Argentina vs Spain PREVIEW

Good squad, not sure about some old defenders, and we have discussed that…however the same old names still there. Great midfield, and in the forward teritory, all are great except the inclusion of Lavezzi who didn't impress me in Ireland's game.
I hope Di Maria is not a starter this time around, or he will fuck it up.

It's a step in the right direction.

Missing Angleri and Ansaldi.

Need to drop Heinze and Demichelis.

Andujar is the best keeper on the list.

And what about Ustari? Surely he is better than Romero.

I'm getting sick of Heinze and Demichelis, we are stuck with them forever.

NO PASTORE AGAIN !!!!!
this sucks

i know!

so is sergio batista our new coach fro real now?

Probably the fairset list I saw after a very long time. Good to see Batista is not acting biased toward our good players. Return of Gabi Milito was the best piece of the puzzle. I dunno why he didn't call up Pastore but I don't think he has just dropped him for good. I'm sure he will call him up soon again. I am missing Ustari in the team as well as Riquelme. Also Garay and Gonzalo could be added to the team in the future. I'm not really a big fan of Demichelis and Heinze. I think they are not reliable enough. At least as starters. The disappointing thing is that we don't have really enough relaible options in the left back. I wish Batista try the backline of Burdisso-Milito-Samuel-Zanetti against Spain. I believe that's our best possible choice for defence. The combi of Samuel-Milito could turn out magnificent if they gel well. Vamos Argentina! Can't wait to see the new team.

Hola Amigo

ARG NT must play these games before World cup 2010 .

Fantastic talent in this sqaud. A win against Spain, albeit at home, would really boost the morale of the NT. I do think though that after this game, and hopefully a good result, we must go with the youngsters, and build towards a powerful squad for 2014. I think that we can use some youngsters and some veterans and still win the Copa at home, which will be very important. Then, drop the veterans, who will be too old for 2014, and go with the youngsters form there on in.

Even Bayern Munich didn't include Demichelis as a starter against Wolfsburg considering him a weak defender (Based on the word came out of the coach's mouth). Why do we depend on him so much in the NT if he's not a reliable defender on a club level.

Calm down ! If I'm not mistaken, Pastore is not in the list because his club Palermo plays against a club (I do not know) on Sept 8 or 9. See Palermo website for details

Hi to all my friends!
I am finally back home after a long, long, long vacation.
I like the squad Batista has picked, great to see some big names back. But I say a big NO THANKS to Batista staying on as our coach. Give me Sabella or Bianchi.
D'allesandro is worth a try again, after his convincing play in Brazil. But if Pastore wasn't buisy with Palermo, he should of course be given the chance to start the game.

It makes me heart broken again I just think if diego invited these players(specially in midfield an defense)instead of otamendi,clemente,veron,palermo,maxi… with a good system things would be very much different.also I'm agree with Batista's step by step strategy in bringing new young defenders but it should start in this game by including fazio in the line up.I also agree with Nima burdisso-milito-samuel-zanettii are the best choices in defense because heinze and demi are the most stupid defenders I've ever seen.midfield and forward are just great.but again it doesn't mean I accept Batista as our coach Sabella or Bianchi.I really hope and this time optimistic we will win Spain I will pray.

Again, we follow the misguided selection policies of the past. This list is terrible in that we do ourselves no favours in preparing for the Copa and blooding our youngsters for 2014. I don't blame Batista as if we were in his position, we'd want to field the strongest possible 11 to secure the NT job. It is the work of the AFA who have put Batista in this untenable situation where he has to choose between win now & secure job or do what's best for the NT (now and for the future).

We've been on the same path since 2006 and it doesn't look like it's going to change. Worse, with this lineup and picking some of our better players, we might actually win our games and the AFA may decide to retain Batista which would be an even bigger mistake.

We're so short sighted in our thinking, it's both equal parts amazing and stunning to watch all of this unfold before our very eyes.

Agree. Blame AFA, not Batista. I can understand what Batista have in mind. He knows that he even does not guarantee will continue as the coach, so he is not in rush to build team with young players. If he does that (use all young players and try to build a new team)…but what if finally he DOES NOT got the job??? It will useless (for him). Also is it guaranteed if Bianchi or Sabella or the other coach will call young players?

I think he will use the best players Argentina have right now (Zanetti, Cambiasso, Riquelme, Messi, etc) to secure his contract first. Once he got the job fixed until 2014, he will start to build the team with younger players. Just wait and see.

Thinking rationally, Batista and his assistant Brown are the coach of U20 and U17, how come they does not know the youngsters? Be patient! Let Batista and Brown secure their contract until 2014 first…

“AFA may decide to retain Batista which would be an even bigger mistake” –> I doubt about this. 2014 is still long time ahead. Batista (also Brown) are not dumb, I believe they will improve. I said before, they are the coaches of U17 and U20, they know the youngsters well.

We can judge Batista only after these 4 games (Ireland, Spain, Japan, Brazil). If he failed he will lose his (interim) job for sure, and we can see a new coach. For now, just enjoy the game

As now the Senior team and U20 handled by Batista/Brown and U17 handled by Garre/Olarticoechea. IF Batista (and Brown) get the job, I hope Jose Pekermen will fill the U20 position.

roroda, jus as i thought . . . what a dump-shit maradona has been in missing out this midfield and defense . . . what a miss and that too it was a costly one . . . but i figure it aswell that all these golden generation has been selected too late . . . they are still the world's best but never could be a force for 2014 . . . but i think batista wants to get the coach position by winning these games with the experienced lot and then try to bring in new generation . . . clever thinking by him but at the cost of argentina football . . . but still it would be a treat to watch all 'our gems' play yet one more time . . . but what is zabaletta and balotti doin out there when riquelme, aimar, pastore, perotti, ansaldi, angeleri, etc. r sitting out . . . (again a foolish decision by our caoches) . . . why are almost all argentine coaches foolish? . . . leaving out the best players for the world cup and loosing out another 4 yrs . . .

From espndesportes: Americo Gallego and Miguel Russo had explicitly stated they want the DT position, so now we have:

They that explicitly stated their interest:
Ramon Diaz (San Lorenzo coach)
Americo Gallego (former Indenpediente coach)
Miguel Russo (Racing Club coach)
Sergio Batista (interim coach, U20 coach)

Other favorites that not (yet) explicitly stated their interest:

Carlos Bianchi (now Boca Juniors director??)
Alejandro Sabella (Estudiantes Coach, backed by former coach Daniel Passarella)

I really don't know what is bolatti doing out there.but Riquelme unfortunately has injury problems and is not ok and Pastore because of his club but he didn't choose young defenders like Ansaldi,Fazio,Insua,…. because they are very young and unreliable now and as you said he wants the job so he didn't risk by calling them.we can have most of our players in midfield and forward for 2014 if their performance remain good at their clubs and it's good for us but defense will completely change because of age.

good to have you back again!!!

NT selection is for winning. it's not an academy. Players will perform in their clubs and they will be invited to the NT. If you think Otamendi is our future then play him and you will concede 4 goals from his position! (The match against Germany in WC). You can't play the youngsters by force if they are not up to the standards. Same goes with oldies.

Hello Friends… I am not Argentinian but I am surely one of the bigger fans of Argentina Football.. they are the only team who have and will always get all my love and support. I have been reading this very popular blog for quite sometime now but today I decided to post my first comments here. In days to come you will find me more often here – writing and discussing ways which will empower our beloved Argentina.

Once again special thanks to all of you and to Julian for great work here…Love you Argentina!

Argentum_IND

this team is ok but still has some flaws. i don't see a great deal of balance here. batista choose 4 defensive mid fielders, one playmaker and the team is short on wingers. when will we ever get this right. i don't mind seeing zannetti back but what is the need for cambiasso. we have a young stud in banega who plays the same position this is the guy for our midfield future now he has to look over his shoulder and worry about cambiasso. i am also very worried that we may go through a strecth of games with out a playmaker.

there are few names i would have like to see but i know every one can't be selected. it seems like batista is afraid to take the risks with younger players and is trying to play it safe with the guys he called. well i hope these guys can beat spain that would be a great achievement.

romero
zan-micho-samuel-heinze
mache-d'allesandro-banega
messi-higuain-di maria

we should be doin without d'maria for the next match . . . and try out either ageuro or tevez in that role . . .
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i wish it would be a 1-4-2-3-1
.
+++++++++andujar+++++++++++
zanneti++milito++samuel++heinze
+++++banega++mascherano++++
++++++++++d'allsandro++++++++
++messi++++++++++++ageuro+++
++++++++++higuain+++++++++++

this would be a dream team…..I would love to see the team play without Di Maria, he's a disaster as a winger.

Don't know what to say…

It is clear that we won't prepare WC 2014 until after the Copa America.
We should have used la Copa to prepare 2014. But we can't be surprised afterall, AFA never builds on the long term. Never. We are retarded in terms of management. It's only about corruption. After the Maradona circus (and I hope there won't be a #2), here comes another show: Batista, the respectable muppet forced to use the current best players to save his job. As much as I love them, Heinze, Samuel, De Michelis, Milito, Cambiasso, Zanetti, Lucho & Aimar (who cares about them at AFA anyway..), RIQUELME (!) belong to the past simply because they won't be at WC 2014. It's the reality. When will we prepare a WC correctly? When will we finally associate our 2 diamonds, Messi & Pastore? In defence, when will we give a chance to the likes of Otamendi who are talented defenders? When will we test once the following 4-4-2 and then train it for 4 years?

—————–Andujar—————
Zabaleta—-OTAMENDI—Garay—-Insua
MESSI–MASCHERANO–BANEGA–DIMARIA
—————–PASTORE————–
—————–HIGUAIN—————

Players in Caps are obviously the ones that are expected to be there in Brazil 2014.
: (

between Aguero and Di Maria I personally prefer Aguero because he is great with Messi.but I don't think that Di Maria is a bad player and he will be better with Jose in Real.he just needs some time.and Otamendi I don't know what to say as soon as I see him it reminds me the game against Germany I don't know what to do with this problem and Andujar of course is better than Romero.so I think it's good to be:
———-Andujar/Romero(1)——–
(2)Ansaldi—-Burdisso(3)/Fazio—Garay—–G.Milito(3)/Insua

————Mascherano—–Banega———
———————Pastore—————-
Messi——————————Aguero/Di Maria
——————Higuain(4)——————-
1-if he improves
2-the worst area for us after Zanneti I love to see a better option
3-I know you will say they are old but a 32 good defender is better than a stupid 25 defender I think Zanetti and Otamendi was a improve for this idea this year.
4-I love to see a better forward because he is not creative at all.
of course all of things depends on their performance/injury problems/stupid problems(Redondo/Riquelme/…..)but it is for now.

