Football News

pablo.d (New Zealand)

Posted on 6/2/2012 at 4:12 PM 0 leanadro i agree with you but when a player is getting over 200,000 g.b.p per week just as a wages alone before any bonuses etc then guess who is going to suffer? the clubs? no not a chance as it will always be the national teams they play for will take 2nd place sadly.

Leandro (United States)

Posted on 6/2/2012 at 11:29 AM 1 @pablo.d - You are totally right about there being way too many club games and their conflict with National teams. Its the responsibility of the club to make sure they have diverse nationalities so they never loose too many players. Fatigue is another factor, which leads to injury.. Xavi can barely walk from chronic damage to his ankles. Even more reasons to give props to players that say no to their clubs.. Messi demanded to play in the olympics and at every national friendly from Barca despite their pressure against it. So did Biglia, who went against his club medical team orders (surgery asap) in order to not miss Copa America with Argentina. Players with that level of sacrifice should be started above mercenaries. My Brazilian friend complains about Dani Alves, saying he does not put 100% for Brasil friendlies... those players should be benched. Players need to take control of their careers and tell the suits at club level to shove it, there are plenty of other clubs that would not complain to have national level players.

haman (Bahrain)

Posted on 6/2/2012 at 4:22 AM 0 Tiri and Jack- what is the use of more friendlies if wrong players are being chosen or the right promising ones being selected, but without even getting a minute to show what they have! Just like the useless call up for Lamela, for heavens sake, he wasn't given a chance and then got dropped. Is that a real coaching or it shows that Sabella is completely lost!!

Mik (United Arab Emirates)

Posted on 6/2/2012 at 2:40 AM 0 @Leonardo that was funny "Focus any negative feelings you may have towards Sosa ;p" Hehe...But who knows SOSA may emerge as an underdog winner...Oooopsss

Dante Pastrana (United States)

Posted on 6/2/2012 at 1:22 AM 0 @Trinipupi. Ecuador is gonna be a difficult team to beat. I predict. 1-0. Argentina. I hope the fans don't criticize Sabella if that's the outcome.

pablo.d (New Zealand)

Posted on 6/2/2012 at 12:57 AM 0 roy, i agree and i have said what you are saying before in other posts and worse is the clubs are pressuring fifa to have even less internationals. as i said before the international game is now becoming less important then the club game. the world cup in 82 the n/t had 6 weeks together and the last w.c it was 3 weeks and then only 4 days after it was finished some teams were playing qualifing rounds for the champs lge...crazy.... fifa is killing the international game as well as the fatiuge for players as the more successful the more pressure there is to play like messi who never seems to get a rest and this is bad for the n/t

Roy (Canada)

Posted on 6/2/2012 at 12:04 AM 1 Part of the reason why there are less and less international friendly matches (this isn't just for Argentina, but for all National Teams) is because of the growing number of European club games. This sport in the end is a business. Club teams make money by playing matches. That's why you have the league, the league cup, the Libertadores, the Sudamericana, the Champions League, the Europa League, the Club World Cup and whatever else tournament FIFA has created. I would rather have Argentina train an extra week together ahead of the match against Ecuador then to have a friendly match a week before and run the risk of injuries and fatigue.

Leandro (United States)

Posted on 6/1/2012 at 10:04 PM 0 Jack and Trini.. lets talk about something else :) Focus any negative feelings you may have towards Sosa ;p

Jack! (United States)

Posted on 6/1/2012 at 8:58 PM 0 LOL, dude, I am not going to read all that. No need tell an Argentino about his team. Lets all be cool here, and focus on our game vs Ecuador and Brazil. Understood? Good.

