General FIFA World Cup 2026 Discussion

Same Chelsea fans talked trash about Pulisic even though he scored a key goal in their Champions League run, now he's carrying AC Milan big time. I'm not sure I take their opinions that seriously.

 

Yes, besides club football is more mercenary and plastic than ever.

As far as I know (cause I don't watch that much club football) Dibu and Romero are still rock solid. I have a feeling that RDP will come in to the WC2026 in good shape cause he doesn't have that many duties in Miami, has always played outstanding for the flag, and knows it will be his last. Tag is old but smart and dependable as hell. Simeone, despite being limited, could be a key player protecting our right flank and providing outlet for Messi as Allende does for Miami.

I am hoping Lisandro Martinez finally has 6 injury free months and comes in top notch.
Soule is the best bet to break out and give us that extra attacking threat. I don't consider Paz to be Argentinian.
Mac needs to rest and recover some of his form.
Enzo I think can do a good job in our system.
I think Almada can play an important role if Messi doesn't play full matches (see the 4-1 vs Brazil). Having them both on the pitch won't work IMO. So I am not super worried about Messi getting injured (e.g. final against Colombia in Copa).

IMO, during the tournament Scaloni has shown he will drop vets for younger players who are in better form and who fit his system better. In 2021 had Di Maria coming on as super sub after Nico G, dropped Aguero for Lautaro, in 2022 Lautaro for Julian, and many more examples. He's also tactically adaptive - Argentina played different tactics and in every WC2022 match and every time it worked.

 

Buddy, how about you watching a couple of games of Chelsea and forming up your own opinion? Did he have a bad game vs Bournemouth? Yes and he deserves to be criticized. Those "all the fans" that you mention said this in the previous page

https://www.theshedend.com/topic/35756-enzo-fernandez-officially-a-blue/page/214/#comments

How would you know that Dibu and Romero are still rock solid if you don't club football? lol

For the WC22, I'm talking more of what our starting midfield was at the time as we didn't know what our best starting midfield even was. Go back to the forum for evidence after the Saudi game and the first half of the Mexico game. There was a lot of calls to drop RDP after the first 2 WC matches. There was no call to bring in MacA in the first 2 matches. Enzo was the only one that we said needed to be played. We were lucky the we found the midfield that we needed to push through the knockout stages.

 

You do know that most of us didn't want him to go to Chelsea in the first place right? You can scout this forum for evidence for that since you are good at that. It was a bad fit and he would have suited a lot more in La Liga or even a PL that emphasizes possession and control..

 

Agreed with most of your points except Almada has proven to be clutch in many of the qualifier matches (some great goals & assists). He hasnt really play in major tournament so we cant really judge him on that.

 

Imagine winning 4 trophies in row , topping the qualifier with 8 points gap but thinking its all gloom and doom.

 

Wow wild Enzo slander in there.

"Do you remember being told, on here, he was a leader of men and one of the greatest young players Argentina has ever produced. f**k me. That's the kind of delusion that makes David Icke look rational. I'd be sending him to Strasbourg in January.

Utter waste of a man in 90% of games he plays."

Damn is he that bad Lol I cant blame him tbh. If I had won everything, the last thing I would care about in the world is chelsea

 

Honestly, Enzo's fault for going to a club like Chelsea. Possession football was historically never in their DNA and the fans just don't really appreciate Enzo's type of profile. Hoping that he leaves that club asap as he will never fulfill his potential (unless a possession based coach comes in)

Even then, Enzo was named in the Club World Cup Team of the Tournament and had a great game vs FC Barcelona (although Pedri didn't started)

 

Enzo has been great at Chelsea this year. Yeah there is real hate amongst Chelsea fans towards him for what ever reason I think most of it goes back to the song on France.

Either way they are not to be trusted... I wish he leaves.

https://www.statmuse.com/fc/ask?q=most+chances+created+in+the+premier+league+24/25

Enzo Fernandez has created 51 chances in the Premier League in 2025, at least 13 more than any other Chelsea player.

