Argentina : World cup 2018 Russia discussion

Sampaoli should just work on messi dybala. I don't see us winning without both of them on the field. Throw in Icardi and we have the best attacking trio in football.

 

And maybe justify why Paredes is not getting a single minute of play when hes arguebly the best midfielder we currently have. That trio wont be able to get the ball with the midfielders Sampaoli is insisting on.

 

Tough draw for Chile, in the same group as Italy, Netherlands and USA.

 

The key is to play di Maria as a midfielder instead of a winger behind them. Perez on the right and someone like perotti on the left with a central midfielder.

Messi should start in the advanced position and then drop back to switch position with dybala. Both of them can finish and I guarantee defenses will be destroyed.

 

We will beat Iceland easily. Both Croatia and Nigeria will prove strong challengers, but Argentina should go as favorites.

 

I think it will be a good test to be honest. We need to win our first game. From everything I have read, Iceland likes to bunker and counter.

Croatia will be our toughest test. They have a plethora of fantastic midfielders. So, it could perhaps prepare deal with teams with strong midfield later in the tournament. At least we won't have to worry about them trying to bunker.

Nigeria is Nigeria. They won't sit back, and they probably don't know how to.

If we manage two wins from our first two games then we should let our forward line rest. We can throw in Dybala and Icardi(That is if they are not our starters). It may be a risk since a loss could push us to second but I guess we will have to see what happens in the other games.

 

People saying Iceland is a pushover... A reminder, they finished top of a group with Croatia. Iceland also eliminated England in the last Euros. So yes, Iceland is a tiny country smaller than a neighborhood of Palermo in Buenos Aires, but you can't say they are pushovers and Croatia is tough considering they finished above them over a qualifying campaign.

Croatia certainly has some big names, Modric, Perisic, Rakatic, Mandzukic, Kalinic, etc. but they choked in the last Euro Cup where they had the whole draw open for them to make the Final and lost to a shit Portugal team. Obviously the last world cup, they were robbed by the Japanese ref against Brasil, but they lost to Mexico in 4-0, which is embarrassing. And as I stated above they had to go through the playoffs.

Nigeria always plays us tough. IN 1994, we had to come from behind thanks to Caniggia, in 2002 we dominated, but could only score one from a corner. 2010, we also dominated, but could only score once from a corner again. 2014, it was a dead rubber game, but they tore through our defense, as they were the only team to attack us. They also tore us apart last month, albeit without Messi.

There are no easy games in this group, regardless of what anyone says about Iceland.

The other groups are still I think interesting, but there is no group of death. I'll be hoping Mexico gets eliminated in the group by Sweden. Will be interested to see if Colombia can win their group. Will the hosts be able to get out of their group? Egypt, with Salah, is probably a better team, but the home crowd/Putin factor could get Russia through, and they will certainly benefit from having a guaranteed 3 points in the opener.

 

If you people don't mind a Croat coming here, I'd like to mention something:

Croatia plays best when going for counterattacks. I have little knowledge of what kind of tactics the current manager employed while he was in the Middle East, but I cannot exclude defensive tactics from him.

Also, Iceland are very, very good at defending. And set pieces. We have tall players, and still, we conceded from set pieces to Iceland.

 

PS I'm excited to see our hinchada and the Iceland fans. Probably will be one of the best atmospheres in the whole World Cup

 

Iceland got their asses handed to them by France in the last Euros. And beating England isn't that great of an accomplishment. They will sit back and try to get a point from us, that is clear. If we get an early goal as did the French then, in the words of Sensei John Kreese "It's open season on the primadonna". I am just kidding of course. It will be difficult but I think being at their first World Cup, seeing us across the field, stagefright might occur.

Croatia could perhaps be seen as a weaker version of Belgium but at the end of the day, they have a talented squad that could beat anybody on their day. It depends on which Croatia comes out and plays.

Nobody takes that last game v Nigeria seriously, let's be real here. Our players were already on the airplane back when we were up 2-0. And the good thing is we have to play them last. If we need a win, we will surely have to go out and attack and as I stated before, I am not sure if Nigeria will be able to sit for long stretches of the match. If we played Iceland in our last match, and who are supposed masters of defending, then it could've been a problem.

If you're going to counter-attack us then you surely will cause us problems. I watch Perisic almost every week and I see the crosses he gives to Icardi. He surely will be a threat on the wings for us.

 

Not just a threat, but also a defensive nuisance. The only thing he can't do, I think, is be a GK. I think he can't. Aerial threat, two-footed, iron lungs, a hammer of a shot...at times he is more important than Modrić. Now, there's other super-important players in our team, like Vida (pace that will help against a fast striker) or Strinić (gives defensive stability on the left side so that Perišić can rampage with assurance that a counter won't crash down that side).

 

Croatia has solid score history with Argentina. For me, Argentina, Uruguay are the best for Croatia, if we observe other South American participants. Croatia can't play against teams who have a lot of Aboriginal, African participants. They are much faster. Uruguay and Argentina is mostly made of Europeans.

Against Mexico, Ecuador, Brazil Croatia lost on World Cups. Teams like Paraguay, Chile, Colombia are also very complicated for Croatia.

Venezuela, Bolivia and Peru don't have such strong capacity.

Argentines are consisted mostly of Spanish and Italian people through history and Croatia has solid score with Spain and Italy.