As in my previous comment, there is no need for us fans to cry out for young players like Pastore, etc. to be put in the NT. Let Batista save his contract until 2014 first. Then we will see his plan. According to Ole, he has a plan for Pastore and other youngsters for future, don't worry too much

Further, 2014 still long time ahead. 4 years ago, did you ever think the names such as Jonas Gutierez, Garce, Otamendi, Andujar, Romero in WC 2010?

For who always complain about why not Pastore, why not A, why not B..it's for 2014…..etc etc…Don't you ever think? maybe in 2014, Pastore is nothing (I do not expect bad for him, just for example for who always complain regarding Pastore). Who can predict the future? Players come and go in 4 years, maybe there will be another player better than Pastore, Higuain, Aguero, etc that worth to be included in WC 2014 team.

Why Checho ?

Once the Apertura is over it will be Sabella or Borghi anyway.

And I'd prefer Martino or Cappa anyway.

Ansaldi is a better player than Insua. And there are better young central defenders than Otamendi ie Forlin.

The preperation should have started prior to the Copa instead of whcih we are going over old ground ie recalling players that wont be there in 2014 with the best will in the world.

I repeat experiment with the kids and see who is up to it and build on it.

so much complaining….after only one game post world cup….become spain fans
until we start killing it again..then you can jump back on the argentina band wagon

if its not one thing its the other “oh boo hoo we should use the u-20 team in all of our comptitive matches…that way we will win the world cup in 4 years”

“zenneti is too old”

“pastore is too young”

“our away jersey is too blue!!”

you guys are characters, im starting to think some of you guys are just dramatic and require complaining about everything to make life exciting

ya you're absolutely right.. I mean, why on earth would we question the same tactics, players, formations being used over and over again that has led us to so much success since 1994?

as the saying goes, you criticize the ones you love the most. the guys above are posting their views on what needs to be changed. You may not agree with them, and that's ok, but you can't say that they don't have a point. We've been stuck in an endless cycle of nonsense since the 93 Copa / 94 WC.

I don't know why somebody just can't understand we don't have personal problems with Batista I like this guy but he isn't our best choice OK?we are talking about winning the world cup in Brazil understand?in their damn soil for this we should be 100% not less and we are not talking about the one game we are talking about the reality that we have better choices tell me Peckerman isn't better than him?what about Sabella or Bianchi?so why we should use him?we did this mistake many times we can't repeat it choosing the wrong coaches and say let's see what will happen.and BTW you don't think that Zanetti is old?!he is 36 he will be 40 for 2014 tell me 40 is old or not?I think it's better to complain and be sensitive about our problems and solve them and after the world cup be happy and talk about our power and admire the team instead of close our eyes just admire the team and stupidly think everything is OK and after the world cup after a painful lost wake up and start crying.

Calm down my friend…it only one game vs. Spain and you complain about Zanetti call up. Don't you understand? Batista wants to save his job first. I'm sure he also want the job and compete with other candidates (Sabella, Bianchi, etc). He has the right to call the players. It's no use complain here. Blame AFA, not Batista

Let say even if Batista start with young players now to build a new team. If a new coach (not Batista) appointed in December or January, will he use the young players that Batista use? Remember every coach have his own preferences.

I'm afraid if the new coach is appointed (for example, SABELLA and he brings VERON back), you and maybe others here will start to say: BRING BACK BATISTA, BATISTA IS BETTER, etc

As I said before BATISTA and BROWN are the coaches of U20 and U17. How come they do not know how to use young players? Be patient. Once again, Blame it on AFA who did not directly contract a new coach, not Batista

—————–andujar——————– a 4-2-3-1 vs spain
zanetti—samuel—milito—zabaleta—
——-mascherano—-banega/cambiaso/gago——-
messi——–d'alesandro——–di maria
———–tevez/higuain/milito—————

rolandman99 if you read my comment my dear friend you can see that I blamed AFA not Batista.Batista of course is doing the right thing to save his job.It's AFA's stupid coach selection strategy and if you choose a good coach with enough thinking you shouldn't be worried about his decisions(like call Veron back) and I'm not just talking about bring new players I'm talking about tactics and strategy and experience.and please stop admiring Germany too much they weren't that good.(the game against Spain they were just rubbish)they seem that good because England and us were total jokes.(I choose the like button wrongly sorry)

what you dont seem to understand is that its no ALL about the coach

it is an important factor we saw what having a bad coach can do to a great team
we should be thinking about our players.and it looks good

i could not care less if batista is coach or not..after maradona id trust many others besides him

but to complain about not instantly starting young players is absurd…especially against the recent world champions…sure freiendlies dont matter much

but a win would give the players confidence, what i do like is that for the most part batista chose the best w have to offer in terms of a team

I can guarantee that after watching one game he coached against Ireland, this man is not the best choice for the job indeed. The game went to no where in the 2nd half, and that was just a friendly game with no pressure, can you imagine what would happen if he coaches a game on world cup level, expect a disaster. Just giving Di Maria the lead striking force was a dumb decision.

AFA's stupid coach selection strategy –> maybe it is not really true. Actually I start to think again. I remembered AFA choose Jose Pekermen in 1994 using the same way (using a committee or board or something like that). And the result he won the 1995, 1997, and 2001 U20 World Cup. Lets hope this time, the results are Copa America 2011, Olympic 2012, Confederation Cup 2013, and finally World Cup 2014

I'm not praising the Germany team, I just want to show that how many caps the players have do not really effect as long as the tactic is good. This is because why many of us here complain about young players against Spain the world champion now.

I have support for Batista (although not 100%) because I think he has a good plan (project) for the team. Even there's a rumor, if Batista appointed as a coach, Luis Zubeldia (Lanus coach) will fill the position of U20 coach because he can communicate with Batista. Let me give you example

Pekermen won the 1995, 1997 U20 WC –> How many players from these two teams did Passarella bring to 1998 WC ?

Pekermen won the 2001 U20 WC –> How many players from this team did Bielsa bring to 2002 WC?

Ferraro won the 2005 U20 WC –> How many players from this team did Pekermen bring to 2006 WC?

Tocalli won the 2007 U20 –> How many players from this team did Maradona bring to 2010 WC?

We have so many talented players, but there is no continuity in our team from junior to senior. You can see how Netherlands, Spain, and again oh I really hate to say this Germany (their Ozil, Mueller, etc) were the EURO U21 Champs in 2009.

Batista KNOWS this problem. I remembered in a news in Ole, he also praised the work of Pekermen and Tocalli in the youth side. The good thing is he has a PLAN.

I want to say again: I'm NOT Batista fan. I started to have a little support because he knows the problem and he has a PLAN/PROJECT

Again: I prefer Ramon DIAZ, Miguel RUSSO, Alejandro SABELLA, or Americo GALLEGO.

Ramon DIAZ is my first choice but I know maybe he will not be selected.

Why RAMON DIAZ?
-He is Argentine
-He won the U20 1979 as a player (with our beloved 'coach' Maradona). At his time, he also a good player
-He had won many championships and experienced coach
-He can made a team from AVERAGE players to be a winning team (maybe he does not need a super player like Messi to win)
-He has a good tactic and attacking style of play

But these are the requirements from AFA to a coach (this part just a joke, but maybe true)
1. MUST BE FRIEND OF AND LOYAL TO GRONDONA AND BILARDO
2. Have Argentina nationality
3. …
4. …

Other aspects are not important. WHOEVER FULFILL NUMBER 1 REQUIREMENT ARE WELCOME

I like ROMAN DIAZ too agree but he won't get the job because of the reason you said and it was completely true.but about u-20 I think that u-20 world cup is completely different from the world cup It's much about talent which we have a lot.but world cup is not UNFORTUNATELY just about talent and beautiful football it's about defensive football,killing the game,strategy,experience,…. AFA's stupid coach selection strategy is choosing Bielsa which he has no defensive strategy and I see in this world cup that he didn't change,choosing Basile,Choosing Maradona,…. every thing in u-20 is very good(thanks god)maybe because there is not many money there and thankfully Grandona live them alone.

The team is preparing for Coppa America and the players like Zanetti can still offer in that tornoument which will potentially be his last in the NT. After that you guys can pick on the coaches bringing in 36 years old players! This collection of players are the best choices Batista could make (maybe with the addition of Pastore, Riquelme, Garay and Ustari too) and I hope he gets the best out of them. Biased decisions always costed Argentina dearly. It's good to see Batista is not doing the same mistake again, at least for now. And I hope he realize that Demichelis is not the starting material for us. He's way behind Samuel and Milito in quality. The team that offers the best for Argentina in my opinion is this for now. Dunno how many similarities mine is gonna have with our coach but that's how I think things work well for Argentina:

————Romero————-
Burdisso–Milito–Samuel–Zanetti
—–Mascherano–Cambiasso—-
———Riquelme (Pastore)—–
—-Messi—Higuain—Di Maria—

Hello Friends, I feel this team chosen against Spain is a good mix of experience and youth. I guess defense is the hotspot of our team at the moment so I start with defense. Well, good to see some old names there in the defense as we still lack the necessary experience there. The key is to have the right mix as we move ahead, play Zannetti or a Samuel but also play Ansaldi or Insua as well so that they learn while Argentina doesnt lose matches. Senior players and the coach has to ensure that youngsters instil confidence and experience at the same time. We just cannot think of a complete overhaul of our defensive line – as has been suggested by lot of you here. Batista has taken a right step forward and I am sure we will build a rock solid defense very soon.

However, I am not at all impressed with decision of excluding Javier Pastore in the list. If any one was there in Polokwane (South Africa) and saw the match been Argentina and Greece, could've seen a genius called Pastore. He just brought so much imagination in the center of the park that suddenly Messi was looking a different player. We just cant afford to make him sit out while Argentina prepare for the Copa.

tevez with 2 goals today

pastore has a game with palermo close to our freindly so thats why he was excluded

Di Maria over Tevez? hahaha

I am now have lost hope over players like Tevez, Heinze, Samuel, Di Maria, and I want to see players who don't have a chance to shine in S.Africa the likes of Pastore, Aguero, Allessandro and to see them play alongside Mascherano, Messi and Higuan would be a delight football of Argentina.

Stop attacking di Maria . Anyone see him play against Hercules ? Mourinho rates him highly and I have ever since I saw him at the 2007 u20 WC.

I'd take Jose's opinion over some of the nonsensical detractors that he is selfish and cannot play. This is the player who had the highest number of assists in the Portuguese league last season for Benfica.

