Nicolás Tagliafico trains with the Argentina national team

1. Well described Wellington. I don’t think there is a single point you brought up that is off the mark. The ESPN pundits certainly do not like Argentina and Frank Leboeuf certainly got on my nerves when he said “I like Messi” but quickly switched to Ronaldo. For many of us who have been watching the game over the years understand clearly the game plays on the field. We have seen Argentina hitting rock bottom in 2002. We have seen how Diego lead Argentina to the final in 1990. We can clearly see how strong mentally this team is and how they approach the game with strength, caution and patience. These guys are certainly different than any previous group; I believe one of the best teams we had was in 2006; however, we had a mediocre manager that lead to our elimination by Germany. The current coaching staff has done a tremendous job and prepare the team in a way that we have not witnessed before. The team is mentally strong and learn how to suffer without the ball; the previous teams lacked the patience to suffer and were emotionally unstable and often rushed to score lead to losses and elimination. I have been on Mundo Albiceleste for roughly 12 years and I have read so many comments. I want to be respectful to everyone here, but we must understand Scaloni and his coaching staff have done a priceless job and has brought so much joy to us. Most of us never expected the coaching staff to bring 2 CA, 1 WC and 1 Finalissima and must trust them no matter what because they know much more than us. We must trust their decision and we must remain calm and believe in the team because there is no perfect team. Enjoy the game while this team continue to bring joy to our hearts. Montiel scored the penalty that brought us the WC and Lo Celso sent LM through to score the winner against Colombia so everyone relax and trust the coaching staff.

2. This is excellent news. All said and done, Tagliafico is a known work-horse with defensive qualities better than offensive. Medina was fair enough against Algeria but didn’t do much upfront.
   Austria would now take a very different strategy. They are not going to give any space to Messi. That would create pockets of spaces in other areas. Alvarez and others playing on the left should leverage that. But one thing for sure is that Austria would try to win. They might start with a defense and counter attack approach. If we can stop their transitions, they would go on offense. Then Messi would start having more free spaces upfront.

3. Good news.against fast right wingers he can be an asset

4. How we should lineup vs Austria
   Emi
   Molina-Romero-Licha-Medina
   Depaul-MaC-Enzo
   Barco
   Messi-Alvarez

   • Second half i would bring tagliafico to get some minutes messi can also get subeed off if we lead by 2-0

5. Thanks Wellington for very insightful thoughts and all the positive vibes you endeavor to spread. I sincerely second your thoughts. Please keep it up.

6. This was the first game of the tournament, the entire team was walking most of the time (on purpose I believe), playing while resting. In my opinion, Algeria was never a threat to Argentina at any point during the game. Argentina was in first gear for a majority of the game. Algeria who had one of the best World Cup preparation was left scrapping and reeling. Argentina’s possession game is objective, there is no need for 1,000 passes with 85% possession only for the game to end up tied or in a defeat. You’re never going to play the perfect game especially in an opening game at the WC, and then again, there is no such thing as a perfect game at the WC, teams always struggle at some point ( was not the case with this game), even the eventual winners of said tournament. Furthermore, the humidity in Kansas City was in the mid 80’s to high 80’s, like it takes experience to play in such conditions, why should the players be pressing for 90 minutes in a game where they were never threatened? The game took care of itself, that’ how it should be, Almada played himself out of the starting XI (I believe he shouldn’t have been there going by his recent performances at Atletico Madrid, and don’t even suggest that his past CONMEBOL performances warranted his selection given how the other teams from the continent are performing at this year’s World Cup). Almada struggled at Atletico Madrid, it had nothing to do with Diego Simeone, in a league, which is based more on technicality than physicality, Almada was constantly being physically bullied by La Liga midfielders and defenders. So yes, Almada’s selection was a strange one, so too was Lo Celso, who moves and plays as if he is stuck in slow motion mode while constantly pulling down his shorts. With all that being said, Almada can be a useful substitution off the bench, Almada and Messi shouldn’t be starting together at this year’s world cup given their physique. On everything else, I won’t criticize Scaloni, he is the man for the moment, an underrated coach who doesn’t get the recognition and credit he deserves from the Eurocentric media discourse class.

