2026 FIFA World Cup: Group J - Argentina vs. Algeria

Let them cry till there's so much salt that Messi can walk on water

 

We need a threat down the left side like Di Maria was. Messi loves to draw attention on the right then send a pass wide left. We had no one there until Nico came on. We saw Messi attempt it earlier and look for it a few other times.

Medina nor Almada were offering an outlet there.

 

Speaking of left channel, I just noticed its Nico G who assisted Messi's 3rd

I dont know who's the female English commentary but she describe Messi's 3rd perfectly... "yes he's got power, but he's so precise, this is a pass into the net"

 

Esta es la jugada que De Paul le recrimina “mete la pierna” a Nico Paz. De lejos se escucha alguien que le grita “fuerte Nico”. El chico tiene que aprender! pic.twitter.com/NFGl8tdVuv

— El Pali CABJ ⚓️ (@ElPaliCABJ) June 17, 2026

“Mete la pata” .. De Paul a Nico Paz.
Acá me convencí de ilusionarme https://t.co/O45od0hLaU

— Cristian (@cristiannmillo) June 17, 2026

De Paul was letting Paz have it...Just some tough love...

 

great convincing win, thank you messi for all those amazing moments. Vamos argentina!

 

Scaloni got it wrong in the beginning. Amada and Messi don't work together. Thought we already knew this? Almada gets pushed wider left where he is ineffective. They occupy each other's space. Nor does he contribute that much to solidifying the mid. The team utterly lacking in width especially with Medina as fullback and even Montiel, who you would expect to be good offensively, failed to ever get up or link up. However, the 3 mid stalwarts - RDP-Mac-Enzo - were good.

Scaloni subs were very good. Credit to him for making the half time change. Molina was an improvement although he didn't provide as much outlet as you'd expect. Alvarez for Lautaro IMO is a slight upgrade in almost every regard except holdup but it really didn't change much. Gonzalez for Almada was the big change. As much as you all hate Nico Gonzalez (as you did Di Maria) he was a huge TACTICAL upgrade. He's not a great player but just having both a wide player and a counterattacking player improved Argentina massively until Messi came off.

When Messi came off, you'd expect our pressing to get better. It did not. We basically closed and did nothing for the last 20 minutes. Don't know why Scaloni didn't replace one of the mids, probably RDP, with Barco. Maybe he wanted to give the 3 as much time together as possible and have them work through a low patch.

Messi - very sharp; didn't look off pace. Should have been yellow maybe red carded. Should also have won given a penalty. Every time he lost possession he made a big effort to win ball back. Lion.
RDP, Mac, Enzo - hard to separate these three. RDP and Mac more incisive but a few mistakes; Enzo more solid overall. All played well .
Licha - rock solid
Romero - not as good as 2022 but he's coming back from injury. Lacks a bit of sharpness.
Almada - didn't play that bad but doesn't fit with Messi.
Medina - zero offensively. Ok defensively.
Montiel - little offensively. Poor defensively.
Julian - underwhelming.
Lautaro - good in holdup.
Gonzalez - very good, not so much for his individual skills but cause we needed his type.
Nico Gallego Paz - poor again
Barco - should have replaced one of our 3 mids

 

Yes, certainly it's instruction. Deliberate. Scaloni is 100% correct. We smother the other team, we don't run, we rely on exploiting holes and our long range shooters. This is not Sabella (great trainer different personnel and system) Argentina.

 

Same on Enzo. He was good in mid. Was poor when he tried to dribble into the Angel Di Maria's space and realized he was a deep holding mid not a winger not a forward. But those instances were not important.

Nice Gallego Paz was garbage.

 

The obsession with 'récords' is so petty, narrow, degenerate. A lion like messi would not care.

 

Its working at the end but at 1-0 to let opponent have the ball as much as we did in this game, it could easily ended up with 1-1 draw or 2-1 loss like against Iceland and Saudi. Luckily Algeria didnt posses any technical players capable of taking on our defenders or making a penetrating pass other than the offside goal early on.

