2022 World Cup Qatar: Semifinals - Argentina vs. Croatia

That loss in 2018, the game was pretty even until Caballero gifted Croatia a goal.

Two sides has played through 120 mins in QF but Croatia played even 120 mins in RO16. So Argentina edge a bit when it comes to stamina here.

Just go and give everything and win.

 

Prediction 3-1 or 3-2 , we win but conceiding silly goal yet again (hopefully not!).

 

Croatia will be a difficult opponent, just as the Netherlands were. I was hoping a yellow for either Modric or Kovacic vs Brazil to get suspended for the semi's, but it was Brozovic who got the yellow lol. Their midfield is their greatest strength imo and for me, RDP is probably the most crucial player in this match (besides Messi) in winning the midfield battle, which is the most important area of football. I am so hoping that RDP will be physically fine as reports say that he played with injections and it really looked like it.

For this match, I would ditch the back 3 as Tagliafico works better as a 4 rather than a wingback and Di Maria should be ready for this match. Think their left side is the weak point, so really need Di Maria to work his magic. If everyone is fit, it's not hard to imagine that Scaloni will go with this.

(433)
Dibu---Molina, Romero, Otamendi, Tagliafico---Di Maria, RDP, Enzo, MacA---Messi, Alvarez

 

Dibu
Molina - Romero - Otamendi - Lisandro
De Paul - Enzo - Mac Allister
Di Maria - Messi - Julian

No Taglia please, at this point you have to start your more talented players, no room for subpar performances. Licha defends better, he's great with the ball and it's not like Taglia contribute a lot in attack.

 

Win that midfield. Flood it.

They have defended narrow most of the time. They'll play three on the break.

Brazil had plenty of joy down both their flanks. Neymar played in the forwards and Paqueta down the right several times so we need those overlaps. Anthony when he came on made lots of inroads down the flank but it was needed because Raphina was slow with the ball and dropping into midfield and not hugging the touchline.

Modric ought to have been booked and out of this one but de Paul when he can should do a man to man job on him. He runs their midfield.

Brazil when they upped the tempo and moved the ball quickly right to left created chances and also in winning transitions in the midfield. They'll be hard to press though as they are pretty comfortable on the ball.

It's another flank battle again. Their fullbacks are hard running and attacking. We'll need to make sure they are contained. Playing and having lost their first choice fullbacks hurt Brazil. Militao is not a fullback for instance. They looked more balanced with Danilo down the right and Sandro down the left.

We need big games again from Tagliafico and Molina. Montiel was really boneheaded getting a yellow for dissent. Foyth is the only natural option and is he match fit sharp ? Licha can play at LB at a pinch. Shame Medina was not selected as he could drop in there no problem at all.

However we need to find God and make sure he has runners around him. di Maria can perform the Anthony role. Enzo ? Shown what he can do nearer the box. but at the moment Mac and Leo have a great understanding. Vamos. Favourite song at the moment....

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Acuna missing this game hurts if it's a flank battle. Going to be hard to break Croatia down the middle and they're one of the few teams that can possibly control the game on us there.

 

This, absolutely this. Overload the midfield with Messi dropping deep and our chances are higher I feel.

 

Just don't make these ridiculous pekerman subs. Honestly Scaloni could have been the main villain last night.

 

Croatia's midfield job is slowing down opponen's attack. At least that what they did vs Brazil or Japan.

 

I watched the Croatia Brazil game in full yesterday.
Croatia actually tried to build up from back and control the midfield and they managed to do it many times. They defended clumsily but got saved by goalkeeper on some occasions. What these stupid pundits don't realize is our attack is actually better than Brazil overrated collection.

Let me be clear: VinJr has always been a trash one dimensional player, Anthony aside from being a diver is just a useless trickster but no end product just turning around himself, the rest of the scrubs like rodrigo or whateverito are not even worth mentioning. That game vs Korea killed whatever brain cells these pigeons had and they really believed their sht dont stink lmao.

We need to be aggressive and press like madmen from the start. Subs should be even more aggressive as Brazil had some counter chances near the end. Scaloni is really killing us not using Dybala/Acorrea. We need speed in the second half and lautaro alone isn't fast enough

 

Scaloni got his subs so wrong. You do not take out defenders who were handling the game. MacAllister had a great first half but slowly faded out in the second and looked spent. This is where you bring fresh midfielders who can press. Watch the first goal, first off Lautaro is way too passive here but also Mac is inexplicably giving his man like 20 meters before pressing with taglafico behind on dumbfries. You need to press to avoid the cross from coming in the first place. I would have added Palacios, Acorrea , Dybala who can actually all press like mad.

