The Argentina national team will wear the blue shirt againat England at the World Cup.
Argentina is going to wear their alternate kit againat England, just as they did at the 1986 World Cup when Diego Maradona scored two goals. According to Gastón Edul, Argentina had requested for them to wear the blue shirt and they will wear it against England in the semi finals.
Lionel Scaloni’s team have worn it once at the World Cup, in the 3-1 win against Jordan.
Posting a nail biter of the past thia ia how tge match ia gonna be and for the fake supporters who say its gonna be wash out.
@Roy i hope it is allowed, correct me otherwise, gracias!
https://youtu.be/2iBPqRlrYyo?si=T5OxpuReO4qvlcNZ
I asked Chatgpt how many players were used including subs by Argentina in WC26, 22 is the answer. Sure a lot of them came in the third grp game, but tell me what was the score until Messi scored! Apart from Lautaro, Otamendi and Lo Colso I dont see any one crossing 7 in starting 11. A Wc knock out game pressure takes a lot to rise and perform. So as the wishlist of various formation and starting 11 spins around I guess they will stick to the tested.
Having said that, Depaul has been really poor this time, should be used as Paredes was in 22, as late sub in tough matches to take tactical fouls and dark arts, wheres Paredes shiuld start which he is doing already but as a pivot DM. So who plays the RM role, well Palacios can, has the capability and fitness, but will Scaloni trust him to do the job in Semis!
Changing into a back 3 is a high possibility though. Scaloni have done that against faster, stronger teams. I am also a bit sceptical why Simeone was not used at all considering his big match impacts in club and country in past – could be a surprise element introduced.
Have some joy and pride, hope Spain finds some intensity to beat the French army of the deads tonight and be ready to take some pain and suffering with the team tomorrow 😆
Ps some one added Montiel’s name in out of form list. Well I have never seen him in form😜 but like this team he keep producing moments where he pokes the rebound to Messi to score or the Penalty in finals.
Albiceleste rocks!
At this rate, we don’t have depth in our bench because we only rotate 15 players, that’s so dumb.
If we have to identify problem. It began with Balerdi injury. Had he been here, we could have given rest to both licha and romero. This could have helped them come fresh.
Selecting otamendi was wrong for the squad especially because we are not using him anymore. And he cannot stop a fast transition. Age caught up with him. We should have gone for someone else.
RDP has been a huge flop. At least macca has a goal to his name even if his performance has been below par.
Management probably not fielding other players like paz, barco because probably they are not seeing anything significantly better to give management a benefit of doubt. Or probably they just wanted to stick to winning combination. And as deeper the tournament went, chances of overhaul reduced.
Another perspective could be, all the opponents we have faced somehow tried to play defensive football. They wanted to congest the D box. Probably that’s why we too took a pragmatic approach. Maybe a team like England or France who will want to score goals from minute one, probably against them we will have different approach.
We need alvarez/lautaro to shine. We want messi to be not unlucky. We must not concede. We must not concede the game.
We have to change no matter what.if we again flop remove scaloni even if he won us trophies.it doesn’t matter he is so poor in this world cup.i think he should have left this after copa 24 if he is so lackluster
Lol.Scaloni is going to retire post this world cup. BTW, Scaloni was going to retire before the world cup but AFA requested him to extend.
Worst decision ever if not argentina doesn’t win the world cup
Based on my own analysis, these are the players who have been consistently underperforming in the wolrd cup -> Almada, Depaul, Dibu, Enzo, Molina & Montiel.
If Scaloni is serious about beating England, he has to DROP DePaul. I know DePaul is his favorite but he is not same guy from 2022. He is not pressing effectively, he is not providing enough creativity going forward, and defensively he creates more issues by losing posesssion and constanlty misplacing passes! In other words he offers nothing to the team. May be useful , off the bench to close out a game with his threatrics! If Scaloni wants to keep the 4-man midfield, Palacios has to start over Depaul. He is fresher, in better form and can help both attack and defense. In other words He is more reliable, can cover more ground and help balance the team.
