The Battle for the Clausura: River and Estudiantes

All I’m going to say is that AFA wll never hire an foriegn manager.

Posted from  United States

albo, i completely agree with you about pekerman. the coach is supposed to do everything he can to put the team in a position to win, and the team has to win it.

against england, it wasnt the lack of riquelme in the last 10 minute that ended up costing them the game (which we allowed 2 goals in the last 4 minutes).

against germany yeah. the biggest problem i had with that, wasnt that riquelme was subbed, but who he was subbed for. We already had Mascherano & Luch, both could play the Defensive mid, and it was wrong to take out riquelme for cambiasso. AIMAR should have been subbed in. and Messi should have come in for Crespo not cruz.

the only benefit of having cruz was for airal attack, but we never really had any air threat against the germans, but having tevez and messi upfront with aimar holding the ball. and clogging the middle with masch, maxi, lucho, would be have been a better choice than. Tevez, cruz, lucho, maxi, masch, cambiasso. that killed us.

Posted from  United States

In the German game, Peckerman’s subs gave off the stench of fear, and that’s the worst move you can make in that situation. He should have put Aimar in. Listen — Arg football is the most quixotic brand of football in the modern age. They live by rules that no one else has the stomach to follow any more. He should have put Aimar in, and risked Aimar’s electricity, and if it didn’t work out, then they went down fighting, and not with their tails between their legs.

Peckerman did wonders for the Arg team, though. These players never see each other, but he had them play with the rhythm and instinct of the greatest club teams. But organization and planning was impeccable (except for the fact that he didn’t foresee how quickly Messi would rise to superstardom), but his under-pressure decision making was pretty poor. (He shouldn’t have played Riquelme against Holland, for example. He shouldn;t have put Palacio in against the ivory Coast, the Julio Cruz decision made sense “on paper” but was really suicidal).

On good thing about Basile is that he takes more risks. But I do miss Peckerman’s exquisite organization.

Posted from  United States

what I really didn’t get about the Roman sub was that Arg by nature, when they try to defend leads, like to play keep away and go by the philosophy that if the opposition doesn’t have the ball, they can’t score. easier said than done so that’s why we’ve always straddled the number 10 to pivot along with 2 other guys, form many triangles on the pitch to keep the ball away from the opposition as opposed to the Euro way of defending (11 behind the ball; once you get it, boot it back to opposition territory, and repeat). It’s why Arg/Bra were lethal once they got leads b/c they could pick opponents apart as they were advancing towards them and with one touch passing go and score the insurance goal.

of course, the above tactic is blown to shreds once the number 10 is taken out of the equation and you can’t substitute him with someone who can take on that mantle.

guys, what do you think about where Arg 06 rank as the best team to never win the WC. I rate the Brazil 82 team the best of all time (forget just not best team not to win WC - a stupid back pass killed them, but that’s soccer), but purely in terms of teams not winning the WC (in the modern era), I would say Arg are right behind Brazil 82, Holland 74, Italy 90 (very few teams would have been able to score on Zenga/Baresi/Maldini) and possibly Brazil 98 depending on your point of view. I really thought we were that good and I guess that’s why it hurts so much to have missed out due to tactical blunders.

Liga de Quito to the finals of Copa Libertadores!!!!
Congrats Ecuatoriana !!!!
Way to go !!!

Posted from  United States

Ahhhhh. Thanks Albo!!!

Liga to play……hopefully Boca. But the thought of that brings terror to my heart! (And trauma, my favorite player in the world going against my childhood team?! Yikes….)

Unbelievable– Liga in the final.

Question — that Higuain guy who plays for America– is he G Higuain’s brother?

Posted from  United States

Yes Alexa, Federico Higuaín is Gonzalo’s brother.
About Boca going to the final, it’s a long shot but when Boca play for the marbles you never know.
Whatever the results, this is a wonderful Copa Libertadores and I think next year this tourney is going to get a lot more attention from the rest of the world.

Posted from  United States

The only mistakes Pekerman did was :

- starting Riquelme against the Netherlands

- not training Coloccini enough to press the right wing (what Burdisso was doing well) because he’s only a center defender (he did the same mistakes against Croatia, England & Germany)

- Making his team more defend against Germany when the best way to win this game was to keep the ball and make them run with Aimar & Messi (these were the 2 substitutions he had to do, our 3 midfielders Maxi, Masche, Lucho were in good shape). Instead of this, Pekerman, frightened of the tall & strong Germans, preferred to muscle a bit the game whereas what we needed most against them was little speedy genius…

We can’t neglect that our players are weak mentally too.

Why do we talk about this anyway? I think we will remember this game forever

: (

Hey Friends,

Just a quick update on an old matter. If you recall I posted previously that UEFA would not allow the champions league to proceed without Milan next year. It’s looking more like my inside sources where correct, they usually are.

From today’s papers

“Milan could sensationally be handed a place in the Champions League, as Bulgarian side CSKA Sofia face expulsion”

I’ll keep you all updated as well as provide you my pick for Euro 2008 for those of you who dont like to gamble but want a sure thing.

I will keep you updated

regards,

ps…..I never liked Basile and thought his appointment will lead to nothing but disappointment for us fans.

you are a true loser

Posted from  United States

You are right Maxi Lopez. We will remember this game forever. I cannot forget it. It was our World cup.

I have another strong feeling about the quarter finals. If Argentina would have played after Brazil and known that their nemesis is gone, they would have won the World cup. Its all about the mind. They would have believed that it is their world cup. I always thought that Argentina knew that they are playing the best, but did not believe its their world cup. Once Brazil is out its pretty much any body’s world cup. And we would have won it.

BTW, guys can we have a prediction for the qualifier on 17th June. What do you think would the result be?

