2008 Olympics: Argentina vs Netherlands LIVE

this is where i am watching the match but if someone has better link please let us know

http://www.justin.tv/widgets/jtv_live.r8713.swf?channel=tvalerta_noticias

gooooooooaaaaaaaalllllllll!!!!!!!!!!
MEsssssssssssiiiiiiiiii

Beautiful goal!

i know its just the beginning of the match but so far argentina has been dominating.

Commercials!!!!?????!!!

I wonder if Aguero has a slight injury. He’s always grimacing.

SAL what the accses code for streming<thanks in advance

aron
try this “JJOO”

SAL thank you so much,bravo argentina

!!!!!!!! 1-1

Oy vey. Wasn’t that offsides?

ugh. Sometimes I really hate this sport.

half time

Sal,
No sound on the streaming? Or is it only me? Anyways, thanks for the link.

Real bad defending again. And worse part as soon as we concede a goal, we get all nervous.

Alexa congratulations to Jefferson Perez. Guess they will issue another set of stamps in his honour ?

To the game. Dominant in posession & territory. Three floaters upfront all switching positions.

di Maria & Messi look sharp but Kun is off the pace again & does not look happy. We need someone up there to allow the ball to stick & bring in the mmidfield.
At times we lose the ball the midfield is pressing very high & we are exposed.

Also both FBs have pressed forward & both di Maria & Messi too to keep Hollands ‘dangerous’ full backs in check. But it does leave a huge hole in behind & its caused the goal in part though it was poor from Pareja to get caught side on instead of facing Babel & be beaten by a simple knock past.

This is the reason Nicolas is at Anderlecht. And you always play to the whistle. The deflection makes Bakkal onside. It was a fortunate goal as was our to an extent beautifull converted by Messi almost like faking a ce hockey netminder.

However we have had two good chances both inches wide.Need to tighten up tell Zabaleta & Monzon not to rush up wildly. Drop Masche onto Babel & let Gago drop too into a 1-4-2-3-1.

Perhaps Banega later for Gago & Lavezzi for Aguero. They have only had that early chance for Emanuelson which we lucky to get away with. And also some sloppy marking. Monzon left acres of space for a simple cross in leading to a free header.The Dutch are very poor creatively & will rely on more of these swung crosses with Emanuelson following in from the midfield to pick up the pieces so both JM & FG need to be aware.

Also the long ball over Pareja for Babel.

Come on Argentina. This should not be so hard.

Wow — did you guys see that Belgium beat Italy? That’s a shock.

I don’t think I can watch the second half.

Jefferson Perez is beyond amazing. He walked Ecuador (including the Andes Mountains!), thanks Aurelius.

http://www.justin.tv/dubtv0 for English Commentary

thats right messi10 no sound

Aguero is killing me.

OMG!! AGUERO MISSED!!!!

Que boludo!!!

aguero???
not for argentina but atleast score for ue father in law (maradona)

wow nice try from aguero. That should have been a goal.

I’m surprised Aguero is playing. He looked injured, I thought that Levezzi was going to start the second half.

Di Maria looks fantastic on the left.

What is with Arg goalies and big games? Jesus Christ.

Aaaargh…not another goalkeeper injury!!

Ustari? Unbelievable!!!

What the hell happened to Ustari? He reacted like he got a boot in the face.

Looks like a hamstring injury.

Is it just me or are our jerseys missing the AFA badge? Sorry if you guys have already brought this up.

Streaming doesn’t seem to work anymore. Any other link?

I think that they are.

This game can turn into a train wreck. Hopefully Messi can save us. He seems like the one guy who can do that.

Mauro, teams are not allowed to have them displayed by a dumb rule from the IOC. If teams “disobey” they can get fined.

wtf is riquelme still playing

Where can i watch the game? Streaming no longer working.

10 minutes left in regulation.

Anyone know if we go to extra time with a golden goal or just extra time?

streaming arent wokring and follow the below link for match updates

http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/football/beijing-2008/2008/argentina-netherlands-232800.html?u=1218897670#yeug-football-matchcast

messi 10 … check this

http://www.tvalerta.blogspot.com/

30 minutes I think, then penalties. Jesus Christ this is awful.

i am so nervous…
i knew it wont be easy against netherlands

http://www.mogulus.com/feny

damn we ws lucky

shitttttttt
it was so close!!!!
:S

Drenthe got a good look. Crap.

Thanks a lot Sal.

aguero again offside how many times

Messi, so close!!! I nearly jumped out of my seat for that.

Why hasn’t Batista made any subs?

I’ll take those crap shots from the Dutch all day.

And so it is extra time. Messi nearly works his magic.

Riquelme has to come out, he has done nothing this entire tournament. He doesnt even know how to kick freekicks anymore.

Seems dejavu. Germany game all over again. I am worried.

this match is reminding me of argentina vs germany 06
1-we scored
2-they equalized
3-goalkeeper replaced
4-now extra time
5-…???

Riquelme hasn’t been his normal great self, but Aguero could have settled this game 3 times over. And he’s been offsides a million times.

I haven’t been that impressed with batista as a coach. The one thing that you can rely with sub-20 something Arg teams is their organization, and dominance of the basics. I don’t really see that with this team.

I think that second half was tough for our boys.

I mean, it’s clear what our strategy is and they defended with more players to neutralize.

As the game slows we are getting our chances. Once again their chance for Drenthe comes from Monzon tucking in too close to Garay.

Monzon is excellent coming forward but his defensive positioning needs work. Aguero 2 clear chances & Messi as opposed tothe Dutch with one. If we keep playing this way & are aware of the counter we should still take this.

Come on boys.

Fuck Aguero!!!

Is anybody even warming up for us???? WTF Batista?

OH NO AGUERO!! Should have converted that one.

Batista needs to seriously take Aguero out and put in Lavezzi or Buonannote. Why isn’t he making subs!!!!!!!

Seriously, some fresh legs are sorely needed.

Fucking finally!!

Lavezzi, finally. Comete la cancha pibe!!

This is a pathetic display. Lavezzi on for Aguero. About fucking time.

Finally, Lavezzi on. Father in Law doesn not applaud Aguero off. Ouch.

Ouch indeed.

I’m about ready to kick in my TV, and now I have to watch fucking commercials for Arby’s and Wal-Mart??

Yep, the commercials do suck, especially in extra time.

watch it on telemundo no commercials.

Any takers on who the next sub should be?

Acosta for Di Maria. 4 – 4 – 2.

Telemundo are still replaying Brazil vs. Cameroon on the west coast.

True, but Telemundo is on a slight delay. And I love these nuggets from Marcello Balboa too much. “The Brazilians are just like the South Americans?” Tool.

Looks like Buonanotte.

GOOOOOOOOLLLLLLLLLL!!!!!!!!

GOooooooooooaaaaaaaaaaalllllllll!!!!!!!!

gooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooolllllllllllllllllllllllllll

GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOLLLLL FUCKING FINALLY!!!!!!

messsssiiii is the best!!!!
di maria scored

di maria goal he was affrid of the penlties hahahaha

Vamos!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ARRRRRRRRRGGGGGEEEENNNNNNNTTTTTTIIINNNNAAAAAA!!!!!!!!CAAAAAAARRRRRAAAAAJJJJJJOOOOOOO!!!!!!

GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL

who says messi can’t pass?

messi messi messssiiiiiiii
brilliant finish by d’maria

We still need the sub though. What a great pass by Messi. Nice run from Di Maria.

GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL!!!! di Maria!!!!!

OK — I ask them to score another goal so that they can spare me a heart attack.

another goal will make the result look similar to 1978 final in the same way

If we get passed Holland I hope Batista will switch back to the 3-6-1. It’s obvious that this formation just doesn’t work.

Messi is really incredible. I’ve never seen him tired. He’s exactly the same from the 1st second of the game to the end.

Clear the damn ball! Argentina needs to keep possession.

Woooooooooooooooooooooooooooo…semiiiiiii!!!!!!!!!!!

Argentina vs. Brazil semifinal.

Finally — it’s over!

Job done. But a lot of work on defending without the ball. Too hurried & last ditch at times.

Also progressing up the field down it as a unit. Too disjointed at times. Remember this is a pretty ordinary Dutch team which we struggled to put away.

Significant improvement required to make the gold medal game.

Great win for the Lions too 4-0 over Germany. And farewell from a very happy Great Britain. Today was truly golden.

Chau amigos

Riquelme had a shit game which means he’ll be brilliant against Brazil! That’s something to look forward too. LOL!

ooooooooooooooooofffffffffffff!!!! We catch my breath the write in details!

phew!!!!
it wasnt easy… i think just like maradona if basile come to see the argentine matches then mayb riquelme might scores in open play & through freekicks

we are in semi finals
alhammdulillah!!!!

Worst game I’ve seen them play all tournament. I’m glad they won, but that was a hot mess. Argentina continue to make things difficult for themselves.

i really liked this match….
messi was just like messi
incredible…

Christian…i thought this was the most exciting match i saw….may be i dont know but i luved it

Exciting? Yes. Quality? Hardly.

I´m in Spain and i missed the whole match, couldn´t find a decent internet connection, looks like we didn´t play all that brill, i´m just thankful we live to fight another day. When is the match against Brazil?

Right now i´m really missing my computer. Thanx Alfio and Aurelius for letting me know the time.

Tues morning, same time as today’s match.

http://www.101greatgoals.com/videodisplay/1481437/
Messi’s goal for those who couldn’t watch the match. Hmm..can’t find the highlight for di Maria goal yet.

Im tired to say this, but keeping posession in our own half of field is big problem, do you know why?
Because when our defenders or Mascherano take a crappy pass and there are some opposite forward to take advantage of this, Argentina could be in a difficulte position – maybe even concede a goal.

the dutch are not in their best form and yet argentina struggled to deal with them. I agree with christian that the quality of play was lacking. riquelme? what riquelme? I am fed up with this prima donna who is so unpredictable…..anyways a win is a win and unfortunately the two south american teams will face each other in semis instead of the final.

How is that unfortunate? Argentina v Brazil is still Argentina v Brazil. So what if it’s the semis? And if Argentina can get through to the final, I think Nigeria, who I assume will go through, will make a fantastic final.

I’m getting fed up with these anti-Riquelme posts. I just don’t understand your agenda. I thought he played a good game, in the first half he was immense. It was after the 80th minute when the Dutch came in to it. But that’s an old football tactic for the technically inferior team: hold on and then try and steal it at the end when the other team is tired.
That game should never have gone to extra-time: Argentina were so much better and had great possession and great chances. It’s a finisher they are lacking as has been said so many times before.
I agree about Di Maria though: definitely someone ready to be upgraded to the full team now.

Here are the goals.

http://www.mightyfootball.com/argentina-vs-holland-1-1-olympic-football-quater-finals-2008/

It was a tactical error by Batista keeping Riquelme on the pitch for ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY MINUTES!!! He controlled our game in the first half, he controlled our game in the second half uptill the 80th minute but he was completely dead tired after that. When Riquelme is tired you SUB HIM OUT! Christ you have an explosive Buonanotte on the bench who can take over for him.

