Quarta got on the end of like every corner kick lol. Guy seems good in the air. Played well. Palacios looked pretty good too. I didnt see the first half.
It kinda was. I was at the game, both of my sisters came along, my three cousins and I brought my girlfriend along, which was probably a bad idea since there was a ton of eye candy around us, and I am sure she probably caught me slippin'. But yea, Messi moves the needle, there is no doubt about that. But I hope this does not deter them from coming back again next year. It has been fun having them coming back to LA for the last couple of years after well over a decade. As for the game itself, I thought we did fine. The first half we played much better. We moved the ball around nicely. Dybala had a couple of moments, one he should've finished. The defense wasn't really tested. De Paul is a workhorse, he will give you his all and he isn't a headless chicken. And speaking of headless chickens, Lautaro... Jesus Christ, he is going to be a problem if he doesn't change the way he plays. At times he was trying way too hard and going for hero ball. He was really frustrating to watch. Another problem was the Chileans were playing ultra dirty. There is no real friendly between us when we play but they clearly lack any talent so they have to foul and kick players. But whatever, they should prepare themselves to be bottom dwellers again because they will not be qualifying for any more World Cup's, anytime soon. And my take on Scaloni is that he should be given credit for continuing to call up some younger names. Not staying with the same rag-tag group of worthless bums. I don't think there is a greater honor in the sport than being called up to your national team, especially a team like ours. This should boost their confidence and continue to strive for excellence. 've continued to say, if we manage to blend in some fresh faces with the established core that we have, we can contend for every tournament we enter. And that's how it should be. We had three bad years, from post-CAC to Russia 2018 and people began to write us off as the fall of Argentine futbol. Some were saying we would be lucky to get out of the group stages of the last CA, and if it wasn't for some dodgy officiating in the semis, we could've very well been in the final. But that's not here or there, anymore. Qatar is nearly three years away, and by the CA 2020, Scaloni will need to have his team ready and firing on all cylinders.
Lautaro was frustrating yesterday. He tried to do the spectacular when he should have been more composed and search for better options. I'm just hoping that it's his youth that is causing this. However, there were encouraging signs in yesterday's game and I'm excited for the future than when I was back in 2016. We have a system in place and for me most of the starting core (GK, LB, MF and FW) is already set for this Copa 20 and the WC 22 qualifiers. For me, the question marks are the CBs, the RB and squad depth. I liked Quarta's performance for a debut game and I also liked Montiel's performance yesterday @locoxriver . I'm hoping that the River connection in defense with Armani as the keeper can help speed up the chemistry for the international stage. I also hope that both Romero and Lisandro Martinez are called up for the senior side for the Oct. friendlies. They are too good for the U-23 side for me and should be starting for the senior side already imo. But I do think that both of them will compete for the Olympics 2020 if they do qualify; I'm hoping I am wrong. I also like to praise Scaloni for introducing young players as we get to calmly find out who could be good enough to be in the squad and I think most of the young players have the potential to make a good contribution from now on.
Still I don't mind lautaro being selfish we need that believe or not. Too many times players go back with the ball or look for lazy back passes ruin chances. I saw what you guys saw but for me that's a positive. He also had the fantastic lay off to dybala who should have shot better. Every south American team plays extra dirty aggressive against us. Brazil doesn't get the same treatment. Only us and they get away with kicking legs without ball but when dybala interrupts a free kick its a yellow card it's a joke. I think most South American referees have a personal venedeta against argentina we will never get a fair treatment
Scaloni has clearly no idea how to organize an attack. Can't even setup simple triangles. I like his lineups I think they are mostly good but aside from that I doubt he's putting any more thoughts into the games.
Only watch the highlights, I thought we created quite many good chances, just lack some killer instinct upfront. I dont mind Lautaro being selfish , in Copa he proof that he could work well together with Kun and Messi. However, this is friendly so a very young player like him would try to impress with some individual flair, every great talents does this and should be allowed too. I dont see him doing that during Copa unlike Angelito did in every single game. Aguero being a bit selfish and more direct in recent Copa and he's involved in 4 goals. I agree that the lack of triangle passes is somehow mindboggling, it has been absent since Tata left. The game is very rough for friendlies, 10 bookings? but its good learning curve for these younger players... at least they know what to expect when they play in WC qualifier. There will be plenty game similar to this. I also notice Argentina tend to get the worst treatment when we play South American team with American ref. You can expect alot of dodgy call against us throughout 2022 qualifier.
Lo Celso will be out for nearly two months due to the injury he suffered vs. Chile This means that not only will his adaptation to Tottenham be delayed, but he'll also be missing our October friendly vs. Germany
2 beautiful goals by Lautaro. An amazing pass from Palacios. I really like him with Paredes in midfield.
Im at office and couldnt stream but it seems that we started well based on scoreline. Lautaro is approching 10 goals marks so fast.