Trini Pupi (Trinidad And Tobago)

Posted on 6/1/2012 at 8:48 PM 0 Ok now that you confirmed we have played 5 friendlies in 2005 did you include the B internationals? You seem to be conveniently overlooking that. Also you are STILL not understanding AT ALL what i am saying. Argentina have been playing less and less friendlies .. and to be quiet honest i am getting tired...you OBVIOUSLY are not even beginning to try to understand what i am trying to say. You are still looking at what i am saying the wrong way. Leading up these qualfiers argentina have played 1 friendly. Argentina can play 10 friendlies after..it won't matter then. Its not the quantity its the amount of friendlies CLOSE TO qualfiers. Even for the world cup Argentina would usually play 2 or 3 friendlies ...this time around we played Canada. The others weren't even friendlies they were testimonial like matches. Now that you have done some Research After Pekerman left...Basile played 2 friendlies and then their was a large gap ..before the copa america which austrailia was one of them. Previously Argentina would always try to get at least 2 friendlies before qualifiers...this doesn't happen and if it does..its spread out. Your argument is that we play enough friendlies..mines is that we don't use the calender like we USED to...we have been playing less and less friendlies as the years go by. Do you not remember our so called preparation for the 2010 world cup?. The one time we did organize properly Batista made a good mess of things....he played that "C" team with unmotivated players and then we played Angola or some team before the copa america. BEFORE you drifted off and got all hot and bothered you CONTINUOUSLY miss my point. My MAIN POINT (since you clearly can't understand) is Argentina should have played 1 friendly before this game on Saturday..is that so hard to understand? So before you go off on another tirade....keep in context with what iam saying. Because if Argentina were to struggle against equador alot of people will be ready to pounce on Sabella when as a Trainer myself i can understand how hard it is to get a team to click in 1 week. or sometimes less. I honestly think you are just being stubborn now....just accept that we have different views. My arguement has nothing to do with quantity of friendlies but quality. International managers clash all the time with clubs because they don't get enough time or games to train. While Argentina was at copa america ..euro countries played their games as usual. Sabella seems to have a better idea of preparation the the last 2 coaches. Before any qualifier at least 1 friendly should be played. The Calender permitted that..all i am saying is we should have played a game like everyone else. Your reference to Brazil and Uruguay playing in the olympics is not only futile but absolutely irrelevant in the context of what I was initially saying. I was trying to keep this conversation in a manner of a disscussion but aparantly you don't understand that this is a forum and people have different views...so chill out and learn to accept that my view does not depend on you agreeing with me or not....i am sure their are people here who probably disagree with the both of us...but they won't try to insult us. So even though you say otherwise...chill out. My opinion won't change. The sad thing is you think i am disagreeing with you when in fact i am doing quite the opposite...except point out that our friendlies are not being used properly. Its a fact...in order to be ready your team needs as much playing time together as possible..... i am SURE you will probably have something to say but i can assure you as of now i have stopped listening to you.

Leandro (United States)

Posted on 6/1/2012 at 7:30 PM 1 Pastore's problems are 3 fold for Argentina: 1) He is out of shape, he even confessed about it to the French press. In Palermo Pastore had the whole team working around him, in PSG he is one of many and a much faster breaking team.. his form tanked from fatigue. 2) He is young, so the #10 will be real heavy for him, center midfielders tend to peak very late in their careers (Zidane, Xavi, etc). As a Forward he is behind atleast 4 superstars. 3) His place in the team is the free role creative player 'Enganche', which Messi holds now.. good luck benching that guy. The only way I see Pastore coming on is if he beefs up like Pato did, Messi gets hurt, Or we only play with two out of Aguero, Messi, Higuain, Tevez, Di Maria.

Flaco (United Kingdom)

Posted on 6/1/2012 at 7:06 PM 0 @haman Yeah, I think Pastore needs time until he can be in NT, adding also Ricky Alvarez, these two are the future for midfield. For Pastore he was under pressure this year after moving to PSG, so his level was between ups and downs.

Jack! (United States)

Posted on 6/1/2012 at 6:06 PM 0 Nah T&T, I will never take anything seriously or get hyped up over something as foolish as this. And yes, I did research on Pekerman's era, and again, we didn't play in that many friendlies as we are now, we had a Confederations Cup we played in and qualifiers. According to the FIFA schedules, and you are free to look(since you are employed you must know all of this like the back of your hand, right?). In 2005- we played a total of 5 friendlies. Germany Mexico(Wasn't even a full team, was played in LA) Hungary England Qatar We had our qualifiers and the Confederations Cup we also played in, but again a total of 5 friendlies in 05. This year, we are scheduled for 4 friendlies(Euro based teams). 2 more with the Copa Roca. 06- Played against Croatia Angola. 2 games before the WC, 2 games. Finishing up 06- Basile came, in 06 after the WC Brazil. Spain Not much of a difference.

