Argentine NT: News, Stats & Players [R]

Splitting the qualifiers into two groups in a terrible idea. I know this is what they did back in the day but since the 98 qualifiers, the home-away games have always gave a sense of excitement. Not to mention, the team you start with, will likely not be the team you end up with. The qualifiers are played in this long stretch, which is great, because it helps a team grow. Now what? Have 6 to 8 games and then have this Mickey Mouse UeFA-CONMEBOL tournament?


They need to stop messing with what works.

 

Nations league is like bootleg version of Condeferation. Less exciting.

 

With all these kids that got called up in the most recent squad I'm confused now how Argentina's World Cup squad coud look like.

Can anyone post how a probable 26 man squad for Argentina could look like?

 

E.Martinez, Musso, Armani (Rulli)
Molina, Montiel, Romero, Pezzella, Martinez Quarta, Otamendi, Lisandro Martinez, Tagliafico, Acuña. (Foyth)
De Paul, Paredes, Lo Celso, Guido Rodriguez, Nico Gonzalez, Papu Gomez (Emi Buendia, Mac Allister, Nico Dominguez, Exequiel Palacios)
Messi, Lautaro Martinez, Di Maria (Angel Correa, Joaquin Correa, Julian Alvarez)

Those without the () are the ones that I think they will surely go, some of them like the Correas and Alvarez maybe are in too, but I'm not sure, the rest are in doubt.

 

Wait. No Dybala?

That's too many players aged 30 and older. I went back all the way to 1986.
No World Cup Champions since 1986 had more than 6 players aged 30 and more in their final 22/23 man squad. According to your list 9 players that are fix will fall into that age category by the time the World Cup kicks off.

Brazil have right now pretty much the same "problem". That's why my money is yet again on a champion from UEFA this time.

 

When do people understand that this is the World Cup?
Winning the Copa America (a tournament with barely 10 teams) is a nice achievement but it doesn't tell us whether Argentina are good enough to beat the best sides in UEFA.

The World Cup have several unwritten rules to it. I took the squad of that buddy here and included the youngest possible options yet the average age of the squad is 27.88 years.

This is not the squad structure of a World Cup champion. A World Cup winning squad should have much more youth to it than guys in the twilight of their careers.

Spain are my favourites this time. I predict an Argentina - Spain semi-final.

 

The team that won the CA had an average of 27. This includes the likes of Kun and Marchesín, who won’t be there(Kun for certain and likely Marchesín as well).

 

I would argue that 27-28 are the prime years of a footballer and it's the ideal range to have in a WC squad. Let's look at our starting XI by the time the WC starts and during the WC.

Argentina
Martinez (30)---Molina (24), Romero (24), Otamendi (34), Acuna (31)---Di Maria (34), De Paul (28), Paredes (28), Lo Celso (26)---Messi (34), Martinez (25)

Average age of starting XI: 29
Average age without GK: 28.9

Let's look at Spain's

Simon (25)---Cesar (33), Torres (25), Laporte (28), Alba (33)---Koke (30), Busquets (34), Pedri (20)---Sarabia (30), Torres (22), Oyarzabal (25)

Average age of starting XI: 27.7
Average age without GK: 28

For me, GK doesn't count as they don't run and you can argue that 30 is a prime year for a GK. If you look at the average age without GK between Argentina and Spain, it's not that much of a difference. Plus, Spain has more players over 30 without GK in their starting XI than Argentina.

 

You win World Cups with the entire squad not with just with 11 players. Spain's squad will be around 1.5 years younger than Argentina's.

I don't think Spain's starting line up will be like you posted. The thing with Spain is that Luis Enrique doesn't have any identified starting line up. I don't think Koke will be a starter. Rodri (26) will take his place. Ansu Fati (20) if healthy and in form should start on the left wing.

 

Marcos Senesi – Player Report – Target Scouting

He's a less better version of Romero for all intents and purposes but not that far behind. Ironic that Juventus are after him. He should be in Scaloni's radar as successor to Otamendi and Medina should be in the picture as well.

There is a real premium of ball playing CBs now and Otamendi while not terrible is not that great either. He's a defenders defender.

