Copa America 2015: Argentina vs Colombia QF

Vodka tonic.

 

Im actually drinking a cuba libre

 

Grande Carlitos!

 

I like Tevez a lot; I like Aguero, Lavezzi, and Higuain too, though.

Argentina played really, really well. Messi was superb; his haters, though, will point out again that he did not score. His luck hopefully will change in the next games.

I am thrilled with this victory, even if we did not score.

 

I made a quick check at Wikipedia and it only mentioned Neymar banned for 4 matches and Richard Ortiz suspended for the game against Brazil tomorrow.

 

im assuming yellows in the group got wiped out once the k.o phase commenced

 

Di Maria will probably starts again because do to his popularity , he did well against Jamaica, setting up the winner and hit the post in second half. This bad performance against Colombia alone, I believe will not be enough for him to be dropped in favor of Lavezzi or Banega.

I dont understand why Tata subbed Aguero for Tevez. He should have subbed Biglia and put Tevez/Higuain. Aguero was isolated upfront and Messi always got the ball somewhere in midfield ,so who the fck would help Kun inside the box? I know its Tata plan A using only Kun upfront as a #9 but if there's no goal after 60 minutes, then its time for plan B!

In my opinion our sub should came at 60-65 minutes mark and if someone having a terrible match then they should be replaced right away at HT. This is knockout stage and there's no ET so you'll need to take chances.

 

He didn't respond to the change when Teo was replaced by Cardona. However the defence has been exposed when there is just one defensive midfielder. But for some poor finishing, Ospina and a couple of poor decisions from the clown in back this game should and would have been wrapped up by half time.

Sabella had a poor start with the seleccion in trying to find a way to play. Martino hasn't the luxury of a series of qualifiers to hone the team as yet. I don't think he is ideal as he is more of a cautious coach and still hasn't rectified the defence (they may not have conceded in the last three games but it still looks shaky) but give him a little more time.

Ideally Simeone should have been the new manager but you know how it is with the AFA and also the Don wants to polish his skills and create a legacy with Atleti.

 

All the tevez love is making me want to vomit.

Where was all this love for Maxi Rodriguez in 2014 vs. Holland?

Tevez 13 goals in 72 games! Maxi Rodriguez 16 in 57 games! Give me a break, and maxi never sang against the seleccion nor did he ever say the national team takes away prestige, or that the national team that he was fine without the national team.

In other news, Tata Martino is so unconvincing. Also its a serious problem that both Aguero and Mascherano got yellow cards. Regardless of who we play, Paraguay or Brazil, its going to be an intense physical match and I worry one or both could get cautioned and miss the hypothetical final. They will need to be careful

 

and how's your Ortega stats?

 

17 goals in 87 games, and he wasn't a #9. Would you like me to give you Crespo's? 35 in 64 or how about Mario Kempes or Leopoldo Luque?

 

Apart from not scoring (which is a major flaw of course) this was the best performance I've seen from Argentina in a long time, especially considering the opponent. The first half in particular was very, very good. Now I'm quite optimistic going into the semi-final

 

Great performance.

I have a gut feeling that Messi will score in the semi-final.

 

It was a good performance and Argentina really dominated the game. We had plenty of chances and should have won this game atleast 2-0. I don't understand TATA thinking for the penality shootout.

Why did he have Biglia, and Rojo take penality before TEVEZ? Just doesn't make sense.

 

I actually thought TATA got kicked out of the game, but I guess it was an assistant. TATA needs to cool down sometimes and learn his lesson from Uruguay game. Subs need to be made earlier too.

 

I don't think it was tata's decision to have tevez take the penalty shot after rojo and biglia. Most coaches would ask their players if they want to take the penalty shots. A lot of good players do not want to do it or do not feel ready to do it. Tevez missed a penalty shot in last copa america which knocked out argentina from the tournament( against uruguay ) and probably got him banned from the team for a long time . I bet tevez himself did not want to be in the list of penalty takers , it happens .

 

This is exactly right, the coach asks the players who wants to take a penalty, if he just chose, many players aren't ready to take them would be chosen. The coach also rarely chooses the order. Remember the last world cup, Van Gaal said that none of the Dutch players wanted to take the first penalty, not Robben or Sneijder or any of their big players, so it was some random defender i think Vlaar, he missed and we had the series wide open

And while I dislike Tevez, in his defense, its no surprise he didn't want to take one, but in his defense, many great players have missed in important shoot-outs... Maradona, Platini, Zico all missed in world cup shoot-outs and Cristiano Ronaldo missed in the CL Final in 2008. There are other examples I can't think of off the top of my head.

 

Good thing is messi always take some wonderful pks and score them in decisive matches for us. I always feel calm when he is about to kick. Not so calm with the other players though