Trini Pupi (Trinidad And Tobago)

Posted on 6/1/2012 at 5:22 PM 0 Also you clearly don'tknow about Argentina's prepration under Pekerman/Bielsa..feel FREE to go research this if you like. Argentina previously employed a system where the teams were broken into domestic and euro/foreign teams. The A team would play friendlies in Europe, while the Fa would have another pool that would be the best of the local talent. They would arrange sometimes 3 games at a time and call them B internationals. When international tournaments approached...the best of the lot would be picked and play many friendlies as permitted by Fifa. Do not let that mess Batista did with Nigeria Confused you..what he did was utterly foolish and wasted a perfectly good friendly. His incompetence in this area was very clear for everyone to see. Those "b" Internationals are the guys that play for our national team today. So denying the importance of friendlies from a coaching and administrative point of view is frankly stupid. Listen my friend i understand you have your opinion their is no need to get angry...you strongly believe you correct and that's fair enough, but you need to be able to understand that people will have different views on things. The common factor is we both like Argentina.....we both have different views on things. So lighten up. I could have just ignored you which was suggested to me by others...but i sense you like this team alot. So i know your view and you know mines....and we shall agree to disagree.

Trini Pupi (Trinidad And Tobago)

Posted on 6/1/2012 at 5:14 PM 0 Calm down jack i see you are getting emotional over this. Don't worry about it...you don't understand/agree with what i am saying at all. As i said before you don't fully understand how international friendlies work and that's nothing to be ashamed about. It is no coincidence that Argentina have not been looking like a cohesive unit. In addition to the many other baffling decisions by the AFA. In 2006 the AFA announced that they were going to play less friendlies the aim was to play one or 2 world class teams rather than 5 smaller teams. As a result it showed in the copa america...we beat Portugal,Spain,Brazil yet?...which in theory should be more than enough to prepare right?...yet when the tournament came. So called inferior teams had us on the ropes. No need to get upset about what i am saying. I think if you read my entire posts you would see i am agree with mostly everything you said..but its clearly and emotional topic for you so i shall desist from commenting further. Lets just leave it that we have different views on how the preparation can be done. By the way i work for Fifa....and my Countries Football association so i kinda know what i am talking about here. My country has the same problem as Argentina.

Nicky B (Jamaica)

Posted on 6/1/2012 at 3:53 PM 0 I somehow agree a bit with Haman though I think give Lamela another year should develop pretty well. But Messi currently is the closest thing to a midfield dynamo with games and practice under his belt he should be greater. Also we have enough top strikers already so we should be good. We just need our wings to push more and help out to lesson the work on Messi in midfield

haman (Bahrain)

Posted on 6/1/2012 at 1:23 PM 0 After the era of "Roman" the who is still performing and the best out there nobody proved to be given this role. When bringing up Pastore and Lamela, there is one little concern, which they are both strikers in their clubs, neither Erik nor Javier shined with their clubs as "world class" in Midfield. So, who fits there? Honestly, to use the best out of our strikers, Messi gotta drop back a little to lead the beat and prepare his golden dishes to the hunters upfront. As for the meantime, nobody deserves to take that role. in other words, this is not what we desire, it is just the reality of our game!

rey (United Kingdom)

Posted on 6/1/2012 at 11:27 AM 0 @Johnny lol A tatt of the World Cup? @ aka Mr D, I see your point. But that could be said about maxi as well. Im just saying that we should not destroy him before he even plays. I personally did this with Lavezzi when he played against Bolivia, we were losing one nil and Sabella was brining him on. I was saying WTF!! But within a minute or so he scored with his first few touches. I am glad that we have seen the light with Pastore, that he isn't that player we all think he is. With Sosa you get something that is reliable.

aka Mr. D (Peru)

Posted on 6/1/2012 at 11:07 AM 0 @rey Sosa starts every game and has not improved. Shouldn't the one positive of Sosa playing be that he already knows Sabella's system(s)? The problem is precisely that Sabella DOES see something in Sosa...and no one else does. There are better offensive midfielders. There are better defensive midfielders. There are better all-around midfielders. My beef is that whether you want a more offensive or defensive oriented midfield there are better options. That fact that he is a workhorse is good but he's hardly unique in possessing that skill.

