I have been very surprised by their performance. Did not expect them to come this far. They have managed to grind out the results, fair play to them.
Argentina at the WC
- Thread starter Raoul
- Start date
it's funny how much talk there was about their attack and how much praise Messi, Di Maria, Higuain and Aguero received for their club form before the tournament, yet most of them just turned to shit and Argentina won most of their games with 1-0 scoreline. so, yeah, I'm surprised as well. now it's just a question of how far can Messi take them.
Maybe the defence wasn't as bad as everybody thought.
Only a handful of futbol fans actually knows futbol. I said before Argentina had one of the best defense in Conmebol qualifying but since they have no star studded names it's considered shit.
The Argentina defence looks good on paper anyway. Demichelis, Garay and Zabaleta are good players.
well, I wasn't impressed with their defence in group stage, but they surprised me against Switzerland and Belgium because I expected them to concede at least 1 goal in both games.
In some forums if the player doesn't succed in England, Spain or Italy he literally doesn't exist.
well, that's exactly why they think that maradona won 1986 world cup all by himself, they have no idea what a great group of players he did it with
let's wait until they face real threats like robben before bragging
They don't look convincing but kept on grinding out wins. Probably saving the best for last.
Argentina impressed me a lot in the semi final with Holland. Not because of how they attacked, because neither side went forward with much conviction, but because of how well they kept their shape. Up until last night Argentina had been all over the place in this tournament. Watching them it just looked like a bunch of kids chasing the ball and relying on the star of the group to bail them out. However, last night Argentina were truly solid. Every player knew and understand his function in Sabella's system, and it made it hard for Holland to get any change out of them. Argentina are still, more or less, relying on the individual brilliance of their forwards to win games. However, they look much harder to beat now. I slated Sabella after the Belgium game but I have to take my hat off to him now. In a matter of days Argentina have gone from being disorganised to determinedly organised. That gives them a real platform going into the final.
Now?
My thoughts exactly, what a transformation in such a short period of time. Didn't expect them to beat holland but they were very surprisingly solid in the game. Seemed like it came out of nowhere really, but they have been improving with every game and less and less messi dependent. Still don't think they have enough to beat germany but who knows now...
now is the time to brag
Completely agree with this, I think it helped Perez, Biglia and Mascherano were the midfield three rather than Di maria in this game who's obviously more attack orientated, plus Gago who I struggle to make judgement on. Gago seems to have big shows to fill he looks like he should be the orchestra for this side with his passing skills, but he's knowhere in terms of other past argentinians such as Redondo or Veron or Riquelme
The jammiest team to reach a World Cup final. They will get find out by Germany.
Well you see they just beat holland and they still think theyre shit and that germany will put 7 pass them. Some ppl dont believe there are good football players outside the english, italian or spanish leagues... I predict a very tough game on sunday but wouldnt be surprised if argentina gets the cup
I don't think they've been shit. I think they've been dour. There's a difference.
Though offensively they have been pretty shit. They're easily a good enough team to win it. They just haven't deserved to on the strength of their play so far.
Though offensively they have been pretty shit. They're easily a good enough team to win it. They just haven't deserved to on the strength of their play so far.
First half of the last game was their best performance. The midfield looked more coherent than any other midfield, weirdly enough, without di Maria.
I think their ideal front 6 is Biglia, Perez and Mascherano in midfield, with Messi up front centrally and di Maria and Aguero on either wing.
I think their ideal front 6 is Biglia, Perez and Mascherano in midfield, with Messi up front centrally and di Maria and Aguero on either wing.
They've been getting better throughout the tournament, plus Messi can win any game out of nowhere.
He's going to stroll around and look completely toothless, again.
Typical english the more you run the more effective you are.
Typical english the more you run the more effective you are.
Of course.
With Tevez they would have won the WC
Palacio has been fecking ridiculous, Aguero a ghost, Higuain so and so...
Palacio has been fecking ridiculous, Aguero a ghost, Higuain so and so...
Is Palacio really a footballer or does he just have incriminating photos of Sabella?
still think they overachieved.
The defense got shitted on b/c it had no known players but it was one of th best in the competition. The much praised and hype offense with the names was absolutely garbage, Messi aside.
I don't think Tevez changes much since he and Messi always seem incompatible for Argentina.
I don't think Tevez changes much since he and Messi always seem incompatible for Argentina.
Disgrace to argentinian football... they should really change their playing style or they are gonna lose all their fans. Was actually rooting for them till 2006.
Yeah I'm sure they'll loose their fans...
Anyway I think they can be proud of themselves. Not many people expected them in the final. Sure, their football wasnt pretty but they were effective and in the final even better than Germany I would say.
No reason at all to be ashamed of, great tournament and a tremendous effort also in the final! It was only the injuries (resulting in a lack of strength/creativity going forward) that kept the Gauchos from reaching the sky this year.....in the end, this was simply too much of a burden to carry on Leo Messi's poor shoulders alone.