   Scaloni’s idiosyncratic approach relies on unconventional formations that constantly keep the opposing defenses guessing. This has always been Scaloni approach from what I have seen, he is not afraid to adjust the team either, and suffer a bit on the pitch as long as it leads to the overall outcome he desires. Sometimes you have to give concessions on the pitch as long as it benefits the overall team game plan, you don’t need to dominate the ball for the entire game..

   I read where someone said, it was a Messi show, no it wasn’t. Read between the lines, this was deliberate, on a day where Mpabbe overtook Messi on the World Cup all time goal scorer leader board, his Argentina teammates simply rallied to make sure Messi gets to Klose’s record before anyone else does. Before the game, I told my wife that Messi was going to score a hat trick which he did. I mean, Nico Gonzalez could have easily gone for goal but he unselfishly passed to Messi who scored his 3rd goal. Julian and others will get their chance to score, this was Messi’s moment, now it’s behind the team, onward to the next assignment. You can’t play all your cards in the first game, Julian Alvarez for me is what Muller was for Germany, this guy is a big game player at the WC, he will definitely step up when his time comes.

   The negative reaction by some (not all) to every pass and defending is a bit over the top especially for a game that ended 3-0. It’s just the first game, the best team performance should always be in the quarterfinal, semifinal and final ( Argentina vs Holland vs Croatia vs France). This is what the team is building towards, not playing all their cards in the group stage. I’m just chilling, am calm, I have tuned out the talking heads, I’ve only watched some clips because I wanted to see what they were saying after Messi scored his hat trick, and it wasn’t surprising.

   Understand this, the Eurocentric class wrote off Messi and Argentina before the world cup even started, then to their surprise, one of the best team and individual performances at this year’s WC in my opinion. I was satisfied with the result and the team’s overall performance. Are there some things that can be worked on, yes, but you can say this about every big team in this year’s WC. At the 2006 WC, Argentina VS Serbia Montenegro had one of the best team performances in the history of World Cups, almost pitch perfect, what happened then? That type of performance should have been against Germany in the quarterfinals, not in the group stage. The goal is to get better game by game and improve as an overall team, continue to build chemistry and unity throughout the tournament. This is what counts, nothing else. Argentina won 3-0 and people are still poking away at the team. Like come on guys, stop reacting to the talking heads inside Fox and Espn WC studios.

   Germany defeated Curaçao, and someone said here, “Germany is back.” This is the same Curaçao Argentina defeated 7-0 with a Messi hat trick, and the same people who are saying ‘’Germany is back’’ are the same ones who were saying back then that Argentina needed to play against better teams, not the Curaçao of this world. I mean, Germany conceded against Curaçao and were shaky on many other occasions. Curaçao who are ranked only 83rd in the FIFA rankings managed to score against the four time WC winners. Argentina won against Algeria (32nd in the FIFA rankings), who had ZERO shots on target yet people are trying to poke holes and over analyze the game. Cape Verde who are ranked 63rd in the FIFA rankings tied with Spain, now imagine if this was Argentina? France had an abysmal first half against Senegal and should have been down by at least 2 goals. For me, I believe France midfield is not that good, and their RB and LB positions are questionable at best. It takes more than skill, strategy and individual brilliance to win the World Cup, you have to be tough and mentally strong to pull through, this is more than just the physical aspect of the game we see on the pitch, even higher power intervention is involved.

   Argentina is playing without any pressure and fear whatsoever (and you could see this against Algeria), no more; oh, we haven’t won the WC since Maradona, we haven’t won a title since the 1990’s. The Argentina national team mindset for this WC is totally different compared to what we saw leading up to the 2022 WC all the way back to the 1990 World Cup. Something special is going to happen, and I’m here for it. As I said, I’m calm.

   Argentina’s 2026 WC opening game against Algeria was one of their most impressive opening games compared to the last six editions of the tournament.