Johnny (Thailand)

Posted on 6/1/2012 at 10:21 AM 0 @Rey-that depends on what kind of tattoo he has on his ass.

rey (United Kingdom)

Posted on 6/1/2012 at 4:38 AM 1 When Sosa scores on Saturday, we will all be kissing his ass!! Sabella obviously sees something in the guy. I think we should give the guy more of a chance, he has now been a regular in the games, and hopefully show something for it.

Jack! (United States)

Posted on 6/1/2012 at 2:54 AM 0 I hate to sound like a parrot but Brazil and Uruguay are preparing for the Olympics, would you like me to repeat this again? Brazil and Uruguay are preparing for the Olympics, Uruguay and Brazil are preparing for the Olympics. We have basically played the same amount of friendlies as Uruguay minus the Russia game they just played. We have both have games in Mid August. Also we have a friendly scheduled for 11/14 vs the Saudi's, and Uruguay do not have a friendly that day penciled in. We also have our local side in the Copa Roca who will play a home-away vs Brazil, while Uruguay do not have such games. We have the same amount of games, do you understand that? And the Olympic side had nothing to do with the Senior team, it was based on the U20 qualifiers in South America, Brazil and Uruguay finished 1&2 and those were the automatic qualification spots. With the Olympic rule it is U-23 team but are allowed 3 over 23 players. BTW, we are nearly scheduled in every FIFA date right now. We even had those worthless games last year when our Euro B team played Poland and Nigeria, are those not enough games? Jesus Christ...

Trini Pupi (Trinidad And Tobago)

Posted on 6/1/2012 at 12:58 AM 0 @ Jack just because i disagree you doesn't mean i am negative. You still don't understand that their is a reason why Uruguay and Brazil are doing well. Why would you compare us to Argentina..to Chile etc? Argentina in general not just at the present moment but in general the preparation has been awful. With this sort of lack of preparation we WILL suffer alot...because as it stands we have random friendlies spread out and our preparation is next to nothing.

red tide (Antarctica)

Posted on 5/31/2012 at 10:16 PM 1 "@Aaron, that formation would kill us in corner kicks and crosses. Only Fernandez has a chance in the air. Most the other players are 'midgets' or 'fideos'. You need atleast 3 dominant air players to protect from players like Drogba, etc that will get to every ball. It was our biggest weakness in the CopaAmerica." I agree. Sabella realizes that we have a terrible midfield so forget tiki taka. I don't want to hear about Pastore and Lamela. They're forwards and can't hold on to the ball for a second. They don't even have that great a touch or passing. Their defense is also non-existent. Though Lamela might improve in all of those aspects. They're nothing like the type of midfielder you need to play possession ball (Riquelme, Xavi, Scholes, etc.) We have to play defensive and live on counterattacking as we did against Chile, Colombia, and Nigeria. We'll give up plenty of corners, fk's, and crosses into the box so we better be able to defend in the air. Garay and Federico are both young and good and should be peaking by 2014. They're especially good in the air. I just wish we had a little more height from our left full back and midfielders. It's true that Masch is probably our best CB but he plays with Barca which we are definitely not going to emulate. There, Barca has the ball 65% of the time. The only thing they worry about are counterattacks so a quick destroyer MF fits well as a "centerback" there. Furthermore, we have no idea if he will move back to MF or stay as CB with Barca within the next 2 years.

Tony Montana (United States)

Posted on 5/31/2012 at 10:14 PM 1 La Selecion doesn't not play enough together..thats for sure...especially when they have to go play against South American teams whom practice together regularly while the Argentine team has to gel in acouple days away from the European club teams...If i was The president of AFA, I would have a Argentine camp in either Spain or Italy where the National team can practice during their club seasons without traveling across the Atlantic to Buenos Aires to do so .It definitely would help them gel as a team better!

owenffjk (Jamaica)

Posted on 5/31/2012 at 7:18 PM 1 Where's Pastore and lamela?

