The last time Argentina lost a World Cup qualifier and a qualifier at home

By
Roy Nemer
-
24

Argentina lost 2-0 vs. Uruguay on Thursday and it was their first World Cup qualifying loss since 2017 and their first at home in over seven years.

Lionel Scaloni’s team lost for the first time since their 2-1 match against Saudi Arabia at the World Cup. Having gone undefeated throughout all of the 2022 World Cup qualifiers, Scaloni’s team have now lost for the first time in these qualifiers.

The last time Argentina had lost a World Cup qualifier was away against Bolivia in 2017 when Edgardo Bauza was still coach of the team. Lionel Messi had missed that match due a suspension he received against Chile for speaking out against the referees.

Argentina’s last World Cup qualifying loss at home came in October 2016 in a 1-0 defeat against Paraguay. It was a match where Lionel Messi did not play due to injury and it was Sergio Agüero who wore the number 10 shirt as he missed a penalty in that match.

Scaloni’s 2-0 loss against Uruguay was his first loss in a World Cup qualifying match.

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24 Comments

  1. U17 defeating Poland was a saving grace on a day when Uruguay outright humiliated us. I haven’t seen for long such a clueless and poor display by our team. It was shocking, devastating and left me damn tired. The loss to France in 2018 was devastating. But we fought till the end. We lost but only after making the match one of the best ever in world cup round of 16. The loss to Saudi was shocking but we did not look clueless and Lautaro was on the receiving end of a bad VAR decision. But against Uruguay we looked like minions. It again showed that Scaloni is a single strategy coach who cannot put up his own strategy to counter unique opposition strategies. Saudi took a unique high up offside trap strategy and now Uruguay took a blitzkrieg hit and run strategy. In both cases he could not respond mid way. However, Scaloni’s success speaks for him but I still feel all the kudos goes to the presence of Messi.

  2. Just want to say

    1, the Enzo ,Mcallister, De Paul trio is finished in terms of fitness ,creativity ,speed

    Answer : Soule,Depaul,Lo celso trio with depaul as no.5 . Enzo didn’t improve a lot in EPL rather a bit disappointed with only one goal and a few assists ,I think he is a bit overestimated. The main problem is his defense is weak at the same time he is not a no.10 or box to box .Rather between a playmaker and No.6 .Mcallister isn’t top class at all ,he can be no.6 /5 But we have teenagers like F Redondo Equi Fernandez …

    2,Otamendi,Tagliafico are finished.Together with Pezella, Montiel even didn’t played too much in EPL

    Answer : Romero,N Perez ,Martinez Quarta ,Medina ,Senesi are first choice for central back . Licha is too short and injuries prone. Maffeo ,Ortega are good new faces . But I would recommend one more : Esquivel
    Acuna and molina are still useful.

    3,We needs wingers and skillful midfields

    Answer: Benjamin Garre is doing quite well in Russia. I still believe he has the potential. Zeballos is injury prone but he has ability . Soule need not to say . Pablo Solari is a dark horse . Nico Gonzalez and Ocampos as a back up .

    Nico Paz and Valentin Carboni May be too young but still want to see if they are useful or not

    4,Strong central forward, True No.9

    Answer: The weakest link ,not too many choice . Veliz and Gaich .or use Nico Gonzalez as No.9

    Copa America our line up should be
    1, Molina ,Romero,Perez,Acuna
    2,Midfield Trio : Soule ,De Paul(5),Lo celso
    3, Forward Messi ,Nico Gonzalez(9),Di maria

    • When Messi, di Maria retire . Our future line up should be
      4231
      Gk : Dibu Martinez
      Simon#Romero#Perez#Nico Gonzalez
      ####F Redondo##Nico Paz
      Garre#####Soule#######Zeballos
      ########Veliz

    • Here we go with the “lucha is too short” bs. He played well at man united to the point where commentators apologized for saying the things you’re saying. We’re lucky to have Lisandro.

