FIFA World Cup 2018: Argentina vs. Croatia - June 21 [R]

I hope you're right about this being Rock Bottom, because "rock bottomer" is only a Nigeria Match away...

 

Bingo. How many top Argentine GKs play at top clubs? None

How many world class defenders do Argentina currently possess? None.

How many world class mids? None.

Argentina lack talent and production of talent.

In 2006, Italy won and France were 2nd. In 2010 & 2014 Italy failed to get out of the group and didn't qualify in 2018. France didn't get out of the group in 2010 either.

In 2010, Spain defeated Netherlands. In 2014 Spain were eliminated in the group and in 2018 Netherlands failed to qualify.

Now after the 2014 WC final, both Argentina and Germany are at risk of being KOed in the groups. Unless Argentina start producing good players to fill out an entire squad, it wouldn't shock me to see them follow the trend and struggle internationally until their next golden generation.

2014 was this golden generations one chance at winning and they came up just agonizingly short. It might be a while to see Argentina at that level again.

 

Yes, mentallity is the key and the 05-07 generations aint having that. They got the talent but lack of strong mentallity and determination. Those are two keys factor.

Yup, it was against Peru actually. When Palermo scored , I couldnt see where the ball is.

 

Was watching it on a grainy stream which made it even worse.

 

Thought our best chance talent-wise was 2010.

We had the awesome defensive spine from Inter which only had to chance their shirts and a few pieces out in (Samuel, Zanetti, Cambiasso). Zabaleta was in his prime and should have been right back. Demichelis pairing with Samuel in the middle. The cherry being prime Mascherano pairing with Cambiasso to give us a flawless defense (talented, prime players, with plenty of character).

Then bruiser Diego Milito to lead our line.

Messi was at his physical peak as well.

I would have gone with:
Zabaleta-Samuel-Demichelis-Zanetti
----Cambiasso--Enzo--Mascherano-----
----Messi----------Milito------------------DiMaria

Did we have another midfielder who could run, score goals, and play tough? Maybe that one instead of Enzo. But Enzo was already good at this time.

Instread we played a soft lineup with players out of position like we usually do.

Pretty crazy that our fullbacks were Otamendi and Heinze when we had two natural fullbacks among the top ten in the world at the time (Zabaleta and Zanetti).

Then we play Mascherano alone in midfield against Germany.

Diego thought the back 4 plus Masch could hold off all of Germany.

Ota- Demichelis-Burdisso-Heinze
-----------Mascherano----------------
Maxi-----Messi-----Di María
---------Higuain----Tevez----

Argentina almost always too optimistic on offense. This is what Sabella saw and changed. Seems we forgot.

 

Think Tim Vickery & @Albiceleste2010 are the same, or Vicke-pedia is late to the party..

http://global.espn.com/football/fif...he-sides-widespread-problemslack-of-direction

 

They got to quater final of the workd cup, won 4 out of 5 games in South Africa and scored goals, compared to this rabble they were like the Brazil team of 1970.

 

Obviously their result was better. I'm talking about how they appeared at the time in 2009. They looked horrible.

 

Did you delete your post, @cigar_city because I want to apologize and can't find it. I saw an article on reddit but after more research it appears it was a grand hoax. Regardless he seems to be a very introverted personality, something I identify with strongly so I only have the greatest empathy for him. I've never expected him to be a vocal leader as a result.

 

I did, and please don't apologize, you are a good dude. It is a topic/area of which I am very well informed, so when some people so easily make reference to it, amd throw out that label, it rankles me. I still did not need to "howl at the moon," and picked a bad time to do it frankly. Being hung over with a lack of sleep contributed to my flippant post.

But... that can be addressed later when this entire fiasco is behind us.

So no worries, hermano. Y gracias.

 

We've often struggled to qualify for the world cup, remember the play off game against Australia

 

Remember that one team that needed the last match to qualify, then drew against a micronation, got destroyed in the second match, and went on to get out of the group with a last minute goal against Nigeria? They then went on to beat beat France, Portugal, and Brazil!
Good times.