What a terrible game…terrible to watch, I mean….Can someone please tell Batista or Tata Brown to tell the boys that football matches last longer than 20 fuckin’ minutes????In every single game in this tournament they have started off like crazy, playing beutiful football, creating many big chances…looking like they are gonna destroy their opponents….and suddenly they just stop their attcking play…this is starting to be ridiculous!!!
I have to say; this is not a great team…I mean, honestly, this is a mediocre team with two great players and I will be very surprised if we win this tournament. Our defence is, just like our real NT, not good enough….All our defenders in this squad, maybe apart from Garay, are mediocre players…
Today Gago was better than in the first two games, he had a good game. Masch good as always. Di Maria…lovely goal, good game…but I have a feeling this player will never be a starter for our real NT. Messi was good. One goal and one fantastic assist. I don’t wanna hear anymore that some idiot who knows nothing about this sport says that Messi don’t know how to pass, don’t know how to create and set up other players, blah, blah, blah…this is a fuckin’ lie! Messi’s passing game has really gotten much better this last two seasons. He is really dangerous as a passer aswell. Riquelme didn’t do much…he had a few moments in the first half(nice pass to Messi when Argentina got their first chance), but the rest of the game he looked out of it. But this is Riquelme…he must stay on the field because of his tremendous ability to decide games with a great pass….Aguero played better than in the first games…but what can we say?…off course he SHOULD NOT start the next game…to miss 3 big chances like these…it’s just not good enough. Let Lavezzi start against Brazil, and let a hungry Aguero come on late in the game.
Batista…what the hell was he thinking? No subs in 90 minutes…(!)(apart from Ustari for obiuos reasons)…and in this heat…this looks strange, to put it nicely!

The Brazil game….I feel like crying just by the thinking of that game…I fear it’s gonna be a game like last summer….Argentina with the possesion, Brazil with the goals….

Hi blokes,

I rue this day. I overslept!

I caught this game when the teams were on half time break but I am glad we won. To me, Messi is the centre of my small universe. Thanks for all the info guys. We are on course and on schedule to win it all.

Thanks guys for finally admitting Argentina are playing shitty throughout this tournament. But, IMP, Argentina played relatively well than the first 3 games. They were creating plenty of scoring opportunities. If only Aguero had tucked in some of them, the game would be done and dusted a long time ago. Hopefully, he will make up for this against Brazil.
And, Rune, about Messi comments you made, those are not lies. Some bloggers here are just too blind to see and admit that.

brazil is going to destroy agerntina just like they did in copa america 07.

fact is fact tevez did more on his own than this team has done combined last olyimpics,, im fed up with the over rating of players aguro is simply SHIT he scored against mexico and thats the only on target shot he has had in say 7 games for argentina apart from that pass to the keepers waiting arms to day pricless stupidity im also PISSED OFF WITH ROMAN this is baby football for him he should be dominating the show but he simply is not and gago has grown roots YOU CAN MOVE ITS ALLOWED YOU CAN GO FORWARD AND BACKWARD WHY THE STANDING ABOUT ITS JUST SOOOOOOOOO LAZY

argentina are the best sorry by far the best set up there its the managers tactics that seem utterly stupid

full backs final ball and attacking runs need to be better timed and more crossing in to the box with runs theres no g;lass wall around the box but you would think there is the way argentinas attacks stop at the white line

replace front 1 with 2 and play roman behind then another 3 solid midfielders the attacking 3 is not working

i just dont feel secure wen argentina play that horrid curse of football the IM FEELING SICK NOW back 4

3 at the back is the argy way as there 3-1 against brasil proved and there 0-0 in brasil both games argentina dominated both games a back 3

Does anyone know why was the whole team was missing the AFA badge on their jerseys and shorts?! was there a reason or was it a freak accident.

Your not allowed to play with the official badge at the olympics, conflicts with the IOC or something

THE BLOG IS A ZOO.

This 4-2-2-2 formation is horrible for many reasons that many of us have mentioned.

It brings us very vulnerable in defence and make us completely dependant on Messi in attack. Playing like this is a huge mistake. It gives no power to Riquelme who appears weak in these Olympics because of this. Riquelme is an enganche. 3-5-2 or 4-5-1 are systems for him. Riquelme is complex and needs a system for him. But when the team works for him and move around him, he’s the magician we’ve known in 2006. His detractors don’t understand this. They don’t try. They are not interested.

In theory, without the ball, our playmakers must defend on the flanks of a 4-4-2. But they never do it (why???). So Batista thought that with Di Maria helping Gago & Mascherano, it would have worked. No No No. Even 7 players aren’t enough to defend correctly. Holland or Cameroon were defending 4-1-4-1 today. When will we update our defending strategy? In 2022? The solution appears to be attacking 3-6-1 & defending 5-4-1, it was perfect against Serbia.

Don’t try to understand why Gago lose many balls. He uses all his energy to help Mascherano to cover & press all the midfield. Seeing Messi & Roman walking and waiting for balls brings me mad. Modern futbol demands more than this.

DAY1STAR,
Did you notice I was right concerning my prognostic? For the first time!

MESSI10,
Argentina are playing badly only with 4-2-2-2 for me… The game against Serbia was magic.

MESSI10 & RUNE don’t seem to understand why people question Messi’s compatibility with our possession strategy.

I still believe that if we play 3-6-1 and defend 5-4-1, Brazil will have no chance. If we play 4-2-2-2 like today, we’re dead.

I know Maxilopez won’t agree with me, but the game I saw, Messi was immense. The very best of the 22 players on the pitch.
Riquelme and Agüero, on the other hand, were terrible.
And that’s the reason we didn’t win the game 4-1.
The heat and the humidity took a toll, you could see it even in Messi.
I loved the kids, Zabaleta, Monzón, Garay, etc.
This was 10 dutch players on one half of the field.
Very hard to break.
Yet, had Agüero scored one more and Riquelme understood these forwards need more speed on the ball, it had been “goleada”.

We didn’t play 4-2-2-2 today…we played 4-2-3-1. Messi was mostly coming from the right. Messi’s compatibility with our possesion strategy should really be no problem…..all possesion teams need a man who can get past some defenders aswell….Messi is playing in a team in Spain that is known as maybe the biggest possesion team in the world….he lookes to get along well there…and is used to play possesion football there aswell. He is used to the short pass style…and in my oppinion he knows very well how to play this style, but he can also do something that very few players in the world can do…dribble past defenders. This is a fantastic asset to have in a team. This makes us unpredictable…can’t you guys see that this is gold????Even if he loses the ball sometimes, even in games where he looks off and loses the ball 50 % of the time, he is still vital. He is still the one scoring goals and making assists….I repeat…Can’t you guys see that this is gold to have in a team???
I am also a bit sick of hearing all this talk about how great the 2006 team was, how fantastic Pekerman was…..how incredible fantastic Riquelme was in that team….we did sometimes play good football under Pekerman, but not better football than most other teams we’ve had down the years. When did the Pekerman team EVER beat a really top class team??? They did once…against Brazil in 2005 (WC qualification)….The truth is that Argentina has in general found it REALLY hard to beat real top class teams for many years now…With Bielsa’s team we beat Germany before the WC 02. In WC 06…we met two real top class teams…Holland and Germany…we didn’t beat any of them….How many real top class teams(we all know we’re talking top European teams like Italy, Spain, England, Germany, France, Holland +Brazil here)have we beaten after the WC 06?? One team…France….
So the truth is that Argentina is Argentina, for years and years they have not been as good as we all in here wish they would be. There are VERY big potensial there, but we almost never win really big games anymore. My point is that the difference between our teams for the last 10 years is not that big. Passarella’s team, Bielsa’s team, Pekerman’s team, Basile’s team…they have all been performing quite good at times, but in general not good enough…we are, let’s face it, one level below the best teams in the world like we’ve been for years….sadly. But to me there is hope…there is one thing that we didn’t have for years and years now…a player of Messi’s caliber. He could be the difference. There has not been any player since Diego, coming out of Argentina, with a potensial like this. He is the future. May it be bright!
Anyway……These are just my thoughts…I don’t mean to be rude or start a brawl in here..I guess I am just a bit emotional after the game today.
Saludos, and Vamos Argentina!!

Im a big Kun Aguero fan, knew his name since he was 15 playing with Independiente, has had a stellar career, club and youth national team, but i ve got to admit he has done nothing these Olympics, I thought he would shine the brightest along with Messi. very dissappointed, couldve done his name better in the Argentine press with scoring against the Netherlands, he only had 3 chances, hope he can do better versus Brazil.

some thoughts so far

• i think if people understood they style of football riquelme plays, and see where he’s an asset, they will appreciate him more. just look at how he lurks from behind and then pick the right moment to give a killer pass, like the one to messi against ivory coast, it was a beautiful pass and gorgeous finish.

• i agree with MaxiLopez that we must go through riquelme and have him dictate the tempo, even if it seems slow at times, he must pass the ball around to draw the opposing team and create gaps that he can exploit. i think that’s smarter than just mindlessly dribbling the ball through 5 defenders hoping you can go through only to end up losing possession.

• in these olympic games it’s the first time i see riquelme and messi play so well together, i think the more time they spend together the more lethal they will get.

• i think messi was the best today. great effort. just need work on not giving to ball away as much.

• we desperately need to do something with our defense. or it’s copa america all over again.

• i don’t like our chances playing brazilian team. even though they haven’t been convincing. i think they’ll find many gaps, or shall i say runways, in our defense.

Riquelme played best against IC, when he sat deep and sprayed balls down the flanks and up the middle. His forwards let him down that day. Today he seemed more all over the place, which made it more difficult to pass the ball off.

We can say that they looked bad for this reason and for that reason, but the fact is that Aguero had 3 perfect chances to score (you’re lucky if you get one gilt-edge chance in a game) and if he did, then the game would have been relatively comfortable.

Messi saved “us” today. He was excellent. Riquelme has had great games against Brazil – he can be a factor. Buit the fact is that Brazil know how to play him and Messi out of a game, and, because of that, the third player is the most important. So if Lavezzi or Aguero have a bad game, then Arg will not win. If they do well, then Arg will be in the final. Forget about the defense — Arg have to score.

If Riquelme starts against Brazil we will have less change of being victorious. Let me explain why.
First Riquelme passing has been poor, he has passed twice as many balls backward than forward. His freekicks are the worst Ive seen taken by a player who has shown to be a master at freekicks, hes failing on easy opportunities. This only proves that Riquelme is not playing well at all. I know many of you will disagree with this and some might not but ive giving him chance but he has only disapointed thus far in my opinion.
Riquelme passing abilities is not instrumental in this team, we have other players that can do just as well. Riquelme only hinders the defense and strains the attack. The midfield and forwards view riquelme as the pivot, hes the cause for why our defense is too slow and why our attack isnt fast enough to break the opponents defense.

Hopefully Batista will suprise us with the 3-6-1 formation.

————-Romero————–
—–Pareja–Garay–Fazio——–
——Banega—–Mascherano——
Zabaleta—Bounanotte–Di Maria–
——Messi———————-
—————-Lavezzi———-

ALEXA,
If Argentina “forgets about the defence”, it will end 0-3 like always. Messi & Riquelme must defend. How many times do we need to lose against Brazil to make people understand that defending with 6 or 7 players is suicidal?

MUNSHI,
Nice synthesis. You are right, the “I will save the world on my own” strategy will not work endlessly. Too bad people don’t expect Messi to do more. Messi is so more than this. With only 50% of his potential, he saved us today.

Maxi — yeah yeah — i know, i know. I’m just saying that if Arg find their goals, then they will be fine. Arg will probably come out very conservatively, and take little chances, so I think that they’ll be able to contain Brazil. The teams that have been physical against Brazil have been the most successful, so I’m sure that Arg’s defenders will be all over them.

I just think that what kills the players is that they haven’t been able to score against Brazil. At the end of the day, this is an offensive team. So if they score, they win. Not if they prevent the other team from scoring. That;s Italy. Arg are about the goal.