 

It's all about money. Brazil and Argentina are guaranteed to bring in crowds rather than Albania or Luxembourg.

The whole Nations League is a nonsense anyway. I don't even remember of care who won it last time. But I remember the continental champions and World champions and the entire history of those.

CONMEBOL is looking at the financial side. We would no doubt have enough matches to form an identity but I love the current qualification format. It allows sides to develop and the home and away ties make it all equitable. Not to mention home fans will miss the chance to see the seleccion in person.

And I don't like the idea of familarity being bred. A Mundial is exciting because it's between sides who rarely if ever play each other and most of the time you have no idea about like Qatar for instance.

 

Italy 06 are the only of the last six winners that had an average age of over 27 years.

Age and squad structure are very important parameters when picking a World Cup winner. Feel free to disagree.

 

Rodri is more of a CDM and Busquets is playing in that position and Luis Enrique played Koke ahead of Rodri in both games vs Italy and France in the 2021 Nations League.

Agree on Fati and would like to see Fati back as I like the kid. But let's wait and see how he recovers.

Even with that, Spain would have at the very least the same amount of players over 30 without GK in their starting XI as that of Argentina.

 

I understand the thought process & would generally worry about age regarding fitness/injuries. The main worry for us regarding age is Messi. Regardless of what people say about Messi and his relationship with the national team, he’s always been the best player on the field, even when the rest of the team has been a mess. But if he gives a performance even close to his 2021 Copa America, we’ll go very far. As for Di Maria and Otamendi, their 2021-22 selves have been better than the previous few years. And Papu and Acuña seem to have gotten better and better with age. So yeah, if age catches up with these guys right before the WC, it would be a problem, but at the moment… (*knocks on wood, plays anti-Mufa card).

 

Lots of players today still on top form in their mid 30s. Lewa, Benzema, Di Maria etc. This is not 70s or 80s where athletes decline in their late 20s or early 30s. Zanetti was 35 when he beat prime Messi and won treble. Form matters more than age.

Speaking of Acuna, he's only 30, which is younger than Messi in WC 2018 for comparison. Also, most of our key players are already in the right age bracket, anywhere between 20-30 years old (Cuti, RDP, Paredes, Emi, Lautaro, Guido,Nico, Julian etc)

I agree I only worry on Messi fitness, although he looked just fine in recent qualifiers, but WC still almost 8 months away. Anything could happen in between , good or bad. Some players could still be dropped if their form decline dramatically in first quartar of next season but some other players could gain form and getting a call up, even if 80% of the current squad are guarenteed to be there.

 

Argentina vs. Brazil World Cup qualifier to be played in Europe, possibly in June. https://t.co/TTHg964ZIa

— Roy Nemer (@RoyNemer) April 9, 2022

 

Another impressive display from Cuti. Here's his first interview in England.

Cristian Romero: ‘I’ve always had spirit, desire and aggression – if I ever lost that, I’d have a problem’


Has a new Tottenham Hotspur signing ever felt as instantly right as Cristian Romero?

The Argentinian defender arrived last summer from Atalanta and has made such an impact that he already feels like a club legend in the making. Spurs head coach Antonio Conte has described him as “perfect” for the Premier League. Former Tottenham captain and fellow centre-back Ledley King claimed this week that “he’s going to be a top, top player”.

Romero, still only 23, is not just an elite centre-back. He is also a ferocious competitor, someone who has made a big impression on his team-mates despite not being the most vocal. He possesses the sort of sometimes-unhinged aggression that makes you so relieved he’s on your team and not the opposition.
You can feel Romero’s presence when he enters the room, as he did this week at Tottenham’s training ground for his first interview with a UK publication.

“I love life here,” Romero, who is naturally quiet but has an aura of self-assurance, tells The Athletic, reflecting on a momentous eight months since arriving on loan from Atalanta — in a deal that will be made permanent in the summer for £42.5 million. “Right at the start it wasn’t easy. I think when change happens in our life you always need a certain amount of time to be able to adapt and settle in. First and foremost, the language is quite a basic thing and you need that to get by. But gradually I feel I’ve settled in.”