   Argentina 1 vs Nigeria 0 (2002) Nerve rocking
   Argentina 2 vs Ivory Coast 1 (2006) Tight Game
   Argentina 1 vs Nigeria 0 (2010) Nerve rocking
   Argentina 2 vs Bosnia Herz 1 (2014) Tight game
   Argentina 1 vs Saudi Arabia 2 ( 2022) Shocker
   Argentina 3 vs Algeria 0 ( 2026) Decisive win

   José Manuel López will be very crucial in this tournament, he is one to watch out for if given the chance, his selection was a genius move imo. Unknown, decent physique, tall, can head the ball, can hold up play and most definitely can score goals. His attacking playstyle relies more on his towering height (6’3″) and elite positioning in the box. Panichelli was my first choice for this position.

   Nahuel Molina is one of the most underrated players, he is a very good right back, like there are not many RB’s in world football today who are better than him. We’re not comparing Molina to Cafu, we should be comparing him to the current players at the World Cup. For me, Molina is a top RB. And Tagliafico can hold his own, he too is a very good player. I’ll take both Molina and Tagliafico over France Hernandez and Kounde any day.

   Also, this needs to be mentioned, why is it that whenever a team creates an opening against Argentina defense this is somehow bad defending? Like, come on, use logic here, the opponents have good players too who can break the defensive backline. The task is, if the opponent does break the defensive line, the job of the defenders and the goalkeeper is to make the opposing striker’s job uncomfortable and as difficult as possible. It’s not always bad defending if the opponent creates an opening. In some games, you can reduce the opponent to a few strikes or zero shots on target while in other games, the defensive backline is under more pressure. Some teams will score no matter how good a team defensive backline is. This doesn’t mean the defenders are doing a bad job. It’s tough to defend speedy attacking players in today’s modern game.

   Frank Leboeuf can be so annoying, the host asks him a question about Messi and he immediately brings up Cristiano Ronaldo, like no one is talking about Ronaldo here Frank. Frank is always digressing to Ronaldo on every Messi conversation. So annoying listening to these people. Alejandro Moreno is another one who needs to chill out, dude is always trying to please his Eurocentric bosses at ESPN FC. Dan Thomas who made a bracket before the WC saying he had Argentina flopping in the R32, like how can you take these people seriously? Craig Burley and Steve Nicol, smh, what can you expect from the two Scottsmen. Stewart Robson, this guy loves to listen to himself talking, he too can be annoying with his over the top game analysis and break down.

   • Thank you for writing this!

   • This is a great post. I feel the same way. We played at a certain percentage, which is OK. I think there is something up the sleeve. There is a compact nature we are playing through the middle, in absence of Di maria. Nothing guarantees a world cup victory, but we are a contender

   • We’re completely aligned. I was one of the first to post here after the game – 3 goals, clean sheet, very managed and controlled performance, generally 2nd/3rd gear, Messi hat trick – it was a good comfortable first game! And I ended with let’s all stay calm and we will play even tigher progressively, no constructive bashing, please.

     Alas, been a member here for so long, as I expected – bewildering comments: Messi overreliance, Lautaro headless, defence slow, possession needs to be improved, Messi should have been red carded lah, etc. Duh. But yeah, everyone is entitled to their comments so go on.

     The way I saw it – we’re conserving, it’s going to be a long tournament and we’re going to step up, the others in the team will come to the fore I’m sure – Simeone, Paz, Senesi, Barco, Lopez. Just so glad there are other more sane, more sensible folks here who can see the bigger picture (I didn’t realise it but you brought up a valid point on the hot conditions. the Algerians might have been more suited to the heat too in fact but still got outplayed by us). Agree on the Scaloni and the way I see it, it’s our X-factor. At the end of the day, we should just focus on us and ourselves and we should be able to win it. (Playing better than and getting a good clinical result compared to the likes of Belgium, Spain, Brazil, Netherlands, Portugal, Croatia, England is an added bonus.) 🙂

   • Right! Team played extremely well. After France’s performance, I would Argentina’s was best (apologies to the US who are not real contenders for the title). Good points about defense lapses. My view (and reading the posts here, I feel most will disagree) is that it was not Montiel’s fault. The Algerian midfielder ran away from Enzo (a more physical midfielder would not have let that happen, but then Enzo brings a million other things to the table), and then Macca was slow to close the threat down (but after this, I thought Macca was perfect), and finally the pass from that guy was pretty good too. I like Molina better than Montiel, but I would not blame Montiel for this defensive lapse.

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