 

Ya cause Lautaro is more of a Crespo 9 who finds the space amongst the chaos created by others. Stranded alone he's not as effective. Thought he did ok given our limited first half offense.

 

Tévez offside goal v Mexico took Messi's onside goal.

 

Go for the choke points.

 

Well, that's a different tournament though . Messi disallowed goal was from 2006, Tevez was in 2010.

What about Caniggia's goal against Brazil in 90 ... also disallowed despite being onside.

 

RDP and Messi Co captains.

 

Yes I'm taking the long historical perspectiva.

 

You can tell Julian was not all there same with Cristian after a period of time off and also still wary of their injuries. They got some minutes into them and some sharpness.

Licha was outstanding at the back. RdP if he can continue to maintain his energy levels was very decent too.

But Algeria were tentative they didn't offer the same physical challenge and speed challenge others will. Of course we will sharpen up and improve too. But the defence despite scoring 3 won that. The way we hustled in midfield and intercepted to set up the breaks.

We didn't apart from the offside goal work an opportunity. The passing in the final third needs to be sharper. Even Nico's assist was behind Leo not in front of him. Supposing the defender was closer he would have been closed down whereas if the ball was accurate Leo would have got a shot away without issue.

That definitely needs working. As does the shooting. We cannot afford to rely on Leo. He will be marked and double marked by more capable defenders so it's imperative the others instead of deferring do their bit as they did at the last WC where we often used Leo as a decoy.

I'd rather see Barco or even Simeone wider to open up the pitch and both are pretty quick. di Maria is missed for that but also because he and Messi in tandem means defences cannot focus on one or the other. Almada was poor. Shooting practice for him for two hours. Lautaro a good initial header does a lot of chasing which means he often ends up out of the box also could do with finishing practice oddly enough.

Alexis looked better which was nice to see. Enzo and Cristian are supreme players Enzo in particular is the midfield general even at 25 but they can be casual sometimes. No need for it. Dibu barely tested which was good gives the dislocation time to heal further.

I do hope we have ice vests in reserve. Will need them for the next game and some rotation. Barco for Almada. And as I said someone just take Nicolas aside. Sit him down and tell him. We know how good you are. Just relax and play like you do with Como. There's no need to try and prove yourself to us.

If we win against Austria then rest the starters. No need to risk them. Although Leo would miss out on a goleada against Jordan the bigger picture needs to be looked at.

 

The Penaldo fan club have been out in force saying this that and the other. They really are an embarrassment.

People complaining that the ITV commentator here was praising Messi too much.

Some really sad pathetic individuals.

 

Overall a great performance. I was very nervous for this match and it couldve started badly for us, but thank god their goal was ruled off. I think we woke up after that. It became very serious and we started to dominate. Our midfield are so in sync. I have been critical of RDP but he was outstanding. Strong perfromance by him. Offensively, we didnt create much without Messi. We are still very depended on Messi, but hopefully with Julian we can become even more dynamic. Our defence is shaky, especially when attacking players go at them. Montiel was awful, his legs looked dead. Couldnt barely move or track back. Medina better on the left side but didnt provide anything offensively. The first match is always tricky, but hopefully Scaloni can address some of the issue that Algerie didnt capitalize on.

 

Medina was fine going forward and at times the furthest forward provided that early cross to Lautaro that was saved.

Defensively looked a bit suspect to me including letting one of the Algerians wander past to the byeline far too easily.

Montiel you can understand after his layoff. But we got minutes into several players.

 

He barely had much time to play. Many of our players have struggled initially when debuting in a WC. Very harsh. Gallego ???? No he is committed to Argentine. His dad is a very proud Argentine.

 

To be fair everyone adults Mahomes included was gaga in the presence of Leo. Was the kid Argentine as well ?

 

True, but nothing happened from the left side. We attacked mostly through the middle and thats where we were successful.

Lautaro is ghost man.. I feel hes better as a sub when the game is stretched. He had some good 12 plays and good holdup play but was quite for the most part.

 

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Remember Pearce commentating on Messi's first goal against Serbia & Montenegro.

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