Romero conducts the interview in Spanish but he is picking up bits of English. Over the course of our conversation he explains how much he is enjoying living in north-west London, and the impact of becoming a father for the first time in December. The contrast between his sentimental side as he proudly discusses his “three month and one week-old” son Valentino and the hugely physical, aggressive defender we see on the pitch is striking.

As for that highly confrontational approach Spurs fans have become accustomed to and relish, Romero says: “I’ve always had that spirit and desire and aggression. And I think if I ever lost that, I’d have a problem.”

Most would agree with Romero at the moment (certainly to his face), and it’s hard to think of many more in-form defenders in the Premier League right now. Romero was voted man of the match by the club’s supporters after Spurs’ last match against Newcastle, and is a key reason for the team’s much-improved defence. Tottenham have conceded just four in their last six Premier League matches, five of which have been wins.

They are up to fourth and suddenly look like a good bet to qualify for the Champions League.
Romero puts much of the turnaround down to the appointment of Conte in November. “Since he’s arrived, the morale in the squad and certainly among the fans has changed totally around.”
But he also singles out January signings Dejan Kulusevski and Rodrigo Bentancur for praise, and on a personal level remains grateful for Eric Dier for the way he helped him settle after joining Tottenham last summer.

Away from Spurs, Romero reflects on an action-packed few international breaks with Argentina and explains why playing for the national team means so much to him and his compatriots.
Romero will be reunited with a couple of them this evening when Spurs take on Emi Martinez and Emi Buendia’s Aston Villa.

It’s a game Tottenham must win to keep the pressure on Woolwich in the top-four race, a goal Romero feels he and his team-mates are well capable of achieving.

“When I look at the squad I can just see the quality of the players we have,” Romero says. “We have it within us and we have what it takes to be able to achieve that target.”
As we are introduced, Romero says he is happy to be called “Cuti”, the nickname that has stuck since childhood. It originated when one of his uncles noticed that he was the spitting image of a local lad with that name and started using it with young Cristian. It is now how he is universally known.

Something that stuck out about young Cuti back then growing up in Cordoba, and remains the case now, is his aggressiveness on the football pitch. Romero started playing football seriously aged five and he says he’s always had that fire in the belly.

“I think it’s something where I’ve just grown up like that. That’s been my style of play,” he says. “In Cordoba where I grew up as a player, we were encouraged to play in that kind of way. Defenders in Argentina are encouraged to be aggressive and show aggression. I think if you lose that spirit and that desire that you have inside you… the three years I played in Italy, for example, were great for me as a footballer but throughout that period I always had that spirit and desire and aggression.”

As with most highly-charged footballers, it is a question of balance. How to ensure a player doesn’t overstep the mark without losing the hunger that drives them. Romero appears to be finding this balance, having only been sent off once for Spurs (and never in the Premier League). That may still sound like one too many, especially alongside 11 yellows in his 25 appearances across all competitions, but it’s an improvement on his record in Italy. Sent off in just his second game for Genoa in October 2018, across his three seasons in Italy Romero picked up a staggering 39 yellows and three reds in 102 games. He was substituted on several occasions last season for fear he would pick up a second booking.
Conte did something similar when withdrawing Romero after 52 minutes of the 5-0 win over Everton last month, and said a few weeks ago that “sometimes he gets a yellow card he can avoid… sometimes you can’t explain this in a good manner. You have to shout!”

In general, though, Conte has been hugely impressed by Romero, who since returning from a three-month hamstring injury in February has been outstanding. Upon joining Spurs, sources in Italy said that based on his performances with Atalanta, Romero could have the same transformative effect on the Tottenham defence as Ruben Dias and Virgil van Dijk have had on Manchester City and Liverpool’s respectively.

Eight months on, those predictions don’t seem far-fetched. Romero’s calmness and quality on the ball have lifted his fellow defenders, who also can’t fail to be inspired by his commitment. Take Sunday’s win 5-1 over Newcastle for instance, when within seconds he cleaned out Alain Saint-Maximin with a firm but fair tackle and then made a brilliant block to deny what looked like a certain goal from Joe Willock. “What a block!” former Liverpool and England centre-back Jamie Carragher said on Sky Sports. “He’s a top player, him.”