Jack! (United States)

Posted on 5/31/2012 at 5:25 PM 0 Jesus Christ ,Trini. I clearly know the importance of friendlies but right now isn't the time for one, we have a single qualifier, not a major tourney coming up. It's NOT that hard to understand. If just played in a single game vs Ecuador and sat down until August then you may of had a point, and I am saying may of. But we have a friendly against Brazil. Nobody else in our federation has played in friendlies besides Brazil and Uruguay, and both are preparing for the Olympics. Ecuador,Peru,Colombia,Chile,Venezuela all have not played friendlies. LOL, you questioning me on how the international games work, chill out, enjoy a beer and watch the games. No need to be so negative, just chill.

Nicky B (Jamaica)

Posted on 5/31/2012 at 4:13 PM 0 Some how I disagree with some fo you on here. This 4-2-3-1 or 4-2-3-1 system will and can work against stronger opponent if we use the right players. I personally like the defense. WIth Masch and Gago as holding midfielders who can also distribute atleast 60% thats good enough for me. Messi infront them and Di Maria and Aguero on the wings is a decent combinitaion though three are forwards but Messi with a more middle player who has great passing skills with Di Maria lovely crosses and one two's abd Aguero understanding with Messi and has farely good passing skills this can work. IN every team their is a weakness. Sabella has fix the defense some what and I expect the defense to be way better than what we use since 2010. We can beat bigger teams with this formation if worked good.

waveride (Greece)

Posted on 5/31/2012 at 2:52 PM 1 Aaron Brazil are much better than us? I am kindly asking many from this forum who are constantly speaking about Brazil to explain my why. Correct me if i am wrong but they were bad in copa america as we were! They won Bosnia in international friendly at stoppage time with an own goal! They won Denmark 3-1 but each goal came from a mistake by the Danish defence. The first one was a mistake by the goalkeeper, the second one was an own goal, and at the third goal the Danish defender gave a pass to Hulk and he scored. Any of the three goals came from 100% Brazil's effort. Ok maybe they have better defenders than us, i am not sure about the midfielders, but i am definetely sure that our players in the attack are much better than them! Messi the best player in the world, and in my humble opinion the second best player of all time after maradona! Aguero one of the best strikers in the world! Higuain one of the best strikers in the world! Di maria one of the best wingers in the world! Lavezzi, in my opinion, a world class in the attack! So please tell me Brasilian strikers who can be compared with ours, and speak about neymar when he will play in europe in a big club against the best players in the world! Hulk is a great player in Porto but he did not proove himself yet because Porteguese championsheep is poor in comparison to Spanish, English and Italian. I believe that Uruguay have much better strikers than Brazil, Brazil don't have players like cavani and suarez. They don't have strikers like the colombian falcao. As for the formation in the training and based on the players sabbella called, i think that this is a good formation. I prefer the first one with cago instead of sosa but i am not sure if sosa will perform good or not at midfield. I think that argentina possess the players to play both possession football and fast counterattacks. If sabella manages the second one is ok to me!

Diego10 (Bangladesh)

Posted on 5/31/2012 at 2:40 PM 0 We should give Sabella some time,I know Sosa is not the most talented player..but he played very well vs Colombia in the second half..plus he z a player who gives everything on the pitch and defends very well..Sabella is with clues unlike Batista and Diego..he fixed our defence well..it was our weakness from the Basile era..I think itz a great formation with 4-2-3-1,if Sosa plays he would play the Gago role..with Di Maria and Aguero in the flank and Messi as an attacking midfielder we can expect great football..vamos Argentina..

xeneise39 (United States)

Posted on 5/31/2012 at 2:33 PM 0 If Sabella needs excelent passing call up Riquelme to play against Ecuador and stop hinting that he will be too old for the world cup. That's an excuse.

Trini Pupi (Trinidad And Tobago)

Posted on 5/31/2012 at 2:24 PM 0 so Jack...what does that mean.. its ok to not play friendlies? I know how the system works thats why i am very annoyed having worked with my own country's FA. Honestly do you even understand international football? I see you stating things like *distance* etc. This is INTERNATIONAL football. Saying Argentina have no time for friendlies is to be honest quite ridiculous and no disrespect it shows you don't understand how the fifa calender works. If you are ok with mediocre preparation that's fine but the fact is we do NOT play enough friendlies. Because lets be honest when argentina don't play together and then play *serious* games and lose then people will want to crucify Sabella(Which by the way i am his biggest critic). I respect you have your view but i 100% disagree with you dismissing the importance of friendlies.