But my fear is that if Scaloni drops De Paul, he will probably go with Almada again because of that cameo against Switzerland. But honestly, I didn’t see enough from Almada again. He was broght in when all 9 Swiss outfield players were defending deep, and he basically had the freedom to shoot from outside the box, but he still couldn’t make any impact. Meanwhile, Lopez was effective rightaway! He dragged multiple Swiss plyers for Julian to bend the ball into the top corner! if your long range shots are not working, you have to find other ways like drag defenders, create space, cross, dribble inside the box and make that final pass. But unfortunately Almada doesn’t or NO longer have those skills.
Also, If Scaloni is really brave and truly thinks Paz is the right replacement for Messi, He has to start Nico Paz behind Julian and Messi. Those three have enough football iq and skills to rotate positions, drift wide, run inside, and create chances & score goals. If he starts Paz and Palacios then Mac Allister & Tagliafico and Palacios & Molina can double down on english wingers. We cannot give England easy 1v1 situations like we did with CV, Egypt and Switzerland. However like I mentioed above , Scaloni may drop Depaul and play Almada or play 5 in the back with Tagliafico, Licha, Otemandi, Romero and Molina like againt Croatia in 2022 but my staring xi would be the following
Julian – Messi
Nico Paz
Macallister – Enzo – Palacios
Tagliafico – Licha – Romero – Molina
Dibu
We should drop both depaul maca or depaul enzo and play 1 winger and 1 young midfielder also drop molina atleast montiel can defend better than molina
Scaloni should try Otamendi in place of Lisarndo martinez. I think Otamendi is right person for this kind of match. lisandro cant support Romero. He cant lead. England defence is not strong like France so we need to play our natural game. No need to play 4 cm. We can easily score if we play natural game.
No way, Otamendi would be half way running behind strikers leaving them one on one with Emi Martinez.
That’s suicidal. Licha is the only CB capable of making long passes from the back with pinpoint accuracy. Only way Otamendi could feature would be 3-5-2 with Parades in midfield. In all honesty, Kane and Bellingham are not fast. Saka and Gordon are the main threats.
Only change I am expecting is dropping de paul for nicolas gonzalez . with nico we can easily switch into 3-5-2 whenever needed.
Dear Lord whenever we play every opponent becomes a team of 11 Maradonas! FFS! This is a world champion team! This team knows to play moments. Sure it has weaknesses like any other team but to say we will be demolished in every round reeks of frustration. This team is good enough to win the WC. Of course that does not mean it will. But I will take these battle tested mentality monsters any day in knockouts. There have been many examples of a “not the best team” winning big tournaments including the WC and Champions league. Keep faith.
Superb!
I think England is the ideal team for us in the semi. They are neither physical like Swiss nor will be supercharged like Cabo Verde & Egypt. Moreover, they also dont have a complete team like France or Spain.
They are more similar to us, may be slightly better. Hope we play our regular tactics against them and we put in our best performance of this WC.
Why you all afraid of England..Messi played with all world-class players..so keep calm..he need only ball to pass..belive this team..argentina scored most goal in the tournament.belive in system.most of goal came after trailing..so we can score after conceding..so belive in team..we are in semifinal that’s is not a easy..
. young generation will get chances after world cup.
I can clearly see..Scaloni and co are running out of ideas…! I am not sure, whether can fix it that easily or not..
Just see this…
Against Cabo Verede when we finally turned it around we had 3 steikers upfront..
1. Messi
2. Alvarez
3. Gonzalez
Against Egypt, when we turned it around..we had 4 steikers upfront..!
1. Messi
2. Alvarez
3. Gonzalez
4. Lautaro
Against Switzerland, when we turned it around..we had 6 strikers upfront..! 6..!!
1. Messi
2. Alvarez
3. Gonzalez
4. Lautaro
5. Almada
6. Lopez
I dont what formations we used…coaching staff was taking huge risks sending all those attackers…! We finally won..but…
No idea what formation Scaloni try to use against England..without a quick recovery and transition, wing play…dont expect a good result…
I am keeping my expectations..very low this time…if we win I am happy..
Yes bro.. Argentina scored many goal after conceding.. that’s is good..so belive in team.
They scored them seconds away from penalty shoot out. Also, don’t forget that.
And yet, we didnt suffer much, instead we scored goals for fun once Scaloni made these subs right?
Btw, there were 6 attacking players, it doesnt mean all of them were playing close to the opposition box. Argentina had 9 players in our box defending when Swiss attacked after Alvarez wonder goal.