That he did not suceed in this WC and was still instrumental in link up play with Messi is a credit to him being forced to play in midfield instead of left wing.

di maria is talented but i think v should try other options as 'for a team itz not working here' . . . v r stuggling with defence so v need other players like sergio aguero or lavezzi who would defend aswell!! (jus my imagination!).
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so much talent but v dont hav an organizer or manager who would place each player in each place (according to his strength) so that it becomes a collective-super team . . .
.
what is argentina doin for the future? no plans, no objectives, no strategies set for that, no mission statement, no vision for the future . . . hey comeon do it the corporate style (may succeed!!)
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get yr big football brains to work together under one roof AFA – but our AFA has a building with cieling or roof . . . so rains and ice-blitz jus wash the national team ashore by tossing it in the seas first (like germany did in 2010) and throwing it here and there (so many defeats) . . .
.
i think our players don play with passion for the country . . . (im not talking about messi here coz i know how he played till date for argentina – he gave it all but no support or help for him due to each coaches and AFA's stupidty) . . . the players just play so that they will get recognised and could get a big offer in some club!!!!!!!
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Argentina – the football needs u . . . pls don fade away (like uruguay did and had to take almost 50 yrs or so come back and needed a deigo forlan to do it) bcoz our generation wants to see u lift the World cup not just once but many times surpassing brazil at our time itself . . . God Bless u Argentina

I think DiMaria is good, and so is Perroti and Leto. Similar positions different characters.
I would also say DiMaria will play good for his club as he does. He also plays good for country. But he will not be effective , our team will not be effective with him in starting 11. Atleast not yet with the kind of system or non-system than we have.
Any NT cannot be effective if it has more that 2 natural dibblers meaning who likes to dribble first rather than find a team mate.
Many may not like the comment but it is a fact if you put Lavezzi + Messi , or DiMaria + Lavezzi or DiMaria+Messi along with Higuain it will not work…
If Messi is a must, Higuain is a necessity then DiMaria is not , we need to make room for someone else with different game , possibly Perroti or Leto or infact Lissandro Lopez or Aguero (he was a dribble first kind of player, but he has improved since Forlan's arrival in Atletico).

For Me players are always good, else they wont be in those clubs . The concern is if they will fit into a system of the playing 11 that is called A TEAM.
Many wonder why Milito is not effective for NT, it has to be seen in clubs systems where he flourished.
Zaragoza, Genoa, Inter he was the focal point of attack, similar like Drogba for Inter. A team system build around for him to be best effective, since finally goals wins the games.
But Milito do not have the same system in NT, so should blame Milito ? NO.
Should we blame AFA/Coach? Possibly yes. But if we drop him from NT for the reason of not being effective then its stupidity, yet if we drop him since Coach has a better system in mind that he do not fit in, then why not.

My team !

———–Romero————–
Zanetti—-Milito–Samuel–Heinze
———-Macharano————
Banega—D'elassandro—D'Maria
——Messi——–Hiquain—–

to what do people attribute di maria not being good for the NT?

let us not forget that maradona played most players out of position, and as i recall di maria played great against ireland scoring the only goal

not to mention how well he did in the Olympics under batista

he is also scoring well for real

Check DiMaria's goal (last night) and tell me you don't like DeMaria.
Not only he is out of this world, but he is literally the only left wing we have.
Sounds like a no brainer to me.

Sabella played 5 men in the back against Banfield. He has probably the best team in Argentina and goes to Banfield and plays a 5-4-1. Banfield. Not Brazil, Banfield. Is that the approach you want on the NT?

Ramon Diaz would be my choice. He's won everything as a player and coach.

heyy…Albo 1 is exactly correct… i was just too stunned to see di maria,s goal against penarol….i seriously think he shud be a regular in the NT…

i do not think batista has it in him to take argentina all the way in copa amercia and the world cup in 2014 . . . v need 'super coaches' to manage 'the super talent v hav' (well that also needs an extra to manage such talented individuals into a team) . . . Argentina coached by Jose Mourinho, Argentina coached by Joachin Loew, Argentina coached by Pep Guardiola – WOW, how sweet to hear that!!!!!!!!
.
itz all about an 'extra' in this present world to win and that to – to win it in style . . .
.
Flamboyant Argentina was talked about much in 2006 (coz of the way v played even though v were not super) but this time nobody talked about argentina before the world cup and after the world cup also!!!!!!!! (nothing of what they were capable of – were displayed) . . . Messi has lost 8 yrs in his career without a world cup and we dont know how much is left . . . keep praying
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So much talent but not much brains (coach) . . .
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so whoz gonna be the brainy coach to take us all the way thru . . .

Regarding DiMaria , My point of view is he(actually any one) should not be a starter just because a person is on fire for the club .
if … it is if ..IF we are continously relying on formation of
4-4-2 or 4-3-1-2 or 4-1-3-2 , then I dont see why DiMaria will be effective with NT. Moreover if Tevez,Messi, Higuain is in starting 11 , where does DiMaria fit in??
We cannot put all great players to expect a smooth working system, atleast it will take years of playing together that will bring the system if we want to field all the best players based on club form.
Some of them should have to be left out for the sake of efficient system.
e.g. inclusion of Tevez in this WC, if he would not have been included in starting 11. possibly we would have better chances.

Another example for DiMaria was wonderful against Canada, if you remember Messi was in bench. Making room for him to be effective in his own style.
DiMaria is a fantastic player and he will be effective in NT too but then coach has to bring in a system that will help all of the team to be efficient.
e.g.
GK
Angeleri-Fazio-Garay-Ansaldi
——Masche———–
———–Banega——
—-Lucho————
—Messi——-DiMaria
——-LissandroLopez—-

Possibly in this formation NT will be effective. Now put in Milito , he will sulk or NT will be ineffective.
Remove Lucho put on D'Allessandro We will be destroyed in counterattacks.
Ask DiMaria to track back , he will have so much ground to cover that he will be ineffective in the places where he is best at. Meaning Messi /Lissandro will be forced to track back..

My main point is not against DiMaria or Milito, My main point is the playing system for NT based on the players we have.
Our players are so good in some of the positions that its difficult to formulate a system for all 11, somebody has to give.
My case is as of now , how we stand , Milito and DiMaria has to give.
I am sure under Mourinho DiMaria will improve, infact he might overshadow Crynadlo'7/9 .
So if id does infact happen then during copa the system should be around Messi + DiMaria , and other players like Tevez/Aguero/Higuain/Banega etc has to give some ground to them.

If players are made important than the system or team..we are destined to fail.

I think my comments are mostly misinterpreted ..I am NOT against DiMaria neither bashing him in any way.
I followed his game since U20 win in '07, He is an excellent footballer.
Benfica's X-factor was DiMaria , with him gone Benfica are finding it difficult to keep the ground.

My point if regarding the team , the system and positions , DiMaria was just an example of how the system is flawed.

I hope I am not marked as DiMaria basher , since I am not.

Pareja went to Spartak Moscow, considering how Ansaldi is overlooked for NT, I think it is bad move for him.
Same for Biglia to not move away from Anderlecht, may be he has other priorities.

Pastore did a very good stance at Palermo, he should succeed there, if not anyway the club will sell him to get money next year.

Anyone knows what happened to Crespo, he seems to be gone away from any news.

I think our only player that played in his position during the world cup was Romero so I can't judge them until they play in their positions also I agree with Watch_10 system is more important than players and of course Di Maria is a good player and all of us wish him good luck in his new club

I hate to say that but these systems work and if you look at our poor defense you'll realize that Sabella is doing the right thing just think about how Inter won Barsa how Spain won the world cup UNFORTUNATELY It's the reality(of course I love the attacking and beautiful football and I hate that we play like this shameful teams but we should work on our defense UNFORTUNATELY defensive systems are successful Italy won 4world cups buy killing the games.)and as I said before I like Roman Diaz too but he won't get the job due to dear DON Julio's Ideals.

vbn

hey guys Gago is out for like 3 weeks with a knee surgery, who do u think should replace him in the squad for spain, whres pastore.
also keep eyes on rodrigo fuenes-nori from river plate. this youngster sounds like he could a good prospect!

For those who understand Spanish well, what is the meaning of this news? Google translate can not do it well

h**p://www.ole.com.ar/fuera-de-juego/Jefe-define_0_323367667.html

Batista is the coach? Our 'beloved' Grondona change his mind?

Note: Change the ** to tt

yea he'll continue and Riquelme will call up again.I knew it from the beginning I think just if we loose to Spainn or Brazil with shameful results MAYBE they'll change him as I said I have an other idea about the coach but just let wish him good luck at least he is not crazy.

Yes, Grondona said today that Batista is the official coach of La Albiceleste.
Also said Bilardo will continue as general manager of football activities.
And predicted that Riquelme will be back with our NT very soon.

i still don't understand why some of the same people who want otamendi in the NT don't want di maria in

thank god you guys aren't coaching, maybe you could apply for being one of maradona's assistants

di maria is this weeks scape goat, next week im guessing it will be someone new

so far in this board iv seen people bash each one of our players, the most cynical and negative fans are on this board

albo, is batista news official? source?

me_fab quote – “so far in this board iv seen people bash each one of our players, the most cynical and negative fans are on this board”

wow finally someone who feels like me! I know there are some ppl on this board that are simply negative fans which are a downer to the rest of us but ppl like me & fab we'll just keep running thru all ur b.s and supporting 100% our beautiful NT with pride and never be negative maybe some constructive criticism but thats it!

I heard that gago is injured too but i hope he finally puts pastore on and actually plays him for the full match against spain but we'll see. I'm glad to see cambiasso,g.milito,zanetti and zabaleta on our squad again! I wanna see Riquelme on there too but we'll see when that will happen. So much talent wasted by Maradona's reign. Oh well lets look to the next tournaments and have faith that these next 4 years will be ours and that we will be at the top of the FIFA standings again!

Chalz, it came out in the papers yesterday.
Anyway, nothing is really permanent for Grondona, (except for himself).

Stupid Liverpool are really treating badly to Mascherano I mean last summer he told them he wants to go from their land of depression and they promised him they'll let him go and now they are breaking their promise and force him look disloyal the rest of the team didn't train with him big damn shame just let him go.

“Torito” Cavenaghi to Mallorca !!
Hopefully he'll get some playing time.

Infact I blame Barca too for this, they are placing below the market value for the best defensive MF player no club will agree to it, only Masche suffers between them.
Barca's player transfer ethics seems to have gone downhill under new regime.

Is there some issue between Van Gaal and Argentine players??? Any history ?
I remember Riquelme in Barca and now Demichelis in Bayern.

yea I love Barca and the way they play football or simply just because of Messi but their new name really suit them Beggercelona they should drop out the new manager from their team first Fabregas and now Mascherano.

I don't know about Van Gaal at Bayern, but Van Gaal at Barca – didn't know how to utilize Riquelme. And Riquelme scored a few of his Riquelme-esqe goals despite not getting regular playing time.

Can't really blame Van Gaal, because Riquelme is a player you build a team around – not the other way around. He just doesn't slot into a team. Van Gaal didn't understand this.

Hence Villareal who benefited – because Pellegrini understood this as did Pekerman.

Also Riquelme was NOT Van Gaal's signing and hence he rarely started him and played him in some weird positions.

Let's be honest and clear …. Di Marias performance at the world cup cost up big time …. Jose mourinho? A legend in his own mind.

Glad your back albo glad you are back sharing your knowledge of our game

It won't be easy to crack their lineup … I fear he will spend to much time watching rather than playing

Dude ….. No offense but your constant repetitive posts about the corrupt AFA and needing four years to prepare … Blah blah and blah …. Move on amigo … For the love of Argentina and god move on.

