Mauro ICARDI scored twice for Inter in their Serie A win against Fiorentina.
Paulo DYBALA, Gonzalo HIGUAIN, Eduardo SALVIO and now Mauro ICARDI scored on the weekend. The Inter captain netted both goals in his team’s 2-0 victory against Fiorentina. The man rumored to get Argentina’s number 9 shirt scored a penalty kick and a header for his team.
ICARDI also reached a milestone having now contributed in 100 goals in the 147 matches he has played for Inter. He has now scored 79 goals and provided 21 assists in his Inter career. Congratulations, captain!
In just 11 days, on August 31, the Argentina national team will do battle with Uruguay in the first of a two-match set of 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifiers. Argentina is currently in the playoff zone in the CONMEBOL qualifying table, so the team must come away with at least one point from this match. This contest will also mark the first competitive match for new Argentina manager Jorge SAMPAOLI.
While the jury is still out on how La Albiceleste’s starting XI will look for the match, we know for sure that Uruguay will be without their star striker, Luis Suárez. Suárez suffered a knee ligaments injury during the second leg of the Spanish Super Cup and will be out for a little over a month. Uruguay’s soccer federation has already confirmed he won’t be available for either of Uruguay’s next two qualifying matches.
The absence of Suárez is a massive blow to a Uruguay team that relies heavily on the offensive work of their top two strikers, Suárez and Edinson Cavani. Internal, direct replacements for Suarez could come in the form of Diego Rolan or Abel Hernandez, but it’s possible Uruguay changes their formation entirely, opting instead to play with Cavani alone at the top and adding a midfielder to the fold. Whatever Uruguay manager Óscar Tabárez does, his starting lineup will be significantly weakened. Advantage, Argentina.
Suarez’ absence isn’t the only thing that should have Argentina fans feeling optimistic. Uruguay’s recent form, against Argentina and against everyone else, is a serious cause for concern for La Celeste. Uruguay has lost its last five overall matches by a combined score of 15-4. Two of those matches were friendlies against Ireland and Italy, while the other losses were World Cup qualifiers against Chile, Brazil and Peru. They haven’t won a match of any kind since November 10 of last year.
In addition, Uruguay has lost its last two matches to Argentina, both 1-0 defeats. The most recent match featured a decisive Sergio AGÜERO headed goal and an Argentina team playing one-man down for half the match after Paulo DYBALA was bafflingly yellow carded for a second time. The last time Uruguay beat a fully reinforced Argentina team that wasn’t resting players, and not in penalties, was back in October of 2005, eight encounters ago.
With more time to digest SAMPAOLI’s teachings and tactics, Argentina should play even better than they did when they beat Brazil in early June. If the players adapt to an effective system as they seem to be able to, La Albiceleste will walk away from Estadio Centenario with three points.
Fernando REDONDO against Brazil is a performance which should be seen by any Argentina fan or even any fan of the beautiful game.
In September 1999, Argentina and rivals Brazil played two friendly matches and they turned out to be very memorable games. The results were split, the first a 2-0 victory for Marcelo BIELSA’s Argentina (Juan Sebastian VERON and Hernan CRESPO the goalscorers) and the second a 4-2 win for the men in yellow. Both teams were fairly stacked with the starting XI being the following for Argentina’s 2-0 victory:
Argentina:
Roberto BONANO
Walter SAMUEL
Roberto AYALA
Nelson VIVAS
Fernando REDONDO
Juan Pablo SORIN
Juan Sebastian VERON
Javier ZANETTI
Hernan CRESPO
Claudio LOPEZ
Ariel ORTEGA
Substitutions:
Diego SIMEONE for Juan Sebastian VERON
Cristian “Kily” GONZALEZ for Claudio LOPEZ
Marcelo GALLARDO for Ariel ORTEGA
Eduardo BERIZZO for Hernan CRESPO
Brazil:
DIDA
CAFU
Antonio CARLOS
Roberto CARLOS
EMERSON
RONALDINHO
VAMPETA
ZE ROBERTO
RIVALDO
RONALDO
SCHEIDT
Substitutions:
Giovane ELBER for RONALDINHO
Marcos ASSUNACO for VAMPETA
Looking at both teams, it’s fair to say both coaches had fielded strong line-ups. Brazil was just coming off a World Cup final loss with RONALDO in action, a world class defender in CAFU, the legendary RIVALDO and a young RONALDINHO. For the Albiceleste, you had Juan Sebastian VERON, Ariel ORTEGA, Hernan CRESPO, Roberto AYALA, Javier ZANETTI and the list goes on. I mean for a coach to have the luxury of having Diego SOMEONE on the bench, you know you’re spoiled for choices.
All about Fernando REDONDO:
However, there was one player in particular who put in a fantastic performance in the first match. One who out performed all the other stars. He’s won the Champions League three times (playing a pivotal part in two of them) and a Real Madrid legend. He was controversially left out of the 1998 World Cup by then coach Daniel PASSARELLA for refusing to cut his hair. Of course I’m talking about the one, the only, Fernando REDONDO. One of the classiest, most elegant, dominant midfielders the game has ever seen.
Yes, this match was a friendly match. But as we all know, there’s no such thing as a friendly match between Argentina and Brazil. Having recently watched this game a few months ago on a flight to London, it reminded me of how much of a strong team, how much of a strong midfield and how much of a strong player REDONDO was. Watching his performance back on Youtube earlier today, I felt compelled to have to share it with those who have never seen it or even those who have not seen it in a while.
Sadly, many fans around the world remember this legend for his wonderful move against Manchester United when he went passed Henning BERG as if he wasn’t even there when Real Madrid played Manchester United in the Champions League. For us, for Argentina fans, he’ll be the one that got away. The one that was never given a proper chance with his National Team. The prince who only played 29 matches for his country.
Argentina have since gone through many midfielders since REDONDO left. Javier MASCHERANO, Fernando GAGO and many others and while they all brought something to the National Team, no one was or is nearly as complete of a player as this legend. With that said, below is Fernando REDONDO’s performance against Brazil (as well as the highlights from the match), along with his trickery against Manchester United and a video compilation of his skills, goals and assists. Enjoy!
Fernando REDONDO against Brazil:
Argentina vs. Brazil, 1999
Fernando REDONDO’s move against Manchester United:
Eduardo SALVIO’s golazo stole the show for Benfica in the Portuguese Primeira Liga.
Probably one of the goals of the weekend, if not the goal of the weekend was scored by Benfica’s Eduardo SALVIO in their 5-0 win against Belenenses. Outside the area, top corner by the man who has been called-up by Jorge SAMPAOLI for Argentina’s upcoming World Cup Qualifying matches against Uruguay and Venezuela.
Paulo DYBALA, Gonzalo HIGUAIN have picked up right where they left off last season for Juventus.
The Argentinian duo both scored for Juventus on their opening matchday of Serie A in their 3-0 win against Cagliari. The jewel DYBALA scored the second goal of the match following a fantastic cross by PJANIC and the number 10 made no mistake and slotted the ball into the back of the net.
Despite not being called-up by Jorge SAMPAOLI to the Argentina National Team for Argentina’s upcoming World Cup Qualifying matches against Uruguay and Venezuela, last season’s top scorer for Juventus finished off a fantastic team goal.
Goals by Paulo DYBALA, Gonzalo HIGUAIN:
That through ball from Pjanic superb, touch and finish by Dybala equally fantastic. Serie A making strides..pic.twitter.com/IwlEgnVX4Q