ddr1123 (United States)

Posted on 5/31/2012 at 12:53 PM 0 About the Sosa condition and if at all disrupts the balance of the team then Messi has to speak up. It will be important to understand how the team feels about certain selections. Because of the condition of Messi in Argentina (albeit getting better now), I think he is not saying anything. He has to build up his own image in Argentina, then he would start having a say in his own country and probably he will speak up. He utmost has 2 world cups for him. I do not see him as a rebel, neither will be say throw Sosa out, but he can opine that certain players would be great for the NT or that he would like to play with someone who is neglected now.

vik (United Kingdom)

Posted on 5/31/2012 at 12:16 PM 0 months after sabella's meeting with his staff he returns with the solution the question on everyone's lips: sabella:"ok, ok no problem i have Plan B.....and no its not pass to messi before you say anything!" assistant:"so whats plan B??" sabella:"wait for it...(he plays a drum roll)......ITS SOSA AND HIS AMAZING PASSING GAME!! TA DA!! ey....(looking chuffed)....so what you guys think!did i pull through or what!!" dead silence in the room for a moment, then finally. assistant:"lets stick to plan A, pass to messi"

Jack! (United States)

Posted on 5/31/2012 at 11:39 AM 0 Trini-Money talks, if AFA does not want to set up a friendly because they are not going to get the proper money for it then nothing we can do. Again the European Championships are going to start in a little bit so there is no real point for a team to play us, since our style does not match any European teams. What are going to do, play a team in Dubai before the qualifiers? Then travel all the way back to Argentina, then fly all the way to NY? Come on. And as for Brazil, you do realize, all Brazil have are friendlies right? They are actually preparing for the Olympic games(the same could be said about Uruguay). Brazil needs to fill their schedule with guess what? That's right, ding ding ding, with FRIENDLIES. We don't have the time for friendlies, the season just ended in Europe, and we will get a friendly after our qualifier vs Ecuador. Our next friendly is in August vs Germany. We don't need a ton of friendlies and treat team like a circus just to feed AFA's pocket, because that is what it comes down to.

Leandro (United States)

Posted on 5/31/2012 at 11:04 AM 0 @Aaron, that formation would kill us in corner kicks and crosses. Only Fernandez has a chance in the air. Most the other players are 'midgets' or 'fideos'. You need atleast 3 dominant air players to protect from players like Drogba, etc that will get to every ball. It was our biggest weakness in the CopaAmerica.

Aaron (Iraq)

Posted on 5/31/2012 at 10:24 AM 0 i have to be honest brazil are much better than us. they have world class goalkeepers ( julio cesar), defenders (thiago silva, david luiz marcelo and dani alves, maicon) and midfielders and ofc attackers. i havent watched portuguese or italian serie A matches recently so i don't know if federico or garay are doing well, but i think mascherano should defenitely be used as a CB cuz we have a lot of defending midfielders and gago is enough as a late midfielder, this is how my line up will look like : romero zaba - (garay or fernandez) - maschi - clemente gago ----- guinazo messi di maria aguero higuain

Muad'Dib (United States)

Posted on 5/31/2012 at 10:00 AM 0 Where is the experience at the Midfield? Is Riquelme in the plans? What do you folks think?

Trini Pupi (Trinidad And Tobago)

Posted on 5/31/2012 at 9:09 AM 0 Seeing how Argentina prepared before compared to now.. i am not surprised at all..we are getting the results we are getting now. Sabella cannot prepare fully in this way. Even Maradona understood this and pushed for more friendlies. The beef is simple...we play alot less friendlies than we used to..at international level friendlies are essential for world powers like Argentina.