If riqulme doesn’t play against Brazil, Arg will look like a chicken with its head cut off.

For those here who don’t believe in tactical systems and think that they are just like toys, useless even in modern futbol, here is what ex-River & excellent coach Pellegrini thinks:

http://www.fifa.com/worldfootball/clubfootball/news/newsid=765810.html

i always thought giving the ball away, was the criteria for judging poor passing, not by how many passes forward vs. backward. the key thing is keeping possession until you find an opening or make that opening while not giving away the ball.

MaxiLopez,
Could you elaborate on your point “Messi is so more than this. With only 50% of his potential, he saved us today”? I am really curious to find out what is his other 50%?
Alexa,
I agree with you. We need to attack against brazil. Defending with 10 men like Maxi wants will lead us nowhere.
And Munshi,
I know it sounds really good theoritically- pass the ball around, keep the possession, and exploit the gaps. But, in reality, Riquelme is a big game choker as we have been witnessing it since whenever. In fact, how many times has it even worked for us so far in this tournament? So we need players like messi who can dribble past his opponents which will create a havoc for other team esp if they provide service to Messi near opposition’s D-Area.
In conclusion, I am not against the collective and possessive football. I love it. I absolutely do. All i am saying is utilize each player’s ability to full potential.

look some of you are to quick to judge players.
this is a´n olypmic competition mainly youth players unknown players.
its normal that young players are not consinstent.
and its difficult for argentina to play in this tournament.
everybody knows RIQUELME,MESSI,AGUERO… and knows how they plaY!
Riquelme,MESSI,AGUERO… i am sure have never seen the players they play aginst or they dont even know who those players are!!!!
they dont know how they play!!!
jose mourinho is a great tactician and makes many video analyses but remember barca . chelsea than an unknown player for mourinho and chelsea players who came in as a sub completly destroyed chelsea and they didnt know how to defend him because they wasnt prepared for him he was unknown!
next time he couldnt do nothing mourinho was prepared!

hahaha aguero overrated-aguero is 20 years old!
he is young.
young players are not consistent they have ups and downs.
i agree he is not playing good right now but he will come back.
i agree he should be a sub right now.
also dont forget aguero is not a finshed product grow with time.
but please dont judge him yet he is 20 years old.

monzon-dont judge him yet too!
he is very talented give him time!
that guy has a lot to learn and he is nervous!
just to remember monzon six months earliar was playing for boca b-team!
he has only 18 games under his belt some as a sub!
he isnt a starter for boca yet!
he needs more expirence and i am sure he will win believe more in himself.
he hasnt showed of what he is capable of!

zabaletta yes maxi i agree he is our best player in that position and if you accepting a player like zannetti you will be dissapointed!
but what zabaleta bring is work rate and leadership!

garay no wonder he is not himself yeat just to remember he hasnt playeed 6 months!its normal he is shaky!

fazio he isntn a starter for sevilla yet!
he is very talented and can play many positions!
his position is right back!
but because of his size he has become a centreback!
against serbia he was wow even on the left, he can play defensive midfielder too!

ustari is a good keeper but he is dumb he needs playing time and he will not get it at getafe!
he is nervous and goalkeepers mature with age!

come on give them time!

maxi i know what you mean about messi.
messi is learning fast he has become more collective and his vision is growing and growing nodoubt he has benefited playing with roman!
yes he sometime dribbles to much when all he has to do is pass.
but he is working on himself and every day he is learning.
roman and messi understand each other more and more no more talk messi vs riquelme and thats the biggest positive of this tournament!
if riquelme is off there is messi.

our problems are this in almost evry game.
we go in the game we have chance afeter chance in the first 20 minutes,
there comes our biggest weakness scoring.
either we dont score or score 1 goal.
when we score we become arragont.
we think the game is over we take things lightley,we lose our concentration,let the opponent in the game and are not intrested to score.
this is like a disiss.
than the opponent scores.
we become nervous.
fail to score while the opponent has oppertunitties too.
we become desprete and lose it.
but thanx to the brillianc of some of our players we score and win!

what we should do is play 90 minutes with concetration and respect for the opponent and if we score try to play and not stop like we do.
finesh them off-dont stop and become arrogant.

like i stated as fact aguro over rated

saviloa all time youth world cup leading scorer AS A KID so ur 20 angle holds no water

tevez 8 goals 6 games star of the show LAST OLYMPICS

SO AGAIN ILL STATE AS FACT aguro over fuking rated

do ur home work

3-5-2 is the only formation i would ever play for argentina its proven so many times and a centre forward plus messi front 2 makes perfect sense with roman or the little fellow behind

4 at the back is a desese on football that the english are guilty of flat back 4s atre for fun pub sides on a sunday afternoon 3 at the back is for gods like argentina

I just read all the comments. wow.. and I thought I was being pessimistic over our performances so far.

Could you imagine this blog if we had lost today? just something to ponder about… relax gentleman, it’s not all doom and gloom.

I think many argy fans are already feeling a little anxious about the fact that we’re gonna be playing Brazil in 3 days.

I think that it’s unfair to say that Aguero is overrated. To me he seems to be developing at a good consistent pace. It would be worrisome if he was straight out full blown perfect at this age, and i would rather see him develop now and be at peak for the next world cup.

He’s had a bad Olympics, but that could just mean that he needs to warm into the season, more than anything. His La Liga form shows that he’s the real deal. He seems to have a good body, resistent to injury and strong. Saviola is one of my all time favorites, but he’s a disaster, really. He could be one of the top strikers in the world, but he’s made bad business decision tras bad business decision. Not fair to compare the teo. And Tevez is a monster, but Aguero has more goal than Tevez, who essentially plays the same role as Messi. Aguero and Messi complement each other better, I think.

By the way — there is no reason that Arg can’t beat Brazil. Arg will beat them if the support players come up big. I have no doubt that they can do this.

if aguero is overrated or not only time will tell!!!
i did my homework.

Hey Bart, u said u were from the Dominican Republlic, right? I am from next door ,Haiti.

Holla Neighbor!!!

Go Argie!!!

Chelsea, Man Utd tracking Beijing star Buonanotte
tribalfooball.com – August 15, 2008

Manchester United, Chelsea and Arsenal are all following the progress of River Plate attacking midfielder Diego Buonanotte.
The youngster has been likened to Barcelona star Lionel Messi in Argentina and Corriere dello Sport says all three Premiership giants are among a host of clubs tracking his progress during this month’s Beijing Olympics.

Inter Milan following River Plate dazzler Buonanotte
tribalfooball.com – August 15, 2008

Inter Milan are interested in River Plate sensation Diego Buonanotte.

Corriere dello Sport says Inter president Massimo Moratti has posted scouts to Beijing to follow Buonanotte’s impressive performances for Argentina in the Olympics.

Moratti accepts that there’s little chance of prising prime target Lionel Messi away from Barcelona in the short-term, but is convinced Buonanotte can develop into a player of similar stature and fancies bringing him to Milan next summer

Barcelona coach Guardiola favours Boca Juniors striker Palacio
tribalfooball.com – August 16, 2008

Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola is keen on Boca Juniors striker Rodrigo Palacio.
Guardiola is seeking a new attacking signing after Barca failed to deliver Arsenal’s Emmanuel Adebayor earlier this summer.

Marca says Guardiola favours a deal for Palacio, but with Argentina’s transfer market now shut for incoming deals, Boca will be reluctant to part with the prolific forward.

Garay wants to start season with Real Madrid
tribalfooball.com – August 16, 2008

Ezequiel Garay admits he’d prefer to start the season with new club Real Madrid.
Garay is currently tied on-loan at Racing Santander, but it has been mooted he could be recalled by Real due to defensive injury concerns.

Currently in Beijing with Argentina’s Olympics squad, Garay said: “Whether I am going to Racing or Real Madrid, I’ll be happy. But I would like to go to Madrid.”

Saviola out?
http://www.goal.com/en-US/Articolo.aspx?ContenutoId=822130

—————————————————————

El técnico de la Selección masculina Sub 20 dio la nómina de futbolistas para participar del Torneo Internacional Shizuoka, del 23 al 26 del corriente. La delegación argentina partirá el próximo lunes hacia tierras niponas.

El director técnico del Seleccionado Sub 20, Walter Perazzo, confirmó la lista de 18 futbolistas que integrarán el equipo que el próximo lunes a las 9 viajará a Japón para intervenir en el Torneo Internacional Shizuoka 2008, que se desarrollará desde el 23 al 26 del corriente. El representativo nipón, Australia y el combinado Regional de dicha ciudad también participarán del certamen.

. Los jugadores convocados: Lucas Hoyos, Ignacio Fideleff y Alexis Machuca (Newell’ s Old Boys); Mariano Bittolo (Vélez Sársfield); David Crocco y Exequiel Benavídez (Boca Juniors); Maximiliano Oliva (Tigre); Mateo Musacchio y Damian Lizio (River Plate); Cristian Gaitán (Estudiantes de La Plata); Mario Villegas (Belgrano de Córdoba); Patricio Rodríguez, Diego Churin y Diego Rodríguez (Independiente); Fernando Meza y Damián Martínez (San Lorenzo de Almagro); Juan Neira (Gimnasia y Esgrima La Plata) y Marcelo Benítez (Lanús).

Nico Navarro in for Ustari
http://www.goal.com/es-la/Articolo.aspx?ContenutoId=822004

i like Sergio Romero better anyway.

i don’t see us beating Brazil we are doing not good

Brazil on the other hand…… are hungry

SKYWALKER,
What did you think about the game? Like expected right?

Thanks ALFIO for bringing fresh air on the blog which is becoming weird.

Most of the people that suddenly appear on the site after our games never analyze and just destroy. All they do is come & criticize individual players (and even bloggers). Messi is good, Aguero is bad. Messi VS Riquelme. Blablabla. They never think collective. They don’t try to understand why some seem out of form. Gago for example must press, run, cover, tackle everywhere in our midfield when our opponents need 4 players to do it. But no, these people don’t understand why Gago is tired and throw away some balls after running kilometers. Same goes for Aguero: he is played out of position and he has even said it to the press. He’s not a finisher and tells this to these people but they still don’t understand.

For THESE persons who will recongnize temselves & who also don’t understand the priorities, I’ll try to explain them like babies:

PROBLEMS:

1) POOR DEFENSIVE TACTICS (big characters, did you notice?)
…
…
2) Messi lose possession too often and this is contrary to our possession strategy.

The 1) is far more important than the 2). Because a team must know how to defend before attacking.

The 1) has terrible consequences in our modern futbol world. Every single team defends with at least 8 players. We defend with 6 and ask our 2 #5 to do everything. Our defence tactics are obsolete and allow too much danger to our opponents. Solution: our playmakers must defend too, like Mascherano himself has pointed to the Chinese press.

The 1) make us lose all the time against Brazil. It made us lose Copa. 1) brings us pain.

The 2) doesn’t mean Messi is bad.

The 2) doesn’t mean I am a Messi hater.

This is what we have been keeping saying since la Copa. My apologizes to the traditional bloggers, I couldn’t resist.

MESSI10,

” MaxiLopez,
Could you elaborate on your point “Messi is so more than this. With only 50% of his potential, he saved us today”? I am really curious to find out what is his other 50%? ”

When Messi will know better how to keep the ball & how to use his teamates, he’ll offer to Argentina 3 gols and 3 assists per game. Understand? Or do you need another drawing?

