Aimar? a shame : (

His time will come. He looks frustated when he came in. He needs to be patience. I believe he’ll be playing significant role in Serbia game along side Messi.

Serbia & Holland are less physical than Ivory Coast. I think Serbia will defend most of the time & waiting for counter attack. So we need more penetrations & set pieces to break down the defence

Posted from  Malaysia

Very dissapointed to see aimar coming after the 90th minute..he is a great player with good skills..peker please move him to the starting eleven..and mind u the game v played against ivory coast is really frustrating..plz take best eleven for the coming games..our defence look so open and not at all strong..
Bring aimar,messi,tevez instead of rodriguez,masherano,
Defence be careful…

Posted from  India

The problem is that in Pekerman’s head: Aimar=Messi.

Our system must fit with our best players: Messi, Tevez, Crespo, Aimar, Riquelme should all play together. Not the inverse. We have a fantastic team.

Posted from  France

Riquelme’s pace is to slow and slows the game down and gives the other team time to regroup. Aimar and Messi used in the midfield, like vs. Angola friendly is crazy. That setup with Tevez and Crespo would be ideal. This is the true Argentina style. Like Kris Said “encara”, gambeta thats what this team lacks right now. Aimar brings that to the table and so does Messi and Tevez. HUEVOS thats what they have carajo y eso le falta al equipo en el ataque…

Posted from  United States

I don’t understand why Messi, Tevez, Crespo and Aimar are not on the pitch at the same time…I mean come on.

Masche and Maxi are good, but this is unreal. Pekerman hasn’t even tried to see if it would work…when we all know it would.

And I know it’s about putting the best team together, not necessarily the best individual talent, but who in their right mind would honestly complain with Messi, Tevez, Crespo, Riquelme and Aimar on the pitch?

Posted from  United States

I am sure Aimar will play when the team needs him. Just like Tevez, Messi, etc.. If we can win without Aimar, then that’s fine by me.
I think Pekerman was right not to include Zanetti, we don’t need him at the moment, and as a team, I am sure we play better without him.

When we really need to get things going, Im sure Pekerman will change plan and bring out all the big guns - Messi, Tevez, Aimar, etc..

I think the next game vs S&M will be easier, although it will be played @ 2 PM, and from the wussy english team, they say it’s too hot to play in those conditions - I hope they get knocked out early.

We are use to this kind of weather so hopefully we have an advantage

Posted from  United Kingdom

Yes ok but why wouldnt you start your big guns from the start and just “Nuke” everyone haha. Messi and Tevez will have their chances whether its going to be this world cup is the question. But for Aimar i just sympathize with him the most since its his second world cup he is going to be put on the bench.

Posted from  United States

What is funny is that riquelme plays on the right, Aimar on the left. For some reason it hasnt worked. The reason i think that neither Riquelme of Aimar does tackling. Maxi does.I say after 60 minutes. Put in aimar

Posted from  United States

Has anyone noticed that in this worldcup, significant number of goals have come either in the first few starting minutes or in the last dying minutes?

I think concentration will play a better role in this worldcup.
And recently or mostly, we haven’t been good at concentrating esp in the end. We have got to be very careful.

Posted from  United States

thats is exactly why aimar can’t play for maxi.. because you lose something on the defensive end and you need that..

so what should have happened in the ivory coast game is that aimar should have coem in for riquelme in the 70th minute

i like pekerman and stand by him… we won the match.. thats all that matters… BUT pekerman looks weak on the changes/substitutions..this seems like a big problem with argentine coaches ..subbing..bielsa was horrible..

aimar was the best argentine player in the 2002 world cup and i really liked him.. so much i bought his jersey..

for some reason argentien coaches are down on the small players… look at gallardo.he was great in 1998 when he got achance and then was hardly used in 2002..

Posted from  United States

Perhaps Pekerman has not really brought the “big guns” out early in the game; (or at least not in the deadly combination that was mentioned earlier of Messi, Tevez, Aimar); is to minimize the opportunities for injuries or fatigue during the early phases of the tournament. The World Cup is a very short and punishing tournament where players from every team “se matan” when they get out on the pitch. So far it doesn’t appear that Argentina has had to play at full potential (vs. Angola and CIV). In previous World Cups key players have missed crucial late stage games due having been given too many yellow cards or a red card, or due to injuries and/or fatigue which in turn, affected the teams’ chances to continue to the next stage. All that counts in the first round is that we get the necessary points to move on. If it is possible to do it w/o using the big players and thereby lowering the risk that they will be unable to play at the later stages when they are truly needed, then more power to Pekerman. Messi is still nursing a previous injury so if he has a little extra time to get to full recovery then that is something that will serve Argentina. I do hope that when Pekerman does decide to let Aimar play that he will give him enough time to make a difference.

Posted from  United States

no. see my last post on risky riquelme.. pekerman has built the team around riquelme..

think what bilardo did in building his 86 team around maradona…

thats what pekerman has done..we shall see if it works… i say he passed the first test.. that ball he put for saviola was incredible!!!!!!!!!

