2022 World Cup Qatar: Round of 16 - Argentina vs. Australia

It's ridiculous. Maybe post on an alternative video hosting site.

 

Palacios made another bad mistake on an easy clearance, giving it straight to an Aussie on the edge of the box. Fortunately he missed the shot. Also saw him too advanced, slow to close down.

As good as Ota has been in the tournament & as good in this match at winning balls he made 3 bad mistakes.
1) 1st half backpass to Dibu almost got stolen.
2) Bad clearance to gift the ball to Australia that ended with their goal.
3) Should have done better against their driving fullback on the play that Lisandro made the last tackle.

Overall though, we've been good defensively this WC. I think we have given up fewer shots than *any* team. 16 shots or 4 per match. The 3 goals scored against us were not easy ones. 1 was super lucky.

 

Also, you cannot even see videos from other nations, unless you have a VPN. In the US, it is straight garbage Fox and Telemundo highlights. In the US prior to 2018, ESPN had the rights and they were 100x better than Fox.

 

I think a big problem in this game was how deep Enzo was playing. He’s one of our very best attacking players, we need to absolve him of the responsibility of playing the holding role. Sure, he plays that role very well but he has to play conservatively and we are not utilising his skills as best we can. We would be better playing Paredes in that role, and playing Enzo further forward where he can join in with the attacks. It would help to free up Messi a bit more. Mac is a good player, I like him, I said months ago he should be in the squad, but he’s a squad player in my opinion. A good sub to come on who can help keep the ball, who’s smart positionally and who works hard. He cannot impose himself on the game, he plays on the margins, he’s not involved in the same way as Rodrigo or Enzo because he’s not at that level. That’s my opinion.

Mac wasn’t the biggest problem however. Papu and Molina were far biggger problems. Simply not good enough at this level. Molina is better than Montiel but the Dutch will be targeting our right flank because they will have seen our weakness. Papu is just an ordinary player. We need Di Maria back badly against Holland.

Lastly Scaloni, he didn’t manage the game well in my opinion. Paredes needed to come on in order to regain control. We let Australia back in because we weren’t keeping the ball. Scaloni needs to play his quality players.

Special mention for Acuna who’s having a really good tournament. Lautaro’s movement is fantastic. People should lay off him. He has scored goals for us and he will continue to do that but of course Alvarez is rightfully in the team and playing well.

We need to improve against the Dutch. We have the ability. Scaloni needs to get it right.

 

Well , the first thing Gotze did after winning the WC was asking pic with Messi

 

I also want to say this. The Saudis were very passive in the first half, they were far more proactive in the second half and what happened, they scored twice. Mexico and Poland both very passive, offering nothing at all in an attacking sense. Australia passive until we scored the second, they become proactive, they score and they could have scored again, we started to look vulnerable and lost control. Now we are in the quarters. Now it’s big boy stuff. We look vulnerable when faced with teams that have a go, and the Dutch have far more going forward than anything we’ve faced. We really need to play with control. Possession will be vital, as well as shape. I’m praying Scaloni doesn’t fall into the trap of playing Guido, thinking we will have to defend more. I would go for Paredes, Enzo and RDP in midfield. That’s a quality midfield that can dominate this game. Enzo can always drop back later in the game if Paredes doesn’t have the stamina and we can introduce Mac.

 

The biggest differences are their stamina & physical strength. Diego is simply stronger & more durable. He could hold the ball for extended period throughout his playing career. The guy once played a WC with one good ankle and still able to played 7 games and destroyed Brazil on his own.

Messi is a much better shooter and it only takes him a split second & very small gap , he'd find the net. His latest 2 goals are good examples.

 

You forgot while Aussie could have scored 1 or 2, we could have scored 6 or 7 in last 30 minutes. Their 2 other good chances were denied by great defending from Licha & Emi, our misschances were caused Lautaro pulling a Higuain. In fact Messi also killed them with a run from midfield. When the game has opened up, Argentina will generate alot more chances than their opponents.

 

We looked vulnerable once their first goal came in. They began playing a kamikaze style of football, since they had nothing to lose. They basically played a hurried up offense. The question is, why didn’t the Aussies play like that when went down? Well, the answer was that they were playing on adrenaline.

The reality is, we made that match much harder than it needed to be. As soon as that goal went in, the side panicked and could not match that same energy. It sure as hell did not help that Lautaro missed a bunch of sitters(Let’s not forget he did the same v the Poles. Could’ve been 3-0).

But, yes, our defense at the final third needs to hold the line a bit better. We are great at hunting down the ball but once we get on our back foot, it has been problematic. The Dutch are going to give us the ball and wait for a mistake. Players cannot overcommit in certain areas. We can leave wide gaps. Discipline will be key here.

 

Agree with this assessment. Ota was rock solid the first round. Saturday was not his best performance though and it could have been worse if not for Dibu. Hopefully it will be a one off thing .

 

Just going to quote myself from a few days ago. This is an area of concern. Three times we were cruising, three times our opponents threw caution to the wind and went for broke, and every time they got joy out of us. We need to learn to control the game in these situations by staying calm, believing in ourselves and keeping possession. Top teams know how to see the game out and control the game. Scaloni needs to learn this in my opinion.

 

1 year ago when the GOAT scored in his 1000 match. One thing a lot of people don't mention is the clutch save from Dibu vs Australia that could have taken the team to ET when the team looked very tired. Clutch as always.



Plus Lisandro Martinez's incredible tackle as well

 

Those kind of moments proof we're destined to win the tournament.