Dude are you the same albo who vowed never to post here again ?
I trusted you man.

Official. Mascherano to Barca.

What is meant by official coach ? Official interim or permanent ? Clarification please.

I sincerely hope it is not permanent. I do not like the idea of Batista in charge and no to Riquelme either please. The mantle has to be passed onto Pastore, Lanzini, Canete and the like not veterans.

Sorry Aurelius. That's all the info I could find regarding Batista.

Inter vs Atletico , shows how bad team positioning and tactics , gives the opposition the control of the game .
I think Benitez will bring Inter back to its trophyless years.

Good luck to Masche , he is going to a better team.

That's okay Albo . I wish the AFA would be clear as to what they are up to.

First they intimated they would wait until the Apertura's end and now this ? Yet again if it is true that Checho is the official permanent coach then it's a slap in the face of Cappa, Sabella and Borghi although the latter two have not been very sucessful thus far in this season's Apertura.

Good move for Masche. He can interchange with Busquets and will have a less demanding physical workload which means his career with the seleccion will be longer and he will be fresher for us which is the important thing.

Jose Pekerman and Tocalli for the Argentina national team again would mean a lot to us all. wouldn it be guyz? . . . but why isnt AFA not even considering Pekerman and Tocalli as his assistant . . . 'dream team'

i heard batista in an interview

he said he may use 2 def mids to mark iniesta and xabi

likely cambiasso and mashe

Batista will have 6 full days of preparation for the friendly against Spain.
And as a players' request they're gonna stay at the training facility in Ezeiza to work on the bond between the young and the old guns.
Batista: “I can see how the guys want to win this match. We'll be ready.”

i say this blog is one the best 'channel' to deliver 'argentine soccer news' to the other parts of the world . . . like people in asia or africa and even europe will never to get to know whzt really goin on in argentine soccer and here our valuable frens like Albo, MaxiLopez, Aurelius, Julian, Daryl, fab, toddutah, skywalker, todd, ajnyhc, watch_10 and many more wonderful guyz bring in the lastest news and the recent developments in Argentina soccer. itz something v never get to know coz 'world media' just talks about 'english premier league' alone and not even the best leagues are covered. Hence this blog has been a blessing thru out for Argentine fans like me. from 2006 i have never turned back and im a vivid reader and contributor aswell. lets keep this going on and on . . . for there will surely be a day when v all r going to celebrate our teams 'World Cup Victory' then our joy will know no bounds. Just waiting for that wonderful day.
.
Each time during the world cup itz like 'okiez this is the time' but . . . . . . .
.
Lets pray the waiting will not be too long as we see the next world up is going to be held in our enemies place – Brazil – so hostility will be to the maximum. and we see brazil has not looked back and brought in new fresh talent to replace the boring team of the past; so here is our wake up call to start from day one . . . herez our chance to do it closer to home yet again (coz v have won world cups only in our continent – a sad thing for the enormous talent v had all these years). can batista do it? and does he has it in him? v'll never know till 2014. but we can sure guess correctly on the signs of his upbringing of teh team for 2011 copa america itself.
.
Will Argentina do it before our eyes or will we hear the argentine victory only after our time on this earth?
.
(sorry guyz a lil emotional coz 'i really waited so long but . . . .')

Impressive “picadita” (scoop up and over the GK) by Messi against Racing Santander.

All good about messi but nothing seems to work for him in NT? why is that? for barcelona he dances, plays, scoops, shows, drills, dribbles, jumps, runs, kicks, drives, passes, heads, stops, dives (so many verbs!!!!!!) but for NT he just stops and stares at the bad luck!!!!!! . . . Lionel Messi, if atall u want to become a legend for Argentina like Maradona u have to win matches for them (i remember even maradona did not get the best talent around as the playing eleven; in his playing days but he did it all by himself) otherwise messi will be just be remembred as 'another' Alfred Di Stefano who was an argentine but did his accomplishments for real madrid only!!!!!!! and messi will be doing it for barcelona only!!!!!
.
Maradona will be unmatched then as a player till the end for Argentina!!!!!

I am hoping to see Messi in fantastic form on Sept. 7th. Perhaps this game will begin a golden era for him with the NT, and the past will just be the past. He can't do anything about the past now, but he can start to create and shape his legacy starting with this game. It won't be easy against the world champions bet the NT will be at home and it's his time to shine now.

It's not Messi's problem he is great with the NT I can still remember how good he was when he was playing in youth teams and in Olympic and in 2006 he didn't play very much but at those few moments that he played he was good and in the game against Ireland he was good too so he is good under good coaches like all other players just look at Enter did Enter players change after less than 2 months?NO but the coach changed so look at the result so our problem was coach in this world cup not players none of them they just sacrificed by Maradona I'm sure even if in 1986 our coach was somebody like Maradona the results would be the same so Hopefully I'm very optimistic that he will shine if he plays in his position and under a good coach anyway great goal by Messi.

100% agree. Messi can not match Maradona. Further, he can not match Maradona only with good play for Argentina. He must win a World Cup

My dear CHALZ, a magnificent player can very easily be outshined for so many reasons and the major one is stupidity. Messi gave all he could against Germany… on the field. If the NT players really love Argentina, then they must stand together and ask for excellence in terms of management. They can't close their eyes and say that everything is OK when everything is wrong in their WC preparation.

you guys should understand that modern football is different from 1986 1/4 century ago today no player alone can win a world cup specially with a stupid coach they can easily mark him even if Jesus himself plays he can't win a world cup alone instead of these stupid expectations from a player or wishing another Maradona we should work on our tactics and with this much talent we can easily win the world cup with good organization I hate to say this but just imagine if Joachim low had Argentina's players he would easily win the world cup and didn't need Maradona to do that.no one doubts Maradona's skills a legend but there's no need to compare two players from two different eras.

totally agree they should do this.but just take a look at our Mafia system they can't say such things so I don't blame players the government should solve this problem and use REAL elections for being the head of AFA .till we don't have real elections I'm not very optimistic even if Grondona dies we will have a good manager maybe another idiot(I don't think Grondona is an idiot he just loves money more than Argentina and he is very stubborn)so the solution is easy real elections hopefully a good government will do this in the future.

Obviously you don't see how he 's important to the team. Take messi out and you'll see if Arg will play any kind of constructive football. Did you watch the match against Ireland? Especially the second half after he was subed?

He is a very instrumental player. He plays with vision and skill far from anyone who has played for Arg lately.
At Barca he is almost like untouchable. He has no obligations and all he does is get the ball and do wonders. He is free and plays almost like a striker but still can move up and down and across the defenders. If ANY coach wants to see his wonderful touch then select a team that will give him this kind a of role.

In the world cup he was given obligations which he just couldn't do and here people just don't know that the coach can make or break a player.

So far all Arg coaches have broken Messi. They have let him down by picking players and systems which don't work and expecting him to perform.

Reportedly Pekerman is to be named next Japan NT head coach.
Also reportedly Klinsmann is in serious talks with USA federation about NT coaching job.
We? …no rush as usual…….

Japan already appointed Alberto Zaccheroni

… and off his right foot !

Thanks for that great post!

I think that's up to the fan. In my case I admire players like Bochini, Franccescoli, Perfumo, Redondo, Palermo and so many more who never played a world cup.
And they're all idols for millions of fans.

Francisco Varallo the last survivor of the 1930 World Cup has passed away. A moment's reflection for this oldest of the Albicelestes.

puyol is now injured and unavailable for the freindly

i think it would be a better situation if Lionel Messi would not comment on Argentine coaches – first he said Maradona is good and now he seems to say 'i want batista to stay' . . . now that will all the more disturb the incoming coach who may replace batista either now or after his tenure ends . . .
.
u should be out of controversy and keep building yr 'brand' . . . messi
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was just dreaming 'what IF' – Andujar, Javier Zanetti, Gabriel Milito, Walter Samuel, Gabriel Heinze, Lionel Messi, Juan Roman Riquelme, Ever Banega, Javier Mascherano, Sergio Aguero, Gonzalo Higuain had played in that match against germany in 2010 world cup . . . what a miss what a miss . . . (maradona spoiled the broth!) (we would have subsitutes as Pablo Aimar or Javier Pastore replacing Riquelme and Lisandro Lopez replacing Higuain and Carlos Tevez replacing Aguero) . . . what a wealth of talent but a poor coach and a poor AFA headed by Gordono spoiled it all.
.
he went with some bizarre selection and came back crying – 'hey man, who is to be blamed – u man, u alone man, u and u only.

Chalz – good point about Messi comments. In this context it applies to any Player. It is extremely rare situation when some player stays all his career under one coach. In reality every player happens to work with many coaches during his career. And if a player smart enough – he better stay away from any comment on any coaching situation as it may backfire one way or another and just make the whole situation even worse.

In regards to your second paragraph – the players selection is obviously importent, but what is more importent is to have a system in place. Just a selection of stars put together has a slim chance to beat a team like Germany during any tournament (in friendlies chances may be a bit different, but lets talk about tournaments).
In addition it is up to the coaching staff to do a very good analysis of your every opponent.
I can bet that all our opponents before and during every tournament do analythical X-Ray and Cat Scan of every our player. They learn time and again how player X moves, whether he is lefty or righty, likes to dribble first and then pass or vise versa, hits from long range or short range, moves well without the ball or not, etc, etc, etc…
Do we do same thing?
Did anyone from our coaching staff learned anything about Germans?
At WC2010 we had 6 days to prepare for that match. Was it a secret that before July 3rd for instance Klose scored already 12 goals at WC2002, WC2006, WC2010 combined? And did we pay any attention to this guy on July 3rd?
Was it a big secret that say Mueller before July 3rd scored 3 goals at WC2010? And did we pay any attention to that guy on July 3rd?
We happened to pay attention to Oezil (thanks to Mascherano) only!
Did we know that Germany had 11 guys on a field that day? How come we payed attention to only one? It beats me.
I just wonder when we are going to have a coaching staff being capable of doing some homework and trying to build a system, rather than concentrating on personalities?

Well i'm happy to see the list dramatically change for the better and not the worst, the only thing i don't like is that Pastore is not on it. We do need to keep the majority if not the whole team the same and not subject the players to too much change leading up to the Copa America and eventually the 2014 WC the key to a solid team with chemistry is to pick the right players and let them build up their chemistry by playing together time and time again leading up to the big tournaments similar to what spain does with their team. They have stability and a good coach we need to go down the same path.

I hope that after these next few friendlies Batista starts playing our younger star players and gets them used to playing on our NT as we will need fresh young blood if we wanna win this next WC in 2014. I believe in our NT and new coach and lets give him a chance to prove himself! Vamos Argentina!

I agree with you…the success lies in passing the baton in a proper way. It cant be done by doing drastic changes all too sudden.