    • “Enzo ,Mcallister, De Paul trio is finished in terms of fitness ,creativity ,speed

      Answer : Soule,Depaul,Lo celso trio with depaul as no.5”

      LOL. Insanity. Enzo is not scoring and assisting cause it’s not his role. Chelsea fans say he is doing well. MacAllister is playing as a DM. Both have been fantastic in every match except the last. Neither of those 3 are DMs. They are all #8s with different qualities. Last match against Peru people were asking if we were at the Xavi-Iniesta-Busquets Barcelona level and now the mid is trash??

      You want to replace with Lo Celso who doesn’t even have a spot anywhere? And Soule? Both are far inferior at this point AND worse defensively. Isn’t Soule playing almost as a winger?

      People here are nuts.

      Enzo-MacAllister-RDP are still our best 3 despite the poor match by the first 2. If we need more steel in mid the answer is to add a 4th mid like we did against Croatia. Slot in Exequiel or someone else.

      • Soule is versatile can be winger or no.10 or no.8 .when We have messi ,Soule can take up the job of De Paul.

        When talking about defense ,De Paul >Mcallister >ENZO .Enzo is very slow in speed .Lo celso is a must despite seldom played in EPL . Nico Paz can back up lo celso but at this stage Lo celso is better in terms of experience, ability .

        Soule(Engine1) ,de Paul, Lo celso(Engine 2) ,support messi ,di Maria on both side .Creativity is upgraded. The whole team should defense together

        • De Paul is better defensively but NOT as a DM in the middle. What makes him better defensively is his coverage and stamina. He is a box to box that can defend all over his flank. Both Enzo and Mac are better shielding the central defenders and much better at not losing the ball in dangerous places (yesterday they were terrible) which is why Scaloni puts one of them there and never De Paul.

          All three are OKAY defensively without being spectacular and combined with help from the fullbacks (who were crap) and work by Julian and Nico/Di Maria it makes us VERY GOOD defensively.

          The team defends as a team.

          Lo Celso is a downgrade defensively to both Enzo and MacAllister. He hasn’t even been playing though I admit he looked ok in his few minutes yesterday although Uruguay had dropped intensity by that time.

          I don’t know about Soule but very much he seems like an advanced attacking mid. Plus he plays on the same side as De Paul right? Lo Celso-De Paul- Soule? This is a crazy mid.

          Yeah, just replace what has been maybe the top mid in the world for the past year with this bizarre lineup with players out of position.

          • Nonsense takes, but imo we should switch Enzo and Macallister back. Enzo is a better controller and ball distributor from deep and Mac is more intelligent off the ball and more dangerous attacking midfielder. Play like in the WC, imo vs Brazil we will play with 4 midfielders, usual 3 plus Paredes or Palacios and Julian Messi duo upfront. Against Uruguay not the midfielders were the problem defensively, Uruguay usually kicked the ball over the field to find Darwin Nunez vs Otamendi.

  3. I think mid field is out of form. Enzo MacA and depual are not good for there club. Locelso is bench at spurs. Guido and parades playe for club and on the bench for NT.. some changes are required.
    My team against Brazil
    Martinez
    Maffeo Romero Otamendi/LMQ ACUNA
    DEPAUL ENZO LO CELSO
    MESSI LAUTARO DI MARIA.

  5. Our weakest position is centre back, those are the centre backs available for Scaloni at the moment,
    >Lich martinez fantastic defender and leader weaknesses lacking height Scaloni likes
    >Lmq decent defender best ball player defender a long with lich weaknesses lack of concentration
    >Nehuén Pérez good defender very clam out of form now.
    >Marcos senesi good defender he has all the attributes Scaloni likes tall strong decent pace left footer and he plays best league in the world
    >Leo balerdi fastest defender of all Argentine defenders
    Good with his feet as well aerial duels weaknesses too many Error prone.
    >Facundo medina probably best defender available for Scaloni right now don’t know why he doesn’t even got call up for those qualifier matchs .
    >Juan foyth centre back is his best position let’s hope he sort his fitness first.

  6. Watched the game and watched it calmly. Sat and watched with patience how we got dismantled tactically, physically and personally. No problem.

    There is a feeling, Saudi Arabia was a wake up call, but it was a fluke. Its true.
    This is another wake up call, but not a fluke. We were thoroughly outwitted and outplayed.

    This was needed. Dismantling was simple – physical, long balls behind the slow defenders and press hard to give no space.

