Pavon doesn't track back much tho. Just think he is a bit too offensive minded but I know what you are saying. Pavon and Di Maria on opposite sides would be very hard to defend
Biglia is old too. Blame Kranevitter for not living up to the hype. As of now I'm afraid of either Masch or Biglia starting as our DM.
Yeah it will free up Messi and Banega. When you free either one of them, you have a good chance scoring. However, I wanna note that Enzo had a great counter attacking pass to Messi. That kind of quick passing in counters makes this Argentina unbeatable.
The Bosteros played well, the Gayinas played well, and the others as well. Hoy somos todos Argentinos.
TBH, it felt like Mascherano pushed Messi to do this. But I am not complaining because these things don’t come naturally to Messi and if he can be better on this with some guidelines from el jeficito, the team will only get better.
Can’t properly evaluate Sampaoli because I’m not sure he chose this system or the players influenced him to choose it. He gets a B for his subs though. Needed another striker and needed Pavon for Perez. I didn’t like the Meza for Di Maria sub but he almost won a pk again!
Masche doesn't have the legs anymore and certainly not the player he was in 2014. But can we take a moment to appreciate how much of a warrior this guy is? He finished the game with what looked like a massive cut to this face and kept pushing on. At this point dont think he even has the ability to play at this level anymore so hes purely gutting it out to squeeze every last bit in the tank
It's official. Football is bad for your health. That was so tense. Well done Argentina. Deserved the win, but it was close. The referee cheated us on the first penalty but maybe we got lucky with the second one, where the ball hit Rojo's hand. Not a penalty in my opinion but many refs would have given it, because Rojo was unchallenged and it's his mistake. That could easily have been given and we were out. Armani, fantastic, just brought a calmness that wasn't there before, and when called upon, made a big save, a save that saved us. I thought all our defence played well and they will all keep their spots. We looked much more secure today. Banega was incredible. So confident. World class from him today. He was the key man. I feel so happy for him. Mascherano had a poor game by his standards but he is still so important for this team, his spirit, his determination, his guts. Enzo? I thought he did okay, particularly first-half but he shouldn't be in this team, although I suspect he will start again against France. He works hard for the team. Gonzalo was disappointing. Messi still didn't get on the ball enough for me and for that reason I'd like to see a more creative player in Enzo's spot. Bringing Meza on was a big call from Sampaoli. It was a real show of faith, particularly with Dybala on the bench, but he wanted to keep width. This experience will really help Meza and Pavon, just being part of such a big occasion, and contributing to a win will help their confidence and make them feel they belong on this stage. Two great goals. Incredible scenes at the end and the fans were amazing. Thank you to everybody involved.
Speaking of which, Maradona was attended to by medics after the game. https://www.lanacion.com.ar/2147596...-estadio-y-se-puso-a-bailar-con-una-nigeriana
Pavon is great Meza is bad Lo celso should start instead of enzo By the way so happy the defense didn't play let's pass the ball in the back and instead just kicked it into orbit
Speaking of talking SH1T - Tanguito Banega waiting for his apology from a bunch of you muuueeerrrtooooos…. like YOU
So we got this, I was sobbing already when Nigeria got that free kick that tied us, but Argentina make it through. Andddd we have to face France (which France said they rather face us than face Croatia). What can Argentina improve on so we can beat France? How high is the chances of us beat France? I would love to see Argentina in the quarter-finals. We lost to France in the last meet, which was the international friendly right?
Lol I admit, I gave him shit, but the thing is he is the most inconsistent player in the planet. He’ll play a game like todays, and then be the worst player on the pitch for the next 5. Hopefully he continues like this though, because he can be the decisive factor when he’s on
That was a complete joke and then those Nigerians begging for another one in the second half. Nigeria played average today.
Average? They were down 1, minutes away from being eliminated, and somewhat decided to park the bus without attempting any shot on Argentina’s goal until their pk. Thats not average, thats undeserving. Heck even Iran had a better performance against Portugal than the way those Nigerians played today.
That's because we made them our little bitch all game long. They got dominated in the first half. That penalty gave them a chance. Finally we will not have to play with other teams that just need a point or something. Today felt like trying to disarm a bomb with a gun to your head.