Enough has been said and done. We need Cambiasso, Zanetti, Riquelme for atleast till 2011 Copa and play Pastore, Banega and Gago along…

“the success lies in passing the baton in a proper way” says Argentum_IND.
I couldn't agree more. Having teachers like Zanetti, Riquelme y Cambiasso is a luxury not every country has. Easy does it. As long as we keep producing talented players, our time will come.

don't worry Pastore will be there he is just too brilliant but as soon as possible he should join a bigger club and he should be very careful and choose a club that he can play in the first team not the like of real that have a bunch of players in midfield and it will happen very soon because all the big clubs are after him.

welll i have been one of the xtremely passionate afa fan !!!
just wanted u guys to know
i hail from a very little known country NEPAL !!! during the worldcup we had argentina flags raised all over the city and wearing the blue n white striped shirt coz we thought 2010 would be ours but couldn't be, hearts were left broken …
despite argentina having talents like TEVEZ,MILITO, and of course the mighty MESSI… !!! whata bad bad luck … well lessons learned, argentina seriously needa work on defense n playmaking coz if we can , we can make it on 2014 !!!
em just 18 now wishing argentina win at least 10 wcups untill i live !!!!
VAMOS AFA.. till death !!!!
u must make it on 2014 for our shake :S

arg 2014 wcup champions !!!

here is the kind of team i would field

——————romero————————–

——-zenetti——-samuel——–heinze—–

————cambiasso———-masche———–

———————d'allesandro—————–

——–messi——————————- di maria—

————————higuien—————————-

zenetti samuel and to a lesser degree heinze will do a good job of defending the zone

cambiasso should mark xabi and masch should mark iniesta

s'allesandro feeding the passes up to our wingers, di maria on left messi on right

higuein offering a poaching option

It's only 10 players

If I'm not mistaken you should choose 11 players.

buddy 10 players+GK count you need one more.

I think me_fab meant to do this with this 11th player:

—————————–romero————————–

—demichellis—–zenetti—-samuel——heinze—–

————–cambiasso————–masche—————

—————————–d'allesandro————————-

——–messi————————————— di maria——-

——————————–higuain—————————-

Sergio Batista's Argentina team continued training today in Buenos Aires, in preparation for the visit of Spain this Tuesday. While there is yet to be an official announcement, 'El Checho' has reportedly decided on 10 of the 11 players who will take the field against the world champions, with one place still being disputed in the middle.

The major area of decision for the interim coach appears to be in the middle of the field. News agency Telam reports that Internacional's Andres D'Alessandro, Real Madrid's Angel Di Maria and Inter's Esteban Cambiasso are battling for the final place in a five-man midfield.

The most likely outcome is that Cambiasso will get the nod in a battling three-man midfield, while D'Alessandro will join Lionel Messi in playing just behind striker Gonzalo Higuain in a fantastic chance for the Copa Libertadores star to prove himself.

Elsewhere a flurry of faces underutilised by former coach Diego Maradona return to the fold. Javier Zanetti and Gabriel Milito enter the Albiceleste defence at right and centre back respectively, while youngster Ever Banega will partner Javier Mascherano and Cambiasso in the centre of the pitch.

Probable Argentina team to face Spain (4-3-2-1): Romero; Zanetti, Demichelis, G. Milito, Heinze; Mascherano, Cambiasso, Banega; Messi, D'Alessandro; Higuain.

ooops forgot one spot…i would put g milito in not demiFAILis

where did you see this

I would put Walter Samuel in the place of Demi

Could anyone tell me what time the Argentina Spain match will be played at. Buenos Aries time and pacific or eastern time would really be appreciated. I will be travelling and do not want to miss this epic battle. Also, any recommendations for a reliable live steam of the match. Would really appreciate the information, as I won't have access to a computer until Sept. 7th (match day). Thank-you.

Tried to post but it said I have to be approved by the “moderator”

Go to my P2P.eu

I have the link but this website won't let me post it MyP2P.eu

The link above is what I use and i watch pretty much all the matches I want good luck!

And the game will be there! Live! It's 2200-0000 I think its Greenwich Meridian Time but i don't know.

Nima quote: “If you think Otamendi is our future then play him and you will concede 4 goals from his position! (The match against Germany in WC). You can't play the youngsters by force if they are not up to the standards. Same goes with oldies.”

Nima – I totally agree with you and what batista is doing is the correct thing mixing it up the young with the old and so we can take this Copa next year and then bring in more young blood to prepare for the 2014 WC. I never wanna see that mess that Maradona did again! I hate otamendi and never want to see him on our NT again or at least for a very long time.

me_fab – Yes i was mistaken it is G.Milito who should start instead of Demichellis as Demi has gone downhill this past year maybe longer! We would have a solid defence with Zanetti,G.Milito,Samuel,Heinze at the back i don't think any spaniard will be coming in easily! And with Masche & Cambiasso right in front of the Defense we will be pretty much inpenetrable!

The key has always been a solid defense and a creative midfield, when will Argentina's coach's understand this? Our strikers are fine but without those 2 key elements we will never get the full potential out of Messi & Higuain up front! I like Batista so i will support him and i think he has shown us he is capable of coaching and WINNING. So give el checho a chance “with HIS OWN selected players” before you start bashing him.

VAMOS ARGENTINA!

It will be at 5:00 PM in Buenos Aires and you can convert it easily.

That's 4 pm Eastern time in USA.
(1 pm Pacific.)

Probable Argentina team to face Spain (4-3-2-1): Romero; Zanetti, Demichelis, G. Milito, Heinze; Mascherano, Cambiasso, Banega; Messi, D'Alessandro; Higuain.

We are affording far too much respect to this Spanish side.With all due respect we do not need 3 DM's.

We've been down this road before with Basile. Let's impose ourselves and do what we do best.

After all with a scratch side in Spain a few months back we lost only to a dubious penalty.

It's time to get Ansaldi in at left back. And I always like width in my teams whether it be Kily or di Maria.

No to Checho as future coach. I also would not mind seeing Insaurralde or players like Ferrari or Blanco called up for such games.

Romero, Demichelis and one holding midfielder should not be there. We basically don't have a winder on one side and that will steal away the attacking potential of the team

Aurelius – I agree with you that we don't need 3 Defensive MF but 2 yes like Masche and Cambiasso but too bad Pastore to busy with Palermo to play this game i would have love to see how he plays with this line up. I think we need the 2 defensive MF and 2 offensive MF to help out Messi & Higuain….we simply need that creativity in the MF and i know Messi would be amazing for our NT.

Now what i don't agree with is you wanting checho out? why? you haven't even given him a chance yet? Vamos checho make the right moves to prove to everyone that you have what it takes! Vamos Argentina!

good news, word is this is the team he may field

—————–romero————————

—zenetti——-burdisso—-g. milito—–heinze—

————–benega———masche————-

———————-d'allesandro—————–

—messi————————————tevez—–

—————————d. milito———————-

no more demiFAILis replaced by gabbi

burdisso same place as the WC

zenetti back on the right wing (thank god for that one)

benega and mache marking iniesta and xabi

d'allesandro messi and tevez there to feed or score

d milito our poacher

but guys Banega is more of a play maker than just a DM his passing ability is great don't you think so?I think Batista should choose between Cambiasso or Mascherano and personally I will choose Mascherno because he protects the Back4 very good and Banega can help the offense and defense and play making.I support me_fab's midfield of course in future I would love to see Pastore there.and I choose Samuel over Burdisso but never mind he's good too as long as I don't see Demi is great And Aguero over Tevez what I love about Aguero is that he's a very good team player and somebody anybody even you instead of Romero.I wish the best for them against Spain may God be with us.maybe NT's line up needs some changes but thankfully and generally it's a good team.

Thank-you my friends.

why isnt samuel gonna play? is he injured or something? . . . hey man, hez millions better than demechelis

He has not made that much sucess with a talented u20 squad and picked the wrong players for that several times.

I fear he lacks tactical nowse and experience. I'd rather have Martino/Cappa in for instance.

He has not made that much sucess with a talented u20 squad and picked the wrong players for that several times.

I fear he lacks tactical nowse and experience. I'd rather have Martino/Cappa in for instance.

I believe Zanetti and Cambiasso should be starters in this match. Of course as long as they're both fit.
There are several reasons why I feel that way.
One of them is that Inter beat Barça and won the Champions.
Another reason is to make a statement about how out of touch Maradona was for not calling them up.

Many things to say… and I don't have the strenght. I want to give up but it's difficult, I love Argentina too much.

So we're back with the 4-3-1-2 right? Again? I suppose we'll defend with only 7 players like always. Trying to be solid in defence with only 7 guys. I've seen that before (Maradona: “why should I ask Tevez and Messi to defend if I use 4 central defenders behind?”). Batista managed to make his team defend well… once (against Brazil at the Olympics). The rest of the time we always defended with only 6 boys. Batista had 1 great result in his whole career (and I will always be grateful about it!). It's nice to see a new face with some new energy. But does he deserve the NT responsibility? Certainly not. He is another guy who will learn from a defeat that will hurt so much (Bielsa, Pekerman, Maradona, Basile). But that's another topic that we've beaten to death.

Like Inspector Harry said once, each of us has an opinion : )

I wish people like FAB could respect and understand others who say that Batista doesn't have the experience and never achieved the results to be in charge of the NT. I also wish some of you friends could stop with this endless positive/patriotic attitude, never facing the truth. We are at the highest level in this sport. Everything is in the details. We hoped for a miracle before WC 2010 and we refused to face the truth. Lets stop thinking with our emotions and use our brain. Lets stop criticizing our boys. They are all great. De Michelis is a great defender. Otamendi has been destroyed many times. The guy had the cojones to start against Germany, totally out of position. All we need is a good tactician.

As much as we love them, Samuel, Zanetti, Cambiasso, Milito, Riquelme, etc now belong to the past. That's the reality. The future is Banega, Pastore, Messi, Mascherano.

There are too many problems that are always repeated. I'm not negative at all. I see things differently than before: I'm so happy we had Pekerman in 2006. I am ultra-realistic. To win WC 2014, we need 23 pure leaders able to auto-manage themselves and we don't have them at all.

The real dream we all share in secret is that AFA burns with the mafia inside.

Yea I agree with most of the things you said and there is one more advantage for Pekerman he knows how is to play with the host and one positive thing for Martino is his defensive tactics is great you Saw how Spain won them, unfair.and for guys who say we should give him a chance It doesn't make any sense it's NT it's not a place for gaining experience and I'm sure if he gains experience AFA will change him after world cup.what did we do with these experienced guys Pekerman,Sabella,… we just let them go.yea maybe he'll be successful I really hope but always ask this question yourself when we have better options why we should use him?but this guy has some positive things too.we can't do anything about this it's up to AFA and AURELIUS unfortunately I'm somehow sure they won't change him. and about younger players we discussed before he wants the job remember?

and at the end yes about Otamendi I don't judge him he was a young boy that played out of his position he just makes me angry a kind of reminder but for Demi noway he is not a good defender at all as I remember he played in his position. remember that silly mistake against Korea?when the team was under no pressure he is not reliable at all.

oh boo hoo, nothing is ever good enough

if we have too much attack you say we need more defence..too much defense we need more attack

you do know we can only have 11 players right?

complaining and crying wont change a thing

and AFA will never make YOU the next coach, so to think you have some sort of secret knowledge about the team that batista does not know is laughable

you honestly think we are going to drop everyone and have a totaly young team?
it does not work that way, there needs to be a transition this is how things work

Maxi says “I also wish some of you friends could stop with this endless positive/patriotic attitude, never facing the truth”.

