The Argentina U20 team were eliminated against Nigeria in the Round of 16 at the U20 World Cup.
Javier Mascherano’s Argentina U20 team lost 2-0 vs. Nigeria on Wednesday and have been eliminated from the tournament. Mascherano went with a different starting eleven than previous matches and while the team saw most of the ball in the first half, they were unlucky not to score.
Argentina limited Nigeria’s goal scoring chances in the first half and moved the ball around but they themselves were unable to create much. The second half saw Nigeria make a few substitutions and hit the cross bar minutes before their first goal.
It was Ibrahim Muhammad who got the first goal for Nigeria as he got the better of his marker and rolled the ball beyond Gomes Gerth who was coming out to block the effort on goal.
Mascherano made a change with Juan Gauto brought on for Brian Aguirre before the first goal of the match. He would continue with the changes as Gino Infantino came on for Valentín Carboni and Ignacio Maestro Puch for Tomás Avilés.
Argentina would continue to try and create chances with a few efforts blocked from close range and a Luka Romero effort which hit the post.
Some players I think will have decent future: Carboni, Redondo, Veliz, Barco
Carboni reminds me of Rivaldo lol
That’s funny I was thinking the same thing about carboni
Shame that Argentina controlled the game, 66% possession .. could have easily scored 3/4 goals. Both of Nigeria’s goals came from goal kicks! Bouncing around … unorganized back line who got out played physically.
Top 5 players with a bright future in front of them.
Romero
Carboni
Aguirre
Gauto
Barco
I’ve said many times that Mascherano is Sampaoli 2.0 with extra stubbornness. Dear god I don’t want to see him to be near our beloved team again. He is just disgustingly and infuriatingly clueless.
I agree too. He could not build a team out of a bunch of players who range from being decent to very good. Why did he spoil the winning combination for the crucial match? The future of some of the Argentine players look bright at club level. But next senior level world Cup looks quite distant again. Sometimes players bring in an extra bit which their coach cannot. In this case the youngsters clearly lacked that extra bit. Anyway, we were not even supposed to be in this tournament, thanks to Sampaoli 2.0. So we should be happy with whatever experience the youngsters could gather from this big tournament at their level.
Good Nigeria team this time around and even better coach. He made decisive changes and his strategy paid off in the 2nd half. Nigeria is in dire need of a coach for their senior team… This guy may raise some eyebrows.
Thankfully I’m not too invested in this unde 20 team of ours as I don’t see too many future stars from them unfortunately. Yes they are still young so there is still hope. Not sure if masche will keep his job tho
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