2026 FIFA World Cup: Quarterfinals - Argentina vs. Switzerland

My fantasy lineup 3-5-2

Sensei-Otamendi-Licha
Simeone-Paredes-Alvarez
Messi-‐------Lautaro
Montiel-Romero

This is the way

 

That might actually work in last 20 minutes. Scaloni's clearly doesnt see striker as goalscorer, his moto in this WC is "anybody can play as in any position as long we gets the results".

He said himself the reason why he puts Montiel's in was because he's willing to takes risk.

 

Mostly agree. Enzo and Alexis played pretty well but need rest. I'd go for Paredes to ping long passes and shield defense, RDP to retain stability. I think Lo Celso fits better with Messi than Paz.

Option A:
-RDP-Paredes-Lo Celso

Option B:
Nico Gonzalez as left wing back.
-RDP-Paredes-Barco

 

The referees for this match.

So rigged

 

So, Scaloni is basically going with the same team v Egypt… (More or less).

 

Theres always the possibility for more drama. Like, like, like.....penalties

But it wont happen

 

He needs to rotate, these same 11 are tired.

Tagliafico deserves to start.
Lo Celso in.
Rest either Mac or Enzo, let them come on as a sub for Lo Celso.
I would even play Palacios for RDP. We need to rotate and get fresh legs in.
I am also advocating Scaloni to play Senesi in place of Licha. He's tired and made some mental mistakes last game.

Montiel - Romero - Senesi - Tagliafico
Mac - Paredes - Lo Celso
Messi - Julian - Nico G.

Could defend like this:

Montiel - Romero - Senesi - Tagliafico
-------------Paredes----------------------
Mac - Julian - Lo Celso - Nico G
Messi

 

He's to stubborn to change.

 

What I dont understand from our players is how they didn't foul on the transitions. Even in the called back goal, Taglafico got humiliated but he could have JUST FOULED. we had no yellows. It kept happening just hold his shirt and take him down wtf

 

Also instead of crying to the ref like Licha waiting for a foul, we should just foul immediately.

 

1000% this is what I think is the most important takeaway from this game. Now that yellow cards reset after the quarters, it’s imperative that we foul next time such attacks happen.

 

I was thinking that for the goal that was ruled out, why didn't someone just foul.the guy, he ran the full length of the pitch past 4 of our players, bring him down and take the booking.

 

Scaloni is asking for another dramatic win (or loss) if he's really starting the same midfield trio.

Imagine having Giu, Barco, Paz & Gio as an option but thats the only gameplan you can come up with every matches.

Let me guess his first two subs would be Nico G & Montiel.

 

If Scaloni decides to use the same 11 after what happened against Capo Verde and Egypt, then we might as well just send the bench back home and let them enjoy their holiday. Fighitng spirit and grit can only take you so far. I really hope this Egypt match makes him change his view and start using his bench more, even change formation because we are unbalanced

 

I think Giu, Lo Celso, Barco & Paz has zero minute combined in 230 mins of KO stage games.

Scaloni is just going through the motion in this tournament and let the squad experience takes over.

 

Scaloni has better info than us. We really don't know how the players are recovering. He's talking to them along with the trainers, medical staff.

Thank god we have Scaloni and not one of the bigsoccer posters who swing wildly after each match or after every goal scored.

Gaston Edul reminds us we are in the quarterfinals. It's pretty dumb to make radical experimentations (e.g. playing Paz and Messi who overlap a lot). You want to retain stability with minor tweaks.

 

Not really, manager has their bias & personal preference and its been proven from time to time. Why do you think Zanetti & Cambiasso werent picked in 2010?

What about Enzo & Mac only started to play after we lost to Saudi in 2022?


Those things has nothing to do with form & physical fitness. Scaloni started Papu in first game cause he's one of the old guard. He trusted him more than Julian just like he's now trusting RDP over Paz & Giu regardless his form.

Dibu has bailed out Scaloni 4 times.

 

Interesting analysis of game againsy Egypt:

Why Argentina's adaptability makes them even stronger - YouTube

 

What stability are you on about? Conceding 5 goals in the last three matches and looking vulnerable and too depended on Messi is not stability. Coaches has favorites, whether its personal relationship or for other reasons. Clearly at this point Scaloni doesnt trust the youngsters. He wants to use the veteran players and has become even more stubborn. Cant see us winning WC playing like this

 

Utter rubbish. He deserves criticism. We shouldn't be struggling past Cabo Verde or Egypt. We have players who are tired and others who could make a real difference like Barco kicking their heels.

Scaloni has been lucky in the past that his incredible reluctance to make changes has not bitten the team. Cruising against the Netherlands and France and everyone else apart from him can see we need to make changes. So keep it quiet there.

Paz can easily play with Messi. Riquelme had no issues playing with Messi. Both can act as playmakers or can drift. High IQ players can play multiple roles in multiple systems. Even Julian can drop deeper and such is his ability he could also act as a focal point. This trite nonsense that the two cannot play together seems to be an idiotic belief also shared by Scaloni.

Other teams have rotated to keep players fresher. If we get past the Swiss there will be a lot of tiredness in those legs.

 

Rumor has it that both Julian and Lautaro will start together, with Messi on the right wing.

Not sure about this.

 

Would help both forwards and also keep that left wing with Rodriguez more defensively minded with Vargas. On the other hand it would also make Messi's life a little tougher but maybe the plan is to attack down our left which is there more vulnerable flank...

 

Would prefer Giu or Lo Celso starting witn Lautaro entering in second half, but we'll see.

 

A couple of things

- Smaller nations are now more tactically intune and can cause trouble to any team in the modern game. Cabo Verde tied against Spain who are a WC favorite. Should Argentina have struggled that badly? Imo, no (Scaloni does need constructive criticism for that) but this is the World Cup in which we have seen upsets that have occurred in WC history

- Scaloni did planned perfectly to put us in a decent position vs both Netherlands and vs France in the first place and he deserves credit for that. Sure, he also deserves constructive criticism for almost bottling it, but can't say that Scaloni is 100% lucky. He also deserves credit for the in-game management of putting Messi on the Right Wing vs Egypt.

- You are talking of 2 different version of Messi. Messi was an actual winger that can run so Riquleme and Messi can play at the same time. Paz could possibly play with current Messi but that wouldn't get the best out of Paz as they both like to operate in similar areas.

Constructive criticism is definitely warranted and Scaloni does warrant them (especially on the lack of use of the bench players for this current WC), but some criticisms are over the top