Football is a sport, although competitive, it's still entertainment.
People have the right to take it as they please.
There are people who do the darnest things to celebrate or to criticize their team and players.

There is NOT one only way to be a football fan.
So please Maxi Lopez, don't ask other fans to react in one way or another.
Your knowledge of the game doesn't make you more right than others.

I have less problems with the present squad , atleast it gives a background of some thought…

Although I dont want Batista as the permanent coach, he has proved already that he makes mistakes , he lost in tournaments where we were always the team to beat, that too with a very good team on his hands.

I think overall there is no forward steps taken by AFA , they are basicaly following a political formula “when masses are hungry, give them entertainment”

.

I hope Zanetti plays only for last few minutes time to blood new player, and we play a pressing game, since many teams play with 7 man defensive unit, but press with all 10 outfield. So if we dont press correctly then we are lossing the battle and giving the ground to opposition.

As I can see none of us didn't change our Ideas over the coach during discussions so I think that it's a useless discussion on this topic.some of us think he is not good enough and we have better options(including me) and some of us think he deserves a chance so just forget about it and respect each other's ideas just a recommendation.and I really hope that Batista thinks about Zanetti's replacement because he's 36 and we don't have good options there It's a position to worried about.

batista said in an interiew that he will slowly replace the older players with the younger ones..and looks to the older players to help the younger ones in those positions to grow

as for the coach debate

batista is light years ahead of maradona tactically. Maradona was the laughing stock of the world in that department

playing no central midfield, the drama with demifailis and his insistance on shitty players (which fizzled out DURING the wc) and we still made it to the quarters

as far as i am concerned batista is good because

A) he knows the players and won the olympics finding the best out of our key players
B) he knows the younger generation
C) he has a long term plan

as for the other candidates

i dont care, as long as they are not maradona

im just sick of people complaining all the time no matter what…its like a constant insatiable nuisance inside you're minds, every little flaw is a HUGE problem!

just relax and hope for the best..its beyond you're control anyways

as much as I say all has the rights to express themselves, there is a fact

that we as fans, fans who only are the viewers of entertainment , payers of these events has very little or no say at all . none as far as the federations , coach's and players way of thinking , preparing and executing any steps are concerned.

So what is the point of being so negative, as a fan it do not help your self.

If we win..it will be ok but 99 % we are in trouble still.

if we loose…then I told you so, we are in deep s*$t.

so in this attitude Let us then pack our bags, close the TV, internet etc and do something else.

As a fan if you (all negative thoughts guys) can do something…then think about it as a group and comeup with something…else you are hurting yourself…and as an argentine NT fan the last thing I want to see is pessimism in fans…coaches are always doing things outof our understanding, players have unexplainable performances, and AFA is above god…

so what can keep the NT running, the fans!!!!…no countries fans can beat argentine fans…so cheer up…and hope for the best.

If we play half of our strengths we are going to be equals to spain…a little more effort and we are going to run over them.

q1) Have Pablo Aimar and Andres D' Alssandro played together anytime for the national team?

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q2) Have Juan Roman Riquelme and Andres D' Allsandro played together anytime for the national team?

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q3) Have Juan Roam Riquelme and Pablo Aimar played together anytime for the national team?

a3) For this one i do have an answer, yes i think they played together for sometime against Mexico during the 'Pekerman era' in 2006 world cup

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Could any fren here reply me on these questions with details . .. pls. Thank You.

.

My fantasy is to see a team like this: but will it happen

++++++++++++Andujar+++++++++++++++++

Gabriel Milito++Walter Samuel++Gabriel Heinze

++++Ever Banega+++Javier Mascherano+++++

++++++++++++Roman Riquelme+++++++++++

++++Pablo Aimar++++Andres D'Alssandro++++

++++++++++++Lional Messi++++++++++++++

+++++++++++Gonzalo Higuain++++++++++++

Aimar+Roman played togethert in U20 WC .

WC2006 vs Mex (R16)

Copa07 (vs US and Vs Brazil ) – Aimar mainly coming as a 55/60th min sub.

I always fancy Roman + Aimar Combination, The team has to have good defensive organisation, since offence will not be a problem.

aimar and d'allesandro played together quite a bit at the begining of the qualifying campaign for the 2006 wc

Riquelme and Aimar also played together in Confed Cup 2005. They have been played together since U-20 team. Actually Riquelme-Aimar-Cambiasso, these three players have been played together since youth ranks.

For D'Allesandro, I think, in big tournament (Copa America, Confed Cup, World Cup), never played together with Aimar or Riquelme.

D'Allesandro started his carrier in U20 2001 (compared to Aimar,Riquelme, Cambiasso in U20 1997) and also in senior team in 2001 until 2005. In that period, the big tournaments were Copa America 2001 (Argentina did not participate), WC 2002, Copa America 2004, and Confed Cup 2005. D'Allesandro participated in Copa 2004, but Aimar and Riquelme did not participate. I think on Bielsa period (1998-2004), Aimar and Riquelme only get no more than 10 call up because Bielsa (his strategy) did not suit for Riquelme and Aimar. What a waste of talent for six years I think

Hi AURELIUS1,

It seems that you support Cappa, Sabella, Borghi, or Martino for the next coach. I think Cappa was already said that, (for now) he is not 'good' enough compared to other coach like Sabella.

Did you follow the Apertura? How do you think about San Lorenzo's coach, Ramon Diaz? He is my favorite. He had 7 titles for River Plate and 1 title for San Lorenzo

As now, Borghi with Boca Juniors and Russo with Racing Club have tough times. I do not concern about that, but you can see how San Lorenzo's progress from week to week (2 draws then 3 wins in a row). I already said in my previous comment, Ramon can made a good team from average players . He has a winning mentality.

I think if AFA is fair enough, they should give a try for Ramon Diaz. However, now Batista is the favorite

From this list: Russo, Sabella, Gallego, Diaz, Batista, Cappa, if we see from the achievement, Diaz is number one. Ramon Diaz for Argentina

“i dont care, as long as they are not maradona” —> LIKE THIS

Rolandman99 I'd personally have Martino in ASAp to build a team unit from the back. A solid defence is critical for our extraordinarily talented kids in midfield and upfront to prosper.

Cappa would be ideal to coach the kids in midfield as he is doing at River.

It's been a tough start for the other candidates like Sabella but they have more experience of international football at the top leveland work at a club unlike Batista who has made errors with the u20's.

I see Checho as a #2 .As for Diaz. He would love to coach the seleccion but as with Bianchi there are certain individuals within the AFA who do not want him anywhere near the seleccion.

One other thing. Everyone is entitled to their opinions whether they be pessimistic or optimistic on the seleccion and how we are progressing towards 2014. There is no need for condescension or abuse if you feel you disagree.

Just explain why you do and how you stand on a subject.

None of our debate can influence the AFA unfortunately but what else makes football fans tick the world over ?

Angeleri looks like he may have made a poor move. Sunderland have signed Onuoha as the right back and Angeleri may have to wait his chance.

Similarly though I personally do not see Zabby as a RB he too is down the pecking order at Manchester City for that berth behind Richards.

I hope in January that Ansaldi can say move to Spain and someone like Ferrari be given a chance.

Hello, I was wondering if there were any followers around Washington DC that new of any places to go watch the game?

Do we have a real poacher? like eto or drogba or adebayor or klose or rooney or villa or torres or forlan etc.? The answer is NO . . .

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with the likes of g.higuain, cavengahi, d.milito, l.lopez, m.zarate, j.saviola, m.lopez, g.denis, e.lavezzi, h.crespo etc. i think we do not have a lion at front!!! . . . all these r just sheeps in lions skin!!!!! and the intelligent defenders of world teams know them and can place them 'where they should be placed' . . . v did hav 2 lions at front – Gabriel Batistuta and Claudio Caniggia some time back but that baton was not passed on properly for this present generation.

Life is not always pink. Even if we are in love with la albiceleste.

AURELIUS,

“Just explain why you do and how you stand on a subject”. I always appreciated you class, sir Angeleri should have left Argentina for Italy. Lazio wanted him. The income must be different in England.

WATCH10,

“Let us then pack our bags, close the TV, internet etc and do something else”. That's what I may do. I'm so sad when I think about my albiceleste, like many of our friends who don't even post here anymore

Anyone knows any good and clean websites which are streaming the match live ?

Thanks in Advance

higuein and d milito are poachers…

how are they not?

It was the best and most painful part of the article,hope it won't repeat anymore:
Defending in numbers is crucial, and another reason for the death of the 4-4-2 system (unless one striker drops back), because you can no longer afford to defend with simply eight outfield players (and two strikers offering no variation in their positioning). Argentina tried to do so with simply five against Germany – the back four and Javier Mascherano, with two attacking players (Maxi Rodriguez and Angel di Maria) fielded as carrileros on the sides of the diamond. Joachim Loew commented after that game that Germany found it easy to play through Argentina because their side was not cohesive enough – there would be some level of pressing from the front three or four, but then the rest of the side would sit back, leaving 50m of space in front of Mascherano and the back four.

Hi all!
Work is killing me theses days….Still reading all posts, but haven't had time to post lately. In reference to what Aurelius said about Angeleri, I have to say I saw this coming. Angeleri should play in Italy or Spain.
I am very much looking forward to the game tomorrow. I just found out that a norwegian TV channel will show it live. Nice! I expect us to play a good game offesively and not so good defensively. 4-3-1-2 is a bit naive in a game against Spain. When will we learn? I hope Banega plays, and also D'allesandro., I wish Pastore was there though…..I expect a draw after an open game. 2-2.

It's also worth to mention(I guess it has been mentioned allready maybe)that this is the first time in more than 20 years that a top european side travels to Argfentina to play our NT. That is if we don't count the game against Denmark in 93….they won the Euro 92 with that team, but they are really not a top european team. I believe the last game was vs Germany in 87.

Yes, and many of us have been repeating this for years. We have always lost because of this, always. Nothing seems to change. We need to admit that we are tactically retarded, not able to use players who are absolutely brilliant in that area with their club. Lets hope. Again.

exactly…no midfield

i heard bilardo told maradona that if he used the same team he did against mexico, we would get raped

to which maradona replied “im the coach i make the decisions”

Replied to wrong person haha my bad…

Hey there is a place in Maryland called “El Patio” i think and its an Argentine Cafe place… im pretty sure they show the game check it out… also game will be shown on ESPN Deportes starting at 3:55 pm eastern time. This is also my 1st time posting so hello everybody hope Argentina wins!!!