I think this is a great strategy against park the bus teams.
Yes..we scored…its a high risk..no tactics try…it can backfire any time…especially against big team…
Another headache we have is, we cant expect Messi to bail us out against higher quality players of England. While he has somehow pulled it out for us till now, but it was against lower quality opponents. At 39 we cant expect him to do it for us. Hopefully the likes of Alvarez and Macca will build on from their performance against Swiss.
The overarching issue is that Scaloni doesn’t admit that his starting players and subs have been rubbish. He doesn’t admit that he failed tactically on several occasions and luck was on his side. He doesn’t admit that 6 players have not been given a shot other than Jordan game.
He says everything is fine, we are doing great, and our starting eleven doing their best to ride us to victory. He keeps saying that conceding goals and trailing a game is because knock out stages are tough. Now that’s a problem, coaching mentality problem. We have a depth in our bench but we failed to utilize it.
His subs have led to Argentina scoring the most goals at the tournament tho this is true
9 goals in three games
for all our complaints, we still must recognize that we have scored the most amount of goals in the world cup, this needs to be celebrated.
in 2022, it wasnt until the game against croatia, that we really played our game, I am hoping the same this time around.
If Scaloni had been this stubborn in 2022 and kept starting Papu Gomez, an out of form, unfit Paredes, and Lautaro Martinez, our 2022 World Cup would have looked a lot like 2026. The loss to Saudi Arabia forced him to make brave decisions, and they completely transformed the team. Enzo replaced Paredes, Mac replaced Papu, and Alvarez replaced Lautaro.From that point on, Argentina looked like a completely different side.
What’s frustrating is that Scaloni doesn’t seem to be applying the same lesson now. Persisting with De Paul and Enzo despite their form is hurting the team. Barco and Paz are the players who could be the 2026 versions of Enzo and Mac Allister, yet Scaloni won’t even give them a single meaningful competitive minute. That’s the part I just can’t understand.
Why has Scaloni become so stubborn this time around? How do you not give the fresh blood even a single competitive minute? Instead, he’s playing Almada and Nico, who can’t even get regular minutes at Atletico, while one of Atletico’s best performer ( Simeone) is being completely overlooked.
What are you doing, mate? You’re a legend, but that doesn’t make you immune to criticism when you’re making decisions that seem so hard to justify. Without luck, we’d already be out of this World Cup. We absolutely didn’t deserve to beat Switzerland. They had their best player missing and they still dominated us 11v 11.
I didn’t even celebrate our last two goals because we played so poorly and how undeserving the win felt..
The current state of the Argentina national team, out of form players, fitness issues, and a lack of depth, is largely on Scaloni.
Argentina led the World Cup qualifiers for more than two years, giving Scaloni plenty of opportunities to integrate younger players such as Barco, Nico Paz, Soule, and others. He also had time to experiment with different formations and tactical approaches. Instead, he continued to rely on the same core group of players, including veterans like Acuña and Pezzella.
While teams like France, England, and Spain have evolved and refreshed their squads, Argentina has gone in the opposite direction. They have regressed from a fast, possession-based team into a slower, more predictable side.
The biggest concern is what comes next. As hosts of the 2030 FIFA World Cup, Argentina will qualify automatically and won’t have to play a competitive qualifying campaign. By then, several key players, including Lionel Messi, Nicolás Otamendi, Nicolás Tagliafico, Nahuel Molina, and Gonzalo Montiel, may have retired from international football. That could leave a significant void in the squad.
Without the intensity of World Cup qualifiers, Argentina would likely have to rely primarily on international friendlies to rebuild the team. Friendlies can be useful for experimentation, but they generally don’t replicate the pressure and competitiveness of qualification matches. If the generational transition isn’t already well underway by then, Argentina could face a difficult rebuilding period ahead of the 2030 World Cup.
I don’t think it’s largely on Scaloni. It’s on Tapia and his absolutely pathetic administrative skills for failing to arrange strong international friendlies. For almost a year, we’ve played nothing but teams ranked outside the top 80. We steamrolled them, so our weaknesses were never truly exposed.