Posted from  United States

btw, why is the Brazil game not played in the Maracana? Don’t Brazil normally play their big games there? I actually think the dimensions of the pitch at Horizonte suit us more than them. The heart says Arg, but the head says Brazil wins 2-1. Beating Brazil at home is something else, however, I’m sure we’ll win the return leg at the Monumental.

However, more crucial I think is who scores the first goal, more so from an Arg point of view. Given our fragile nature, we might collapse if Brazil scores first on us again…

Posted from  Canada

Basile is breaking my balls!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

why Julio Cruz and Pato?!!!!!!!
i have no problems with messi playing enganche ….i also havea lot of doubt concerning burdisso.

we ll just have to see then

Posted from  United States

Almeria’s Piatti deal is closed…he will in spain after three weeks after the classura
good luck to another youngster!!!

Posted from  United States

I would be happy with a draw. My prediction is though a 0-2. I just hope we are not drubbed again.

Posted from  United States

Tonight we’ll see Messi playing as “enganche” (3-4-1-2).
That is got me a bit worried.
I hope Lio proves me wrong.

Piatti to Almeria is a touch disappointing. Would have preferred he go somewhere like Santander to link up with Sarmiento.

Should be interesting to see if Trecarichi can force his way into the Sevilla first team as well.

I don’t see why we are quaking in our collective boots. The players sure as hell wont be. Their aim will be to get a point for certain & a win is not beyond reason.

I mean Sweden looked quite dangerous against Brazil so we should be able to pose far more problems.

Speaking of which Mexico have ensured yet another period of no sucess by appointing Eriksson a vastly overated coach.

Euro08 another month of stale defensive football permeated by penalty shoot outs awaits.

I sincerely hope that Spain or Portugual win as teams still committed to open attacking football.

I have a soft spot for Russia too or have proved that its still possible to win with flair & elan albeit in another sport taking the World Ice Hockey Championship against Canada on their home ice.

Ok how about 2 different topics one for the Boca game and one for the NT game? Or how about just a new topic combining both games together?

Posted from  United States

I agree, yeah we need a new topic hours before the game start.

Posted from  United States

AURELIUS, I think European sides will look good against Brazil. Its the physical aspect of the players and their game. Sweden is a physically strong team and then can play a bit of football also (they are skilled).

We need a few big guys. Like Fazio. Hope he comes up nicely.

Posted from  United States

Arg winning in Brazil would go a huge way into them getting over their psychological block against that team. It would be huge. Of course they can do it.

Posted from  United States

Why should we always target to taking physical approach to negate the physical opponents, the WC 06 against Germany is an example we needed to put on flair and skillfull attack to break the physical barrier surely with some physical backbone. Sweden didnot play against Brazil with to physical aspects but Brazils playmaking persons couldnot click.
Spain had already shown Sweden that the physical game can be countered by skill and discipline. against argentina its simple make argentina play in front of the defence and it will tire itself since none of the attacker/No.9 positions himself correctly ( at present consider Crespo retired). Messi was improving on goal scoring, but injury made a halt on it, Tevez somehow flops with NT, Aguero will be another dimension of Messi. In My opinion if Cavenaghi do not click then put Maxi on that position since Maxi usually positions himself well and ratio of conversion is good.
I never posted a formation of my liking
———-GK (I dont care who it is since I dont see a good one at present)
Zabaleta - Garay - Coloccini
——Macherano ———–
————-Cambiasso/Gago —-
—Maxi—-Aimar/Roman—Messi—
———Aguero——————
————-Cavenaghi/Crespo—

Its a very strange formation but here we can defend with 7/8 players since Messi/Maxi have lots of enery and speed. Aimar/Roman can also defend doesnot mean that they have to tackle but a defensive help can be provided in upper grounds. On Defensive needs this formation can use Maxi/Macherano as wing backs. Attacks can be more directed from the right and central since it will be expected that threat is from the side of Messi.
I would surely use Messi to create spaces and some momentary attacks instead of a continous channel of attacks. With This formation the speed of the game will be in a high tempo, a risk but can be compensated if Gago or Cambiasso is given the key at times to control the game with Maxi falling back.
Surely it will have lots of flaws but in practice I think this might just work.

I completely agree with you ALBO. Messi could waste everything. Playing as an enganche is particular especially with 3-5-2, you need to build with all the movments around you. Lets wait and see what Messi is going to do. But he should been used as a playmaker only if he plays like this in his club.

I am really happy Basile is testing 3-5-2. He had 2 years to realize that this system matches perfectly with the qualities of his group. I’m thinking that maybe he told he was going to test 3-5-2 for Brazil before finally change to a simple 4-3-1-2 against them.

I’m am really really really curious how the team is going to defend against Mexico. If we defend with only 3 defenders, it will be a disaster.

Basile needs to defend in this kind of way:

———–Disaster———
Zanetti–Colo–Dimi–Heinze-
———Mascherano———
Messi–Gago–Maxi–Riquelme-
———Grandfather——–

WATCH10,
How do you defend? Defending with only 7 players is a suicide. You need to defend with 9 players and it is possible with your formation but everything will depend on Maxi.
Tevez has never been used correctly since 2006 (same thing for Lucho).
Zabaleta is not a central defender.

AURELIUS,
Portugal with Scolari play very tactically. For me, only Spain are really nice to watch in Europe.

I just read that Matías Abelairas is going to be used as a part of a doble cinco strategy in the middle with Oscar Ahumada. I believe we have a perfectly good #5 on the bench in Nico Domingo. WTF? I think this is going to hurt Abelairas’ game. It does us no good to play a player out of position is he can’t be effective. Thanks Cholo. River continues to be the laboratory for your experiments.

Posted from  United States

Arg winning in Brazil, nice…

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