Romero also has the attitude, edge and star quality that Spurs have been lacking for so long. It genuinely feels that Spurs will soon have a third superstar at the club after Harry Kane and Son Heung-min, if they don’t already.

Though, temperamentally, Romero is very different from those two. As well as his aggression, he is regarded as a master of the dark arts — a characteristic many feel Spurs have been missing for a while. Jose Mourinho called the team “too nice” while he was in charge. Romero is someone who is happy to feel contact and go down if it benefits the team, but also to stand over others accusing them of simulation. As he did to Pablo Fornals in Spurs’ 1-0 defeat to West Ham in October.

There was also the incident in last month’s 3-2 loss at Manchester United when he appeared to goad Harry Maguire after the defender had scored an own goal. “I think sometimes things happen in football and maybe if you capture a moment with a single photo it can seem like something that wasn’t really happening,” Romero says of the incident at Old Trafford. “I’ve got nothing but respect for Harry Maguire. He’s a top player who is having a great career. And generally I always respect my opponents so I think people who don’t know about the game get hold of a story and run with it and talk about something that’s not really there. Maybe on that occasion I didn’t quite do the right thing but I had no bad intentions.”
As well as adapting to a new country and new team this season, Romero has also had to learn a new position. At Atalanta he predominantly played as the middle centre-back in a three, but Conte has used him as the right-sided centre-back.

It’s taken some adjustment but it looks to be the perfect role for Romero — showcasing his excellent one-on-one defending and allowing him to start Spurs attacks with his outstanding distribution (as he did for Spurs’ opener in the 3-2 win at Manchester City), and sometimes even finish them (as with his fortuitous goal at Brighton. It was also his presence by the six-yard box that spooked Maguire into his own goal at Old Trafford). It also makes him less vulnerable to crosses, where he can look uncomfortable.

“I played in the middle of the three in Serie A, and so I found it tough at first because I was slightly out of position compared to what I was used to but the great thing about Conte is I feel I’ve improved tactically,” Romero says of his tweaked role. “My positional awareness has improved as well. He explains the detail and what he wants in a really perfect way. “I hope my performances are the same in either role. I feel comfortable doing either. Even if he puts me as goalkeeper, as long as I’m playing that’s the main thing.”

As well as being solid defensively, Romero has been given clear licence to get forward and help Spurs overwhelm opposition defences: “What Antonio says about football is: join in (with the attacks) when you can and it’s all about enjoyment. Enjoy the game with responsibility, with all your tactical responsibilities and stuff like that. If you get the opportunity to join in then do so.
“I like to do that.”

In general, Romero feels that Conte’s arrival has transformed the team — a group that were clearly suffering under Nuno Espirito Santo.

“Since he’s arrived, the morale in the squad and certainly among the fans has changed totally around,” says Romero. “The morale and the spirit in the dressing room is totally improved. “It’s tough for a manager coming in almost halfway through the season. So to turn things around 100 per cent in the way he would like is never easy. But I think he’s doing well, we’ve consolidated as a squad and as a team, and he’s got us playing pretty much how he wants us to. Tactically we’ve improved where we are on the field and that sort of thing. I think there are still things that need to be just tweaked, perfected.”

Romero knew plenty about Kane and Son and their quality before joining Tottenham, but he has also been struck by how much of a difference Spurs’ January signings have made: “The person who’s really surprised me is Kulusevski because I think he’s really added something either we didn’t have or didn’t see so often. He’s a really bright and intelligent player who’s become a vital cog in our system. “Bentancur I was aware of from Italy, I always thought he was the kind of player who could cut it in the Premier League. What’s surprised me is the level at which he’s doing really, really well. How important he’s become for us so quickly. “The performances of the team in general speak for each player but in particular speak for him and how well he has done for us.”
Moving to another country where you don’t speak the language would be tough at the best of times, but the circumstances of Romero’s first year have made it especially challenging. The England he arrived in was still feeling in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, his wife was preparing to give birth, and only a month after arriving he was caught up in the storm that saw Argentina’s match against Brazil postponed in Sao Paulo after a few minutes. Romero, along with Martinez, Buendia and Giovani Lo Celso faced deportation from Brazil after being accused of breaking the country’s rules on entering the country by allegedly failing to report that they had been in the UK during the previous 14 days. For COVID isolation reasons, Romero then had to quarantine in Croatia before returning to London, missing two Spurs matches in the process.