I am gonna have to watch the full game when available but I think you guys scapegoated Paredes. His tackles were actually clean getting the ball except for one (even that one that you guys cry about he almost got the ball and it was subsequent to an excellent tackle...where are the rest of the player pressing??) I think but ref wasn't allowing any tackling it seems even called one on a clean Romero tackle. Anyway, I think the midfield disappeared the moment RDP was taken off and the left side was gone when Acuna and his immense workrate were off. In ET, Paredes played fine once we regained possession.

 

Has the argentine media questioned Scaloni over his subs? Why do they always ask useless questions. Can we send a bigsoccer rep there?

 

I think it's a tactical problem. It wasn't fatigue or lack of personnel cause you in extra time we suddenly learned how to play football again. In the last 2 matches, we go up 2-0 and look to close the match by dropping deeper and hoofing it. This works against teams like Brazil who are weak in the air. Netherlands and Australia were able to easily send the ball to their tall players.
Examples:
- The goal came from a header.
- The last free kick was won from an aerial challenge foul.
- The hard shot into the side came from a knocked down air ball.

Whenever we got the ball, we hoofed it to Lautaro who was unable to win those. To make it worse our tackling and clearances were panicked. See Molina's clearance at 98'.

We have the players to keep playing football and control & slow the match while still probing for a through ball. Messi, Enzo, Mac, RDP, Paredes, and the fullbacks are capable of that.

Against tall teams, we have to contest the ball about 20 meters further up the pitch and keep playing football.

Is Croatia good in the air?

 

This is going to be a tough game as Croatia's midfield is really strong. It will be a battle. They are also in very good form across multiple competitions, very tough to score against. Their biggest weakness is lack of attacking threat but they do love the long ball and crosses into the box which we have struggled against. They almost scored early against Brazil with a ball across goal.

Acuna will be a big loss for us in preventing those crosses in. Tagliafico has been really poor. I hope Scaloni makes a bold move and plays Lisandro at LB.

Remember when we tried Molina as a LB against UAE??!!! However we need him on the right side as Montiel was a big idiot and got yellow cards with his mouth.

We might have to see Foyth used as a substitute in this game! Scary...

 

I noticed Enzo is better at marking on the left side. Several times, when pulled out to the right, his man dribbled inside too easily. At club he played on the left and and Mac on the right. Scaloni has this flipped. I suppose cause he likes Mac further up the pitch.

 

Meh. If the Belgium was a bit sharper, they would’ve won. An out of form Lukaku had a number of chances. He was or is on that Fatso diet.

 

Interesting stat in this WC.
We have scored 9 goals and given up 5. None of those have come from counterattacks. We are not threatening on the counter but not giving up counters.

Without Di Maria we have not counter threat. Julian is too tired from pressing and Lautaro is not a counter payer. Messi 2022 is good for conducting it but not for running ahead.

Against the Dutch we did have one where Messi released Mac who passed it to RDP. Not sure if the pass was overhit or if RDP lost control.

Another one Lautaro stole and seemed to have a lot of space but was very slow in moving forward.

 

I've been saying it for a while. We looked tame since tournament begun, everytime we're 2-0 up, we'd stop playing and just invited opponents to bang on our door.

We could easily get the third but instead Scaloni pulled a Simeone with only Lautaro & Messi upfront. Lautaro isnt fast , neither is 2022 Messi.

 

also, Netherlands second goal & Australia goal were from deflected shot.

 

Can see Scaloni going with a 4-4-2 to get bodies in midfield against them. Especially since we have 2 of our fullbacks out. But if Di Maria can play a full mtch, it will probably be 4-3-3.

 

Well, I consider the 2nd Netherlands goal a result of giving up so many free kicks right in front of our penalty area. And almost all came from long balls contested in the air, or knocked down from the air.

 

To be fair, it's the first match that he got the subs wrong. He got the starting formation and players correct.

And I think he did well to make the tactical change in the extra time when we played extremely good. We came out playing the ball again. A lot went through Lisandro who took initiative to move forward in tight spaces. Of course, it was also due to the Dutch going back to more defensive tactics.

In the extra time we had so many shots: 2 Lautaro, 2 Messi, 2 Enzo, 1 Pezella header, several corners won, and a couple dangerous free kicks.

 

He did same annoying subs vs australia with same effects. We need to relentlessly attack and pressure Croatia. They like to build up slowly from the back.

 

It’s crazy most other forums have counted us out against Croatia lmao the hateful disrespect and disdain for us has no limit. This Croatia team can barely compete with Argentina. I really mean this not even hyperbole. Clowns who never watch a single Argentina game really think this is 2018