    Scaloni and company now have the challenge to figure this out. Now everyone knows they can beat us, without being lucky, without being a fluke.

    In all likelihood we will not win next copa and world cup. Its very hard to win something so competitive back to back. Question is are we preparing for the future?

    Specifically about yesterday’s game. I would have sat back and slow the game. We know Bielsa, we saw the first 15-30 mins. We should have played ugly like early days of Scaloni. After 15-20 mins writing was on the wall. I would have sat back and take a 0-0.

    I have said long back, watch out for this Uruguay team, especially under Bielsa

    • Slow defenders? Molina is speed merchant, Romero is very fast and Tagliafico is fast too, only Otamendi is slow yet. Our slow defenders are Otamendi, Pezzella (rather average) and Senesi (he accelerates like a tank).

      • Yes.
        You can say that MacAllister playing as Defensive mid is slow as well. But we’ve been very good against counterattacking teams like Ecuador. Otamendi is a real problem but overall it was a lack of intensity, sloppiness, and trying to force passes.

        The Bombonera didn’t help either. It’s a smaller pitch making it harder to play our passing game.

    • I agree we should have slowed down the game but the slowing should have done by our midfield and Messi but all 4 had a horrible match yesterday. However Scaloni & Co were under the impression that there is no way our midfield would have been outplayed like yesterday even against master tactician Biesla. But the next Copa is ours to loose and there is no team in S.America that is better than us. Yesterday’s loss can’t be compared to Saudi. In the world cup we had over 2 weeks to prepare for the match and still lost and against Uruguay we were playing after a 2 months gap, all of our starting player played in high intensity match for their respective clubs and travelled to Argentina and our best player Messi had only played 3 matches in the preceding 2 months. If we play with the same team against Uruguay again next week there is no way in hell they can control the game like they did yesterday. Yes, they are playing better than Brazil but we are still the favorites to win the competition. However, this loss is a blessing in disguise and it will force Scaloni and his management to rethink their squad selection and strategy.

      • Wasn’t Uruguay also playing after 2 months? Let’s admit we were simply steamrolled over by the next emerging power of World football. Let Scaloni struggle with his oldies like Otamendi, Acuna , Messi, Di Maria. We won’t be even respected as a Conmebol power by next year. But I believe till Molina’s horrible mistake things looked evenly poised. After 0-1 hell let lose.

  7. I had a bad feeling about this game as soon as I saw it on the schedule but let’s be honest, the team was bound to lose at some point and that is totally expected.
    Good news is that the players played bad and this what happens when you do so, you lose.
    Scaloni is not afraid to replace a player if he feels he’s not up to par unlike some before him.
    Still #1 with 12 points and the team will have to adjust now.

  8. As much as this loss hurts, we should embrace it as a blessing in disguise. This match has exposed our underlying weakness, the age factor. It will now force our thinking coach to rethink his strategy, team selection, starting xi and formations.

    This defeat and last few MLS matches will also force Messi to rethink his approach. It doesn’t seem like he has the legs to try and dribble past defenders near the box. Evert time he touches the ball he is surrounded by defenders and disposed instantaneously. He has to change is game ans adapt to his changing body.

    Our midfield trio, Enzo MacAllister and Depaul have brought their poor club form to the national team. They couldn’t cope against the Uruguayan pressing at all. MacAllister has been turned into Biglia by Klopp, Enzo has forgotten how to score or assist and once our Modric, Depaul has become a liability. He can’t help the attack and his defending is even worse, where is the Copa final and World cup Depaul? These three along with Messi and Otamendi were the our worst players on the pitch.

    We desperately need a young and fast CB to take over Otamendi. He was badly exposed yesterday. He can get by against weak opponents but a cohesive unit like Uruguay will expose his lack of pace. Time to integrate new players not only into the squad but the starting xi and new strategy. I am looking forward to see how Scaloni approaches the Brazil match, V.Junior is injured and they are going through even worst phase and if he fails to defeat Brazil then Scalono has a lot of rethinking and planning to do!

    • De Paul was never anything like Modric. He was a box-to-box runner who could break lines with drives and cover the full pitch. And for a mid a below par passer.

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