Trini Pupi (Trinidad And Tobago)

Posted on 5/31/2012 at 9:06 AM 0 @Jack this is the second time you said this.. and the second time i am going to correct you. Previously Argentina played more international friendlies. Fifa calender has permitted many times to play. Eg Brazil played USA last night.....who did we play? These are wasted international dates. Before qualfiers Argentina usually had 2 friendlies. You are free to go back and research this if you like. Also Argentina would often organize 3 game tours with the local Squads and then play 1 with a combined Euro/Local team. Since around the Basile Era this stopped totally.. yes we play top class teams but the price is the AFA have dropped other games. Alot of people don't understand how the AFA currently works. Those friendlies are PRIMARILY to raise money FIRST. I will be honest our preparation is very poor...compared to other countries. Brazil/Uruguay have both played friendlies in the last week or so... are you saying their international calender is different from Argentina?

niklucky02 (India)

Posted on 5/31/2012 at 8:00 AM 0 My line up ..... if we had canteros ROMERO; ZABALETA, MASCHARENO, GARAY , Clemente; GAGO CANTEROS MESSI AGUERO DI MARIA HIGUAIN

haman (Bahrain)

Posted on 5/31/2012 at 7:49 AM 0 This lineup is disaster, to me you either play three forwards backed by creative mids or one backed by a second striker and wings! Mr. Sabella is trying to get out of the box and be brave by deploying two side mids when he tried to add Sosa in replacement of Gago. That would leave our midfield weak an fragile. Imagine Sosa lost in the middle while DiMaria keeps on diving and all the burdens fall on Mascherano's back which leads him to get wild with his tackles then being booked or worse! It doesn't end over there, Messi pulls back in order to sum up the midfield. It wont be far from Maradona's 2010 except the defense that looks stronger. One more thing, DiMaria in midfield doesn't look good I'd rather use him as a left back if not a winger!

Mik (United Arab Emirates)

Posted on 5/31/2012 at 4:06 AM 0 Hmm the pblm is Midfield now before it was Defence ..fortunately now there is no Demichellis and Burdisso and for now our wingers also r just fine if not world class..but defence is just fine for now that we all agree...And about Midfileders hmm thats a majour pblm we dont have that many players like Spain has who is world class but stilll there r some young players..like Bigilia,Maxi Moralez,Tino Costa,Canteros,Banega( If he displays his Valencia form for us then he is World Class) And what about Dario Conca??? i was soo disapointed by his transfer to china..if he had played in any better European Club he may have had a chance...now he is simply wasted...but some r there who can revelutionise our midfiled and ofcourse lamela and pastore on any given day is closer to world class..but need to be given more chance to shine... And About Sosa replacing Gago hmmm i dont think for this match against Equador it would do a big difference for us...lets see what sosa gonna bring to the table when hes played as a DM...he has to prove his worth bcoz sabella trusts him sooo much...i would love to see him winning confidence of all of us with his gud display of football..probably hes an underdog ...everyone likes to see underdog characters win ...OMG

Diego10 (Bangladesh)

Posted on 5/31/2012 at 2:03 AM 0 T-BEN,Fernandez is as good as anyone in the air..

Jack! (United States)

Posted on 5/31/2012 at 12:51 AM 0 Trini, what are you talking about not setting up a friendly? All the teams that are playing friendlies are basically Euro teams. Brasil has to play friendlies because they got no qualifier. It's only Uruguay who played a friendly vs Russia. We have a friendly after our qualifier, so we basically 2 games like everybody else. A Euro team would not want to play in a friendly against us and get taken to the woodshed. They do not want hard physical games leading up to the Euros. So whats the beef my man?

KUN-KUN (Jordan)

Posted on 5/31/2012 at 12:48 AM 0 Well what about Tino Costa.. since banega got injured hes been showing some great football, what you guys think?

T-Ben (Haiti)

Posted on 5/31/2012 at 12:44 AM 0 I would like to see The Albiceleste playing the 4-3-3 with these players. Why not trying a defense with : Coloccini Garay Zabaleta F Monzon Coloccini had a great season at New Castle and might be better than Fernandez specially in the air Monzon had also a great season in Nice In the midfield: Mascherano Gago/Sosa Pastore/Aimar In the front : Messi Aguero Higuain

el principe (United States)