” We need to attack against brazil. Defending with 10 men like Maxi wants will lead us nowhere ”

Are you a Brazilian fan?

we are putting too much pressure on our young players. we rush to judgment at the slightest mistake. we expect them to be flawless, the minute they make a mistake or slip we hammer them with our harsh criticism. these guys are in the beginning of their careers, they need time to flourish and find there way.

it doesn’t help anybody saying this guy sucks or the other is overrated. they all come with a set strengths and weaknesses. we need to be constructive in our criticism to figure out who fit where and when.

i meant maxi lopez the unknown player for chelsea.

maxi continue to write!
i understand you maybe sometime we dont agree but i know what you mean!
its clear we have tactical problems.
and the approach could be better.
we need to convert our chances.
our biggest weakness this team and the senior team both have this weakness.
defending strategy,concentration,arrogance,and that we stop playing after we score instead finish them off!
at the wold cup it was the same.
aginst ivory coast we dominated and had the lead but we become arrogant and stopped playing they scored and almost equalized.
we had to fight lose unnaceccary energy.

some want buenanotte te start instead of riquelme.
against serbia argentina was already qualified!
they had no pressure.
he could play free no pressure and showed flashes of what e player he is and can become but sometimes he went missing and he was not the general on the field.its normal he is young.
but against brazil its a whole other game!
semi-final against our biggest rival.
pressure is immense and i ma not sure he can handle that!
if you want to destroy him start him instead of riquelme!

Don’t worry excessively.

Brazil have hardly been spectacular so far. They will try the same old routine of stifling us hitting down the flanks at top speed & hoping Pato has his shooting boots on.

As for Aguero yes its was disappointing but at he was in the places to score. He may well be carrying an injury who knows. And they are kids still.

I would prefer a 3-5-2 to be frank. It would suit our players better if we ar looking to get Monzon who has great attacking flair & Zabaleta far better than the current 4-2-2-2 because at times its Masche plus one holding up the opposition charge.

I don’t know how many miles he ran but it must have been a fair distance.

We have nowt to fear but ourselves. There must be belief. That pyschological elements is just as important as anything else.

No Tevez today in United’s line up…..Apparently he flew to Argentina because of some problems in his family….someone in his family has died…so sad for him.
I guess Coloccini will show again to the world this season what a big clown he is now that he plays in the best legue in the world….

Happy to see Colocinni. From an Olympic gold medalist, a blamed defender for Germany’s equalizer WC06, missing completely until last 2 years. Now, the best combo with Demichelis in Argy team again.

What a story…

“I guess Coloccini will show again to the world this season what a big clown he is now that he plays in the best legue in the world….”
Adidas gave you that line did they? What a deep thinker you must be to recite that old gem.

HELLO GUYS!
SORRY TO BE A BIT OFF TOPIC. BUT COULD NOT HELP.

JUST FINISHED WATCHING THE MAN UTD VS NEWCASTLE GAME.

JONAS GUTIERREZ IS TOTALLY SKINNING MAN UTD PLAYERS. WHAT A GREAT GAME HE IS HAVING. TREMENDOUS WORK RATE. GREAT RUNS, GREAT SKILLS. LIKING HIM A LOT. COLOCCINI SETTLING DOWN TOO AFTER A NERVOUS START. ITS 1-1 NOW.

As has been said, some people are just being ridiculous on this site. I think it is fair to say that some of Argentina’s problems will not be solved in this tournament as the right blend of players simply haven’t been brought. But let’s look on the bright side:
some think that argentina should take the ball from the first minute, not give it away for 90 minutes and score 5 goals. Come on. Argntina are one team everyone prepares for. And let’s look at who they have beat: the Ivory Coast, two-times finalists in The African Nations, Australia who even the full-side only bat 1-0 and the great Olympic 2004 side as well, Serbia, European Under21 finalists and Holland 2-time Under 21 winners. You people who ‘dread’ Brazil: I’ve seen them play Belgium and Cameroon in this tournament. Of couse they’ll up their game against Argentina but they have done nothing thus far better than us. As Skywalker said, can you imagine if Argentina only beat 9-man Belgium 1-0 or 10 man Cameroon after extra time. Give it a rest.
Plus, the Dutch play a style that Argentina have recently struggled against: break down play in the midfield and spread it wide to fast wingers to counter our full-backs and Argentina showed improvement. So they are learning.
The purpose of this tournament is, yes, to win gold, but ultimately blend players with potential in with the full team. This has succeeded with the likes of Di Maria, Garay etc. Then, when the time comes for Argentina to blend together a final squad for 2010 they will be able to have a balance that will suit all parties.
I find the Riquelme criticism from people who don’t understand his role. This is my problem with the globalisation of football: everyone must play the same and Riquelme is very different and some people just don’t care to understand. I know the team needs to work better on a defensive system but it would be stupid to expect Riqulme to do much more than maybe press in the oppositions half. One, he is not used to or skilled in defending and two, part of his charm is that while the hustle for the ball is going on he is finding space so that when he can receive it he can work the ball in his style and when it works it works beautifully.

ha ha Maxi, your very funny. 3 goals and 3 assists per match ha ha, wake up man, its not a perfect world. You are asking too much from Messi. Anyways, when was the last time any player had 3 gols and 3 assists in a match?

By the way, I am Argentina Fan. How hard is it to figure that out!!! Should we go back to learning a b c d?

Gutiarez played well. He will rock for sure against lowly sides in the Premier League.What a utility player he will be for Argentina. Coloccini is just settling down. Apparently he was not allowed to train with the toons team before the match. Considering that he had a decent match. The second half he was immense.

Let’s not forget that this team had virtually zero practices ahead of the Holland match due to the pitches being rained out and they hadn’t played together since the Australia match on the 10th. Which wouldn’t be a big deal either but some of those players (namely Mascherano) played out of position.

I think Riquelme is a great player. But when he disappears on the pitch, is it a virtue of the team we’re playing and their man marking or is it that he’s just completely out of the game mentally. I’ve seen him disappear with Boca only to come back to help win matches so I doubt that it’s that he’s mentally out of the game. When he disappears it’s really frustrating because I have a mental image of the way I’m used to seeing him play and when he doesn’t do it in the albiceleste jersey on his back, I kinda wish he wasn’t on the pitch.

I also just finished watching Newcastle Utd. vs. Manchester Utd. and I have to agree with Debashish, Jonás looked fantastic. He made more than one or two great runs up the left and even had a one on one situation that didn’t quite go his way. Coloccini looked stable and solid as well against the Premier League defending champs.

Coloccini had a good game but Jonas stoled the show best player on the field, both well only get better adjusting to the EPL.

This is just becoming sad barely anyone thinks we will win it’s patheic it’s this is the difference between real fans and people who root for argentina why do you guys criticize messi after the game are you guys mental or something he had a goal and an assit.

AURELIUS said it best “Don’t worry excessively.”

You guys are thinking way to much, be a fan not a coach

Golazo,
You are right on the spot “Be a fan not a Coach”.

MaxiLopez:
Just out of couriosity…can you tell us how your team looks like? I mean a team with real players performing like they are used to perform, not a team with players that you dream could do the job you would want them to do if everything were perfect… jobs they are not used to do…..
You wanna defend with 8 players…….we all know we can’t trust Messi and Roman when it comes to defending…so if these are the only 2 players out of the 10 that we shouldn’t expect to do a defensive job, the lineup would be something like this:?
Romero
Zaba-Pareja-Garay-Monzon
Banega-Gago-Masch-Di Maria
Riquelme
Messi
That way we could defend with 8 players, and leave Messi and Roman free to only focus on attacks….But that would mean no Aguero or/and no Lavezzi….In my opinion this wouldn’t work, it would be too defensively…but that’s not the point…my point is you can not say that we should defend with 8 players and at the same time say that Riquelme, Messi and Aguero/Lavezzi should start the game…this is impossible…Messi is Messi and will not do a great defensive job…Roman is Roman and will not do a great defensive job…

1) So EITHER you bench one out of the trio Messi, Riquelme, Aguero(or Lavezzi)..
2) Or you have to accept that playing with these three players(or three players like these) at the same time will NEVER ever make us defend with 8 players..this is simple mathematics. You cannot tell Roman or Messi to defend…just like you can’t tell Garay to be an attacking left winger….I have always injoyed reading your posts and I see you as a man that really knows and understands football, but on this subject I just can’t understand your thoughts……

Messi was fantastic.
His goal, after an amazing move inside the box, was converted from such a narrow angle, anybody else would have missed.

Then the pass he put for Di María, was one of those passes one says “Only Riquelme can do that”, or better, like we said the other day when we played Ivory Coast, “That pass was worth the whole game”.
Messi changed my mind about him.
He has to be there alongside Riquelme.
He’s learning how to carry the team when Roman is not free.

I also agree with those of you who don’t want to get too technical about it.
But Agüero has to come back from wherever he is.
If he does, we’ll beat Brazil.

Debasish, just finished watching the United-Newcastle game and I have to agree, it was an awesome debut for Jonas Gutierrez. It’ll be interesting to see him play week in and week out in the BPL. As for United, they looked completely one dimensional without Ronaldo and Tevez, and once again Rooney proved why he is one of the most overrated players in Europe.

Well, Rooney is English. Not that English players can’t be god, but he was the one they had that showed some promise and he’s not all he’s cracked up to be without a proper strike partner like Carlitos or C. Ronaldo.

“Well, Rooney is English.” HAHAHAHAHA!!!

River are hosting Central now at the Monumental. Simeone continues to change his lineup, so let’s hope that the squad shows improvement over last week. Salcedo debuts, Falcao out injured, and Ponzio as libero.

The last two games against Central in the league have been excellent, even if River failed to win both times.

Ustari out for 8 MONTHS!!!!!!
:S

Who criticized Messi here after the game? No one. He offered us a semi-final, that’s why.

RUNE,
I don’t know what to say. Since 2006, all i do is mentioning our problems. I post all the time what could be the solutions & systems that would work. We love Argentina because they make us dream with the ball. But if you don’t use cleverly an efficient defending system, the result of the game might be disapointing. If you don’t understand how you can defend with at least 8 players, then ask José Pekerman. Watch carefully the 2006 WC games when Argentina didn’t have the ball. You’ll see that Saviola, Riquelme, Crespo, Maxi, …were all defending with 4-1-4-1. Sorry, but i’m fed up of explaining this all the time.

” you can not say that we should defend with 8 players and at the same time say that Riquelme, Messi and Aguero/Lavezzi should start the game…this is impossible “. Wrong. Pekerman proved the contrary of what you said. It’s even the reason why we won against IC in 2006. Saviola & Riquelme had to cover the flanks, for example. You need to observe a team that doesn’t not have the ball to understand.

By the way, i’m not a coach. I just love Argentina and am fed up to see the problems that make us lose not being solved.

By the way #2, i’m positive that Batista will start a 3-5-2 team that will defend 5-4-1 including Roman & Messi. If it’s the case, we’ll win. I’m sure about that. I’m realistic too, if we play 4-2-2-2, it’s going to be lottery and we’ll be dependant on Messi.

By the way #36,
Coloccini is excellent.

Ok, thanks for the answer MaxiLopez….I still believe it is impossible to rely on Messi and Riquelme when it comes to doing a defensive job. I guess we just don’t agree here at all…..I have watched EVERY game from WC 06 very closely…I have every sigle game ARgentina have played in a WC from 86 up to now in my video collection….my point is that we didn’t plat that great in 2006, like I said in a post yesterday. So Pekerman’s system is not like the answer for me….
Coloccini…I hope he can be excellent one day…but I fear he is still Coloccini even after ONE good season in Spain. I see Coloccini like Burdisso, but let’s hope I am wrong….Anyway, we can all agree that Jonas’s debut today was great.

