Argentine NT: News, Stats & Players [R]

Dario Benedetto with a goal in Marseille's 2-1 win vs. Monaco. He had been dry following the COVID break (no league goals in 12 consecutive games between August and November), but has now scored in his last 3 Ligue 1 appearances (Nantes, Nimes, Monaco). From my understanding he has taken on a more creative, playmaking role in France as opposed to the goal-scoring reference/target man role he had in Boca.

OM are now only one point away from PSG, with a chance to takeover the first place spot if they win their postponed match vs. Nice.

Balerdi has been going to the bench mostly in the domestic league, but he did play 5 of the 6 Champions League matches........... where Marseille got their asses handed to them time and time again. The aggregate score in those games was 0-12 against the French -- all 5 games lost, including three 3-0 blowouts. Coincidentally the only match they won in the group stage was their home match vs. Olympiakos........ when Balerdi was suspended from a red in the previous game.

In other European action, Nicolas Gonzalez was on the scoresheet as Stuttgart surprisingly trashed Dortmund 5-1 in the Bundesliga. He was a sub (just barely returned from an injury), but the 20 minutes he was given on the pitch were enough for him to score for his fourth match in a row (Schalke, Frankfurt, Hoffenheim, Borussia Dortmund). He now has an incredible 4 goals scored in his last 134 minutes of action.

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20-year-old Mateo Klimowicz, who has been starting regularly for Stuttgart, hasn't scored since September but was able to clinch an assist today.

A bit unrelated, but while looking at the Bundesliga I noticed that Ascacibar hasn't played a single minute for Hertha this season. It appears he is quite injury prone: from May-October he was out with a foot injury, a week later he suffered a hamstring injury, and upon returning from that he immediately encountered a muscle injury which has left him out since. He hasn't been able to feature at all, other than one match in October when he was taken to the bench but wasn't used. Hopefully he can make a comeback: he was quite a promising player, but it can be hard to return after such long period off the pitch.

 

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I know no one here cares about MLS, but Lucas Zelarayan (who in November was chosen as the 2020 league newcomer of the year) scored twice in the MLS Cup final to give Columbus Crew a 3-0 win and their first silverware in 11 years.



Milton Valenzuela (22 years old; former Newell's), a leftback who has represented the Argentina U-20 NT ten times, also contributed to the achievement.

A little info on Valenzuela from Columbus's website:

A do-it-all defender with touch, tenacity, and speed, Milton Valenzuela's 2018 numbers spoke for themselves.

That season, the Argentine was quick to showcase his offensive capabilities, scoring his first professional goal just four games into the season and finishing with six assists on the year, two of which were game-winning providers. On top of that, he provided a League-high 27 successful crosses from open play – the most of any MLS defender.
At 20 years old, he finished his debut season with the third-most tackles won (57) in Major League Soccer as part of 87 tackles total (the fourth-most League-wide) in 30 appearances.

In terms of his fit in the team, there was no doubt Valenzuela's skillset would continue to be a focal point of the Crew's high-intensity profile under Caleb Porter that defends from the front and attacks from the back.

Fast-forward to 2020
After overcoming a season-ending knee injury in early 2019, the Argentine had an emotional return to form with a full-90-minute performance in the final stages of this year's preseason, and doubled down with a performance in the 2020 home-opener that reminded Head Coach Caleb Porter just how crucial Valenzuela is to the Crew's style.

"He’s an unbelievable player," Porter said after the Crew's 1-0 Opening Match victory over NYCFC back on March 1. "I mean, I didn’t get to coach him last year, I watched him from afar prior to that. Massive impact for us, both sides of the ball. He’s even better than I thought he was. This guy, he’s a top, top-class leftback."​

The pair now becomes the 24th and 25th Argentines to have lifted the MLS Cup.

 

Well Chori Dominguez went to Russia and tore it up.. he won the league title with both Rubin Kazan and Zenit, as well as leading Zenit to their first ever (and only) UEFA cup/Europa League title (contributed heavily to the 4-0 whooping of Bayern Munich in semifinals as well). During his stint in Russia he won 3 domestic titles, 2 European international cups, and was chosen once as the player of the year... not too shabby.

Ansaldi also stuck around in Russia for quite a while before making the leap to a bigger European league. During his time there he won multiple titles and earned the majority of his NT call-ups.

Defender Leandro Fernandez, who formed part of our 2004 Olympic Gold squad, spent nearly a decade playing for Dynamo Moscow and is remembered fondly by fans.

But yeah, Cavenaghi went through living hell there wasting some of his peak years. Maxi Moralez, Daniel Montenegro, and Paredes all threw away a season in Russia as well.

Then there’s the recent wave of diverted careers: Driussi, Rigoni, Mammana, Kranevitter, Gaich... clearly that league is no good for our guys, but money talks and no one listens to anything else

 

Pezzella has been starting over Martinez Quarta in Fiorentina for a while now... in fact, MQ hasn't seen a single minute on the pitch since Prandelli took over as Fiore's manager at the beginning of November..

I don't know what long-term plans they have for Lucas, but this is not a good sign heading into the WCQs and Copa America.. the guy had been starting regularly for the past 2 years in Argentina, and just now that we need him in form he's riding the bench. I wonder if Scaloni will drop him altogether if things don't change by March..

 

Guido Pizarro and Nahuel Guzman helped Tigres lift their first ever CONCACAF Champions League as they played the entire 90 minutes in the final vs. LAFC.

The pair had already played the tournament's final three times (2016, 2017, and 2019), but lost on all occasions. Guido, the team's captain, lifted his 8th title with the Mexican side, while Guzman (part of our 2015 & 2016 Copa America rosters) celebrated his 9th trophy with the club.

The two now have a ticket to Doha to participate in the 2020 Club World Cup in February, where they will try to lead a CONCACAF/Mexican team to the final for the first time...

On a side note, Guzman had this little clown moment in the final tonight: