I have watched Ajax a bit. Considering how good Lisandro is with the ball at his feet, he is an excellent tackler. I would love to give him free roam to destroy the midfield and start attacks from the back, using Paredes as the pivot and more advanced playmaker. We have a wealth of options. It is going to take great coaching and some luck to find the best combinations. I just hate how hard headed these coaches seem to be with implementing new players and tactics. Plus there just aren't enough games to experiment.
Australia 🇦🇺 y Catar 🇶🇦 no disputarán la próxima #CopaAmérica ⚽️🏆. La AFC programó jornadas de Eliminatorias al Mundial 2022 para esas mismas fechas. pic.twitter.com/XooxTr2g5S— VarskySports (@VarskySports) February 23, 2021 Both Australia and Qatar pull out of the Copa America. Wonder how the schedule is going to look like now.
I was thinking the same thing... probably Mexico B and Haiti, or something. The Gold Cup does start in July, though, so realistically idk if there are many Central/North American sides that can field two different rosters other than Mexico and USA Considering how this year the Copa America is only divided into two groups (rather than the usual 3), from an organizational standpoint it might just be easier to skip the guests and keep it strictly CONMEBOL. However in that case the group stage will become pretty lame since practically all the teams would advance (4 out of 5 make it through to knockouts) Personally I would go for a tournament restructuring: keep it as two groups (5 teams round-robin), but with only the top two advancing to a semifinal knockout (1A v. 2B, 2A v. 1B) to make the first round much more exciting. Of course we know that money cows are running this whole thing though, so that’s unlikely to happen
Romero with another solid showing for Atalanta. The Italian side were on their back foot for most of the game since the German ref egregiously sent off an Atalanta player. They lost 1-0 but I don’t think they’re out of it.
Martinez Quarta's super clean tackle recognized on Fiorentina's twitter: CHINO ⛰️🇦🇷#MondayMotivation by @ChinoMartinez28 👊#ForzaViola 💜 #Fiorentina pic.twitter.com/YXuIAJfaWV— ACF Fiorentina English (@ACFFiorentinaEN) February 22, 2021
After Atalanta went down to 10 men with 75 minutes still to play I thought they were completely out of it. 0-1 is not a bad result at all given the circumstances. I still think they can go through.
Indeed. I think they can very well go into Madrid and score two goals. Madrid is a mediocre side. Here is a nice piece on Atalanta’s defense, which Romero is talked about. https://www.managingmadrid.com/plat...&utm_source=twitter&__twitter_impression=true Cristian Romero, the Most Aggressive Center Back in Europe On loan from Juventus this season, the 22-year-old Argentinian center back is loving the controlled chaos of Gasperini’s system. He can join the attack and assist Duván Zapata like he were a classic Argentinian number ten, but he will also cheerfully hack away at opponents. Among big 5 league center backs in the last calendar year, Romero has done the most tackles + interceptions per game (5.35), 2nd most pressures per game (16.08), and ranks within the top 7% of most ball recoveries per game (13.2). To give an example of how high this is, Romero recovers the ball more frequently than Casemiro (3.97 tackles + interceptions, 12.2 ball recoveries). This is extremely unusual output for center backs, who usually stay back and have the midfielders do most of the tackling and pressing work. Romero’s hyper proactive defensive behavior also comes at a cost: he commits the most fouls (2.80) among big 5 league center backs. Romero represents Atalanta’s defense in a nutshell: extreme ability to steal the ball at the expense of tactical fouling.
Just making the analogy that club form is hardly an indicator of NT form. If Paredes has improved his defence im all for it but I won't yield my stance until i see him do it for the NT. I have ptsd from last copa when uncle Alves sat him on his ass.
Pretty dumb he lost his starting spot to begin with. Martinez now plays weekly as a CB. He was pretty awful today his only weakness I see right now is his 1v1 defending. He is vulnerable to getting beat but I still say he has WC potential. Yup, head and shoulders above any Argentine defender right for me.
What is going on with Dybala and Aguero? Are they still injured? Just a little tidbit I came across: Dybala league goals before Ronaldo 15/16 - 19 goals 16/17 - 11 goals 17/18 - 22 goals Dybala since Ronaldo arrived 18/19 - 5 goals 19/20 - 11 goals 20/21 - 2 goals
Kun has returned. Dybala is having knee issues. He went to Barcelona to have it inspected this week and the doctors told him it is fine.It isn’t as bad as they thought. So, he won’t need surgery. But there is no timetable for his return. Juve are struggling this season without him. And probably won’t win the league. He’s missed a majority of the season. I guess that tells you his significance to the squad.
I think Aguero just returned in last 2 games after long recovery from surgery. He rarely starts this season. When you have CR in your team, then all FK & penalties belongs to him. So obviously he gonna get 10 less than what he could or should have. Good thing Messi is back to his best. He's on 8 games scoring streak. Lautaro also has been great in recent weeks, had an assist for the opening goal yesterday and was threatening throughout. I wonder who would be our third forward for qualifier, since I dont think Kun or Dybala are in best shape at all.
Speaking to the press in Argentina (March 1, 2021), Scaloni said that for the next two matches against Brazil & Uruguay, he is not expecting Dybala to be fit. He is hoping Aguero will be fit, and also said that Marcos Senesi is making noticeable advancement and playing meaningful minutes for Feyenoord. So, we might get Aguero and Senesi, but very unlikely to get Dybala for the next round.
💣 FIFA is reportedly asking CONMEBOL to cancel March’s World Cup qualifiers and reschedule it for another date in the FIFA calendar from now to next year because of numerous European clubs not waiting to release their players to travel to South America due to COVID restrictions. https://t.co/67PHn0WLBq— Roberto Rojas (@RobertoRojas97) March 3, 2021 European clubs found another way to screw with us
Impressive showing from Buendia. He seems to have quality and class in his game. I’m not overly hopeful that we will see new faces but I guess we just have to wait and see what Scaloni. He’s been linked to Arsenal. And @locoxriver he supports River. Surely this will win his some brownie points from you. ——— And lol@ European clubs trying to postpone the qualifiers. Good luck with that, fools.
Apparently they're going to have a Zoom meeting tomorrow to discuss the possibility of moving the March WCQs to Europe..... Budapest, Bucharest, and Athens are being mentioned as possible host cities
I guess that's preferable to postponing or playing with only local players. Not like fans would be missing out.
CONMEBOL have announced that this month's South American World Cup qualifiers have been suspended. No new dates have been announced. https://t.co/steuof2aVV— Roy Nemer (@RoyNemer) March 6, 2021
I honestly wouldn't be surprised if the Copa 21 will be pushed back to the summer of 2023 just to cram the WCQ games in this summer.