At the next international break in November — by which time Nuno, the manager who had signed him for Spurs, had been sacked — Romero picked up an injury that kept him out for almost three months. In the last international break in March, Romero was called up by Argentina despite him being suspended for both their matches in the hope that the ban might be overturned. It wasn’t, and so from a footballing point of view, it was a wasted trip.

Thankfully things have generally been a lot calmer for Romero since the turn of the year — a feeling of contentment fuelled by the birth of his son in late December. “At first the feeling was almost fear, trepidation because it’s all new being a dad,” he says. “But now I’m getting used to it, being a good dad I think. “It’s such a happy occasion. We’re together as a team, me and my wife. She’s fantastic, just a great, great person. Credit (to) her because all the time I spend here at the training ground, travelling the night before we go to games. I don’t spend as much time as I’d like to with my baby. “But as soon as training’s finished or I get home from a game it’s just spending time with that little lad, along with his mum. That’s my life at the moment, that’s our life. We’re always together.”

Romero laughs when it’s put to him that perhaps the young boy could one day be eligible to play for England. “I don’t think so because he’ll have an Argentinian passport,” he says.

The three of them are very settled in their north-west London home, and Romero says he’s fortunate to live in such a nice area. They’re enjoying seeing the sights — Big Ben has been a particular highlight — and having a coffee in central parts of the city. Romero visited London while playing in Italy and has always found it “a fantastic place, a beautiful city”.

He is also enjoying getting to know his team-mates better, naturally gravitating more towards the Spanish speakers as he lists Emerson Royal, Bentancur, Kulusevski, Pierluigi Gollini, Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg, Lucas Moura and Sergio Reguilon as among those he is close with. “We are a very close-knit group.”

He also name-checks Hugo Lloris, who lives nearby. In fact, the two live so close that they drive into training together. Do they take turns to give the other lifts? “No, it’s always me driving!” he responds, laughing. “He uses me as his own taxi driver.”

Dier is another who has made a big impression on Romero: “He was instrumental when I joined. We’ve always got on well on and off the field. The fact he speaks Spanish really helps with our on-pitch understanding as well. He was instrumental also in bringing me into the group. “From the day I arrived, he was really good at introducing me to everyone and making me feel at home as well so I was grateful for that. But first and foremost, what a great season he’s having — he brings a lot to the team, loads as a player. “I’m guessing it is his objective to get back into the international set-up. We all feel he’s doing well and it can’t be long with the form that he’s showing before he’s back in the England squad.”

Romero hopes soon to be able to converse with Dier and the rest of the team in English, and says: “I’m not there yet to be able to have regular dialogue and conversations in English, but I’m getting there. Considering I had absolutely zero when I came here. I’m really regretful that in English classes in school I never paid attention. “I’d just say to myself, ‘Why would I learn English? I’m never going to leave Argentina. What’s the point?’”
Romero’s expectation that he wouldn’t leave Argentina seems pretty pessimistic now, but he was not necessarily seen as being destined for big things.

He did not come through at one of the country’s biggest clubs, instead joining the youth set-up at Club Atletico Belgrano (a Cordoba-based side currently in the second tier) in his mid-teens, before making his debut for the first team as an 18-year-old in 2016. It’s striking, watching footage of him back then, how mature he looks already — more weathered veteran than callow youngster. His father joked last year that “he is 23 years old but looks 30”.

As a child Romero says his life was “all football”, and his father believes his maturity and old head on young shoulders comes from playing with his older cousins and brother as a youngster. Romero also has an older sister.