If Tapia had managed to organize some competitive friendlies, Argentina would have come into this World Cup far better prepared. Our flaws would have been exposed earlier, and we could have tested different solutions. That means players like Barco, Simeone, Paz, and Buendia would have gotten more playing time and probably been much better prepared to feature in World Cup matches.
Scaloni is the easy one to blame, but the problem goes much deeper than him.
Does Tapia select the national team?
National team is selected by the team management lead by Scaloni. Even if Argentina played competitive friendlies, Scaloni would have still chose to play the same core group.
He doesn’t pick the national team, but he does choose the opponents the national team plays. Why would Scaloni change the core of the squad when they’re comfortably beating a bunch of minnows? The reason we saw such radical changes in 2022 was because of the loss to Saudi Arabia. That defeat forced us to address problems we had been ignoring.
We needed a similar wake up call before this World Cup, but we never got one. Our issues with intensity, form, and overall quality would have been exposed much earlier if we’d played teams like Spain, Germany, Morocco, or Japan instead of Mauritania, Panama, and Guatemala.
It’s like spending a year playing in the 2nd Division teams ( heck 3rd Division more like) and then suddenly facing top level teams. Of course you’re going to struggle and wonder what went wrong.
Saying Tapia doesn’t have a huge role in this just doing his infamous clown adminstrative role a favour
“Why would Scaloni change the core of the squad when they’re comfortably beating a bunch of minnows?”
That’s exactly the point. it’s not about replacing the core of the squad when you’re winning. It’s about building squad depth.
World Cup qualifiers are the ideal time to integrate new players because you can do it without sacrificing results. If one of your key players gets injured or loses form, as happened with Álvarez, Romero, Lisandro Martínez, and others, you already have replacements with meaningful international experience.
Argentina didn’t build enough depth in several positions. The current midfield has struggled for form, yet there are few proven alternatives because younger players weren’t given enough opportunities during qualifying.
The best national teams don’t wait until a crisis forces them to rebuild. They refresh the squad continuously. That’s what teams like Spain, England, and France have done over the last few years.
@Chris Brown @LordDante this was a question I too was wondering at the back of my head as we headed into the knockout matches still carried by the GOAT. How on earth are we in this state.
As it carried on (thankfully), even the handful (literally) of young promising blood that we brought along weren’t still going to get a chance, I knew we were dead in the next 4 years and for 2030. No one to build and base the next team around. Pretty sure it will no longer be Scaloni and it’s no longer his problem. Who’s our next goalkeeper? Is he even here as 3rd choice? Right and left back – my god! no disrepect to the man but were we even considering Acuna still?!
No need to fight ok – both Tapia AND Scaloni are to blame entirely for this mess.
So really, let’s all enjoy as much as we can this round and after that, we can all take a haitus for the next many years. Sigh.
@lord Dante
Scaloni’s philosophy has always been to build around a stable core and improve their understanding and chemistry over time. He learned that from Sabella, who stuck with a core group for three years and came within a game of winning the World Cup with an above average, but incredibly well connected, squad. The Argentina managers before him spent nearly two decades constantly changing the lineup, and none of them succeeded. Scaloni saw that and committed to Sabella’s formula.
That’s why he wasn’t eager to introduce new faces into the starting XI. He trusted the core that had won the World Cup, won back to back Copa Americas, and finished first in World Cup qualifying. It was all good till 2025.
The real problem started during the 2025-26 season. Three key players from that core declined within a year. Alvarez and Almada lost form after moving to Atletico, while De Paul’s level dropped after joining Inter Miami. Then you can see Enzo and Macca also lost their form in 25-26 season.
Suddenly, 5 of your 11 core players were no longer performing at the level that made Argentina champions. The team needed a shake up, but it never came because Argentina kept playing Sunday league level opposition and winning comfortably anyway. There was no pressure to make difficult decisions.
People also forget that the last genuinely strong team we faced before this World Cup was Colombia, 13 months ago. We never got the kind of high level tests that would have exposed these problems before it was too late.
We didn’t play strong competitive matches even before 2022, and it seemed didn’t affect our games in Qater.
