Argentine NT: News, Stats & Players [R]

Speaking of which:

 

This group are mentality monsters not unlike Madrid a few years ago. A loss isn’t going to hurt them long term they showed that with the Saudi Arabia loss. They took it in the chin and just moved on. I trust these guys like no one other team. They will be competitive next WC

 

It might be worth it to point out that
*In the not-so-convincing Copa America, this team conceded a solitary goal.
*They won that tournament.
*Finished first in the qualifiers, 9 points ahead; +21 GD
*Plays a style of football that requires complete commitment and effort, which just about every player has consistently shown.
*Yet, it has been able to produce living tableaus of beautiful football at times.

So it begs some questions...

What are the metrics people are using to paint this doom-and-gloom, sky-is-falling scenario that requires us to even question the players' commitment over a friendly, when clearly, all involved seem to be well aware of the plan, their role in it, and have confidence in it?
What are the current selections that have their affairs in order so much better than this team that are putting the fear of God in so many?

 

The NT has fans all over the world, especially in Bangladesh and India would be good gor them to play in one of those countries even if it is for PR. Rather that than playing to a half empty stadium in Miami.

 

Sure, do that after the WC is over, not a year before the WC.

At least in Miami, the team can get used to the US home base in preparation for the WC, which is especially useful for the newer members.

 

Yea, we lost 2-0 to Uruguay at home then the next day we beat Brazil at Maracana for second time. The CA 2024 was another example. Conceided late equalizer, Messi missed the first penalty, but still ended up winning the tournament. Something the likes of Roman, Aimar, Zanetti, Ayala , Tevez etc couldnt achieve in entire career. But somehow we think this group played like sh#t

People in general love negativity, they need something to complain about. I dont need us performing like Tata's team where we won semi 6-1 & 4-0 , then blew it againts the mighty Chile. We beat Mexico 3-0 in CA 2007 semi then lost to Brazucas in final by same margin, now that was a joke of mentallity. Recently we equalized vs Columbia despite a red.

Do I think we played well in 2025? No, we certainly dip in form post CA 2024 particularly in away matches. But like has been mention, I do believe the team has extra gear at bigger matches when they wanted to make a statement. Beating Uruguay away and thrashing Brazil shows we still have it when we played with real intention.

 

Tapia only cater to Messi. The rest dont matter to him. Messi sure as hell would not travel to those places just for friendlies. I remember him skipping friendlies againts Hongkong and Indonesia.

 

The issue is that there are cracks in this team. There is a lack of drive and is obvious. We play very predictably. Going up to 2022, I did not see a great deal of weakness but right now, I am not as convinced. I do not need us to be playing beautiful football, we are just playing slow and many of our starters from 2022 have regressed. Messi, Otamendi, De Paul, and even Paredes are not the same players. Not to mention ADM has retired and we've replaced him with... checks notes... Giuliano and Nico Gonzalez... Neither one of them provide us an attacking threat.

I was very high on the 2022 side. The 2026 team....I have doubts. I am not as enamored with Scaloni as others. If we play a few decent opponents and we show up I will change my tune. Perhaps I am a bit frustrated with the lack of options in our opponents but people need to realize we have no adjusted a great deal since 2022.

 

Exactly that. They're expecting smooth qualifying compaign like in 2022 where we reamained unbeaten throughout. Some people standard now is "perfection" .

Brazil topped the qualifier almost everytime but didnt win any of the last 5 WC. Germany won their 2018 qualifier group with 10 win out of 10 then crashed out against at group stage. We even lost the first WC game in 2022 but how did we ended the tourney? Didnt @SuperMario himself used to say "what matters its not how we started but how we finished" ?

My overall take is that we're not exactly in terrible situation but we definetely havent play a our best level either , plus the integration of younger players has been really slow. However, Paz playing full minutes has been a positive sign, also Senisi being given extended minutes.

This team looked unbeatable when we beat Italy 3-0 in Finalissima but the first WC game was a lost to Saudi. My point is, you cant expect a perfect scenario where every single game is a convincing victory. We even had trouble against Australia, Netherlands and France after having 2-0 lead. Had that happen in this qualifier, these people would have crucified Scaloni.

Its not by accident that our last great round was against Brazil and Uruguay, our 2 big rivals and we've yet to qualify. When Columbia and Ecuador beat us at their home, it took them non existant penalties.

 

I bet you anything that if the team is traveling non-US/Argentina countries in November, Messi will most likely miss the November friendlies to prepare for the MLS play off matches. At most, he will play probably just one game in like Angola and then come back to the States.

Good assessment, agree with this.

 

Oh, I feel MUCH better about this team than I did about the 2022 version. Messi may not be the same Messi, but I think it's more a matter of betting on his health rather than major decay in his game. I have watched over 3/4 of his Inter Miami games. He's got plenty left. De Paul had a brilliant last campaign in Spain, and admittedly, it seems like he's taken his foot off the gas at Inter, but when I see him play with the selection, he still bosses the midfield (aside from some predictable mental lapses). Paredes is not a starter, but when he plays, I can't remember the last time I thought he disgraced himself. And he's one of the elements who seems to know exactly what Scaloni wants of him and does it, and does not whine if he does not get minutes. Same for Otamendi, still the best aerial threat this team has, I think.
Julian is much further along in his progression, and with the addition of his dead-ball prowess, has become a legit world-class level player. There is also the progression of Mac and Enzo (who, by the way, seemed to have escaped much criticism here when he was poor for a very long stretch with this team, by my observation). Almada has made a niche for himself.

It's a World Cup. The odds are against winning it, obviously. Heck, they can crash out in the group stage, but no one will convince me that, as of this moment, they do not have a better chance than they did going into 2022.

