Result looks good but many cracks under the surface. All the players are technically competent but apart from the usual suspects they don't make me sit up and think future national team material. At 1-1 it looked decidedly shaky. A lack of composure and thought from too many and players at the back aside from Perez need to stop ball watching. The non selection of players like Balerdi, Garre and then not playing Almendra will come back to bite Batista on the backside because the lack of control of the ball after the awful equalizer will be exploited by Portugal. Gaich did impress coming on but this is against ten. Mura and Ortega are plusses. Need to see more from de la Vega too. They are young so they will be swings up and down quickly in games but they as a group need to think more at what they are doing. Plenty of analysis for them to digest until the next game.
The result is a bit of a lie, that pen + red card solved all the issues (although Argentina was dominating clearly at that point). Gaich has to start, he brings positivity and fighting spirit despite his lack of technique. Álvarez just isn't a 9. He needs a tower to his side. Ferreira or de la Vega should leave the starting 11 next game. I don't understand the "doble 5" with Sosa and Vera, they are the same type of player. Almendra or Moreno must start, but I think the coach will make the obvious mistake of playing the same midfield. Roffo was the worst player of the team. Hopefully it was just nerves from the debut. I don't trust Mura's defensive capabilities at all. Think we can suffer him against Portugal who are 2 levels above today's opponent.
Great result, I' ll take big win anydays over losing 2-3 points after dominating the game. Win & goals will boost confidence and we achieved that. In.youth tournament I've seen many times where every other sides also prone to make silly mistakes. Even evertime our team got to the final (both youth & senior) the first match tend to look scrappy. Still so many room to improve & fixed.. but I do have more confidence this time compare to the previous generation. THe 2 goals we conceided came from PK & bad decision from the goalie.
Those long range actually helped them to qualified big time. However, none of our 5 goals came from long range, ironically.
Our players seems to be a bit reckless, probably going to gift opponent some penalties... hopefully not. Needs more player involve in building the attack , it has been Barco and Gaich most of the time.
Yep, while Barco seems to have tendency to turn into Di Maria. Too individual , just keep dribbling and holding the ball too long.
We;ve been playing an ugly long all over and over. We just throw our chances away. Lacking short passing game. Gaich blew a good chance, should have settled the game there.
Goalie has been great in this game, made at least 2 crucial saves. The one that he parried into side netting would have been Portugal equalizer. I think we're pretty much qualifed for next round.
Looks like South Korea will have something to play for against us. Up 1-0 on South Africa in the 70th minute.
South Korea, North Korea, East Korea, West Korea.... Doesn’t matter, Argentina 3-1. Seriously... I think we played okay, and we comfortably beat the European champions. We had a few moments where we were under threat but we looked far more secure this time around than v RSA. We haven’t allowed a goal in the run of play yet, which is a plus. Barco is talented but he is a frustrating player. He tries to sell fouls. Stand up and play. Still a kid, so hopefully he drops that part of his game. If Gaich can improve his finishing he could become a useful player. He just appears to miss opportunities than converting them. We don’t need another decade of Fatso.. Roffo does not appear to be all that confident. He bobbles the ball and during set pieces he mistimes the ball. But he did make some good stops. Pérez is solid in the back. He should learn his hard nose defending under Cholo. Medina had some good moments as well. I don’t think we’ve played our best football yet, which tells me we can improve. Two games, two wins, 7 goals scored. We could have a tough matchup in the quarters v an African side, either Mali or France(just a joke). But we need to continue to get better if we want to progress. I want to see more of this team, so going home early would suck.
Barco has determination of Tevez but with some Di Maria's flavour. Both Barco and Gaich needs to be more aware of their teammates when they make those runs towards the goal. There were some occassions where they should have pass and makes it an easy tap in for their teammates but they 're not aware of their teammates who's in better position to shoot.
So, it does appear we will likely end up playing Mali. I just watched part of their game v France and they didn’t look at that good. Then again, the French are probably favorites to win this. So, let’s put on a good showing v the South Koreans and continue to build. Here is the starting 11.
Roffo is dogshit. Game after game he bobbles the ball and he nearly cost us a goal. Dude reminds me Romero early in his career where he would make the same mistakes.