Talking about the defending I don’t think monzon has had a great campain he looks prety off the mark and attacking wise has anyone noticed that he doesn’t deliver when he shut.

The whole team aspect I think everyone should defend apart from riquelme, this would be the best way to play and really give him the chance to do what he does best, if messi and aguero defend from the front like tevez and Rooney do at united the nervous brazil defence will have a lot of problems

In a united fan and I have to admit dong for china is shocking, yet shaky brazil made him look like a class act.

Ustari has foot & knee broken. Terrible. 8 months is huge. His “mistake” cost a lot

Hi Rune,

can yu share your videos of argentina’s wc games from ‘98 onwards? I’m from a developing country(Papua New Guinea) and we don’t have the channels to broadcast live games that the Albiceleste play in, but i have utorrent, which is the only way, i am able to watch these matches.

also i’ve just read the result of arg v ned. i must admit, we need to improve drastically if we’re any chance of knocking over the brazilians.

tocalli needs to go over the videos from our previous 3-0 thrashings at the hands of the brazilians and see where our game needs improving. apart from that, IMHO, Argentina, has the footballing philosophy to outplay the brazilians.

Ingi
Vamos Argentina

Ingi,
I’m sure those tapes would be awesome viewing for Hugo Tocalli but I doubt they’ll help him get Velez Sarsfield to play any better since that’s where he’s coaching right now. I think the man you’re thinking could use those videos of Argentina’s losses to Brazil is current coach, Sergio Batista.

Cheers.

Some of you guys, specially Alfio, who say theres alot of pressure to play agaisnt Brazil lets just remeber Gutierres who never started for this team but got to against Brazil in qualifiers and to all our surprisses was one of the best that day. Although I understand your point of view i must disagre. Riquelme will be a major burden on the defense. When the opponent wishes to press forward Riquelme role will cause the entire team to become disorganized. Dunga will most likely expect Riquelme to start and will work his tactic around a way to stop this team and we all know what that is. Im hoping that im wrong about this, but from what ive seen the last 3 games Riquelme has started I have little doubt I am.

I have read this blog for quite a while and love it. Thanks Christian for running it.

After the frustrating win over Holland (con el c-lo en las dos manos) and reading everything that has been said here, I recalled two things.

1) At a symposium in NY in 2001 I heard Marcelo Bielsa say:

“El futbol de antes era ‘yo juego mejor futbol que vos, y te lo voy a demostrar’. Ahora es ‘o no juego bien comom vos y no te voy a dejar jugar tu futbol’.

2) And my father (just last week): “Que ca–jo estan haciendo. El futbol de antes era ‘Si vos me haces 5 goles yo te hago 6. Si me haces 9 yo te hago 10.’ Que si el lateral ataca, que todo el p-to equipo tiene que defender, que el enganche, medio enganche. Que se metan el pizarron por el c-lo”.

Futbol is not rocket science. Then again if you play the way say “La Maquina” used to play, you might get your head handed to you. But still, it was much nicer when it was futbol espectaculo. Just let the great players play, let the defenders defend and the attackers attack.

But modern teams won’t let you do it — not even Brazil–i mean, jogo bonito died a long time ago. They still have very good players but thier last wins against us have been counter attack. They foul the crap out of us and disrupt our flow.

Just my .02 (.005 with the exchange rate).

Gabi,

Please translate some of what you wrote. I use Google Translate, but it doesn’t says right.

Thanks.

Sure thing Asil:

1) Bielsa: “Futbol used to be ‘I play better futbol than you and I’m going to show you’. Today, it’s ‘you play better futbol than me, and I won’t let you play your futbol.’”

2) My dad: “What the hell are they doing! Futbol used to be ‘If you score 5, I’ll score 6. If you score 9, I’ll score 10. Now people talk about the fullback attacking, the whole damn team has to defend, the enganche, half-enganche. They should stick the blackboard in their arse.”

Hope this helps and makes sense.

Thanks Gabi,

It’s beautiful expressions. I’m glad that you translated them for me. And it’s also funny.

Sometimes, in reality we just want to win. Sometimes, we just want to watch a beautiful game without much expectations. But can we have both?

US Basketball team, yes. They can win it with style. Players and fans are having good time. But, sooner or later, there will a team who will do whatever to stop them (from playing)

Batista has said he is analyzing video tapes of Brazil and will start his team regarding his conclusions. I think the first tape he should watch is ARG-HOL. Maybe he would see that our 2 #5 had an impossible mission and couldn’t face all the opponent’s attacks. ARG-IC is a good one too. I remind to the 16-year old kid that these words come from a huge fan, not from a coach.

ASIL,
We can have both. We just have to be compact when defending.

hey christian.its very important to provide us some picture of the match.please please provide sum pics of our players.

hope argentina do win against brazil, they have played poorly but they have the players to light up any tournament and they don’t foul half as much as brazil/holland/australia/italy …

i have to say that i’m pleasantly surprised by lavezzi, he’s really turned in some solid performances and he does have the touch and vision to make a big difference to a match, when necessary. di maria is a bit like cristiano ronaldo, a good athlete, fast and strong with a powerful shot, but i don’t see him as an exciting player or an interesting player.

messi has been the best of the players at the tournament, by far. he’s basically pulled riquelme out of trouble a few times and he’s carrying that creative job half the time (as well as doing his own job of disorientating and pulling the opposition defence apart so that other players can exploit the spaces). his pass to di maria was one of a half dozen that should have been converted or at least made much more of (aguero, uncharacteristically messed up a few messi assists, while at other times players just didn’t make the runs that were available to them, thinking messi would dribble the whole way to goal).

i wonder if the team wouldn’t benefit from watching tapes of a few barcelona matches last season and the one before. messi creates more goals than he scores, he dribbles not to score but to pull defences out of position and open up spaces for attacking midfielders… this is what tends to happen at barca (when they ‘click’, just watch the pre-season games messi played before he joined the national side).

i used to enjoy watching riquelme play alongside aimar, he was the slow and veron-esque player who always seemed comfortable holding the ball and letting the world pass him by, until suddenly he unleashed a telling pass to aimar and it was gameover for the opposition. sadly i think riquelme has been monsterously overrated (comparisons to zidane??) and it has really gone to his head. he was a great player but now his fans feast upon crumbs (a pass, perhaps a moment were he holds off a few players and bundles the ball back into his own half and out to an unprepared defender, when he had received the ball in an advanced position with three players moving ahead waiting for the quick return)…

argentina will never beat brazil or any decent team, if they continue to indulge riquelme and their own belief that somehow he “controls” games. he doesn’t, it’s patently obvious that he is given the ball and only functions when there isn’t heavy marking. anyone can “control” a game in such circumstances, but when you’ve got a defender or a defensive midfielder of mascherano’s calibre on the opposition team… riquelme is doomed to fail. and given that the team is usually shaped around his pace and idiosyncrasies, they never manage to get over the loss of a link between defence and attack.

Games are not only won with the ball.

PROCRASTINATOR,
Riquelme can’t be compared to Zidane, it’s true. Zizou didn’t need a system created only for him in order to shine.

ALL! Great to see so many new names over here. This blog is the best and that means Argentina really deserved to win.

The tone of the blog has been same over the past 2 and half years. There are some staunch Riquelme lovers and haters.
There are some people not totally satisfied with Messi yet (I will never say, they are Messi haters, as I know they are not).
I always find myself in the ground in between. Largely, because of the fact that I like all the Argentine players. However, this
is what I feel so far.

1. Riquleme – HE IS SPECIAL! That we all agree. What has been great over the last 1 year or so is the emergence of Lionel Messi.
In my opinion, that is the best thing that has happened to Riquelme. Certain things I feel about Riquleme are as follows

- He is agreat enganche. He is the best in what he does. And YES he is in the same school as Zidane. Even Zidane thinks so.
Please go ahead and watch Zidane’s last game against Villareal and Zidane’s comments and act at the end of the game.

- He is our best and almost only bet with free kicks and other dead ball situations. He is out of touch in the Olympics with that, but
there is one one close to him in our squad. In today’s game dead ball situations are critical. He should mentor someone quickly.

- He is great holding the ball, it is very hard to take it away from him. He is not injury prone, which is very helpful.

- However, if he loses the ball, he expects someone else to get it for him. This is unacceptable. It is never late to learn and change one’s
mindset. He should be told that he has to do the dirty work. He has to be a team player. Good news, I see him doing a little bit of that. He
cleared the corner kick against Holland. He was there in the penalty box heading out corners. He is tall, he should do that more often. This
does not make him a lesser player.

- His slowness kills in counter attacks. So many times, he has empty real estates in front of him but he has to get Messi, Aguero get past him
so that he can pass it to them. But by this time the opponent defenders have run back also.

- Lastly, since he is SPECIAL, in lots of people’s mind, including opponent coaches and players, he draws a significant amount of attention. Leaving
other players. So is Messi, and hence I think, they compliment each other best. Just try to imagine if you take one of these out, how much happy the
opponent would be, one less monster to worry about. Ask someone who does not support Argentina, see the big grin that appears on the face.

2. Messi – HE IS THE BEST! He has got everything and some of the things that Riquelme does not. The zeal, the determination, the steel, the hatred towards
defeat. The ability and the willingness to “take on the rest of the world” is what is needed to be a champion. I have seen that comment somewhere. Trust me I like that
attitude, when your team members shoulders are drooping, you need someone to lead the way. He will. Apart of talent, the mind is single most biggest factor for
success. This guy has one made of steel. Which Riquelme does not.

- One helluva game against Holland. The first goal, he chased, he snatched, he ran, he finished. He could have just strolled around the defenders and no one
could have complained. The second goal, even Riquelme would be pround of that through ball. Great vision, perfect angle, just the right amount of the weight on the ball.

- He defends. He runs his socks off. So, to answer Rune and Maxi, this is one guy you can count to defend. You dont have to coax him much.

- His free kicks are weak. He should hang around Riquelme and learn all of it. He has a master at his disposal. His other dead balls are kinda loopy. They do have right
height and angle most of the times, but there is too much air time. Also, it lacks the bite that Riquelme has. I love that about Riquelme, there is just so much bite and venom
in his dead balls and so less travel time towards destination. I really hope players like Messi, Buanonotte learns all these from Roman.

- This lad is too precious for us. He has too much adrenaline flowing. He should take it easy at times. Save some energy, do not get injured. In short take care of himself, physically.
Something Riquelme does great.

BTW, GUYS! Harry Redknapp is rumored to be interested in Juan Pablo Sorin.

About Jonas Gutierrez

http://www.nufc.premiumtv.co.uk/page/NewsDetail/0,,10278~1369170,00.html

Debasish,
sorry if this sounds a tad emphatic, it’s difficult to express tone over the net, but Riquelme is no Zidane, not close even. regardless of his great ball control and cover (the way he holds off many players by constantly adjusting his upperbody is superb).

I’ve watched both, I’ve followed Zidane’s career from Juve to Madrid and I honestly don’t think Riquelme’s been in the same class ever. unless we’re taking some of the easier Boca games from before he moved to Barca. but then Carlos Tevez was similarly awesome when Riquelme left so …

I have nothing against Riquelme, as I say I truly enjoyed watching him and Aimar play together for Argentina… they were a great combination.