Posted from  United States

i think aimar is one of the best players in the team now requelme.i also like requleme he’s one of the best in the world BUT aimar should of replaced him in the 65th min or so when argantina was playing on the counter attacks, requelme is just toooo slow to build up a counter attack or penetrate himself unlike aimar

Sergio there is no comparison to 86 cuz everyone knew bilardo picked the right person to build the team around…

Posted from  United States

It is a risky strategy, but I think it is a sound one.

Like a good truco player we don’t want to show them all our cards from the very beginning.

At the moment any coach that has to plan how to play against us knows we have a Plan B and even a plan C if needed.

It keeps them guessing.

As long as we keep winning we must not complain, remember they are there to win not to give us a nice show.

Posted from  Australia

why aimar in the bench..he was a most talented player like maradona..everyone wants to see aimar played and is unfair to field aimar in a last minute..and he never touch the ball…so i hope pakerwood will change his tactic and player for second game

Posted from  Malaysia

Damn it!It was really upsetting to see that Aimar came in the injury time.I personally think he is better than Riquelme.he was many times selected as the spanish player of the yesr.And even roman wants to play alongside him.
Messi said Aimar is the best player in Europe and it is special to play alongside him.
Every1 knows how deadly the messi-aimar-tevez combo can be.
the 3 best attackers on the bench?!Argentina surely cant win the world cup like this.
May be argentina will the next world cup when Maradona will be the coach.The game against ivory coast wasnt that impressive ,even though they won.

Brazil will probably win because they know how to play their best players.Or may be ,just may be,pekerman is just waiting to unleash the messi-aimar-tevez combo at the right time.

By the way, riquelme and saviola played well though.But I still want aimar and tevez alongside them from the start.

Posted from  India

not playing aimar is really a shame.Keeping him on the bench is like keeping the beauty of the game on the bench.he should play from the start.Just like messi and tevez should.

Posted from  India

i don’t trust Pekerman at all, until Argentina win the would cup,
because he is in love i’m sure with his juniors
cambaisso, requilmé, saviola, etc etc
beleive me ; you will see ( Requilme, Cambiasso , Heniz, Saviola, Sorin,
so who are the players you want them to play ?
Aimar, Tevez , and Messi, as i have seen most of the comments,
Aimar will never play together with Requimlé, and Requilmé must play every match
Tevez is the subsitute but he may play insetad of saviola as a line up, Crespo will be there, because so many short players Impossible, who be the agrissive in the mdifield, Cambiasso he just similing
Messi instead of Maxi Rodregez
that’s it no more possible changes

Posted from  France

The arguement about Riquelme and Aimar playing together has begun again. It sounds good but we are very weak defensively as both players are attacking midifielders.

I am agrieved to see Aimar being wasted and i can only hope Pekerman puts him on for longer periods in the tournament. He can really turn the game on his head and it is miserable to see him being used to waste time in a game.

Aimar is in the peak years of his career now and deserves more time on the pitch even if we are winning. My most favourite player without a doubt.

Posted from  United Kingdom

I agree with all of you that Aimar is a very talented player. In fact, I am one of his great followers. But I do not question the wisdom of Perkerman in his choice of players and strategy since he is a gifted coach with proven credentials. For us fans, we want only one thing: that is to see the player we admire play each game. If he performs badly we are ready to forgive and give justifications. But in World Cup games, we cannot afford such gambles. The coach has to take into consideration everything from defense, attack, substitution, neutralizing the opponent, and everything. My suggestion is that, let us respect the coach’s decisions and let us enjoy each game!

Posted from  Australia

Mistro of valencia, best player in world cup 2002, Very Talented & Experience (27 yrs old) all players respect him, its his time not only to play but to be the Captin, I think Pekerman knows who is aimar!! the decision to let aimar set on the bennch is personally.

Posted from  Bahrain

I think Pekerman is doin the rite thing by not having messi in the field coz i dont want messi to get injured agin and then not playing anymore in this world cup. cuz he has to recover and get fit 100% . and everyone is performing well and winning the matches so why bring messi whn he is not needed at this time. Let him get fit 100% thts what my view is …

Posted from  Malaysia

Argentina might be better off with a 3-5-2, as opposed to the conventional 4-4-2. Their game is based on attack built over complete control of the midfield, and we should play the aimar-riquelme-maxi-cambiasso-mascherano combination with crespo and saviola upfront. Riquelme’s languid movement
coupled with Aimar’s darting runs can drive defenses crazy. The fourth defender burdisso anyway has done nothing of note so far and I feel ayala-sorin-heinze can do the job well enough.

Posted from  India

Pekerman is a bad trainer, when he let Aimar on the bench.
Pekerman’s darling Riquelme is not bad, but to slow.Aimar is one of the best players in the world,in my opinion on the same level like Ronaldinho. If Pekerman don’t want him in midfield from the start, then he should play as forward with Messi or Crespo.Every country would cry for a player like AIMAR and Pekerman put him on the bench.It’s a shame