Hey there is a place in Maryland called “El Patio” i think and its an Argentine Cafe place… im pretty sure they show the game check it out… also game will be shown on ESPN Deportes starting at 3:55 pm eastern time. This is also my 1st time posting so hello everybody hope Argentina wins!!!

What is it with this stupud DISQUS system. It lacks any AI at all. I posted a link that may allow people to watch the game online on ITV4 who will be showing the game in the UK at 2100 GMT tomorrow live and online.

It will probably not be available to non UK residents but still.

Who moderates this blog ? Is it a faceless program or human being ? Perhaps when we reach Asimovian/Neumann levels of intelligence in computing we may allow this but I keep reading about people complaining not being able to post links to videos or material pertaining to the seleccion.

CAN ANYONE TELL ME WHAT TIME THIS GAME WILL TAKE PLACE. EITHER PACIFIC TIME OR BUENOS AIRES TIME PLEASE

Do we a superstar in the making in Argentina? any new exceptional talents on the horizon? i dont mean any normal player but like Deigo Maradona or Zidane or Pele or Xavi or Ronaldinho who can lead Argentina to glory in the world cup by winning it for them! (just as these superstars did)

The game starts at 4 pm Eastern time in USA.
(1 pm Pacific.)

Looks like Batista is going with a 4-3-3.

———————Romero————————

Zanetti—Demichelis—Milito—Heinze

—Banega—Mascherano—Cambiasso—

——Messi———Iguain———Tevez——

and it's a 4-1-4-1 on defense.

Batista's defensive mindset is as bad as Diego's at times. I'm not convinced by this formation at all, but will be interesting to see how this works.

Moreover, vs Spain, you want to choke their MF and while we are playing 3 defensive minded players, the problem will be the same as in the WC – tons of space between our attackers and MF. Alonso will sit in there and dictate tempo from a defensive standpoint for Spain. Further, Cucho/Banega will be forced to split even wider from Masche to cover for Henize/Zanetti and due to the lack of natural width of our formation – Iniesta/Xavi will sit in that hole and control things from an offensive point of view for Spain. In addition, playing 4-3-3 will force Messi to come back to the ball and further away from goal.

People will say, Spain play 4-3-3, and they don't face the above problems; but they've played in that system for 10 years. Just like 4-3-1-2 / 3-4-1-2 is home for us, 4-3-3 is natural for them. They have the players for it. I don't understand Batista's obsession of matching Spain/Barca's tactics to fit Argentina. Messi is not playing well in Barca b/c of 4-3-3; he's playing well b/c he's simply being utilized properly. If we were to incorporate him as part of our traditional formation, he'd shine as well. But no manager has done that.

Again, we force our players to play in positions foreign to them. I don't get this at all.
Btw, why is Milito playing over Samuel? Samuel is on some sort of unprecedented run to piss off every Argentina manager post 2002. He either doesn't get a look at all; or when he's included in the team, plays a few games before being discarded.

I agree with you my friend and it is always nice to read from you.

We must admit one thing, it's good that we are testing 4-3-3. We've been asking this for so long. Lets see if Batista can manage his team to defend with at least 9 men in the 4-1-4-1. I have the same fears than you do. Some players don't fit in this system at all (ex: Heinze as the left back…). But 4-1-4-1 is a long term objective that fits with our several talents. Building it with the help of the Barca players (Messi, Milito, Mascherano) is not a bad idea. My worry would be how to include enganche Pastore in it (4-2-3-1 please?). After the disgusting Maradona and Batista era, el checho is at least trying something. But I won't be convinced until I see this working with my eyes, even if it may take some time. It would be very painful to see the lack of collective/tactical effort, with our without the possession, like at the Olympics. Lets wait and see how it works.

Sky that's an excellent summary.

I wonder why these coaches do not learn from their previous errors.

Cuchu and Ever are once again going to play out of position. There is no width to turn the opposition which is one of their weaknesses at both fullback spots either.

Tevez and Messi's first instincts are to turn in to the field. The best way of taking on Spain as Martino showed is go onto them 1-1 in midfield and press very hard from the front. With a narrow 3 this is harder though Leo and Tevez and Higuain will work very hard more so than say Angelito.

I don't like the balance of the side at all. and seeing Samuel omitted is crass though it is imperative that we start introducing players like Forlin even Insaurralde.

Heinze against a speedy winger is a disaster waiting to happen. How long will it be before we get a speedy capable fullback in say Ansaldi. even Monzon or Ferrari ?

Seems to me Batista is more interested in trying to gain the job of DT than selflessly planning for the future.

Maxi I'd get Pastore in as the '10' in a 4-2-3-1. Luckily enough we are seeing new young enganches emerging in Lanzini and Canete and Lamela who have that extra flair that is needed to unlock modern defences. Vut he and Ever are surely the fulcrum of our midfield.

where can watch the game live

I'm just wondering why we don't have a playmaker. A combination of Tevez, Messi and Higuain. Who is supposed to be the supplier there? Isn't this the same attacking trio we used in S Africa? Tevez's natural position at Man City is a center forward.
Higuain the same and Messi is a free hanging player who is not a playmaker thats why in Barca he has Xavi. Again a luck of trasition from defence to attack.
Why didn't D'alessandro play in place of Tevez? He brings in the connection between the back and the strickers and I think that is his natural role.

its a friendly…lets wait and see what happens first

been a little tough to post after the WC.. but we fight on as always…

I'm totally with you on the 4-2-3-1. That to me is what this generation of Argentina players should be playing given our talent base, how modern soccer has evolved and how it can neutralize our shortcomings. The romantic in me wants 4-3-1-2, but 4-2-3-1 really ought to be the way to go. totally agreed on that. Masche and Banega as the 2 in front of the D is a perfect platform for our offence to operate. Combine Banega with Pastore and we solve our big problem in connecting D to MF. And Pastore to Messi will take care of MF to strikers. If Palermo didn't have their game, would have loved to see the Banega – Pastore – Messi connection.

4-1-4-1, I don't think Batista is cut out for this. I hope I'm wrong, but I really doubt we're going to see us defend in this fashion tonight. I think we will defend 4-3-3 and have Banega and Cucho scramble all over the place, leaving Masche unprotected.

It's truly bizarre that Tevez defended his heart out while at Man U (some extent at City), Messi fills his gap for Barca; but for Argentina, when the stakes are much higher, these players are told to not worry about defence. and I'm afraid it will continue yet again tonight.

absolutely agreed on your analysis on what Martino did. It's literally the same thing Cucho did to Xavi for Inter in the CL. Why we cannot translate the same tactics that worked against Xavi with the same players baffles me. Hell, Zanetti managed to stone wall Messi, and he was playing as LB. Positioning is so crucial like you said.

Your overall point sadly rings true, we have no balance in the side at all. We're lucky that Villa won't be playing to start the game. He would have dipped in and out of space and left Banega for dead while cutting in. And then, like with Di Maria, people are going to say Ever/Cucho are terrible and should be dropped.

btw, I know Lanzini gets the hype b/c he plays at River, but he truly looks menacing with the ball. hope River don't sell him early like they do with others, he needs to be nurtured.

Perhaps this time with Passarella in overall charge River can have some stability and allow Cappa to work his magic not just with Lanzini but others like Pezzella, Mori, Cirigliano etc.

Too many kids are running off when they should spend 1-2 extra seasons in the domestic league.

Bertoglio is already experiencing the 'idiocy' of his move. At least he has time on his side. Cavegol has an excellent coach in Laudrup so I hope to see him back with the seleccion and also Licha Lopez as alternatives to Pipita.

By the way moderators I have great trouble in loading comments at the moment. Is something up with the DISQUS system ? It's rather annoying.

Saludos amigos.

Jean-Jacques search for a p2p sport site. They should be streaming it.

If we really defend in a 4-1-4-1 formation this is a good news even if it doesn't happen in this match at least trying on this defensive system is good at least for future the obvious problem is lack of an attacking midfielder and a creator it's obvious that midfield and attack can't connect with these players putting Tevez,Messi and Higuain is a proven mistake D'alessandro should be there or at least Aguero instead of Tevez he is much more creative and less selfish.but we can't ignore that there are some thoughts before these tactics and at least it shows that Batista has more brain cells than Maradona.

Thats exactly what I said on my earlier post

I'll be in class at 3 so I won't be able to watch the match. Someone please watch the WHOLE match and give me a good recoup

well said, hopefully Passarella turns things around. Cappa and him are very close, so I agree to some extent that Passarella will look after his manager and ensure the players are kept till they mature enough to leave. However, the River board still worry me and who knows what type of pressure Passarella will be under when a team from Europe comes knocking.

Licha should absolutely be in the NT. It's a shame really.

I think we are ok with Banega playing bit further up and do the playmaking role while Masce and Cambiasso defensively strengthen the midfield.

Issues are there..

1) Tevez -Cambiasso- Heinze on left means a Gap or weak left wing defensively , if defesive duties on Tevez then Left wing is basically impotent.

2) Speed of Zanetti will make Masce /Demichelis expose at wrong places.

My preference , we should have had Ansaldi & Angeleri..but then they are not in , so we play with what we have.

If Tevez plays as he played in WC , then we have issues,….we need to replace him with Higuain instead and Put in Milito in the middle of attacking trident Or Aguero instead of Tevez.

I am wholeheartedly going for a big big win for us….. winning is not just a scoreline…its about how well we play ..how well we outplay opponent… and we can outplay spain …

Vamos argentina…!!!!

In my opinion we should start with D'allesandro. Messi DESPERATELY needs some creativity behind him in midfield to shine……Banega is creative, but not an enganche. Put Pastore(I know he isn't there tonight) or D'allesandro in the team, and we will see Messi shine. But using Messi as an enganche is a failure. I can not believe why this is so hard to understand. Messi is INCREDIBLE every weekend in Barca. Why? Cause he has creative midfielders behind him(Xavi, Iniesta) to link up with him and set him up. In the world cup he almost never had that. We all saw how the game changed against Greece when Pastore came on and linked up with Messi.

I got some information that is troubling…possibly not many good coaches want the NT

Next year's Copa America takes place in Argentina, and its clear that Brazil (Ronaldinho's last NT ) and Uruguay (Forlan will give his last push) both are rebuilding into far stronger teams – it's like the 1950s all over again! (this time its for Argentina).

Whoever coaches Argentina need to be ready to face their own little Maracanazo in Monumental – the humiliation of being eliminated at home from the first major international tournament they will have staged for 24 years in the hands of a Rival.

May be all coaches are thinking “If I were Batista I would be praying that Alex Sabella gets the job this year!” “If I were Sabella I would be praying for Batista to succeed and keep the job” … “let the Copa pass away “approach.