 

If things remain the same for the next 66 minutes in the Nigeria Iceland game...

 

The sad thing about Argentina is that we have absolutely nothing to fall back on. Of all the "weaker" teams, they all have something that you can pick out and say yeah that was good, or that was entertaining.

Look at Peru, they brought a bunch of heart. They couldn't even score a goal in 2 games, and like us missed a pen, but they brought it till the end. The third goal last night sums up the lack of heart and effort of this team. Messi standing around and Mascherano with his hand raised asking for off sides and not even trying to close down Rakatic who has all the time. Thats our captain and Vice captain people, no heart at all. Both should be axed after this world cup no matter what happens. And lets not hear, oh the game was over it was already 2-0, in a world cup goal difference matters so much, and giving away a cheap third goal ONLY because of 0 EFFORT could cost us.

Or you have teams like Iran, Iceland, or even Morocco well organized and great defending. Or you have Costa Rica with a world class goalie, while our stupid coach put his bald buddy Caballero, a complete MUERTO.

We literally did NOTHING right in two games.

And it all starts with the coach. Does he realize how absurd he looks dressed like that with those tattoos? I'm sorry, but anyone who at the age of 58 gets tattoos like that is clearly not well in the head. His squad selection, his team selection, and his strategy and tactics have been poor in every game since he took over, and its not like its rocket science. We all knew Caballero, Biglia, Di Maria, Rojo, Meza, etc. should be no where near the squad, yet here there are in the XI and costing us points and making us a laughing stock.

And his constant yelling and running up and down the touch line, insulting the croat player, its all disgusting and why i didn't want this Kirchnerist, Peronist without one strain of class in his whole body to be the national team coach. He didn't even shake hands with his croat counterpart. I think he's disgusting and he epitomizes why this is not only the worst Argentina team of my life time, but its also the least likable. Look at Otamendi... Kicking the ball straight into Rakatic's face while he's lying on the ground... That kind of thing happens when you have a coach with no class or sportsmanship like Sampaoli. Never see that kind of shit with Gallardo in charge.

The only and I mean the ONLY player who has given his all, played well, and most importantly acted with class is Nicolas Tagliafico. Going forward he's the kind of guy I want the team built around. A good middle class kid who is concerned with football not tattoos or stupid hairstyles. I may sound old fashioned, but this is the kind of player I want on my team, not Meza's or Di Maria's or especially not a coach like we have

 

If things remain the same, Iceland will have 2 points and Croatia could easily let them get a pass and Croatia could still top the group. Just sayin...

 

Nigeria looks terrible... maybe even we can beat them.

 

Let’s not push it.

 

I liked Tagliafico? Which of our players *do not* have tattoos?

 

I don't care if a player has tattoos, but i think some of them look ridiculous and messi, sampaoli, otamendi, biglia, meza, di maria in particular. Its just my opinion, I don't dislike someone just bc they have tattoos, but in the case of Sampaoli, it just sums him up perfectly. Kirchnerist. Fan of shitty rock bands like Indio Solari. Says he's a man of the people yet insults a traffic cop telling him he only makes 100 pesos a month when he gets pulled over while drunk. He's disgusting, and those tattoos just add to his disgusting appearance. He is a piece of trash

As for who doesn't have tattoos, Tagliafico, Mascherano, and Mercado are the only ones as far as I know. Higuain used to not have any, but he now has one.

 

I don't have a problem with tattoos per se but they are symptoms of cultural decline.

 

Tattoos all look horrible. Messi should have never gotten any.

 

Bastante grasa el Sampaoldey, ni si quiera cerca de ser un Señor como Don Chiqui "Claudio" Tapia El Segundo.

 

Oh yeah get in Nigeria!

 

Except on hot trashy porn chicks... Wait...

(DELETE DELETE DELETE)

 

Game on!....our players better be practicing the offside trap right now rather than wallowing in self-pity.

 

They're acceptable on whored and sailors who have crossed the seven seas and spent a year in Fiji.