Ronaldo Nazario calls Lionel Messi the greatest player of all time

Apart from Almada and Montiel, others played well. Players got minutes and match sharpness should only increase from now on. Scaloni got his subs right. Molina offered more than Montiel, Nico Gonzalez offered verticality, width and protection to Medina. He was also involved in goals. Julian offered much more energy than Lautaro. It was also good to give Messi some rest and Nico Paz some minutes. Room to improve? Yes, but we made a loud statement.

This “red card” nonsense being pushed by Penaldo fans on twitter, and some so called pundits with a vendetta against Messi / Argentina (e.g. Shaka Hislop, Frank Leboeuf on ESPN) is getting on my nerves.

There was barely any contact. Messi’s foot movement was natural (i.e. no malicious intent, he was simply taking a forward step). The studs were down. It was not an attacking / goal scoring situation. Even the Algerians did not complain.

FIFA’s own guidelines say that accidental boot on the calf when both players are facing the same way is no card or yellow card at worst.

Winning the first game was extremely important, and although the team looked rusty and out of rhythm due to it being the opening match of the tournament, getting the three points was what mattered most.We are used to seeing argentina control games the way they did against France, the netherlands, and croatia. This time, however, the performance was less fluid, but Messi stepped up and punished Algeria when it mattered.

However there were some noticeable issues. Algeria’s disallowed offside goal caught Dibu napping, and he probably should have saved it. Coming back from injury, his lack of game time was evident.Almada, despite playing two warm-up matches, still looked out of form and bang average. I still believe Buendia or Soule would have been better choices. Almada is not a natural winger, and we already have Paz, who can operate as a left-sided attacking midfielder or forward. At current form Locelso would be better fit than Almada in that position. Additionally, our fullbacks looked very quiet going forward. Medina, in particular, seemed somewhat out of place in the leftback position, even though he plays there for Lyon.

Overall, it was a very good result considering this was the first competitive game after the World cup qualifiers. However, this team is nowhere near the level of the 2022 knockout stage version, even though, on paper, the current squad is arguably stronger.

Let’s enjoy this muchachos. There are a lot of points of criticism, scaloni noticed one of them and made a change immediately after half.
But let’s enjoy this team and cup while we can. No matter where you are in the world, this is your team

I was quite impressed with Rodrigo De Paul’s performance in last night’s match. His tireless effort and exceptional pass, which I believe is the best of the tournament so far, truly stood out. I also found Medina’s play to be commendable, though Montiel’s contribution did not entirely persuade me.

R9 aka the REAL Ronaldo has always stated that Messi is better than him and the best ever, must be extremely hard for a Brazilian to talk about an Argentinean as such but it is what it is.
The team looked good last night but and I hope I’m wrong, Dibu seemed a bit timid to me, maybe not as confident.
Great start and the team usually picks up the pace as the competition goes on.

LET’S GO CONGO