Argentine NT: News, Stats & Players [R]

Corbatta has elements that di Maria has. I think @Loco we'll be fine. We have an immense midfield and defence developing. Just need to add to Julian and Lautaro upfront. Keep the same work ethic, unity and we will be there or thereabouts. Of course we'll miss these two.

They are right up there as some of the best players to have donned the shirt in over a hundred and ten years. They do provide that extra spark and magic that you sometimes need and also keep the opposition in fear.

But we're good right now. Very good and now we need to make it a dynasty.

 

Does get caught out later defensively. He'll need to develop that better. But what a cross. Also Brighton & Hove Albion are interested in Taty Castellanos.

 

You’re preaching to the choir. SoFi is a state of the art stadium, even though a traditionalist like myself would’ve preferred the Rose Bowl but SoFi will be a stadium where players would want to play.

But I think we are going to be placed in New York or Miami. Both of those areas have outdoor stadiums, which will be troublesome for players. NYC in the summer is bad as well and those stadiums are all outdoors. Not to mention, the Hard Rock is a dump(sorry@Loco). It would’ve been equivalent if they had a game at Candle Stick instead of Levi(Even though Candle Stick is no longer around).

And yeah, I believe Mexico will play their matches in Mexico. But Mexico is categorized into two regions for the World Cup. Two matches in the Central and one in the West. The West has venues are set in LA, SF, Seattle, Vancouver and Guadalajara. It would ridiculous if a team has to play in Vancouver and then travel all the way to Guadalajara.

 

Put it this way. In 1994, when the sport lacked the popularity that it has now, the World Cup in 94 became the most profitable World Cup in history. And we've had tournaments in France and Germany since USA 94. It made a profit of 1.45 billion.

The good news is that we will have more games, which will give people more chances to attend matches. The bad news, those matches will probably be Latvia v Sierra Leone. Getting tickets for Argentina will be difficult. You will probably have to pay the aftermarket price. What those prices will be will be any anybody’s guess.

These were the prices in Qatar, at least according to AS, which was not that bad, considering all things. For example, a Category 3 seat, there were 4 categories(1 being the highest) a R16 was about $100 U.S. The final, for those tickets would cost you a bit more, at $600.

But I just hope FIFA keeps the prices at these level, which would make accessible for most people. The problem is BOTs, where people could buy a bunch of tickets and hike up the prices. I guess we will know more a couple years down the road.

https://en.as.com/soccer/qatar-2022...ame-tickets-and-how-can-can-they-be-bought-n/

https://www.forbes.com/sites/stevep...-at-the-qatar-2022-world-cup/?sh=211d42d2538f

 

Couldn’t they get Masche a shirt with three stars?

 

Yeah, I hope so, too. I do not want to see any price gouging just because the tournament is being hosted in the US. The CAC tickets started from a 100 dollars or so, those were for the nosebleeds and for the group stages. I do hope it is FIFA that sets the prices rather than the arenas. FIFA will allocate a certain amount for the venues and they will go from there. We will see.

But hey, we have the World Cup in 2026 and the Summer Olympics here in LA in 2028. But it’s not LA-LA for certain events. For example, mountain biking is going to be held in San Dimas. I can only imagine foreigners coming to SoCal and go to San Dimas and think “this is LA?”. Volleyball will be in Anaheim. But futbol will be played at the Rose Bowl.

I think that ship has somewhat sailed. He had one really great season with Sevilla and I believe Scaloni had him pecked as a player he liked. Maybe even a backup to ADM but he lost it to Nico Gonzalez.


Ocampos, Lanzini and Coco all were great talents. Unfortunate, through injuries and other aspects really hindered their careers. I was super excited about Coco. He should’ve stayed in Rome for at least another year or two.

 

Well, yeah, ADM is not going to be at the next World Cup. We do have to start looking at our options. But if Lucas was not getting much playing time in Sevilla, he goes to Ajax and returns in 6 months, we are seeing a pattern. I wish him the best, and I hope he can turn it around but let’s what pops up in the next year or two before we go back to the well.

 

So, if he was a regular starter, why would he leave? He wanted to hangout in Amsterdam or something?

 

I take your word for it. I did watch some Sevilla matches but I didn’t recall him.

But again, he is 28, which, sure, is not old per-se in football, but you would’ve liked some consistency with him over the years. He has talent but I don’t know… He had one really good year and then dropped off. Scaloni called him up a number of times but probably did not see enough to have him back.

It’s going to be interesting to see the players called up in the friendlies, if not in March but later in the year. He will have three plus years to construct another winner.

 

Martinez starting for Manu today, garnacho on the bench

 

Argentina needs to address 4 important weaknesses they have.

- Small defenders. It cost the team during the Netherlands game and the big players were able to out body the defenders like in the later stages of France game.

- Fitness - players need to be more physically fit. Especially the younger players, there's no excuses for not being able to play 85 minutes at least. Just being able to contribute more fitness and speed and keep the pace at the later stages of the 2nd half is crucial, it cost Argentina issues in most matches.

- Defenders who make small errors and weak judgment decisions. These errors that cost the team force errors or simple drop in clearing the line. Again it cost the lead several times. The two first goals from France and dibu save were all from errors from the Argentina back line.

- Hot tempered players is still an issue. We need more players with Messi Mentality and not like Parades mentality. That stupid kick he did into the bleachers shouldn't have happened, a lesser ref would have looked at that as a red card. That could have cost us the game. Small moments like that ruin championship runs. That NEEDS to be seriously cut from the team. In other words, suck it up butter cup, be a man and just go out and win. It needs to be made clear if you ever show that type of attitude, you will never be called up again. I'm tired of these dumb Ortega moments every team shows.

 

Lautaro is on fire. Good thing we won the tournament.

Por favorrrrr Lautaro madre mia che golazo 🔥 https://t.co/4AEIondYAn

— Alessandro (@90ordnasselA) January 18, 2023

 

Lautaro Martínez can't stop scoring now, I think Higuain out a spell on him during the world cup

 

To be honest, I’d much rather remember Lautaro’s good moments from the World Cup, as few and far between as they were. The pen vs. Holland, the first touch vs. France for Messi’s goal.

Also, it is a ways to go, but I have a sneaking suspicion that Messi and perhaps even Di Maria would try to go for the 2026 WC - maybe as super subs.

Finally, one thing I chanced about on Scaloni - which really shows his strong mentality. He said he hasn’t re-watched the World Cup final even once, because he was irritated that we didn’t close it out within 90 minutes.

 

We should’ve closed out all of the games in 90 minutes. It was just bad luck. We dominated every game we played, even the one we lost. Nobody with an objective eye would disagree. All the matches should’ve ended how it ended in the Finalissima, a coronation of this team’s greatness.


I’m fine with Lautaro. I just want to see him continue to score and win trophies.

 

This angle of Messi's world cup highlights is really something special.

 

Lautaro scored again in Supercoppa victory. A chip like the one he did againts Saudi. He has scored in 4 consecutive games since WC.

 

A. Correa with an assist while Molina also involve in the other goal.