Riquelme has massive deficiencies in his game which need to be expressed and addressed, no amount of hype will cover the fact that Argentina play an unnatural formation just to keep Riquelme involved, it’s a superstition that he needs to touch the ball so much in order to make a move, he doesn’t.

you see how deep Messi comes in now? Messi’s 21, he’s a great player but he’s a kid still… Riquelme, if he were a Zidane, would keep Messi up field and feed Aguero and Messi alternately, rarely if ever taking the ball backwards when his players are positioning themselves in advance of him in anticipation of receiving a through-pass.

that’s the thing I take issue with most, he’s a really good player who has been over-hyped and has let that hype affect his mentality.

he thinks he really is that important, whereas he’s actually being carried by the team more often than not. no one, not messi not aguero not tevez not riquelme should have the luxury of having the team built around them. that’s bad coaching and bad management.

Suggestions:

- 3-5-2
- No need no. 9, coz we don’t have any. Move Aguero and Messi wide. Let them defend early and pressure Brazil’s defense.
- Let Gago and Masch concentrate in the middle
- Of course, Riquelme is the centre of the attack
- a compact defense, like Maxi said is what we need.

Right now, I don’t feel like losing…

Tim Vickery on tomorrows game

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/timvickery/2008/08/towards_the_end_of_this.html

procrastinator,
I agree to a large extent with you. I also, do not believe Riquelme is Zidane. All I want to say, he is in the same school. There are not too many left in that school. E.g. Modric is suppose to be in the same school too, not saying Modric is as good as Zidane or Riquelme.

Also, I mentioned, in same opinion as you, Riquelme has to do more and he should be told that he has to be a team player.

So, I guess we are talking the same thing.

Anyways, good to see your opinions. You sure are a Argentina fan! Lets hope we will fill up this blog with great stuff tomorrow and we will all be happy!

Batista has confirmed that he will play with the same starters as in the Holland game with the exeption of Ustari, whos injured, being replaced by Romero. So it will most likely be a 4-2-3-1 which imo will make it hard to get a victory. Brazil has quick wingers and fullbacks, and the only players in our team that have any sense in defending are the central defenders and the defensive midfielders who wont be given space to cover the wings.

prognosticator — you’re entitled to your opinions, but your comments show that you don’t really watch or value the way that Argentina plays the game.

Well here’s my main concern. Monzon was exposed over and over again by Drenthe. If Marcelo from Brazil keeps bombarding upfield, Monzon will have a tough time keep up with him. Same goes for Zabaleta on the other wing.

One more thing – Aguero I think is tired. But I really hope he finds his shooting boots this game. I was watching some old clips from the 2004 Olympics and Tevez was such a monster. He made the difference single-handedly. Also guys like Mauro Rosales and Kily were working the flanks. I wonder what the strategy will be against Brazil.

I hope Batista is not as complacent as Basile was until Jonas’s introduction to tame Maicon.

well everyone the good news for us all is that Brasil now has an enganche that is slower than our enganche lol First of all let me state that Messi was incredible in the Holland game and in fact we should be talking right now about his two goal three assist performance. But that is futbol. Aguero is not finishing right now and that is our biggest problme right now. you have to have a finsiher on the team and if he is not feeling it than I think he should not start this game. In fact Aguero might be fantastic off the bench because he can come in when the defenders are a little tired. I watched brasil against Caneroon and let me say that if they play like they did in that game we will win 2 to 0. They created nothing until overtime when the other team was out of gas from playing a man down. I am very confident about this game and see us with a fairly easy victory. Vamos Argentina!!!

Watching Newcastle against Manchester United Rooney was painfully exposed for the overrated chav he is.

Gutierrez was magnificent. Pacy with a physical presence he was up & down in defence & attack. We need a player like him in the squad for his combativeness. Compared to Leto he looks like a lion chasing a giraffe despite his lack of technique.

Colocinni was a but hit & miss but needs time to settle tothe pacier speed of the EPL .Missed a couple of challenges & was caught a couple of times on the break by the speed but decent otherwise.

Also congratulations to the Lions . They have made the semis. Bit up a bit down in terms of performance.

Less name calling too please guys. We all want the same thing

Chau

I’m not sure why people feel the need to compare Messi and Riquelme, like for one to be great they have to say that the other one sucks. This is infantile. Messi didn’t “save” Riquelme from anything. They play on the same team, and sometimes Messi wins an advantage and sometimes Riquelme does. Riquelme handed Messi’s goals on a silver platter in the IC game, because that’s what he should have done. But anti-riquelme types don’t mention that.

And please, enough with comparisons to Zidane. They are only comparable in that they approach the game the same way — with their brains. It’s insulting to Arg football to say that Riquele was only good with Boca.

The fact is that two Arg coaches centered their team around Riquelme, and one Arg. coach didn’t. The team that didn’t include Riquelme (2002) didn’t even make it past the qualifying round in the WC, while the other two were considered the best teams in their respective tournaments.

We can all argue about why Arg didn’t win those tournaments, but I would say that it is faulty logic to conclude that the reason they were so good (an offense around a number 10 od R’s gifts) were the reason that they were bad (R).

Riquelme defends when his coaches ask him to defend. He defended against Brazil in the last WC qualifying game, he defended in the last WC. He isn’t just doing whatever le da la gana on the field. He does as he’s told on national duty.

From now on, the irresponsibilities should probably be divided between MEssi and Riquelme, becuase now Messi is ready for that. He’s barely 21, and he wasn’t up to that before. Now he is. It’s up to the coach to try to figure out how to make these two geniuses to compliment each other.

Don’t know if anyone mentioned it yet, but Batista just named the squad that will start against Brazil:

Sergio Romero
Pablo Zabaleta, Ezequiel Garay, Nicolás Pareja, Fabián Monzón
Fernando Gago, Javier Mascherano, Angel Di María
Juan Román Riquelme, Lionel Messi
Sergio Agüero

Cristian Navarro from Nápoli has joined the squad as backup keeper.

http://www.lanacion.com.ar/nota.asp?nota_id=1040947

Well — Aguero better come up big. That’s all I have to say.

Gabi Marcelo– I love those sayings!

Our guys have game. Even when we have some problems to defend.

The critical element for tomorrow’s game is their MINDS.

Please ignore you know who lol And I am very confident but would have prefered Lavenzzi starting over Aguero based on form but who knows Aguero has shined in big games before and maybe Basile is having some influence on this decision. Aguero please just one goal maybe two ?

John,
A little insight of yours to support your statement would be helpful.

And about the game, i think if the Argentines don’t get nervous while defending, I am positive we will win the game.

A few quotes from the Coach Sergio Batista

And what do you think of him as a coach?
He’s been criticised for the way Brazil have been playing but I wouldn’t lay the blame on him. There aren’t any pushovers in world football any more, and if you go out and play jogo bonito and end up losing then the critics are going to kill you. That’s the way football is today sadly, so you have to be patient and tread carefully. He’s knows that and that’s how they won the last Copa America for example.

What kind of match will we see on Tuesday?
Both teams will be checking each other out but there’s sure to be some good football because of all the great players on show. We’ll be going out to win the game but we won’t be naïve. I’m sure Brazil will sit back, just like they did in the Copa America final, and if they do, then why should we go and expose ourselves if they’re not going to attack? We’ll be pushing forward but we’ll be doing it patiently and we’ll be ready for them when they try and hit us on the break.

Would you say Brazil would like to have some of your players on their side?
Absolutely. Who wouldn’t want to have Messi, Riquelme, Aguero or Mascherano? And that’s just to name a few. They’ve got some great players too, though, like Ronaldinho, Pato, Marcelo, and Anderson, and they’ve got our respect.

What is your prediction for the game?
We’re going to beat them, I’m sure of that. We’re mentally prepared to go out and do that. We came here to win the gold medal and that’s our dream.

We’re going to beat them, I’m sure of that!! I love the confidence of the coach.

No personal attacks. If you want to argue someone else’s point, please provide a reason or a counter-arguement.

Anything that looks like a personal attack will be edited or deleted.

Something tells me its going to be a different Aguero tomorrow.

http://tribalfootball.com/article.php?id=107334

Fletcher: Man Utd needed Tevez
tribalfootball.com – August 18, 2008

Darren Fletcher admits Manchester United missed Carlos Tevez for yesterday’s 1-1 draw with Newcastle.

Tevez did not play following a family bereavement and Fletcher admitted the Reds missed the in-form striker’s cut and thrust.

He told MUTV: “Carlos was frightening in pre-season – he looked so sharp. It was disappointing to lose him as he was onto something special and playing really well. But he’ll be back.

“We have a shortage of numbers up front and we’re missing a lot of players generally, but those players will return and we’ll have a formidable squad.”

I was about to ask about Tevez. I wonder if his uncle died (cancer?).

Great confidence from Batista. I love to hear that attitude!

Christian,
Referring us bloggers as 18 years kid isn’t supportive enough for Maxi’s arrogance?

You should take a look at what John said to Alexa.

Anyways, keep up the good work Christian. I love this blog.

For the friendly in 2 days it looks like Carizzo will be the number 1 and Cavenaghi and Tevez start up front. And defense will be :
Zanetti-Burdisso–coloccini–heinze. Dechem is injured and gonzalo will be on the bench. The midfield looks to be up in the air.

Messi10, I can’t have people saying going off on other posters, because if not it just starts a war of words and goes back and forth endlessly. Thanks for coming here as always; I’m not picking on you so please don’t take it personally. Thanks for the kind words as well.

John, you’re getting deleted, AGAIN, because you fail to make a case for your arguement. Why do you bother coming here?

But enough of that, there’s a huge game tomorrow, and that’s what’s important.

I am getting the feeling again, that this time we will win. Every time I am proved wrong. Its been 3 years, since we defeated them.

But may be this time!!!

funny how riquelme’s name keeps popping up. some compare him with zidane and yet he never achieved the way zidane achieved. I just think he is overrated and has never showed himself to be a top player against top games like the one with the netherlands, germany in 2006. brazil in 2007, even with villareal what did he achieve? quarterfinals? or perhaps the consolation intertoto cup for teams that failed to get into the other major club tournaments the champions league and the uefa cup…..never have I seen so much praise for an “almost made it” player/leader but I guess things have changed and lack of achievements are somehow proof of excellence.

riquelme excels in less competitive situations and he only did well with boca and against the likes of peru and paraguay.

he should have stuck to his decision to retire from international football in 2006 leaving behind the curiosity as to why a player with obvious talents could have been so mediocre…..we will never know but it’s time to move on and let those players who truly ache to win get their chance.

Albo, I agree with you, that it is in the MINDS. I am really hoping that the tide will turn. I am so hopeful. This is a new bunch of player. I will tell a similar story…

In cricket, India has the same rivalry with Pakistan. Its been like, its OK if you lose the WC but just win that one game. It has always been even, till a game in 1986 (I think), when Javed Miandad (A great Pakistani cricketer) won an incredible game, hitting 6 runs of the last ball of the game (for those who do not know, that the maximum you can score of a ball). That dented the minds of the Indians so badly, that they just could not beat Pakistan for several years to come. They would win against anyone, but not Pakistan. That thing finally changed, after many years, with whole new bunch of players, who did not know about the psychological blow. They played with an open mind.

We got this blow with the few 3 goal margin losses. We now have some new players. So I hope they will play with an open mind.

anti-riquelme people repeat the same boring criticisms over and over.

Debasish — fascinating about the cricket story. Was that the Pakistani guy who ran for president? I heard a story that he walked by the entire Indian team in the locker room completely naked to intimidate them. I’m not sure why that would intimidate them, but, whatever….The point is that rivalries are like this. it’s difficult to get out of a cycle, and even more difficult to beat a team that has been cornered, which is essentially the state Brazil is in right now.

The prevailing attitude coming from Arg seems very positive, which is a great sign.

