Brasil is pretty damn good, man.They are on a roll and have a serious coach now .Honestly not one of our players other than Messi would make their first XI. They are better than us man for man in every position
Only if Pipita has retired by then, otherwise... its still Pipita upfront. I predict 2-0 lost, but Bauza has exceeded my expectation.
My combined XI would probably look like this: Neymar - Dybala - Messi Paredes - Casemiro - Fernandinho Marcelo - Miranda - Mascherano - Alves Rulli That's 5 Argentines and 6 Brazilians; But the problem is not individuals. Argentina have a stronger team than anyone apart from Brazil in South America, yet they are 6th in the standings. Inexcusable. The manager is fully to blame; even Martino was much better than this Bauzza clown.
They are not that good. They are not playing anything that is spectacular. As for other than Messi not starting for them, perhaps the team that is on the pitch. But we all know we have better players that do not get called.
Ironically all the results have gone our way. Colombia/Chile was a draw, Ecuador got beat and Peru hammered Paraguay 4-1 (shows you what a good side we have that we lost 1 nil at home to them) so this hammering doesn't actually make that much difference, in fact we move up a place!
Tata team at least look like a team. This team looks like Diego's team back in 2009-2010, it looks like bunch of individual they just gathered in the same place few hours ago.
My money now is on Brazil to win the world cup in russia. There are no european teams that are at their level. They have better individuals as us, and they play as a team.
Its like 2010 qualifier scenario again where Diego took the team and lost 4 times but somehow still qualified automatically! but that's not a good thing if this also means Bauza stays. Its a huge disaster waiting to happen in Russia if we qualify under Bauza! The point gap before this round is still too narrow within the top 6 teams. If we beat Colombia in a few days, we can possibly jump to #3 (except if both Chile and Ecuador win) and and the bad news is, it makes Bauza think he's done his shit well! If we beat Colombia, Chile needs to beat Uruguay to stay above Argentina.
I think they have to be favorites. They have some great players and what looks to be a smart coach. Germany has lost some of their bite will also be candidates. Maybe France too?
I don't think so. It's a tournament and it's still 18-19 months away. We cannot make judgments on who is going to win it. They were getting outplayed until they got the first goal. I'm not convinced by them by the least.
Let's not get carried away, 2018 is a long way away and you get nothing for being world beaters in qualifying. The usual suspects will be challenging in Russia and Brazil won't be playing against teams that defend as badly as Argentina. Brazil teams are always over hyped.
Germany always turn in up during tournament. There's a reason why they always reach semi and final in every tournaments .
The thing about this Brazil is that their players grow and play at much higher level for the national team than for their clubs. Paulinho and Renato Augusto play in China, but if you watch them for Brazil you'd think they were at Barcelona and Real Madrid. Neymar is, by his standards, not having a great year at Barca. There, he is very much the third option behind Messi and Suarez, with Brasil he is the main man and he thrives in that role. The new coach Tite is able to just get that much more out of them. Bauza causes great players to play like shit, and shitty players like Zabaleta to take their awfulness to a whole new level
When Tata left, Argentina were on top of the CONMEBOL standings. Bauzza has literally taken Argentina from 1st to 6th.
Probably wishes he hadn't changed his mind about retiring. Got to now look at Dybala and Icardi as being main players for Argentina alongside Messi going forward.
I'm saying right now, they are the favorites. Obviously there is a long time to go and anything can happen, but Tite has transformed the team in just a few months, what can he do in 18-20 months? You've also got to see that the likes of Gabriel Jesus and Gaby Goal will mature so much in that time. Neymar is still only 24. He'll be in his prime in 2018.
Icardi should have been in the team since last year. Now the game against Colombia nees to be treated like a tournament knockout stage.
Doesn't matter at this stage, Germany play in second gear when it comes to qualifying but you know they will be challenging when it comes to 2018. My own theory is that there are no outstanding teams at international level, international football is way below the level of the champions league. Organisation and luck at international level can get you a long way, just look at Portugal and Chile
Idk what Bauza's chances of staying are, but I doubt he gets sacked unless he loses the next game. I think he had a ton of time to put things together and form a team but has failed miserably. His tactics are outdated and he can't get away from selecting underperforming players time and time again. We've been saying the same thing for two years: this team needs new faces and a clear tactical approach.