 

Even during WC 2022 I've always said Paredes mostly better coming in as a sub. He has good interception , long passing range and doesnt have fear when taking penalties. I think only missed once or twice in his entire career. He did starts when we beat Brazil 4-1 though.

I'd argue Messi this season is way better than last season where he had hamstring recurrence. It's why he couldnt play at top level during Copa. Messi is one goal away from reaching 50 G+A contribution. We can spin it all we want but I dont see anybody from the current squad who could reach that number despite playing in MLS. Maybe Julian or Lautaro could come close but Messi shooting accuracy is still second to none.

True, Enzo and Mac most of the time escaped cricitism cause some people has a certain resentment only towards certain players. Enzo was making overweight passes multiple times few days ago but if RDP does that, he'd get crucified. When Cuti made silly mistake against Brazil, they defended him saying its just one off occurance... Otamendi was crucified for that one mistake at WC final and he literally played well in all other matches. Not saying Otamendi still play at top level, but it goes to show you some fans would only criticizes the same few players while always defended the others.

 

I don't want to sound rude but, how?
That lapse between Copa America 2021 final and Finalissima it was the only time in my life that I was 100% convinced that Argentina was going to win the WC, and wasn't just me, most of the people in the country had the same feeling.

 

No worries!
I cannot account for how you or others felt, but having 100% confidence about anything, much less a tournament like the World Cup is wild to me. You can give me the best player who ever played at every single position, and the best backups, with the best coaching staffing, and pre-bought refs, I wouldn't be 100% confident...
I did outline the major reasons for how I feel. I will resume it by saying that 2022 was before the real emergence of Enzo, Julian, Mac, and Almada, who are much further along in their progressions. I might also include Cuti and Dibu who have benefited from experience. That alone is enough for me. However, I found it hard to be supremely confident in 2022 (though I believed this team was one of the top 5 contenders), staring at the weight of the history of not having won the tournament in over three decades, and the heartbreaking ways the team had come up short in so many prior tournaments. In short, winning in 2022 was one more data point to build confidence; winning in 2024 was yet another. The same applies to the qualifiers, and this was particularly evident in the victory against Brazil, which came after they had secured qualification, and when Brazil had everything to play for.
This is not altogether measurable, but the infusion of heart and winning mentality into this side has been the biggest difference maker. It is battle-tested, tough, and pragmatic. They know when to press on the accelerator, don't get flustered, and don't feel the need to be world beaters in meaningless games. The result is what matters most, whatever the means. And I, as a fan, welcomed that change, switching over from being eternal losers to ruthless killers. So yes, losing Di Maria (effectively replaced by Almada), and whatever decay people perceive in Messi, RDP, and whoever you want to point out is to be considered, I simply do not see to what people are attaching their belief that the 2022 team is better. Then again, belief really doesn't need reasons, does it? It's a feeling thing.
Does that mean they will achieve as much? Of course, it doesn't...because that's not how odds work.

 

https://mundoalbiceleste.com/2025/1...-caoch-lionel-scaloni-speaks-on-matias-soule/

 

Then Saudi game happened.

Netherlands & France came back from 2 goals behind, Australia almost did the same. Its not a smooth sailing. CA 2021 semi and CA 2024 QF were a rocky path aswell.

The two major differences with our run in past tournaments were winning the shootouts and was able to find the winners in CA finals. So most of the time having the right tactic & having great players are simply not enough, strong mentallity is needed and Scaloni's team clearly has that.

 

I think, at the end of the day, that even when we are winning, we want more from our team. We are not content with what we see. It’s somewhat in our DNA to complain even after we win. That is a good trait to have because it means we, as a group, are not satisfied with what we have. Some of us see the glass as half full, and some of us see it as half empty. I am the latter.

I believe the aim is to get that fourth star, and we can achieve it sooner rather than later, but making the right moves need to happen and resting on our laurels is not a good trait. We have a strong generation coming up, and there should be no doubt that we will contend for another star.

But anyways, if we do face a tough opponent in November, I hope to see a bit more character from this group.

 

So within the next 2 days we'll get to see the senior team having fun againts Puerto rico and then lads in semifinal.. my couch is ready.

 

Can't say I'm particularly interested in the game tonight, hope Messi plays and scores 5, but other than that. Scaloni and the players appear to have the same outlook as me.

 

Weirdly, Soule's agent word is working. Need more pressure from journalists for Scaloni to call Soule up

1977848763549966343 is not a valid tweet id

 

Scaloni should be under pressure to pick younger players, otherwise he's going to sleepwalk into the world cup and we'll start the first game with Otamendi, Paredes, De Paul, Montiel in the starting line up

 

From the 2022 team's key players.

Di Maria - gone, huge loss
Messi - huge decline, will be even more so in a tournament with little rest.
Otamendi - huge decline
Molina - significant decline
Tagliafico/Acuna - significant decline
RDP - significant decline
Paredes - significant decline
Dibu - slight decline.
Mac Allister - steady. Had a great last season but has been poor this season though it's early.
Romero - steady. I might say slight decline cause he was so good in 2022.
Lautaro - steady
Enzo - may have improved slightly. Haven't watched him much this season.
Julian - slight improvement. Was hugely underrated in 2022.

Overall, we have significant decline in terms of personnel. We will need youngsters to step up and have a big impact on the tournament as Mac Allister, Julian, and Enzo did in 2022. Maybe that it will be Paz, Franco, Almada or whoever.

 

I tend to think that experience is highly overrated. Julian, Mac Allister, and Enzo had little and played great. That's not an exception. Often, it's the older players who get more nervous. The young guns have nothing to lose, no baggage. In terms of skills, these 3 were already near the top of their game. They may have improved a little. But it's *far* more the case that people overrate older players based on history.

Almada is a good addition.