I want them to win so badly. I’m not going to be able to enjoy this game in the slightest.

What time eastern time is that game on? My prediction. Argentina 2 Brasil 0. Messi mania continues.

Todd the game is at 9 am EST. I will be at work. Will have my DVR do the work for me. Will not remain online all day at work. Will go back home in the evening and watch it like live .

Can you imagine the tension I will take all day. Will not know the score till 9 in the evening may be! Hope its a win for us.

mane; inter milan ring any bells? This is what makes him special, he got Villarreal to the semi-finals of the Champions League ffs. So he missed a penalty, so what?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2DilCFCEobg

Alexa, no this guy is not running for presidentship. Ya I know it wont be something to intimidate .

james of course I remember about that game and two things come to mind: so what? one game does not a career make. riquelme should have won far more accolades than he has but for whatever reason he disappears. second, history is filled with players who had one or a few great games but that does not make them great. look in the brazilian side, diego is a great player in germany but when it comes to the national team he is average just like riquelme (and no I am not comparing them but referencing their achievements in perspective) and that is my sole point. is riquelme a lousy player? of course not, he is better than average but certainly he has not truly done anything to warrant the expectations placed upon him. he is no zidane, he is no maradona, he is just an above average player like host others in the world.

Argentina is gonna win tomorrow!!!!! I CAN’T WAIT!

alexa and james,
I think you are being a bit over-sensitive when it comes to Riquelme and people’s (somewhat varied) evaluations of him.

My point was that making Riquelme the focal point of the team is self-sabotage, it always will be. Dunga need stick one decent defensive midfielder on him and Argentina’s link from defence to attack is destroyed.

This is because Riquelme demands indulgence, he cannot give 100% to the team if he is not the focal point, but making him the focal point destroys the pace and rhythm of other players (not just speaking of Messi here, but Aguero, Tevez and even Lavezzi). With the quantity of seriously high quality talented players Argentina have, to resort to Villarreal tactics is both embarrassing and suicidal.

Villarreal won nothing, because when they faced a team managed by a canny tactician, Riquelme was nullified. Dunga, Brazil, Copa America? Germany WC2006.

Riquelme’s a very good player, I’d even say great, maybe more of a Zola than a Baggio but great nonetheless. It seems that to criticise the fixation upon building teams around him is to strike at the character of the Argentinian game and yet, I don’t ever recall Argentina putting all their hopes on one man other than when Maradona won ‘86 and when a very dreary team reached the final in ‘90.

Riquelme could have blossomed into a very great player, but I think he was spoiled by the way Pekerman made him the hub of his team. it was an act of desperation, in my opinion, much like the substitution in that fateful Germany match. a desperation which is not merited in a coach of Argentina, a coach who gets to select from a half dozen of the best players in the world and another half dozen high calibre ones.

James, that highlights video shows what Riquelme can do when Veron and Figo are all he has to contend with in midfield. Inter weren’t (and aren’t yet) anything special, they’ve not even had a sniff at the Champion’s League, Arsenal on the other hand are a decent side managed by a very canny tactician… Argentina shouldn’t be expecting to play Inters but Arsenals… they should be more robust in their game, it’s for their own good. so much talent, so much skill and entertaining potential shouldn’t be wasted because of intransigence and dogmatism.

John, the poster you are referring to made the same comment you did, then explained themselves in a later post. You did not. Again, if you are going to argue someone’s point, then give a reason. Or else it’s seen as an attack.

Fair enough John, but please explain your point then first so that there’s no confusion.

the caps lock thing doesn’t help, you know?
nor do the insults. this is football, there’s a hundred and one things far more important, far more deserving of such “passion” and attention.

i like the team, i like watching them play, i see flaws and bad decisions and so i speak.

if you don’t like it or if you think my points invalid, engage politely and we might get somewhere, but insults are just sad and show an extreme lack of perspective.

@procrastinator
Not really, Cambiasso was Inter’s main DM (OUR main DM) and Roman ran circles around him. Saying that he cannot perform when he’s marked by a good defensive midfielder is just not true.

It’s funny how every time there’s big game upcoming, all these unknown “argie fans” show up to talk down on the chances our team has to succeed.
They grow like mushrooms with their unfamiliar nicknames, yet talking to all of us like if they have known us for years.
They all have that delicate way to bash our team or a player in particular, but they make it sound as an honest observation.
Argie fans “tu abuela”.
This has been going on for years, and it’s obvious that it pleases certain type of people who, I don’t know, maybe they can’t buy an erection, or live their miserable lives in a state of continuous constipation.
Then, after the game, they simply disappear the way they came.
These rats should be taken to la Bombonera on a game Sunday, and left alone in the middle of la Barra Brava. May that’s where they could find deep and unsurpassed happiness.

I am still trying to enjoy myself when I watch football.
Never understood the negative type of fan.
They don’t deserve a good team or a good player.

Vamos Argentina, Carajo. !!!!!
Y a los putos que se meten en este blog a joder, P I J A E N O R T O!!!!!!!

I was referring to the highlights clip you linked up, almost all the incidents of actual highlight value were of him evading Figo or giving Veron the slip.

another thing of note is how often he held off players and passed the ball across or to a more advanced player, in the national team he rarely seems to do that, it’s all about killing the pace and often putting your own team mates out of position by moving the ball back into your own half while midfielders who had moved ahead when they released the ball to you are still returning from their fruitless runs.

that soaks up energy and morale, mostly morale.

I think Aguero’s “dip in form” is mostly down to the way Argentina are forcing him to play in a fairly isolated position. this is the same thing that McClaren made Rooney do for England. Rooney is perhaps one of 3 genuinely technically adept England players, and for McClaren to basically cut him adrift of attacking moves (because Gerard et al were too far back to link up and could do nothing but ping the ball to him with defenders all around).

anyway, it’s just a disagreement over football, no hard feelings

“anyway, it’s just a disagreement over football, no hard feelings ”

Indeed.

Question for everyone here: is anyone planning on getting up early tomorrow morning for the game? I’m debating if I want to wake up at 3 in the morning and do a live blog. Is anyone planning on getting up that early, and will you be visiting the blog if you are?

Christian, isn’t kick-off time at 6 AM Pacific?

I am ok with people speaking there mind whether it be pro or con . I am a fan of Riquleme be can certainly see ho wsomeone could take the opposing view. He is a great player but his lack of speed can sometime drag the team down. in modern futbol this is true more than ever before. But the risk that you take with Roman is almost always rewarded with a good or great game. most of the time we say he dissapeared he actually played an average game is all. But of the grat players much is expected. I guess CR must be below average because he is never there in the big games against quilty oppostion or could it be that sometimes part of being a grat player is that other teams will try and take you out of the game. that is why teams win games and good strategy wins games but having players on the field the force the opposition is a huge advantage for argentina. In my opinion we now have two very clear players that force the other team to do that.

This is what I see, which currently says 3AM PT:

http://www.livesoccertv.com/match/48818/argentina-vs-brazil-s1/

Where do you see different?

Christian put up a new thread that says brasil vs Argentina with the time and everything. You the Boss here.

I just looked at Telemundo and they have it for 8:30 AM, 7:30 C.
what a mess

http://telemundo.nbcolympics.com/soccer/index.html

It’s pretty funny how people forget what Riquelme has acheived in 2006 with Villareal.
ALEXA, let them talk. You are absolutely right when you say that Riquelme knows how to defend. He did it with efficiency in 2006 with his club & the NT. I don’t understand why he doesn’t seem to be asked to do it now. Even if it’s not easy, try to select what people say. Read people who are constructive, not the Riquelme haters.

PROCRASTINATOR,
You are welcome to our blog. Great posts! I’ll respond to you when I have more time. I’ll just say for the moment that Roman is unstoppable if his teamates move around him all the time.

MANE, for you, when was the last time you saw Riquelme playing at his best level? For me, it was at WC 06. He was paradoxal at la Copa because he failed many many passes but was still very efficient & decisive… like Messi!

I like what Batista said. I hope he will apply what he says on the field. Telling Roman & Leo to help Mascherano, Gago and Di Maria to cover territory defensively, for example?

I am so nervous about tomorrow’s game. I’ll be so confident when our team will possess the ball & so worried without it. I hope we will be lucky and that our average defensive tactics won’t be used by Brazil : (

PS: a little “scoop” for you guys. My friend Mikael Sylvestre is going to sign for Manchester City tomorrow morning.

OLE OLE OLE, OLE OLE OLE OLA. OLE OLE OLE, JOGANDO BIEN O JOGANDO MAL… SOOOOOOOOOOOY ARGENTINOS, ES UN SENTIMENTIO..NONPOS PARAR!

Hahaahahahha ALBO.

vamos argentina, CARAJO!!

The match is at 9 AM EST.

http://www.nbcolympics.com/soccer/resultsandschedules/index.html

12 hours of difference between Beijing and US EST time.

the game is at 6:00 am ET tommorrow morning and the nigeria game is at 9:00 am ET.

I’m really amazed as to the number of people here who think it’s a mental block as to why we can’t beat Brazil. As if it’s all in our mind and if we channel the energy and spirits, we’ll suddenly overcome them.

Pure and simple, for the past 4-5 years, Brazil have tactically out maneuvered and out played us. That is all. The teams are of similar caliber – different strengths, different weaknesses, but overall, of the same talent level. But the Brazilian coaching staff has stuck it to ours each and every time.

From playing the 4-2-2-2 (WC 06 Qualifier) and defeating us; followed by the 3-1 loss, Brazil changed up their system back to a counter attacking version of their traditional system of 4-2-2-2, to changing once again to suit the needs of their team to line up Ronaldo in line with a rampaging full back and overload one side of the Argy D to beat us 3-0 at the Emirates to finally defending 4-5-1 (and sometimes all 10) at the Copa, and taking technical fouls to remove Roman and Messi out of the game & playing counter attacking soccer. Whatever Brazil had to do, they did and won. Despite having the best players in the world, their system is flexible and will change on a whim to defeat their opponent.

Basile finally got some semblance of a plan in the last qualifiers and if luck was on our side, we could have won. But it took our coaching staff a good number of games to finally figure it out. And now, these Olympics, I’m not sure what they’re doing. Modern soccer does not allow for expansive soccer to be played when going against teams like Brazil.

Being of both Argy and Brazilian background, albeit an Argy fan, I’m very neutral when it comes to grass roots soccer of both countries. While both are good, there is a reason why more Brazilian coaches have coached at the highest level than Argy – Zico, Scolari, Carlos Alberto, etc…

Realistically, since Bilardo, we haven’t had a top level tactician. Pekerman was great in terms of formation, structure, and maximizing talent from the 11 on the pitch, but Bilardo was a schemer, tactician who poured over every bit of detail. I.E in one training session, he had Maradona practice 20 free kicks with the team and each one of the kicks was a different play depending on how the opposing team was defending. He would signal out a number, they would run that type of free kick. You don’t think Bilardo would have tried something different in the Copa final instead of Basile asking Roman to do the same thing over and over again?

That is attention to detail. No stone was left unturned. Bilardo, more than anyone, loved the 3-5-2. Yet, when it mattered vs certain teams, he was flexible enough to change it up to a 4-3-3 (WC 86 vs Belgium I believe to give Maradona space), 4-4-1-1 (WC 90 at times vs Brazil I believe). You get the point.