But hey, Sabella and his men surely made the best of it.
But hey, Sabella and his men surely made the best of it.
Sabella fecked it up, the moment he took Lavezzi off they were putting pressure on themselves. I expected the worse as soon as Palacio came on. I'll say it right now - he is the worst player to pull on an Argentinian shirt in a very long time. Argentina fans at least know that clown is now gone, need the new manager to settle in quickly if they're to win their first Copa title in two decades next year.
Hey Argies, what problem is Palacio? We survived Oezil in our starting 11. Oh shit, now I'll get bombed, friendly and unfriendly fire...
Let's be honest. Apart from Messi, Di Maria and Agüero this Argentine team has little genuine talent at It's disposal. A lot of hard workers and a really good defensive organistaion have been their trademark this World Cup just as much as it has been for the Dutch. Both teams didn't come to this WC with the best ever teams that played for their country but they made the most out of their possibilities.
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Even worse their attackers never showed up.
Di Maria was more a passenger up until he got injured. His most notable game was the Switzerland one where he got the winner, but had an absoloute stinker otherwise.
Aguero started badly, got injured, returned, did next to nothing.
Higuain was decent against Belgium, otherwise even worse than Aguero, few terrible misses in front of goal.
Palacio - The less said the better.
In total they scored 7 goals in the tournament, 4 came from Messi, and 3 of those were spectacular efforts.
Di Maria was more a passenger up until he got injured. His most notable game was the Switzerland one where he got the winner, but had an absoloute stinker otherwise.
Aguero started badly, got injured, returned, did next to nothing.
Higuain was decent against Belgium, otherwise even worse than Aguero, few terrible misses in front of goal.
Palacio - The less said the better.
In total they scored 7 goals in the tournament, 4 came from Messi, and 3 of those were spectacular efforts.
Sabella is the most unimaginative and pointless coach in the WC. His substitutes have *always* been worse than the player he replaced.
Aguero and Messi is never going to work in same team, never. Both wants to play through middle. And it's waste playing Kun wide.
He replaces Lavezzi who was doing pretty good in the wide with Kun who had the most disastrous performance in WC.
It's better to play with 10 men than play with Palacio. He is even worse than someone like maxi.
He keeps putting Palacio, Gago in the team. He even had the moronic idea of playing 5-3-2 initially. Watching him run this team is frustrating and should be among the most useless coaches in the WC.
2 factors for Argentina's loss - the manager(?) and strikers missing easy chances.
Aguero and Messi is never going to work in same team, never. Both wants to play through middle. And it's waste playing Kun wide.
He replaces Lavezzi who was doing pretty good in the wide with Kun who had the most disastrous performance in WC.
It's better to play with 10 men than play with Palacio. He is even worse than someone like maxi.
He keeps putting Palacio, Gago in the team. He even had the moronic idea of playing 5-3-2 initially. Watching him run this team is frustrating and should be among the most useless coaches in the WC.
2 factors for Argentina's loss - the manager(?) and strikers missing easy chances.
I don't rate Sabella too highly either, think he did a very good job in drilling Argentina defensively though, you were a lot more solid at the back than everyone expected. Going forward is where the problems started, partly due to poor performances by the players but mostly due to Sabella's tactics.
Anyway, any idea who's going to take over? If it's Martino as rumoured it'll be awful, based on his year at Barcelona. Simeone would obviously be the ideal replacement but that's unrealistic at the minute...
Pastore and Tevez were bad misses imo.
Pastore has been poor with PSG but he has that unpredictibality where he can pop up and produce something magical whilst Tevez was a far better option to have than Palacio.
Pastore has been poor with PSG but he has that unpredictibality where he can pop up and produce something magical whilst Tevez was a far better option to have than Palacio.
They haven't really got a great pool of players have they? Its just those 3 and a decent defence. Their bench was pretty bad as well as if Maxi is getting regular minutes, you know its bad
They did really well
This is the most successful they've been in decades. Why would they change up? Obviously, going for the fancy plays didn't work out, so why not stick with the more pragmatic and essentialy more successful approach of winning no matter how? They could've honestly won yesterday and didn't look the worse team at all.
Romero is surely good enough for first team football. Or is he happy to sit on a bench in Monte Carlo earning a massive wage?
The Argentines must feel mixed about how they did at Brazil 2014. They got to the final, but there must be the sense that had their attacking players really turned it on at any stage they might have been World Champions. They started very poorly, relying solely on Messi to win games, and while defensively they pulled it together by the Holland semi, offensively...there are a lot of players in that squad with big price tags but you wouldn't have believed it looking at their finishing. Besides Messi only Lavezzi can claim he was a consistent threat. Di Maria had one good half but then pulled up injured, in the Switzerland game he may have scored the winner but he was mostly rubbish. A lot of players were allowed to get away with very poor performances because the pressure was all on Messi. More than a few supposedly world class players went totally missing. Had they played anywhere near their best it could've much different for Argentina.
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