Emiliano Martínez finishes Copa America group stages with three clean sheets

1. Is it only me who finds the knockout stage format a bit weird? If I understand well, we can face Canada again, this time in semis?
   Should winner from group A play second place from group C instead of B?
   Not that I want to face Uruguay before final :), but it is still quite odd.

2. so it’s Ecuador; unlucky Mexico, should won and get a penalty kick

   • Yeah, we all wanted Mexico to win but I thought Ecuador would trounce Mexico being as bad as they have been. Having played them in a warm up already should give Scaloni a clear idea on how to play them.

3. Ayoooo. Who’s getting ready for these group b final matches?
   I just got out of an argument with this Italian guy who said that Brazil and Uruguay are the best in Americas right now.
   I told him that Italy should have called up Balotelli and Condoleeza Rice.

   • Well that sums up about his knowledge about football. No wonder Italy are out 😂

   • Ain’t saying that you’re but you do realize that your comment has a racists tone to it? What does Condoleezza have to do with football? Come on man.

     And so what? If he thinks so. Arguments won’t change the fact that Argentina is the World and Continental champions.

     • Not being racist. I guess I can understand why you can see it as racist.
       But you didn’t understand the joke. Condoleeza is an Italian name. Nevermind, thought it was funny at the time. And I said balotelli ! 😂😅

       • Ok noted. I get the joke now. 😄😂I only realized now that it’s an Italian name.

   • Condoleeza Rice, lol!

   • Haha, seriously. The fact that they didn’t go after Leo’s Italian lineage saying, “Oh you are a Cuccitini, please switch your nationality for once” is a wonder. Mancini was going after pretty much everyone from Argentina

4. Garnacho’s dribbling, decision making, shooting and finishing skills are still developing. However it is important to remember that he is still a teenager and had an impressive season for someone initially expected to be a third backup for Sancho, Antony and Rashford. To everyone’s surprise, he performed better than all three which is why our expectations of him are high. Hopefully, he will improve even faster next season but right now he is not yet at Nico’s level and it will take several more consecutive years of spectacular seasons before he can be compared to Dimaria. Currently, Yamal is the best young talent above everyone else. Ganarcho can reach his level but will need to completely cut selfishness and put in significant hard work and self-discipline to reach Yamal’s level who is the best attacking player of Spanish team at 16 years of age.

   • I don’t think Garnacho in terms of technicality comes even close to Lamine. Rather we should have looked at a talent like Eche and someone like Soule who could create that much needed outlet. And still can’t get my head around the fact that Dybala has been dropped. His presence could have made that much needed difference against low blocks. Garnacho would come in handy against oppositions who typically play a high line, and unfortunately I don’t think that’s going to be on the offer at all.

5. I think our defense has been good even though we have some old guys that will be replaced. Barco is a bright side as our left back. Offense I like Garnacho Lautaro, Nico, Álvarez, Carboni combo. These guys all add value.
   My concern is midfield. I think MacAllister and Enzo and DePaul are good for the next WC. But we need someone creative in there. Right now Messi is that creativity and last night it was DiMaria. Medina Equi, Varela are all more defensive minded. We need to find an Aimar or Riquelme type. Someone that can make some magic. I do think Soule needs to be called up. Palacios was great defensively but zero creativity yesterday. He used to be creative at River, now not so much. Midfield is where championships are won and lost.

   • “Midfield is where championships are won and lost.”

     Couldn’t agree more. The main reason P$G failed to win the CL is the lack of world class midfielders. Except Verrati, all P$G’s midfielders were mediocre since they started their new project 14 years ago. On the other hand, Real Madrid has been recruiting some of the best midfielders in the world who made the team win a trophy after trophy.

     Regardless of the outcome of this Copa, Scaloni and Co. need to build strong midfield for the WCQs and the WC.

   • That’s why I’m putting my all eggs player like Echeverri. I have really high hopes with him. Not bcoz people call him Messi all this BS? Coz he will never be Messi but his vision and passing ability amaze me and he is only young. I’m sure Scaloni will find someone else too also Lo Celso disappointed me coz I swear he ain’t nowhere near his best. His scoring ability is not that good but his play making was wonderful before his injury. Also Almada is good too. We will find something.

     • I see your point on Echeverri but he is very small. Not like Messi small just not physical and he can be moved off the ball against better talent. This was the exact reason Barco didn’t stay in the call up. Not their physically. I hope I am wrong, but I promise you that’s what Scaloni is seeing in this moment. Carboni on the other hand is too big. Guys that big can fly but they have far more difficulty breaking lines because of their length. I think he will be a winger. I wonder if Julian is the guy that can most imitate what a creative midfielder gives us.

       • Echeverri might be small but he is strong. Given his age he will definitely improve. Forgot about Paz too also yeah Carboni is an attacking midfielder. We will definitely play different system in post Messi era or without Messi from starting.

   • I actually think Carboni’s natural position is an attacking midfielder or creative playmaker, a modern 10. Scaloni played him as inverted winger and he did surprisingly well but he not a natural wide player. So he can be a source of creativity in the future. As other have said, Echeverri too and we will see if Nico Paz is loaned somewhere because he has a lot of potential but needs to start playing first team football somewhere.

6. I’m sorry, I can’t help myself, Spain’s coach LOOKS EXACTLY like the guy from the weather channel LOL

7. It took a long time for Lautaro to get his act together and Messi giving him that PK was HUGE. NICO running his heart out on both sides of the pitch was great to watch while the kid tried but he still has a way to go and was it me or was he tired???
   Parades has improved his game since moving to Italy and I knew he was going to blast that PK, unfortunately it missed. Everybody got to play last night and that is always good to keep spirits up.
   I hear Messi is improving and hopefully he’ll be fully fit when needed, when it counts the most.
   ARG fans, Ridiculous!

8. Following yesterday’s match both Molina and Alvarez have to come off the bench in the quaterfinal. The form Lautaro is in it will be criminal to play him 25mins only and Molina so far has been pretty average and against Canada he struggled big time. I was very impressed by Montiel yesterday, he had a fantastic game both offensively and defensively. His inconsistency has been an issue but Molina’s poor form might get him Scaloni’s knod.

   Also, Canada making it out of group at the expense of Chile and Peru is very alarming for CONMEBOL football, both aging teams failed to score a single goal in three matches.

   • Molina has to start coz of his pace and creativity against team like Ecuador or Mexico also Acuna is unavailable so Tagla will be more restricted I guess. He came from injury so understandable he is rusty a little bit. I agree with you about Toro. He better start bcoz Pep killed Alvarez goal scoring instinct. The guy was beast now just look like support striker

   • There is a reason why Scaloni starts with Alvarez and not with Lautaro. Alvarez presses the whole defence of the opponent including their goalkeeper which upsets the attacking rhythm of the opponent. Lautaro does not do that. So it is always good to start with Alvarez, spoil the rhythm of the opponent and then bring in Lautaro. Montiel was really good and Palacios as a defensive mideo was better than Paredes in the match against Peru, specially in the second half. We are all blasting Garnacho. But he was not given any game time by Scaloni in the games running up to the Copa. Let us give him some time. He is more talented than Nico. But missing penalties, coach getting yellow carded, Messi’s injury – we need to have more control on our situation than this. We also need to stop making basic technical errors like mispasses, passing into no man’s land, poor first touch.

     • You have point about Alvarez running and pressing however I’m still not convincing about Garnacho yet coz for Argentina he needs to learn a lot more the way of us playing. Not bashing him coz he is still young and I’m sure he is definitely an asset for us .

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