I really think (despite the 4-2-3-1 lineup that is shown above), we will play a modified 4-4-2. With Messi allowed to go further up, Roman being pulled back, Gago stepping up to allow Di Maria going up the flanks and still providing cover. From the press conference, it seems Batista is aware of the reasons Argy lost, esp the defensive part which he alluded to and how shambolic we are defending the counter attack, and I truly think he’s going to counter Dunga tomorrow and catch Brazil napping. He knows Aguero/Messi cannot stand a chance going up against the trees (defender) they have at the back, but what he can do is get Roman to lie deeper and push through with probing balls to allow Messi/Di Maria/Aguero to use their speed to get past the backline.

Hey MaxiLopez, congrats to your friend !!!!!!
That’s big, he should buy dinner for you and all your friends

does anyone know what time the game is UK time?
cheers

toddutah, I’ll post a new thread for the game later tonight?

So is everyone getting up early then to watch and blog here?

So Argentina will play 4-3-2-1 with Di Maria playing alla Maxi. For me it’s like a 4-2-2-2 that demands Di Maria to defend. I’m so nervous, I hope Batista knows what he’s doing, because tactically, we will play exactly the same way like we did against Brazil 07. Can’t wait. I hope Argentina will keep the ball 90 mns and make these FIFA yellow bastards run during an eternity.

I hate Bilardo. He’s the very worst coach we ever had.
He goes against the nature of the argentinean player.
He talks quality defense and as a player he was a beast.
Bilardo is all defense. And we like football.
The great Bianchi is all about balance.

Maxi — great scoop. I hope things are going well for you these days!

Christian — I’ll be watching from work. Probably on the blogs since it alleviates my nervousness!

Just one last thing about Riquelme — He’s playing on a young team. There is a striking difference. But the world cup team will be composed of people who are a little older, and thus more, perhaps, methodical with possessions. Now he is playing with wild sparkplugs, a style that is nice to see, but not one that will be repeated at senior level. HIS style is the one that gets repeated at senior level. Messi can play with Riquelme’s more thoughtful pace — he played with Deco, who is similar, very very well at Barcelona.

About Aguero– every player , while on national duty, will have to play “out of position”. Aguero is no exception. The whole adjustment of playing with the national team is learning to deal with this. He can’t be the center of the universe in the NT, and he has to figure out how to score goals in spite of this. That’s the whole point of succeeding in the NT.

Great post SKYWALKER. Do you think defending with only 7 players could be enough? Dunga is bringing me nightmares.

maxilopez:

I have to agree with you, wc06 is a contradiction in terms of riquelme’s performance. remember a game against serbia & montenegro? it was riquelme’s showing, inspiring a team because the fact is that he has to be the center or he is a vacuum, when the ball reaches him it stops, slows down the team and this is risky because when is uninspired and apathetic the team loses pace and that frustrates energetic players like messi. pekerman was infatuated with riquelme and even made excuses for his slow pace and the results are there to be seen.

christian:

I appreciate the efforts in keeping the blog as civilized as possible and to that extent I think somebody has to get some ritalin for albo because he has a knack for being just plain rude and offensive I mean, did you notice his foul and puerile language a few posts ago telling posters he disagrees with to get some genitalia? enthusiasm and passion are one thing, vulgarity and low class are quite another.

You are absolutely right ALEXA.

Mane gets personal with me because he actually enjoys more “Los muchachos del tablón” than “la doce”.

MaxiLopez…. tell you the truth, I’m terrified about the game. I’m praying that (given what I inferred from Batista) that Roman will not play in the trident / number 10 but be more of a standard left center MF with Gago staggering on the right. And hence, we’ll atleast have 8 at the back and not be counter attacked to death. Also, a lot depends on how much freedom our full backs have. If they penetrate too far up field, that will cause problems for us.

actually guys, my bad. Both ESPN and NBC says that the game is at 9:00 AM ET. So the Nigeria game is at 6:00 AM.

guys, i am also glad that mauro Zarate will be getting more chance to show his worth at Lazio now that Rocchi is injured

SKYWALKER,
I believe this game is a second chance for all of us. It will maybe be the game that should’ve exist in july 2007. A single tiny mistake from Gago, Mascherano or Di Maria and we are dead, like at la Copa. But our boys seemed to be prepared when you hear Batista. I think he has told them to keep the ball and be patient. I prefer to not immagine what Dunga will say to his players otherwise I won’t sleep tonight! Things should be more simple for us. Anyway, I think this is the thing: keep the ball, be calm, be patient, but priority #1 is to not conceed a gol. Because at 0-1, their counter attacks could be devastating. When Brazil will have the ball, it’s very important have Messi & Riquelme on the same line of our midfielders.

Ok one last time is game at 600 am eastern or 900 am eastern? so many conflicting times .

i work nights so i get home at 930am

it would be awsome if you guys had a link so i can watch the game

I think Argentina “have the legs” on the Brazilian back line, Messi, Lavezzi and Aguero are nimble and fast enough to cause a lot of trouble provided Argentina retain the ball in midfield.

I like the idea of Riquelme providing fast and incisive balls to channels for Aguero/Messi/Lavezzi to run into. I think Lavezzi has the build to cope with the physicality more than Aguero or Messi but Messi might actually get more of the referee’s favour because he is slight and is a very big name (refs, understandably are also prone to picking up the image that newspapers give to players “so and so is a diver, so and so is quick and nimble but can be barged off the ball a lot…”) so perhaps a few worries can be caused by getting Messi to run into their box more.

My hope is that Argentina win playing an attractive game, my expectation is somewhat less stratospheric, I think Argentina will win but after a nil-nil normal time game via a goal from Lauturo Acosta who’ll come on around 90th minute for Aguero… (some detailed prognosticating there )

anyway, goodluck Argentina… don’t leave me wallowing in my beer like you did at the Copa .

well said MaxiLopez… totally agreed. and yeah, I don’t wanna even think about the 0-1 scoreline.

one thing, the game is at night, and we generally do better in the evening as opposed to intense mid day heat. so let’s cross our fingers and hope we come out on top…

procrastinator .. it would only be right for Acosta to score another 90th minute winner. haha…

There is one thing we can see in common in every argy game where we have done well.
The production of short and fast passes, ball on the ground, touch and go.
Riquelme and Messi have connected several times. Same Di María.
All we need is Agüero to make himself available.
Everybody has to create an open path while in possession.
I think if we do that, it doesn’t matter how we defend.
I know that’s not too orthodox, but to me it’s true.
Rotating and staying open can defeat problems we might have in defense, because all of our forwards and MFs have the ability to score.

Whens English kick off time

Shanghai
6:00 ET
Nigeria v Belgium

Beijing
9:00 ET
Argentina v Brazil

On goal.com it stars that kick off is at 3:00pm I’m time, does anyone know the correct time

uk sorry not I’m

how big of a player riquelme is?
brazil 5 time world cup winner,dosent fear anyone,they play joga bonita,the best team in the world history,have their own brand of football,and dont change for noone!
…but when a certain player goes against them on the pitch they throw away their tradition,their pride,their joga bonita….and change their formation just to stop this so called NOBODY RIQUELME!

so do all the teams germany at home pulled ballack further back just because a NOBODY RIQUELME!

so do england they put king on the field a fith defender to stop this so called NOBODY RIQUELME!

so do HOLLAND,so do all the teams who play against this so called NOBODY RIQUELME.

they throw away their tradition their pride for this so called NOBODY!

boca first period -fantasctic.
barca-1 year shit!
villarreal first year semifinal uefa cup.
second year third and quaterfinal uefa cup.
third year semi final in champions league!
damn what a failure for villarreal he was!
boca copa libertatdores.
what a failure he was.

riquelme is not zidane or maradona because those 2 are top 5!
could he have archived that -yes he could!
i understand you he has not lived up to his potential but you have to agree his potential is big!
he had the talent to be TOP 10 player but he has not archived because he had not the disire,motivation,concentration…and was a bit unlucky.
i understand you!
but he has not failed and suerly is not avarage!
its not his fault that he gets marked.
its the coach job to counter that and find a solution and alternative.
this is messi.
they can stop him and maybe he dosent touch the ball at all.
but just his presence there is more room for his teammates!
and he has the ability to kill you with just 1 pass!
why we dont play good is not because riquelme.
its simple tactics,we dont play like a unit and we dont move without the ball!

I can’t tell if you’re taking the piss Alfio, but you wrote, “boca copa libertatdores. what a failure he was.”

Do you mean the CL he practically won single-handedly? I’m a gallina and even I admit that.

sarcasm christian

the whole post is sarcasm.

ALFIO, CHRISTIAN,
Although I’m a big River fan, Riquelme is my favorite player with Aimar & Placente!). He is complex & mentally weak it’s true, but when a coach uses him correctly like Pekerman did, he brings you magic on the field. Riquelme & his style even inspires me when I play futbol.

Folks, is the game on tv or do we have to watch it on http://www.nbcolympics.com? Only one more hour to go.

I’m sure Aguero will have a good game tomorrow. He knows he played badly against Holland. Even if he’s tired, he might shut everybody’s mouth against Brazil.

Good post Alfio.
All the coaches in the world, included Pellegrini, have said that Riquelme is a different player.
A special player. And there’s no doubt about it.
Too bad sometimes he’s on and some times he’s quiet.
But we need him tomorrow and this time they had the chance to practice a little, unlike their last game. That could mean Román will do his free kicks much better than last time.
Saludos

i agree with you maxi and i pointed it he has weakness.
mental and he is complex!
and i know pellegrini used him right too!
when attackin he played from the left to the centre- when defending he was on the left defending!
pekerman used him this way against ivory coast too.

maxi haha most of the bloggers didnt understand who your friend is!
mickael silvestre the manchester united player.
greet him.

argentina – brazil

shanghai time
9pm—–21:00

central europe
3pm—-15:00

uk time
2pm—-14:00

east coast
9am—-9:00

west coast
6am—6:00

HEY everybody sorry to get off topic but today I had a game for the red bulls u-20 and I scored and also had an assit we won 3-1!!!! its just my 3rd game playing for them and the 1st one I started I’m so pumped for the game tomorrow now ,I’ll be watching the game from here in houstin anyway next two days argentinas playing u-23 and then the next day they senior team.

Vamos Albiceleste, now or never, for the GLORY more than the gold !!!!!!!!!
Let’s go !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Golazo, sweet !!!!

Maradona, not one more hour. 12 hours to kick off (tomorrow morning)

Love your post, Alfio! Congrats, Golazo. Great job.

Aguero said that he’s never lost to Brazil (in youth tournaments). Let’s hope his run continues!

messi says he has bronca for the copa he will be out for revenge

prepare to see messi at his best

I don’t care if we win by a last minute fluke goal. Win is a win and is about time that it’s our turn.

Deep down I do have some fear about the outcome but we must confidence with our team. Now is the time of little Lionel to show his former teammate at Barca (you guys should known who I mean) that he

Thanks Albo.

Little Lionel is going to be hacked to pieces, if the ref doesn’t nip that in the bud from the beginning.

I have this crazy fantasy in my head that Messi is going make some far out speech about going at Ronaldinho’s weaknesses, but since ronaldinho doesn’t really have any weaknesses (other than his weight and his obvious depression), I’m not sure why I think that.

THis is the 4th Brazil-Arg showdown in the last 2 years. I’m going officially insane.

congrats Golazo!! kep itup!

I have a question guys. what time does the game start?

New thread up, finally. Please go there to post your comments on the match. Thanks.

Argentina vs Brazil, Olympic Games Semi-Final on 19 August 2008, 21:00 China Standard Time at Beijing Workers’ Stadium, Beijing

Watch Live on

http://olympicslivechannel.blogspot.com

Good Quality Streaming. Frequently updating…….