His impressive performances for Belgrano, then in Argentina’s top flight, earned him a move to Serie A side Genoa in 2018. Romero joined Juventus a year later, in a move overseen by the now managing director of football at Spurs Fabio Paratici, but was instantly loaned back to Genoa. He then spent last season on loan at Atalanta, where his outstanding displays won him the prestigious Serie A defender of the year award. Atalanta exercised their option to buy at the end of the campaign and sold him to Spurs for what will become a big profit when he moves permanently this summer.

But it wasn’t until June that Romero made his debut for Argentina. He was an instant hit and was a key part of the side that won the Copa America a month later — being named in the team of the tournament despite missing a chunk of it through injury. Lionel Messi was so impressed he urged Barcelona to sign the defender. In the end they couldn’t afford the deal and Spurs pounced.

The experience of winning the Copa was a magical one for Romero, and it’s important to try and understand just how much playing for Argentina means to him and his compatriots. It is a very different mentality to the pervasive one in England, which, certainly in fans’ eyes, sees club football as way more important than its international counterpart. Back in the mid-2000s, Argentina midfielder Javier Mascherano was amazed when he moved to the Premier League how blase many of the English players seemed to be about playing for their country.

This may have changed now but it was the polar opposite of the pride Argentines felt and feel about playing for their country. In this context, it becomes a little easier to understand why Romero (and Lo Celso, Martinez, Buendia and others) have been willing to endure the trials of representing their country in a COVID-19 world amid all the associated obstacles.

Romero exhales as he begins to explain what representing Argentina means to him. “For me, those two weeks you spend with the national team when you’re away and playing the World Cup qualifiers, I don’t think I’ve ever experienced that feeling anywhere else,” he says.

“I think the feelings and passion we have for that shirt and pulling on that shirt and representing our country and the millions of Argentinians who watch is just, as they say, el maximo. It’s just the best feeling you can get. The greatest feeling. And the chance to make those fans happy, or try and make those fans happy who on occasion aren’t having the best time of things back home, it’s something I’ve always dreamt of.

“And now I feel that I’ve become a regular member of the squad, which is really, really great. The chance to spend time with those players both as athletes and as people, because there are some world-class players in that squad. And some great people as well, and to get to know them, and to consider them as friends is great. I enjoy that tremendously when I get the chance.”

Romero is at pains to not make a comparison as such between club and international football, just to explain the uniqueness of representing Argentina.

“It’s not that you wouldn’t swap it,” he says. “When you’re with your club it’s international, very different, there are lots of different cultures mixed together. But when it’s just you and your other fellow Argentinians you can’t really recreate that anywhere else.”

Later this year Romero will hope to inspire Argentina to a first World Cup success since 1986 (and a first for South America in 20 years). He laughs and says “we’ll see” when asked who will do better out of England and Argentina — but the prospect of him marking Kane if the teams face each other is a tantalising one.

For now though the focus is fully on Tottenham and achieving that precious top-four spot, starting with tonight’s trip to Aston Villa (thoughts about the north London derby will have to wait, he says).
“It’s a very, very important target to get into the Champions League,” says Romero. “It depends on how results go; other results, our results. But we have many players here who can make the difference and with hard work I think we can continue to move in the right direction.

“Because we’re building something really positive here.”

Btw Woolwich refers to Arsenal who moved over the Thames from the Woolwich Military Arsenal.

 

Messi with hattrick of assist for second time this season. He topped the assist table alongside Mbappe, but Messi has only played 18 games.

 

Messi is smashing assists, while others are smashing cell phones.

 

And yet there are ppl complaining (not here of course) he scored 0 goals …man, I dream of us winning the WC and Messi being so happy playing for his country he decides to stay around as the ultimate playmaker and get a few more trophies just for the hell of it.

 

People has short memory, they forgot when Barca thrashed Madrid 5-0 , Messi wasnt on scoresheet either, but provided 2 assists.

When Barca won CL final in 2015, Messi directly involved in all 3 goals but wasnt scoring either.

Olympics final, Messi didnt score but provided winning assist.

Proof that 90% of today football fans doesnt watch the game, they only check wikipedia for player statistic.

On another notee, Papu and Ocampos scored in Sevilla victory. I believe Papu just returned from injury .