La Gran Final de la Copa America Centenario Argentina Vs Chile June 26th [R]

the greatest!

 

Not anymore.. Puch left Liga De Quito, to go play in Mexico.

 

I wouldn't want Roncaglia and Mas, either.. Lmao!

 

I just have one question... WHERE ARE HIS TEAM MATES????

 

Maradona had Enrique instead of Redondo and Valdano instead of Batistuta, he still won the World Cup.

 

Unnecessary shots at Maradona.

One thing that's overlooked is Diego's leadership. Recently I saw a video where they interviewed one of his old Napoli teammates (some no name) and he mentioned how Diego made them feel confident with his constant cheering and emotion. He made them emotionally better.

Messi's teammates shouldn't need that because they're so good but maybe a little more emotion would help.

But anyone that says that either is "way above" the other is full of shit.

 

From Alexis Sanchez' Twitter account. 4 days after the game, his ankle looks like its getting worse lol. Amazing he played so long after getting hit. He says they gave him a pill and bandaged it up but at some point he could no longer continue.

 

These days the captain is often the best player. In the past, in English football at least, it used to be somewhat with the right personality. Also, it used to be a central defender or central midfielder, someone in the right position on the park to get others going, not a striker who can spend parts of the match separated from others. A striker can't do anything to get people motivated to defend a corner.

It seems to me that Messi should have, as Beckham did, retire not from the team but from the captain's role. There is too much on his shoulders already. It should be clear that he should not be expected to lead, because he is too quiet, and not a leader. Look at the way he went and sat in the dugout, rather than went to console his team mates.

 

The other question I have is that maybe the tactics were wrong with Messi. Expect him to score from 20 yards to win the game works well in matches against weak opponents where you get 3 such opportunities, but could be asking too much against big teams when you only get one such opportunity in the game. Expecting him to dribble past 2-3 players works well again against weak teams, but against the top teams he gets tackled, just like everyone else does most of the time when they try to dribble past 2-3 really top players.

So in other words the tactics of relying on one star player to win the game don't work at the highest level in an era of team football where quality throughout teams and tactics have improved to the point of nullifying an out and out star. In spite of his international performances being below his club ones a little, Messi has still arguably been the best consistent player at international level of the last 6-10 years.

Look at the teams who won world cups recently. Who was their best player?

2014 - Neuer? Philip Lahm? Kroos? Hummels? Muller?
2010 - Casillas? Villa? Xavi? Iniesta?
2006 - Probably Cannavaro or Buffon or Pirlo?

None of them had one great star, attacking player (maybe a star keeper or defender). It was always solid team performances.

 

That's a very nice analysis.. So you think Messi doesn't have what it takes to be captain? I think the reason he's captain is because he's the best player in the world.. But does being the best, mean you have the personality to be a leader?

 

I definitely agree with jamiefox. If you take a look at all the superstars that are captains for their respective national teams, the choices really make no sense. They're more marketing selections if anything. Messi has no business being captain over mascherano, Neymar over Thiago silva, cristiano over Pepe etc... Imo messi's the best in the world, but too soft spoken to be a captain.

 

Oh and Argentina has to go back to being dirty if they want to win a championship again. They have gone on a drought since they've cleaned up their act. My fellow South Americans know what I'm talking about

 

When you guys figure out how to win, then you can lecture us.

The final, whether everyone wants to acknowledge it or not, is why soccer is flaw sport. It went to PK shootout, which is a lottery. It was an ugly game decided by a lottery.

If you're honest, you can all point to many games were the better team lost bc the game went to PK shootouts.

Not making excuses, just speaking facts

 

And you can add James Rodriguez to the list of "who shouldn't be captain" as well, if you are being honest

 

I'm not trying to lecture at all, just simply saying that even though Argentina counts with world class talent, players with characteristics like simeone, zanneti, Ayala etc are missing. Jugadores que muerden, que usaban picardía y viveza para ganar partidos trabados como el del domingo. Not trying to disrespect Argentina, making it to three straight finals has it's own merit and their History speaks for itself.

 

Absolutely just didn't put him because I'm not sure who would be captain (ospina maybe Murillo). Esa misma soberbia que usted muestra un sus respuestas, es la misma que a perdido Argentina en la cancha imo.

 

Zanetti was not of this mold. Greatest Argentine right back ever but he did not have those characteristics.

 

He had leadership and character which go a long way to sway decisions his way. Him, Ivan Ramiro and recoba are the reason I root for inter.

 

When I say dirty I don't necessarily mean injuring a player off the field... But yea Alexis is a monster for having played that whole game.

 

You were trying to get away with criticism and I called you on it. Period.

If you are going to have an argument about who should be captain and offer Messi & Ronaldo as examples of who shouldn't be captain, you can add the player who captains a national team but at club level he lost the starting spot to . . . Isco.

We lost two Copa Americas in a lottery (i.e., pk shootout). I'm not crying and games can't be re-played, but let's be honest, we outplayed Chile. Congrats to them with the win, but when you look at stats no one can argue that the team "didn't show up" or that absent character in the captain is the reason why we lost; that's all bs.

The bad thing about soccer is that you can win in pk shootouts. While its true that in 20 years no one is going to care that Chile won it in a PK shootout (all that will be remembered is that they won), however, no one is going to nominate ANY game won in PK shootouts as one of the greatest games ever - b/c we all know what pk shoot out games are. . . a lottery.

Imagine if after 4 quarters, a basketball game is decided by a game of "horse", or after 9 innings a baseball game is decided by a HR derby? its a very flaw game to decide an outcome.