Alexis Mac Allister spoke about the Argentina national team rebuild.
Mac Allister started for Argentina in the 4-0 win against Bolivia. The 27 year old spoke to the media after the match. Here is what he had to say:
“The change is big; before, we’d arrive at the locker room and we were among the youngest, now I’m one of the oldest.
“We went to the final full of hope, but this is a different stage, there’s still a lot of work to do.”
About Lionel Messi retiring:
“From our side, we’re always grateful to Leo; he’s the best of all and always gave everything for us.”
I really don’t agree with the notion of playing very low-quality opponents in friendlies. The national team rarely plays together, and even when they do, if the players aren’t tested against at least average opponents, they can’t really develop. There are much better teams across Africa, Asia, and CONCACAF. Playing against Japan or Morocco is completely different from playing against Benin, Burkina Faso, etc. Sometimes, losing is better than winning. Even Scaloni has shown his displeasure regarding some of our friendly opponents. If not for the favorable draw, we would have really struggled to reach the semifinals in the last World Cup.
I think it’s better for us to play friendlies against teams from Africa, Asia, and CONCACAF, as European teams are almost unavailable. Playing against South American opponents doesn’t make much sense because we already face them in the qualifiers. We should play opponents with different styles and approaches.
Say whatever you want about the UEFA Nations League, but it does add relevance. It gives the games some context, which motivates the teams involved. Even though it’s essentially a glorified friendly, there is at least something at stake. Unfortunately, teams like us won’t have that kind of glorified friendly with meaningful context anytime soon, unless CONMEBOL or other federations plan something similar. The European federation is much richer, and the other federations simply can’t compete financially.
It’s AFA’s fault that they only care about the money. They don’t understand the basic thing: all this money is coming in only because Argentina is a powerhouse in football, with an incredible pool of raw talent. Let the players and the coaches’ tactics be tested against better opponents so they can learn to handle the pressure when they play in major tournaments.
Anyway, we’ve come a long way from the really bad times compared to the mess we had before.
There are quite a few members suggesting that the AFA should schedule friendlies against tougher opponents. But playing stronger opponents does not guarantee success.
Look at Brazil and Morocco between 2025 and 2026. Brazil’s friendlies included South Korea, Japan, Senegal, Tunisia, France, Croatia and Panama. Morocco played Tunisia, Benin, Bahrain, Mozambique, Uganda, Ecuador, Paraguay, Burundi, Madagascar and Norway.
Brazil clearly scheduled more high level friendlies, particularly against Japan, Senegal, France and Croatia. Morocco had just one high level friendly against Norway, and played several considerably weaker teams.
The bigger issue for Argentina wasn’t whether they played enough tough friendlies. Argentina came into the World Cup with several important players either coming off injuries or carrying a heavy workload. Even Scaloni acknowledged after the final that the team had arrived physically compromised, and Argentina had to replace three of its four defenders during the match.
More importantly, I believe the bigger problem was squad management and team selection. Scaloni had opportunities to give more players meaningful minutes and build greater depth before the World Cup. Lo Celso, Palacios, Senisi, Paz, Barco were grossly under utilized.
Playing tougher opponents in the friendlies would not necessarily have changed the outcome. The final was ultimately decided by how Argentina arrived at the tournament, the players available and their physical condition, and the tactical and selection decisions made on the day.
Yes, agreed. Our issue in the WC was the form of our midfielders in particular, not the quality of friendlies. Our most in form players prior to the tournament were Barco, Palacios and Nico Paz and they did not get enough time. We could have arrived to the final less exhausted and maybe put up more of a fight in the middle of the park. What got us through to the final was competitive spirit, la garra, grit, talent of players in key moments, and Messi magic.
our biggest problem was our wing. nico gonzalez even being called up should be an international crime in the UN.
I agree with the comments on here today, we MUST play higher ranked teams. The problem with playing higher ranked teams from Europe is that they DON’T want to play South American teams. They’ve made it pretty clear. They have all these tournaments and dates set up to play each other. The UEFA League, etc. They don’t want their players flying long distances and changing climates and maybe getting hurt for a friendly. So, they choose to remain in Europe, where the travel time between countries is short, the climate is consistent, their little pretty fields are all the same, etc. Sure, every now and then there’s a game, but not as often as it used to be years ago. Can you imagine France playing Bolivia in El Alto? They would be dead by halftime. So, we are left to measure ourselves against the Benin’s of the world. I’m not taking any blame from Tapia, because he MUST do better, but I don’t think we’ll face any European top ranked team until the World Cup in 2030.
I agree that playing higher ranked teams is ideal, but as you said Europeans won’t play against us, that leaves us with higher ranked African and Asian teams like Morocco, Senegal, Japan, etc. To what extent though it makes a huge difference if we play a top 20 team or not? We still made it to the final. If we had faced some higher ranking teams before the WC, would that have improved our performance? Perhaps somewhat, but I am not sure this is a huge and decisive factor. Does it make some difference? Probably does, but maybe it is not the end of the world.
