So, another Sub tournament kick-off for us in a couple days. We are placed in Group A, alongside the host, South Korea, European minnow's England, and Guinea. The last few Sub tournaments we have qualified for, we have looked terrible. I am not even sure if we got out of the group but let's see what happens this time around. This is the list of players, with the exception of Barco NOT being there, Juan Mendez from Argentinos Juniors, will take his place. Some positive info, Lautaro Martinez who was expected to miss the tournament was given the OKAY to remain on the team and should be available for the opening match. The matches will be televised here in the U.S. on FS1/FS2 and Telemundo. Our opening match vs England will be 12:30 AM PST on Saturday on FS1. Our second game will be on the 23rd of May at 4:00 AM PST Our last group game(And hopefully not our last) will be on the 25th at 4:00 AM PST
We have looked very good so far in the first 20 minutes. England hasn't been able to do anything and we've dominated the match. This Colombatto kid has looked impressive. Apparently he was with River U20 who left on a free transfer. About 30 minutes gone and they're continuing to cross the ball. They've come close a couple times. Colombatto hits the post from a header on the CK. Close. We have looked really good. Look much better than the qualifiers. We dominate the first 35 minutes and England scores on their first chance.
Lautaro Martinez gets sent off for a phantom elbow that never landed. That video replay was suppose is going to do more harm than good. Players are going to act like they've been hit and try to sell a red. What a joke of a game. We were the better and yet did not score. With only 5 minutes left down 0-2, it's not looking good. Guess, we'll need to beat the hosts and will probably have to do it without Lautaro Martinez who will likely be suspended. Petrolli, what an embarrassing showing. He was nervous and looked like he had never played as a GK before. Seriously, what is this? This is equivalent to an empty net goal in hockey. What type of positioning was that?! 865849998096859136 is not a valid tweet id
They looked 10x better than they did in the qualifiers. They played great but their finishing was poor. I hadn't seen our sub teams play this well for years.
Things are going well, 2 games played and 2 defeats. Then again perhaps if we start doing crap in youth tournaments we might win the adult ones. Lol.
From all the players I have seen in these two games, it is Santiago Colombatto that is perhaps the most deserving to make the leap to the seleccion in the future. Granted it has only been a couple games but he is leaps and bounds better than anybody else on the pitch. He is a very polished player, a box to box player, who can defend and as well give wonderful passes, which he gave the assist to our only goal. He also has a deadly left foot. I am sure many teams will inquiry about him soon. A video compilation of him. Here is an article on him. http://www.tycsports.com/futbol/san...n-promesa-que-dejo-river-y-suena-en-el-calcio Speaking of River, Franco Petroli the GK for this team is one of the worst GK's I have ever seen at this level. His positioning and judgment have been shambolic.
There are a few factors that need to go our way, it's not out of the realm of possibility but we just have to wait it out. It is unfortunate because all three games we have outplayed our opponents and yet we only have 3 points and could miss out in the KO stages. They've been playing great futbol, pressing, attacking and playing fast. It has been refreshing to see.
Pretty much everything that could've gone wrong for us did, i.e. Italy-Japan ended in a tie, CR beating Zambia. Now we have to hope that the US beats the Saudi's and Honduras beats Vietnam(But if win by 7+ they'll advance) or draws them. It would be a shame if they go out, even though they lost their first two games, they've been an exciting side and could make a deep run. Let's wait and see.
The Yanks drew with the Kingdom of Death so i assume that means we are out. Probabky part of the 350 billion dollar deal.
Alas, we are headed home. It's a shame that EVERY single thing that went wrong did. It appears teams just had agreeements to play for a draw and go through. But I guess this shows you can't rely on other teams. Not going to say this was done purposely but I'll say they'll probably be happy that we did end up going home because we are one of the giants and finally found the back of the net. I felt we could've made a nice run in this tournament and challenged for our 6th cup. We played some great futbol even though results did not show. Probably most balanced team we had in a decade. But the good news is that there will perhaps be some players we will more of in the near future and they could play for the senior side. I enjoyed watching this team quite a bit. They had a sense of direction, played fast, defended and pressed. It's not so doom and gloom and hope they bring back Úbeda. He finally had time with the players and it clearly showed. It was day and night from the qualifiers and the tournament itself.