Bruno Fernandes (66) and Mo Salah (58) are the only players with more so far this calendar year. 🔑 pic.twitter.com/1F7IfA1pSt

— Squawka (@Squawka) September 14, 2025

 

The only players that concerns me are De Paul and Messi, especially De Paul, he hasn't been playing well for Argentina in a while. At least Messi is Messi, he can pull something amazing out of nothing

 

My biggest concern based on how opponents have already managed to hurt us in the QF, CA and friendlies are:

Transitions and turnovers:
What the team truly lacks is a defensive minded midfielder someone whose priority is protecting the back line, controlling transitions, and covering space. Without that type of player, our defence will likely be under far more pressure than it was at the last World Cup. Too many of our current midfield options prefer to receive the ball, dictate play, and move forward, but we don’t have enough players with the legs, discipline or instincts to think defence first.

This creates risks during transitions and on the wings and in the middle where we could be exposed.

Pace and directness:
We also lack true pacey wingers who can stretch the field and offer a different dimension in attack. Miss a Fideo type of player.


We’re almost guaranteed to face teams that sit back in a compact block and let us dominate possession. But the moment we lose the ball, they’ll counter quickly and cause problems both on the wings and through the middle because we overcommited players forward.

In short, we have an overload of similar profiles such as Enzo, Mac Allister, Almada and not enough specialists: No pure CDM and no fast and direct wingers. These are issues the team needs to address moving forward I think.

 

Are argentina playing in any air conditioned stadiums?

 

They have the last two group stage matches in the Dallas Cowboys stadium which is air conditioned.

If they win the group the knockouts would go:

Miami - Outdoors, 6 PM local time
Atlanta - Indoors, air conditioned
Kansas City - Outdoors, 8 PM local time
Atlanta - Indoors, air conditioned
New York - Outdoors, 3 PM local time

 

4-0
3-1
3-0

Take it to the bank!

 

I'm not overworrying about pace. Yea its important aspect of modern football but there'so many other aspects such as footballing IQ, skills, teamwork, mentallity, great manager, great GK, player fitness during the WC, etc.


You ever see African sides win the WC despite their physical adventage? No, it only serves them well at youth level.

Not even Brazil managed to reach the final in last 5 WC despite having fast players like Maicon, Kaka etc.

 

We shall see man. I hope you are right

 

For transitions and turnovers, our best defense has always been our counter pressing. Pressing against the opponent the moment that they lose the ball. We may not have "strong" players, but what we do have is intensity, aggression and fighting spirit. This is how we played over the past few years even though we didn't had a traditional defensive midfielder because of how good our counter pressing is.

Pace and directness, we have Nico Gonzalez and Gio Simeone who can stretch the field vertically. Obviously their attacking quality in the final third is not up to par, but we do have their pace + Messi magic to help compensate that. Soule is the best of both worlds imo.

 

Because we never seem to make things totally easy...

2-1 against Algeria, a comeback win after we go down early and everyone on here panics about a Saudi repeat
3-2 against Austria, they scare us a bit near the end after we go up 3-0
4-0 against Jordan, but it takes a while, maybe til the second half to get the first one as they bunker hard but then the dam breaks because they have to win to advance

 

If Diego's team could earned 9 points conceiding just one goal , why cant Scaloni's team do it even more convincingly?

Algeria actually pushed Germany to ET in 2014, although I had no idea of their current level.

 

That's true, we fight for every ball but that only works if the midfielders have the legs and stamina to sustain it. It’s a very demanding way to defend and consumes a lot of energy. I really hope the same formula works with the same players, though I have my doubts. We’ll see.

In terms of pace and directness, both players you mentioned are limited. They may provide width, but do they have the technical ability to take on opponents?

 

De Paul should be nowhere near the starting XI, in fact I wouldn't have him in the squad but obviously he will be.

I've got France as my favourites, I think they have a stronger squad than in 2018 & 2022. (Wait for the inevitable response from Rattlehead saying France are rubbish because they lost to the Swiss in 1958).

After that Spain.

The draw has been kind to us so let's see how it pans out. Have to admit watching Argentina in the last world cup was sheer torture, the only game I was relaxed for was the semi final against Croatia and 75 minutes of the final, the rest was hell.