Although as a fan also I want to keep Batista away from NT head coach position.

My choice looking into future is

give chance to Cambiasso, Zanetti, Milito(s), Heinze, only only till Copa' 2011..thats it.

then Time to move on to new generation, we can make up a good playing 11 as below now itself.

Angeleri-Fazio-Garay-Ansaldi

Masch – Banega

Messi-Pastore-Lissandro

Higuain

Surely some revivals and new names will emerge … looks like till Copa '11 we are binded to watch a different kind of circus that is covered with winning till we find reality in Copa.

I got some information that is troubling…possibly not many good coaches want the NT

Next year's Copa America takes place in Argentina, and its clear that Brazil (Ronaldinho's last NT ) and Uruguay (Forlan will give his last push) both are rebuilding into far stronger teams – it's like the 1950s all over again! (this time its for Argentina).
Whoever coaches Argentina need to be ready to face their own little Maracanazo in Monumental – the humiliation of being eliminated at home from the first major international tournament they will have staged for 24 years in the hands of a Rival.

May be all coaches are thinking “If I were Batista I would be praying that Alex Sabella gets the job this year!” “If I were Sabella I would be praying for Batista to succeed and keep the job” … “let the Copa pass away “approach.

That was written by some Argentina hater on 'Tim Vickery's ' blog.

Any coach worth their salt wants the job and not just Argentine coaches. Martino was waiting after the WC for the job in the not unreasonable hope of getting the job only to be snubbed.

Possibly it was some Argentina Hater putting into Vikckery blog, but isnt it troubling if that facts do exist. I read it there and found this is a possibility thus put some relation to facts.

I mean for a negative thinking professional looking for a new job… every one counts the risk and counter risk….

“Any coach worth their salt wants the job”…. this is a philosophical statement… when the offer is on the table everyone measures it the same like any job offer. Pros and cons of the job, family , health etc etc

I hope NT gets a good coach… but considering the history of our head coach position anything is possible…anything.

When the game will start, any idea? any link?

For Argentines wearing the shirt is an expression of identity and always has been and will be.

They all want the job. It's the highest accolade for any Argentine manager.

As has been stated one person has the ultimate control of who gets the job.

Try p2p.eu. Halftime its 3-0

to us.

How was the game.

I saw initial moments and looked like Tevez wasnt playing left

Messi was on right floating in

Cambiasso was so called 'box-to-box'

But it did not resemble 4-3-3 , I need to watch the game from start .

Statistically Tevez is Man of Match..

2 assists and 1 goal, and many defensive tackles for and against…

Any stream to watch online? I just want to get some minutes. Thanks a million!

thanks God,great win enjoyable and after all those ugly and awful world cup games from all teams a game that was worthy to watch a beautiful football.we really missed you at the world cup Zanetti and will surely miss you in the future hopefully we will find a good replacement.

see told you!

you cant be so pessimistic allllll of the time

have faith, batista is a good coach and he will bring us places

this just goes to show that a good coach is EVERYTHING!
maradona is going to get hanged for not bringing zenetti and cambiasso

and im hoping to see more optimism on this board instead of depressing whining

just a thought

We beat the world champions…4- 1

Before the game I stated, even with “bit more of half effort” we will run over this

spain team… possession football is not spains invention,

we showed that in WC2006 to the world audience

positives>

Tevez was more as a connecting player rather than a fwd., suits better for our style of play

Cambiasso gave that midfield the tactical positioning that was missing.

Zanetti … how old is he??, but he does show his age sometimes

I dont think it was 4-3-3 , it was more of 4-2-3-1 changed to 4-3-3 on introduction of DiMaria.

Due to a different personals we couldnot keep the ball , few matches together and we will be fine

Negatives >>>

CBs/defenders need to be on their legs, falling down to slide is last resort and when done too early is giving ground to opponent

The speed of players was slower than needed when pressing,

Romero needs improvement in his command of defense line

Demichelis's positioning was too awkward at times

Our organised defence did not save us, but the number of bodies we put in saved us.

Our coaches not giving enough time to play a system with few more players to try, no point to keep D'Allessandro till last min (but then Coach wants to get this job).

When we win its always difficult to point out to negatives, a win is a BIG big positive that

dwarfs the negatives.

Argentina haters….will say “it was not spains' complete team, Casillas was not in the goal etc etc' but hey ..Argentine team was not complete either.

Excellent team. Excellent coach. great football in the first half.
Job done in the second.
“Paliza” a los españoles.
Now the greatest thing, is to read some of the comments posted prior to the game.
Enjoy

wow wow beating the Champs like that…finally some hope, is it possible???

As I said many times there is nothing to worried about midfield and attack Pastore will join and will do the play making role and we have too much reliable subs available the kind of Matias De Federico,Lavezzi,Zarate,… but defense specially RB and LB are the positions that we should work on them but for now just enjoy the win.and the MOST important thing that made me happy was to see that Romero is getting better.

SPAIN MAYBE WORLD CHAMPIONS BUT ARGENTINA ARE CHAMPIONS OF THE UNIVERSE:)

SPAIN MAYBE WORLD CHAMPIONS BUT ARGENTINA ARE CHAMPIONS OF THE UNIVERSE:)

It was a big win, still we were not best in attacking midfield. Need a enganche pastore or Dalesandro .. whoever we have.. missed. Good to see Banega playing with Cambiasso and Mascherano.

If AFA and Maradona has brain.. now they will understand were the problem was. What a waste!!!

Bring in riquelme , make him play along with pastore so that we have a good playmaker for the future….See what xavi does for spain and barca….lovely long creative passes converted to goals by the forwards…we need such a playmaker …..defence was much better than the WC but still needs more improvement….sergio romero has improved , but still has a long way to go…
anyway a win is a win and 4 – 1 calls for beers to nite
cheers everybody!!!!!!!!!

I just saw on the web the results I was at school and men, what a moment of sheer ecstasy. I wish I had a chance to see it but hopefully there are many more games to come which are going to be even better once the team is refined and complete.
I have looked on youtube for the highlights but unfortunately couldn't find them. Anyone knows where I can see them

I dont understand something…is some of the spainish players over the top of argentines??

Xavi he is playing his trade since long time, and he was always playing the same -> In Present form we have D'Allessandro/Aimar can do the same, for future we have Banega or even Biglia.

If we play to our strengths and have a balanced team selection then we are over the top of spain. Spain can keep possession (they are playing together since long time), so we can.

We can have more Piercing game, spain cannot have that better than us.

We have our weaknesses technically the same places

1) LB & RB

2) Aging defense

We have additional problem called AFA politics or whatever that do not select

deserved players like Lissandro , Ansaldi etc.

sorry for the rant…but I just cant take it when people suddenly start to say that possession football is spain way… Argentina played that way since long time, Uruguay showed to the world when the WCs started.

Spain mastered it since they got a sensible yet crazy coach to get his way before Euro'08

cheers!!!

try

..http://forum.rojadirecta.org/showthread.php?98702

Thanks alot

ARGENTINA SHOWING WHO IS THE REAL BOSS OF THE WORLD FOOTBALL!

THANKYOU ARGENTINA FOR MAKING ME FEEL PROUD OF WHOM I AM IN LOVE WITH – YOU!

Download the match as a torrent. They should be up over the next couple of days.

Great, great result! And we saw some nice football also. Banega linked well up with Messi and it was good to see Cambiasso back also. Just imagine the game against Germany with this midfield…………
We defended, or tried to defend, 4-1-4-1 for most of the game, and that is a must. BUT our defenders, or more important our defending as a team, looked shaky at times, in my opinion. Spain hit the post 3 times and probably created 4 other big chances. It was NOT a perfect performance. But ok, it was against the best team in the world and I guess it's obvious that the world champions will create chances. Overall this is a step in the right direction, and a fantastic result for us. I am not 100% convinced asbout Batista yet, though….
One thing is for sure: We need more of these european top teams to come to Argentina and experience how it is to play in front of our passionate home crowd.

VAMOS ARGENTINA QUE SOMOS CAMPEONES!!! See i knew once we had a coach like Batista in place he would know which players to call up and how to use them! I LOVE YOU ARGENTINA WE ARE THE BEST OF THE BEST!

I knew Spain was overrated see when you actually have a GOOD team put together a team like Spain couldn't do a damn thing! they barely got past our midfield a few times let alone our defence this is why Villa had to do those long shots from the outside of the box other than that we were untouchable. Screw xavi,iniesta,busquets,pique,villa,torres,pedro and all their players i never liked spain and never will!

See the magic that happened with Masche,Cambiasso & Banega in the midfield and then our true solid defence with the addition of Zanetti back there! wow i'm probably happier than i've ever been this year!

Hopefully this shuts up all the Batista haters out there, yes I hope even Aurelius1 sees the light that he is a talented coach! lol Bueno i gotta go now and keep celebrating!

ARGENTINA! ARGENTINA! ARGENTINA!

finally what a relief now we should get a re-match against the bloody nazis
anyhow plzz
VAMOS AFA !!!
argentina till i DIE !!!

HELLO!?!?!?!?! TEAM SPAIN DIDN'T PLAY ARGINTINA!!!! 80% OF THE TEAM NEVER GOT ON THE PLANE! This is called a friendly match. It lets the teams that lost real games along with their fans feel important again. SORRY ARGENTINA.

“80% OF THE TEAM NEVER GOT ON THE PLANE!”

Can you name at least few players we did not see? I can only name keeper, Puyol, Ramos and Torres. The later is a great forward but he was not good at the world cup. In fact they played with their world cup team minus keeper and two defenders.

NewTOk212 you're like a child. FIrst of all the Spanish press claimed this should have been the WC final and even now they accept they got a kicking.

Read Sid Lowe's article in SI.
sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2010/writers/sid_lowe/09/09/spain.argentina/index.html#ixzz0z5l4MLNW

If only we had a proper coach at the WC you'd not be World Champions. Enjoy it while it lasts because 2014 for sure won't be yours when Xavi disappears and Puyol.

Tiki taka football. We invented it not you and our players are superior in first touch and move .Riquelme was more than a match for Xavi and one other thing stop your federation trying to steal our players like Pacheco .

You were obliterated in the first half.

It's not that difficult a job my son. I've been banging on about Ever since 2007 and Pastore since 2009 for instance.

I or indeed most of use here could have employed better tactics than Diego and picked the right players.

I still am not sold on Checho on the basis of 2 friendlies seeing as how he disappointed with the u20's and made selection error's there.

No manager is perfect of course so let's give him the CA and see how he does. If he bodges it up I'd have no hesitation in summoning Martino &/or Cappa with Checho as #2.

Aurelius1 – Great story and yes they realize that a properly managed Argentina is NO F*****N JOKE! haha back to spain losers who are always over rated!

New York212 – Accept defeat and that these losers holding the world cup don't really deserve to have it. I've always said this.

VAMOS ARGENTINA!!!