Vin Jr. got his nutmeg back with a carretilha. I think Paqueta should have faked that shot and cut inside. I think he would have faked both Argies there.
Happens when Neymar is not playing. Lately Neymar has been more effective in terms of passes and assists, than playing on his own or for himself. Less selfish, I think.
Holy shit Vini Jr. That was nice. And then another chance for him. Ironic that in the season in which his scoring touch has been special, he is having trouble scoring for Brazil. Just needs time. Fabinho with a yellow means he's out of the next game. At least we are shortening the list of pendurados (not that it matters too much at this point). Hopefully that means a few extra names in the next call-up to plug those holes.
That's the 3rd time these scumbags come and pick our player up from the ground after a legit foul. That's the classic Sergio Ramos move.
Gerson replaces Paquetá, and with Antony yellow-carded for confronting Acuña for his poor sportsmanship, both teams have 2 yellow-carded players on the field.
May not have felt like a great game, but I think it was a very good test for Brazil. Fabinho was great, Militão instead of T. Silva worked and Cunha moves ahead of Gabriel Jesus with this. Brazil had the clearer chances but Argentina was dangerous and at 0x0 anything could have happened. We get some improvement to our offense but need to continue working.
I think Fabinho and Fred were great today a defensive point of view. Their passing is just not that great.
This draw is overall a positive result. Against an unfriendly crowd with a referee that was too permissive in the first half as MMA violence was used against our players, Brazilian players kept their cool in the face of the local team's unsportsman-like antics and provocations. In the past, Brazilian players would have lost it and gotten themselves red-carded. But Tite told his team to exert self-control, as per Brazilian sports news reports I read before the match, and evidently, they listened. Whereas they were at full strength, Casemiro was out and Neymar was injured. Some fans believe Brazil plays better without him. Whether or not that's the truth, Brazil was not at 100% strength today, yet it had more chances on goal than the local team. Another positive aspect was Tite's incorporation of younger players, some of who earned Olympic gold in Japan this year. They corresponded, although Vinicius Jr. and Antony need to be careful with opposing players' mind games. 11 wins in 13 matches in WCQ and unbeaten - that's quite an accomplishment.
Our 3 most important players (the 3 that have no real substitute) were unfit or got injured midgame. Paredes only played one half, Romero lasted only 5 minutes of 2nd half, Messi could barely sprint and shouldn't have played. You don't have that problem cuz your subs are much better. Casemiro doesn't play and you have Fabinho who is probably 2nd best in the world. You miss Neymar and you have a Real Madrid starter. We have to play Pezzella for Romero and Lisandro Martinez (a CB) for Paredes...
In competitive games (WCQ and CA Finals and SFs) ... Messi still has never scored nor assisted a goal against us. I think it's a total of 7 games now (3 CA and 4 WCQ. We've typically kept him pretty in check in these games.
Your team had, until tonight's match, a long list of players with 1 yellow card but none got a yellow at Uruguay which meant your team had everybody Scaloni wanted. Even Messi. Whether Brazil has better subs or not, it still meant we didn't have Casemiro, whose physical presence and toughness would likely have kept some of the nonsense from some of your players in check. In any case, Brazil did well. Your federation moved the match to a city far away from the capital. It was similar to what you guys did in 2009 when you moved the match to Rosario in an effort to intimidate Brazil's players. The refereeing tonight was too complicit, and if Brazil's players lost their cool, they would have gotten red-carded. Had Brazil been winning sometime in the 2nd half, your team's players would've gone full MMA.
Given the unlikeliness of a Brazil vs. Argentina meeting in the World Cup (it has only happened 4 times since 1930), it does seem that Messi will keep that record of no goals against Brazil in a competitive match. I don't see him playing the continental tournament in 2024 and he's almost certain to be gone from international play when the 2026 World Cup takes place. Neymar in contrast has scored against Argentina in competitive matches (WCQ).
People from San Juan are actually some of most tame fans in the country lol they are a lot more "innocent" than crowds in places like BA, Rosario or Cordoba where there is regular first division football. And Scaloni actually wanted to stay in the Monumental for this game. Travelling so far for a home game is a bother but probably San Juan paid AFA good money. It has nothing to do with Brazil being the opponent, we also played Chile in Santiago del Estero, another very random venue. Oh and btw.. what nonsense did Casemiro keep in check during the copa final?
The refereeing was complicit on both matches. Your team will play in Brazil again. I hope Otamendi doesn't chicken out the way Ruggeri did with Lanus and shows up.