Molina and Montiel is massive. Molina has a much higher impact when it comes to us scoring the goal. Molina played 877 minutes and we scored 23 goals with him playing. Montiel played 371 minutes and we only scored 5 goals with him playing.
    7. Among the active players (not including Lo Celso, Nico Gonzales who are not with us). Montiel, Guido, Lautaro, and MacAllister have the worst plus minus meaning that the team can hardly score when these 4 play together (Now you know why we looked fugly against Mexico).

    MAYBE the team conceded few when these 4 played together, but they score very few too as the numbers show.

    This is called “players true value plus/minus effect on/off the pitch”.

    NOTE: That’s why I am very relieved when Edul confirms that Guido, Montiel will not start because those 2 affect our scoring ability in the worst possible way. If we take out MacAllister too, then our scoring ability will improve even more. But again, maybe with these 3 we will be very solid defensively. But this statistics is exclusively for our offensive rating only.

    • I am very sure Enzo Fernandez will have really super high numbers. He should easily make it to top 3-4, but he does not play enough minutes for me to do this statistics. Let’s wait at least he makes a full 90 minute match and I will do his number.

      • I’m sorry, these numbers don’t seem to convey much. These numbers are only regarding the goals scored and do not give any idea about the goals conceded. If you can come up with numbers regarding win/loss rather than goals scored, it would be more meaningful, I guess.

        • @renjith

          Yes I will expand it to “defensive rating” soon (the impact of players when it comes to conceding goals), but maybe one day. What you see here is more like “offensive rating” that’s why I did not include any center backs or goalie.

    • In the 90 minutes without Paredes against Mexico we scored 2 goals.
      So how is it that 1 goal per 148 minutes without him?

      Besides, these kind of stats can change drastically over a few matches and also depends on lots of other factors like formation used, friendly or not, etc.

      • el diego fan because he did not enter the pitch against Mexico. If any player does not play at all that means I will not count their numbers. That’s why all their minutes are different.

  25. Leo messi is a king player. Me , Moonman is super powered king fan . Just beleve in messi and me . We will handle the situation . I am planning to play parades depaul guido and enzo as mid with messi and torro as strikers .

    • As per his logic and weird stat, LoCelso is one of the worst player…!
      and MacAllister has more impact than LoCelso and Lautaro…😃
      I am asking goal against since starting…he won’t do that..then his below average player will come on top..and his favorite will go at bottom..!

      • McAllister is a very effective player. And im a ruler. If i say McAllister is good, he is . Because i know what im talking . I have starry knowledge

  27. Going through these scenarios itself is scary. What a mess we had created for ourselves. Somehow just win and qualify. Whoever stars…

  28. If we play our regular game without fear of injury or pressure, we will win against Poland In Sha Allah.
    I dont want to see Argentina play the way they played Mexico in the first half. Never again. It made me few years older in 45 mins.

  29. Scaloni is so mediocre. He still have no idea about best starting 11. How many more year does he need to figure that out ? He looks completely lost in the field out there. Messi needs to carry this team yet again and nobody beside Enzo is helping him. Scaloni will start Parades instead of Enzo just to give more burden to Messi.

    • Sorry what? He has a pretty clear general list of starting players and doesn’t have a singular starting 11 because it can be better to be flexible and use players based on what they can do to a certain game. He has 17 starters, that’s why it’s not the same every single game

  30. Dear Roy, Don’t make us nervous by putting Argentina loss vs Poland scenerio. We don’t want to think that until the match finished. Sorry if I offended u.

  31. Whoever play today just won the game. Pezzela-otamendi-parades is horrible combination…
    I am expecting we would have 60-65% ball. Poland will sit back and counter. We need fast player for that

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