Even though Argentina against England is always a massive fixture, I still think their World Cup meetings in 1998 and 2002 had a lot more spark than the upcoming match. Back in 98, Argentina’s youngest talent, guys like Gallardo, Crespo, and Pineda, were already 22, while England had an 18 year old Michael Owen ready to explode onto the scene. What really gave those games a special edge was that every single player on that pitch grew up watching the legendary 1986 clash between the two countries. The upcoming game just feels like it’s missing that deep, personal sense of history and rivalry
One game separates ARG from playing in the final, we know it, they know it and the world knows it.
Messi never had a chance to play Vs the Redcoats like El Diego did and now is his chance on the biggest stage and for all the haters who pulling the Brits, ASK yourself, all you wannabe politically correct claiming this and that about ARG !
Let’s play and I don’t care what Scaloni said about this being just a game, Maradona showing his closed fist to the Argentine crowds in Mexico after scoring the best ever GOAL MEANT EVERYTHING.
AS ALWAYS DAMNIT, LET’S GO ARGENTINA, LET’S GO
This is the first fixture of this cup that scares me.
I wasn’t worried at all about Cabo Verde, and we suffered and struggled. Wasn’t worried about Egypt or swiss and we suffered.
As a life long fan I find myself watching TyC while exercising and at night, same reels over and over…. I can never be a coach with all the stress.
But since we are all tacticians and coaches on this blog… 😂
My take would be to put alvarez up front alone, drop Messi to the right amongst midfield and play same formation we had vs Croatia in 22. This may keep the English left side honest and reserved and open up the middle on transitions.
@SorinXcrespo Don’t worry, brother. This time we’ll be more careful during defensive transitions. I hope Scaloni works on it because whenever we lose possession, the opposition attacks too easily.
We have a big weakness, especially on the right flank and at right-back.
hope we press harder in the next game—everyone except Messi, since we need him to conserve his energy for the final third..
Let’s surprise England,, we are winning by the god grace
Scared? Never.
Cautious? Yes. We have been playing shit this whole tournament for sure, but we also need to see how England plays – shittier. While it is abnormal for us to play like this, it is England’s tradition to suck. However, we must not play with duds.
Let’s play slow and thru the midfield. Get the ball and keep it with all the confidence in the world, and Let Rice and Anderson know they wouldn’t see the ball the whole game. Keep Bellingham away from the penalty box and give the ball to Leo.
I was more worried against Cape Verde to be honest.
On mundo since 2010 i barely comment.
Just want to say our form dropped at thd time of world cup
Sad to see depaul play as rm everygame when you nico and simeone in form .
Wont be upset if we lost against which will most probably happen .
The team cannot take the ball forward .
Am sure scaloni knows better and will respect him no matter what .
Again stubborn favoritissm for argentina players by coaches will never change
Chill guys this team on the right hand. Our coach have ability to see future 90+30 minutes thats why he choose what he choose. Thats his secret weapon nobody of us knows.
Even somebody here gave us clue that what we saw on display as bad play is intended. Lets forget about barco paz locelso and other young players, theres no surprises here.
That Swiss embolo who dived already seen in the eyes of the great coach.
Thank you depaul, mollina, enzo and macalister for wc2026 great acting on command !
LOL. And sadly there are people here who can say such exact things while not being sarcastic.
This is an Argentina team that looks like it’s running on fumes, relying heavily on Messi’s moments of genius and an incredible team spirit to dig themselves out of holes they’ve largely created themselves. They’ve found a way to win so far, but against a physically superior England side in the semi-final, their vulnerabilities might finally catch up with them…unless Scaloni surprises us with new tactics and players.
Many people already posted their opinion and review of Argentina’s match against Switzerland. There is little to add. We already know that Scaloni will not replace underperforming players like DePaul and Enzo with other players, although we all think that Simeone can bring at the least the same or more energy and Paz will bring more creativity to take the burden of Messi’s shoulders. Scaloni will stick to the current crop of players, no matter what. The line-up and substitions are predictable. I guess we will have to deal with it.
However, I am really surprised to hear and read that some comments state that we played well. We created absolutely nothing in the first half hour of the second half. We only start playing when we concede a goal. Play is so passive and lethargic that it is frustrating to watch. All those passes backwards and sidewards.