Argentina also has large Croatian community, so Argentina is acceptable for permanent life for Croats.

https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Categoría:Argentinos_de_ascendencia_croata

At the end, Diego Maradona has partially Croatian ancestry.

http://ethnicelebs.com/diego-maradona

But Iceland is complicated.

Batistuta saved you against Nigeria in Japan 2002. I remember that match. They are not so hard. African teams are playful, less discipline. Their advantage is their energy and physical strength. If last things prevail, we can have problems.

 

So much histeria here....

If Sampa gets his head out of his ass with the stupid line of 3 and plays this:

---------------------Romero--------------------------
Bustos---Mercado---Otamendi---Rojo/Acuña
---------Perez-------Biglia-------Di Maria---------
---------------Messi---------Dybala-----------------
----------------------Agüero--------------------------

Then it won't be that hard..

And in any case, even if we play terrible, we have a guy that can dribble past 3 opponents and blast a bomb from outside the area at any time. Our opponents don't have that. Y por favor, no me vengan con Sigurdsson, Perisic o Iwobi, sean serios.

 

We also have a bit of a history v Yugoslavia and it's former republics.

1990 knocked them out in PK's
98- Beat Croatia in the group stages 1-0
2006- Beat Serbia&Montenegro 6-0 in the group stages
2014- Beat Bosnia and Herzegovina 2-1 in the group stages.

 

^Also, Messi is only missing a goal against Macedonia (well, if we count Serbia & Montenegro as two countries haha).

 

Looking forward to playing Argentina again for the first time since 1998. Difficult group for sure especially with Nigeria. Iceland is not that good they play with heart and very disciplined. They beat us 1-0 in June in Iceland. Lucky goal off a shoulder on a corner. Players were thinking about there holiday instead of playing football. When Croatia shows up they can be very dangerous. Talent is there mentality not always. Key player for me is kovacic. He was great against Messi in the Spanish super cup. If he can play like this I like our chances then

 

Slovenia as well.

 

Nope, he scored against them in that friendly in La Plata before the last WC.

 

I'm not happy about Brazil's group because they will get a lot of practice breaking down some defensive teams and their offense could really build some swagger if they pass with flying colors.

 

Yugoslavia had several ethnic groups.

In 1990 World Cup, Yugoslavia had only 8/23 players. Ivkovic, Vulic, Jozic, Boksic, Prosinecki, Jarni, Suker, Panadic.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1990_FIFA_World_Cup_squads#Yugoslavia

Zlatko Vujovic has Montenegrin origins, but he took Croatian passport after, because he played in Croatian club.

Srecko Katanec is from Slovenia, but his parents have Croatian origins. I count him as Slovene.

1998 Argentine victory wasn't important for Croatia, because Croatia had already six points, Croatia was focused on that group with Romania and England. You got England.

In 2006. Argentina won only against Serbs and Montenegrin players. Ethnically, they were not Croats. Even if some of them were born in Croatia, they are not ethnic Croats, that's why they don't play for Croatia.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2006_FIFA_World_Cup_squads#Serbia_and_Montenegro

Bosnia-Herzegovina is consisted of Bosnian Muslims, Serbs and Croats. In that team only Toni Sunjic is part of Croats of Bosnia - Herzegovina. Others were not Croats. Bosnia - Herzegovina is not some strong team.

So if we observe, biggest problems Argentina had in 1990 and 1998. Yugoslavia had 8 Croats, with plus one Vujovic. 1998, tight 1-0 victory.

On the other hand, Croats supported Argentina in those matches in 2006 and 2014 year. So, it's pretty clear how they all get a long over there.

If we observe Argentine team since 1990, best coach could be Bilardo (Sicilian). Italian coaches are generally the best in Europe. At least in numbers.

Best Argentine defender in 1990 was Oscar Ruggeri, Italian. And they are great in defence.

Troglio, Giusti - MF, both Italians.

Not sure is Basualdo Italian? Maybe this -Aldo is much more Italian.

Jorge Burruchaga I think Basque, same as Julio Olarticoechea and Sergio Goycochea. History shows that Argentina has talented Basque players, same as in Basque Country.

Caniggia is Italian.

Maradona unites all of them with Croatia and Aboriginal community, making him as the perfect and well structured player.

Fabian Cancelarich has obvious Croatian surname, Substitute GK.

Batista is Italian I think, same as Dezotti.

Calderon is Spanish.

Lets not forget great Italian defenders Sensini, Fabbri.

Serrizuela - also Basque??

Abel Balbo - Italian. He played in Italy, just like many other Argentine-Italians.

In 1994, another great Italian defender, Jorge Borelli. In 1998. Zanetti came.

This can't be coincidence.

Sampaoli Moya has Italian-Spanish heritage.

Currently, another great Italian defenders: Mascherano, Mammana, Fazio, Pezzella, Otamendi, Ansaldi, Tagliafico.

You could go far on this World Cup. Spanish speed, creativity, Basque strength and energy, Italian prudence and great strategies.

Interesting attackers Crespo and Dybala both have Polish origins.

Of course, they are not like Italian Messi and Basque Higuain.

Only you need one, two Germans, like Kempes, Houseman, Heinze, Esnaider. And the World Cup title is here, just like with Kempes and Clausen (Swiss-German).