2026 FIFA World Cup: Quarterfinals - Argentina vs. Switzerland

I looked up the weather for this one and the forecast right now suggests 82 F at kickoff with a slight chance of storms in the hour or two preceding. That could all change by then though.

 

Is it time to finally bench De Paul?

No clue what to do about Molina and Montiel anymore, they're both terrible.

 

coming into this WC I thought main question marks would be the fullbacks. Past two games half the starting 11 is looking incredibly sus.

RDP - should get benched. Both games they looked better when he got subbed off

licha was terrible today. Forget Kane or Haaland, even Embolo would rinse him if he plays like today

Julian was again underwhelming. But I would start him again and let Lautaro be the super sub

Enzo got the game winning goal but was also underwhelming. That second goal was 50% on him. How do you even get turned like that by someone playing in Spain 2nd division

Tagliafico was honestly passable. Idk how well he would do against stronger teams but def more stable than Medina

And why is Scaloni so in love with making the Molina/Montiel subs. Does anybody see a major difference between those 2 lol

 

Montiel did assist Messi’s tying goal against Egypt with a very quick thinking touch. Molina was absolutely terrible all game. I actually think we have to start Montiel this game.

 

Tim Vickery - Messi needed to be 'the other guy' to win - YouTube

 

Other than CA 2021 final performance, Montiel has never been reliable at the back. Even in WC 22 final he helped to launched a counter attack that led into the third goal but then he cost us a penalty .

Molina though, he offers nothing other than being a passanger.

 

I'd try Simeone, he has pace, but the thing is he'd now be thrown in at the deep end in a world cup quarter final playing in a position he is not familiar with. This is the price for Scaloni's reluctance to give younger players a chance.

 

What's the point of starting Molina? He hugs the line, plays back passes, doesn't take on players, can't defend and his ball control is poor. We need to address this.Midfield has zero energy and we looked awful. Paredes gave some security, but Enzo, Mac Allister and De Paul offered nothing. We can't keep playing like this or we will continue to be punished. Scaloni has big decisions to make.

 

Switzerland is Argentina's first highly quality opponent (11th in the world).
Both Mac and Enzo were pretty good but hoping for fresh legs in midfield.
Would even consider Paz starting over Messi but that's not going to happen.

 

It's too late to address it. We either go 3-5 with wingbacks or live with the M&M dynamic duo.

Thought mid looked good, minus De Paul - were hard to get through, 64% possession, created plenty chances. There was only a brief spell from 55 to 70th minute when we totally lost shape. What more do you want?

 

Tim Vickery points out Argentina not playing friendly games aganist quality opposition, espcially quality european opposition. The Swiss are strong defensively, resiliant and pose a threat going forward. This is going to be a tough game.

 

Makes no difference if the team is from Europe or elsewhere.

I don't think a team like Argentina with loads of experience need to test itself. Top ten teams THIS Arg squad has faced: Brazil (multiple), Colombia (multiple), Italy, Netherlands, Croatia, France.
The key now is physical recovery.

 

It's about preparation, you don't prepare for a world cup by playing against San Marino under 10s. But whats happened in the games against CV and Egypt has given us our competitive edge, although it hasn't been good for my heart.

 

I fear Scaloni will not change tack.

We need not have had all the stress of last night. We should be easing past Cabo Verde and Egypt. At the last WC we were in control of all the games even the Saudi loss we could have been out of sight at half time. Only late subs allowed the Netherlands and France a sniff.

This time round we nearly conceded to Algeria. Conceded to Jordan and conceded four against Cabo Verde and Egypt.

Poor defending each time. The last two you can kind of discount because the team was high up the pitch desperate to get a ball back.

The other four all stem from poor defending down the flanks. The Swiss have Vargas and Rodriguez as their main wing options down the left. They will target that side.

They have a couple of strikers who are decent aerially in Itten and Embolo.

Control of midfield is all important. I think their defence is capable of being got at but they will place Zhaka deep as their cover even play with a five.

It must get tiring but I reiterate I think we need to go to a 3-5-2. It best suits the playing resources and also brings freshness to the side. The last two matches have been physically and emotionally draining.

In one sense they are a positive in reinforcing belief and confidence. We've seen Alexis and Julian slowly improve but overall the weakness remains with Molina and to a lesser extent when Tags is not around Medina.

Dibu also needs to sharpen up. But I would go with three at the back.

Romero----------------Senesi---------------------Licha

Licha can cover the left side and any balls in behind the LWB. Ditto Romero. Senesi can act as a guard and deep lying playmaker. All three are excellent on the ball.