Now we’re up against England. A team that just like us cannot complain about referee and VAR decisions. Containing Kane and Bellingham will be a huge challenge for our defence that continues to leak goals. On the other hand, England could not keep clean sheets against Congo, Mexico and Norway. Chances are about fifty fifty (according to stats provider Opta). In Qatar the semi final (against Croatia) was our best match, the only KO game in which we did not suffer. Hoping for the same now.
we will suffer same, we will have heart attacks same as swiss game
In Qatar, we also dominated 80% of the matches against France and Netherlands. Completely overwhelmed them. This year we could not even so that against much worse teams.
Only after making some terrible subs that unbalanced the team (same kind of management problems on display this world cup) did we lose our hold on those matches. Even then, because the opposition was afraid, both Netherlands and. France went back into parking zone instead after equalising. But this year, team are not afraid of us.
I don’t think we were that incredible at all. Giving the ball up way more than necessary and way too happy to sit back.
See most of the heat is going to De Paul and Enzo, but I’m still of the opinion that the one who needs replacing in this team is Alexis lol. Against Switzerland, Messi tried accelerating the play several times to carve out a chance. Each one was foiled because Mac Allister simply wasn’t on his wavelength.
We play and attack the way we play based upon on our forwards interpreting when the right moment to accelerate the passing move through central combos is. The players have to be synced on timings of when to combine with each other. There’s no fixed time nor set of moves and triggers, we’re very instinctive. Our problem attacking is the communication of these ideas and recognising when these opportunities emerge.
When Alexis failed at these combos, it’s not cause he’s a poor footballer who can’t complete a short pass t’s because he didn’t read the timings/dynamics of the scenario similarly enough to Messi. Wavelengths. That’s what needs sorting out. Lo Celso was the man for this before. His lack of play time and fitness and age(?) probably makes him a defensively weaker option to our other one. Nico Paz, however I feel just has a more creative brain alongside Lo Celso that will be on that wavelength we need for Leo to be maximised.
To be honest level of football which Argentina and England play now could not be even compared 2 different planets. We are far behind this. But this is semifinal of WC where emotions are different from other matches and we have our strong sides as well . So I believe we can show something and surprise England
Same as 1986🇦🇷🇦🇷✊️
And 1998 🟥
I think it would be better if we all accepted the fact that Scaloni isn’t going to change his core players. He trusts them to get the results somehow. It may not excite some of us, but that doesn’t really matter. As long as we grind through matches and find a way to get the results, that’s what counts.
We can’t expect players like Barco, Paz, or, for that matter, even Simeone to start for us in a World Cup semifinal by replacing De Paul, Enzo, Mac Allister, Paredes, and the others. However, players like Almada and Nico González are almost certain to get minutes. Or will Scaloni play the ultimate UNO reverse card by shuffling the starting XI and surprising England?
How Scaloni copes with world-class threats like Kane and Bellingham with this squad is going to determine the outcome of the battle.
The only thing is that we’ll have to suffer through the heart attacks while watching them play. At this point, some of us may have already had one or two heart attacks already. So now, I think we’re just going to have to get used to it.
For some reason, among the four teams, Spain, Argentina, and even England don’t take many shots from outside the box, whereas France are quite good at it. Álvarez has opened the door for us in that regard. Let’s surprise the English—how about that? Take more shots from outside the box.
England are pioneers when it comes to scoring from set pieces. Their aerial threat will be very difficult to deal with.
Many football pundits and former England internationals believe—quite understandably—that England’s high-tempo attack gives them the edge. Based on the last three matches from both teams, they deserve to start as favourites.
This fixture also carries enormous historical and emotional weight, specially for us, and the build-up will inevitably be dominated by that narrative. The challenge for Argentina is to ensure the occasion fuels the team rather than distracts it.
That’s where Scaloni becomes crucial. He has to strip away the emotion and approach this as just another tactical battle—another adventure, another opportunity to write a memorable chapter.
So when I read that he is considering a change in formation, I welcomed it. England are not a team we should face with predictable patterns. If ever there was a match to surprise the opposition and rethink our approach, this is it.
(🌕) A change of formation is a possibility for the game against England.
@gastonedul
🚨🏴
Sorry to kill your joy/relief/anticipation but you do know that the recipient of this bluff is not supposed to us but it’s supposed to be for the English right?
I think we all know Scaloni better and all of us here can take turns to recite his formation, line up and substitutions with eyes closed and see who is faster.