I would also not underestimate what a lower ranked but still a physical West African team can do, they can be quick and cause some problems if they don’t chicken out because of our standing and pedigree.
Also, I sometimes think of friendlies like sparring in boxing or kickboxing. Even pros preparing for a big fight don’t necessarily want every sparring session to be a war against someone just as good as them. You need enough resistance and realism to test yourself, but you also want rounds where you can work on things without unnecessary injuries. So I don’t think playing lower ranked teams is completely useless, especially now when Scaloni is experimenting with younger players.
At the same time, I get it, you also can’t prepare only with easy sparring partners. At some point you need someone good enough to expose your weaknesses. And of course there may be non-football reasons behind AFA choosing weaker opponents too, money, appearance fees, keeping a bigger share of the revenue, etc. So I’m not necessarily defending AFA. I just don’t think every friendly has to be against a top 20 team to have some value.
The big draw to a lot of these teams to play Argentina, was the participation of Messi. That’s where Tapia / AFA was making the money. I wonder how that will affect now, at least for the current present.
Agree, all valid points, we went very far against European teams in 22 and 26. I do wish we had played the finalissima however. I think that would have allowed us to see what Spain was made of.
In the next international window we should have tougher opponents to test the new gen of players. Teams like Canada, Australia, Japan, Ecuador, Morocco etc. If we go on playing Bolivias and Benins, we would never realize how real good are the new ones. Bolivia has always been a weak side outside their country.
India is playing Brazil and Uruguay in friendlies meanwhile our loser tapia idiot giving us teams I never heard about in my life. How this guy still president ?
Fyi, Burkina Faso is ranked 62, Bolivia 77, Benin 93, and India? 100.
😊
When are we going to hold our useless piece of shit board accountable for not being able to arrange any meaningful friendlies that would actually put us to the test? Look at our fucking opponents. Bolivia, Burkina Faso, and Messi’s last ever game against who? Benin?
I don’t remember the last time Argentina played a friendly against an opponent ranked in the FIFA top 20. These useless friendlies mean nothing and don’t tell us anything about our actual quality. We could win these games while playing our coaches and ex players in their 50s.
How is Argentina so corrupt that nobody can see the issue or hold this useless cartel looking mafia president accountable for his corruption? Uruguay are playing against Japan and Korea while we play against clowns so the board can get a bigger share of the revenue because the big teams want a larger cut. Absolutely pathetic.
You can win this game 10 0 and it still won’t tell us anything about our quality. These games are meaningless. Against real opponents, we could put in an embarrassing performance against big teams when it actually matters.
Bolivia outside of their high altitude home turf are always a weak team. Nevertheless, we played well. Palacios played like he was possessed by Paredes. This narrow 4-2-2-2 is fine as an interim experiment but it attempts to fit too many pieces that do not do justice to some players’ best position. Nico Paz as an inverted winger is not the best use of his skills.
Most players played well yesterday, some really well. Only Alvarez was not that good. He was not horrible, but likely lacks confidence. Nico Paz did well, Vega and Giay were ok, decent but nothing spectacular yet, but good enough I think. Prestianni was a livewire, he tried, although sometimes he tried to beat too many people. Lautaro is a elite striker, he’s so, so good.
And Flores, it feels like in his short cameo he did more than Garnacho with the minutes he got in the NT colours…We need that kind of direct dribbler, a winger with skills and brain…want to see more of him
This new project excites me.
I’m not convinced by Scaloni’s midfield setup. Palacios had three genuine defense splitting passes. The assist to Nico Paz was excellent, he played a great ball to Alvarez that should’ve been finished, and he was also involved in the buildup to Lautaro’s goal. But beyond that, there wasn’t much from Mac Allister (he did get an assist), Prestianni, or Alvarez, who’s still struggling to impose himself.
Argentina only looked dangerous once Leonel Flores came on. His direct running style, and pace are exactly what this midfield is missing. Hopefully Scaloni gives him more minutes in the next friendly.
Palacios – chapeau bas
Argentina’s performance last night was impressive, characterized by exceptional pace, effective pressing, and precise forward passing. Exequiel Palacios remains a standout talent, and as he approaches his 28th birthday, his increased integration is notable; while Scaloni may have underutilized him previously, the current depth of young talent is significant. Although replacing a player of Messi’s caliber is impossible, the team’s collective cohesion suggests a bright future, justifying Scaloni’s decision to remain and continue leading this project.
After all the disrespect I am happy Palacios did not retire from the national team.Scalini treated him as if he has less talent than DePaul when he is 10 times better player know each other it must’ve been frustrating
Enjoyed the game tremendously especially the hustle the speed the quick passing and all the new faces.
They ran down every single ball and chocked Bolivia from having any of the ball.
Paz with his long blond hair reminded me of The Old Albiceleste of many years past🇦🇷💙✊️