When we are up the pitch keep two behind and use one as the advanced midfielder or draw out one of the defending teams players.

Two wingbacks, Molina/Simeone. Molina has been terrible as a FB but I think he could prosper as a WB which is what he really is. Attacking the box with crosses and shots. Ditto Simeone although he really is a winger he's quite tenacious and hard working.

Barco as LWB. Will attack the box, loves to cross and shoot and creates all sorts of possibilities down that left. He can drift in and others can drift out to create space.

Midfield. I'd drop RDP. I would start with Enzo and Alexis although I would love to have maybe Palacios given the workload those two have had. I'd sit one deep the other more advanced but not so far advanced but both with the license using their brains to attack the box.

I'd have Paz at the top of the midfield as a playmaker with a free role to wander, Beyond him Julian also in a free role to drift where he wants out wide in behind he is a very clever player. And of course Messi too. These players yes they can play together. They are very high football IQ players.

When required that Barco-Paz-Julian-Simeone/Molina line can press hard to force turnovers and pressure while the other five remain fairly compact and when attacking two of the backline can remain deeper with one of Enzo or Alexis to combat any counter with 1 WB staying deeper depending on which one is attacking.

We were a bit predictable yesterday initially but the changes in formation and width did help namely Messi drifting out wide and Nico pushed further forward.

-------------------------------------------Dibu-----------------------------------------------
------------------Romero-----------Senesi---------------Lisandro--------------------
---Molina/Simeone------------------------------------------------------------Barco---
-------------------------------Enzo-----------Alexis----------------------------------------
------------------------------------------Paz-----------------------------------------------
----------------------------Julian--------------------Messi-------------------------------

 

Ermindo Onega a River Plate star died tragically young aged 39. Luis Artime is still with us aged 87 and has the best goals to games scoring ratio of all Argentine forwards. Better than Batigol and Messi.

Onega was brought into the side by a former River Plate stalwart Jose Minella who was brought in after the 1962 debacle in Chile and turned the side around including a quadrangular tournament win in Rio over Brazil, Portugal and England in 1965. Unfortunately he resigned before the World Cup in 66 and the failure Lorenzo who managed in 62 was brought back.

Although to be fair to Lorenzo he had a decent career as a club manager with San Lorenzo.

 

The WC success for most of the part is about hitting peak performance at the right time and being able to grind it out results. Qualifier, friendlies and continental tournament performance are often getting thrown out of the window.

We've seen how bad Spain and Germany in previous 3 WC despite performed strongly in qualifier. Netherlands, Germany and Portugal never really hit their expected level in this tournament. They struggled against teams like Japan, Congo, Ecuador, Paraguay and Colombia.

 

Not gonna lie, the game yesterday feels like 140 minutes. I forgot we actually won it at normal time.. I cant believe we hit 3 goals within 11 minutes.

A period of suffering really can cause time dilation.

That said, if we let Messi takes another penalty, we're pretty much begging to be handicapped.

 

I have a sore throat today........ The wife was gardening and said I was making an almighty racket that was clealy audible 150 feet away and shaking her head.. ....I expect the neighbours were a bit scared too....... Good thing I wasn't miked up to anything. The air was a very deep blue.......

 

Manzambi and Embolo injuries could take a lot of the bite out of this side but considering the type of goals we've been conceding it may not even matter. What matters is being able to score comfortably on a very organized side defensively without exposing ourselves to a cheap response.

I watched Scalonis post game conference and he was thoroughly confident in the players he's been using so yeah I don't see much big changes.

 

Mac, Enzo & RDP energy bar.




Scaloni : That's my midfield for the next 10 matches.

 

What did Mac do last game? I dont recall anything besides a missed header. He is just nowhere near the player even from a season ago.

I am not sure if Mac is the one who assisted Tag on the penal

 

Scaloni is the reason we suffer so much. The man is so stubborn I cant believe. I dont know if he gets off on creating these dramas so he can cry. Maybe fifa is paying him

 

Scaloni is playing with fire. On the surface it seems that his subs works. Lautaro and Montiel both had an assists. However, the reason why we even need to the chase the game desperately in first place is because his failed gameplan .

The way we won the last 2 matches, while it shows our strong character , it reminds me of the last two qualifier games under Diego. We won the first 4 games in 2010 with convincing scoreline but there's always this feels of impending doom.

I hope to be proven wrong, but if Scaloni really sticks with the same gameplan and starting line up, Switzerland can pull an upset or we might need unnecessary ET to beat them.