He played 50 games this season, scored in FA cup final, most likely will bagged the puskas award aswell. Lets hope he hit tje net againts galegos!
You know, props to Colombia.. they never tried wasting time to take it to penalties, or played antifutbol. They tried to win the game, but just ran out of gas They could have easily gone with Chile tactics to take it to PKs, and from there who knows what would have happened (yeah yeah, we have Dibu, but still). So kudos to them.. probably the most formidable opponent we had in these last 4 CA finals we played
If anything, they're most likely aware of Dibu's threat if it comes to penalties, hence they avoided to play like Chile. For them to entered the final aftrr 28 games winning streak and lost it there must be pretty brutal.
For whatever reason, Ecuador was the only team I was worried about in this tournament. I felt if we get past them, we'll likely win it again. Ecuador always plays us tough. Well, not always, like in the past when he rolled them 4 or 5-0 but in recent memory, Ecuador has given us fits. Colombia I was never worried about. Colombia just does not have the pedigree to put fear in our hearts or at least mine. We've gone into Colombia and handled our business. Uruguay would've been a more physical battle but we had better players and the brazucas are garbage right now. This will shut the mouths of those people who said "aRgENtInA hAs nOt pLaYeD anYoNe." Well, we just defeated the darlings of this tournament.
Just a heads up, Adidas in a couple days will be releasing some CA winning tees. https://www.adidas.com/us/argentina-copa-winner-tee/JZ8850.html
Yup, I caught myself thinking how well behaved Colombia was for most of the game. They really payed their hearts out and have us a good challenge for most of the game. I was a little surprised how much their quality dropped off once the substitutes were made. They just don't have depth like we do (Lautaro, Lo Celso, Paredes). Di Maria, Enzo, and Mac really stepped up their energy levels late in the game as well. I was disappointed in Tagliafico's performance. He is always a warrior tho. I'm excited for our next LB search. Ortega, Medina, and Barco come to mind.
Ecuador gave us a tougher time. Colombia outplayed us for the first 30 minutes but it was mostly due to our terrible giveaways. After that they ran out of ideas and looked kind of haphazard even though we were not near our best. We were lucky not to score earlier and ended up winning with more grit than them. Guess our best player in the tournamnet was Romero but hard to say. A real team effort. Dibu, Lautaro, Mac, Tag, Lisandro were good all tournament long. Montiel very good in his brief time. Rest were mixed I would say.
Here we go again.The #CopaAmerica final pitch is hard, and seams are visible.Hard Rock Stadium has a regular natural grass surface, but it was removed for a concert on July 6 and only reinstalled four days prior to today’s #ARGCOL match.We’ll see how it holds up. pic.twitter.com/aaSuGE10GN— Kyle Bonn (@the_bonnfire) July 14, 2024 Clowns, who approved a ********ing concert before a final
Julian has never been a clinical finisher. He's more Tevez type of player, but he's faster than Tevez when it comes to sprinting. Nico is another attacking player thats being more useful for hasling than scoring. Usually we're bailed out by Messi goals & assists, but he's old & carrying an injury which means Lautaro us the only good proper striker we have. I guess its why Scaloni saving him as super sub againts tired legs. It worked wonder in fact. He outscored everyone without needing a penalty and despite only starting in two games. Our midfield gets outplayed for most of the first half, but Licha, Cuti & Dibu did their job superbly. The victory in 2021 againts Brazil in Brazil simply elevated our winming mentality. When things get tough, we can grind it out and win it. Its what we're missing in 2015 & 2016 finals. Lautaro > Higuain large margin now.
Well, Scaloni needs to begin removing players. The phasing aspect is over. The likes of ADM, Otamendi, Armani, who knows maybe even like Tagliafico are over(Maybe Tag's can be a useful sub). Who knows about Messi. He said he was going to do muscle rejuvenation therapy(Perhaps that is some stem-cell). But there is so much potential that he needs to bring them in ASAP for the next qualifiers. I want to see what a Soulé does, Varela, Equi, give youngsters like Echeverri and Mastantuono a call-up to a camp, not necessarily to the final 26. See what Colo provides. If we have Licha and Cuti in the back with Dibu. We are protected. The FBs need to be addressed and the midfielders need a bit of a revamping. We know what Julian and Lautaro provide. Let's see what our youngsters can do. We have enough talent, even without Messi to be a viable threat to any team. Scaloni just can't fall in love with these players that have won us all these trophies. And what the AFA needs to do, most importantly is to stop breaking balls and schedule real friendlies. None of this flying out to China or Saudi Arabia where we play small teams. Let's play Germany, Portugal or France. No more minnows of the likes of Aruba, Guatemala, England, and etc.
I agree with all that except I do not think Julian is a bad finisher. We had him running ragged and therfore he was often out of position and therefore barely got clean chances. He did get one in the first minute today but that was it. I still think Scaloni is correct in making Julian the starter and it is not just to tire out legs. I think he is just a flat out better play for us. But Lautaro had a great tournament obviously.
Lautaro has much better positioning, hence whenever our midfields plays well, he always set himself up for a great chance. You dont become serie A & Copa top scorer at the same season by being bad finisher. He played under injury throughout WC 2022. Julian actually accidentally blocked Messi shot early im first half.
LMAO, I just went back to rewatch the trophy ceremony. Dibu got the award for best goalie. He goes up, he gets the trophy and they quickly cut away to the distance. But they see he wasn't going to make a gesture, they cut back to him up-close.
In 2021 England lost in the final of the Euros and Argentina won the Copa, in the 2024 England lost in the final of the Euros and Argentina won the Copa. Someone once wrote that history repeats itself, first as a tragedy, second as a farce
Some probably forgot but Angelito actually suffered similar ankle injury like Messi against Brazil in 2021 and was subbed off in second half. However he already inflicted the damage to them. I believe a fully fit Messi without any injury can still be useful as super sub. He simply needs to get properly healed and take a long time off. I mean there were times when Angelito gets injured all the time in major tournaments while still in prime age, yet he's now could play 120 minutes of Copa final at 36! The reason why I think Messi is important isnt because of his dribbling ability anymore but our players loves him alot and that gives them an extra motivation. They're playing for defending the country plus winning it for Leo.
What makes it even better is England reached two consecutive Euro finals, scored early in 2021 final, scored equalizer in this final but still ended up losing. Hell, Italy even miss their penalty first and England still managed to blew themselves out To make it worst, every England generations are being considered as golden generation and its riduculous! Lineker era, Shearer era, Beckham-Owen era, Lampard, Rooney , Gerrard , Rio era and now... Bellingham, Walker, Pickford, Foden, Saka... yet they're empty handed in almost 6 decades. Their pundits must have ranked RDP, Paredes and Gio's outside top 50 best midfielders