Posted on 5/31/2012 at 12:01 AM 0 According to what I read, the exact formation would not put Messi as playmaker or false number nine. He'll be a right forward. So it looks like this. --------------------Higuain ----Di Maria--------Aguero------------Messi I don't really care about Sosa replacing Gago to be honest. Sosa for me needs to change his position permanently... at least for Argentina. He's one of our worst offensive midfielders ever in terms of attacking skills. I mean he loves making back pass. I mean REALLY love it. He has no dribbling, no speed, average at shooting, no playmaking ability, below average one on one skill, and so on. Maybe it is his mistake being an attacking midfielder. Just like Andrea Pirlo. In his earlier career he was an attacking midfielder just like Rui Costa, but no one hardly noticed him, but Milan made him a deep lying playmaker just like Xavi, that's him at his best. So for me Sosa has better tools as defensive midfielder than attacking midfielder, so be it. Who knows he'll do better as a defensive midfielder, so we won't have to complain again as much. Against Ecuador, who cares about defense? They won't do anything to us. I like the fact that Sabella is open to play 4-3-3 against a team that will most likely play 10-0-0 or at most 9-0-1 formation. We better have to defend better if they have a corner or FK in dangerous area. If we start with above formation, we'll have Federico, Garay, Sosa, and Higuain who are good in the air. That's enough.

Trini Pupi (Trinidad And Tobago)

Posted on 5/30/2012 at 11:47 PM 0 I still don't understand why Argentina could not have arranged a friendly like all the other international countries. Argentina has always done this in the past...before qualifiers played 2 games , usually one closer to qualifiers. I have to admit seeing other teams preparing with more friendlies upsets me. I am a heavy critic of Sabella but in defence of the guy...how much can the guy do with just a few days and clearly less friendlies than other countries. Argentina should have arranged at least 1 friendly leading up to this game...not After! I am sure people will say well their is the Brazil game, but that is really not the point. The point is the calender permitted argentina to have a 3rd game and they did not use it. I miss this aspect of preparation that was clear under Bielsa/Pekerman.

Jack! (United States)

Posted on 5/30/2012 at 11:31 PM 0 As I said in a previous post, the USA is a joke, got spanked by Brasil today.

Leandro (United States)

Posted on 5/30/2012 at 11:10 PM 1 @elNegro - I disagree with your view on Mascherano. i watched 90minutes of almost all the Barca games this year. At Barca he is second to Xavi in pass completion. His destroying is without question top class and his offense is not bad either. He holds the ball well under pressure, always plays a smart safe pass and reads the field well from deep in his half pointing out the wingers or the playmaker with crisp passes to feet and deadly accurate. He does not slow down the counter, he is very fast out with the ball. Where his limitations stand is playing far up the field, creativity to break defenses, but thats ok for a defensive midfielder. Argentina does not have a midfielder to counter balance him.. a Riquelme, a Xavi.. Messi should take that role. For what Mascherano is supposed to do, he does so wonderfully. Pep Guradiola was quoted as saying that he wast the best purchase for the club in the past 5 years. To outplay Pique and Puyol in his first season is no small statement. Masch is a beast and a fine example on the field.. I like him as captain more than Messi. @Re Tide - I totally agree, Tino Costa, Biglia, Maxi Moralez should all be brought into the mix and given time to play. If one or two of them become a revelation, it would do wonders for the team and also help get Mascherano back into defense as he is used to now.

Nicky B (Jamaica)

Posted on 5/30/2012 at 9:59 PM 0 I hope this 4-3-3 has Messi infront of Mascherano and Gago. and Di Maria and Aguero on the wings with Higuain up top

red tide (Antarctica)

Posted on 5/30/2012 at 8:55 PM 0 "As for Mascherano, without Brana who's going to be the #5 ? I'm all for Masche possibly dropping back to central defense in the future, but it doesn't make much sense against Ecuador." Since our MF is so weak, I'm okay testing him out to see how he does. He was pretty bad in the last match though. If he does poorly in this match we should switch him permanently. We had a major shift in strength. Now our back 4 look solid while our midfield looks poor. This probably means we should toss the possession football and play a counterattacking style, except we lack the height for this. I don't rate any of our MF's to be honest. Masch is arguably still a top destroyer but we lack a true holder and playmaker. Spain has at least 10 midfielders that would walk onto our team. None of ours would make theirs. Banega is good but he's broke his foot ages ago. With his lousy work ethic nobody knows if he'll ever fulfill his potential. Pastore is a forward. Lamela is still a project. Cambiasso, Aimar, and Riquelme are past it. Tino Costa, Biglia, Maxi Moralez are okay but not world class.

red tide (Antarctica)

Posted on 5/30/2012 at 8:40 PM 0 "and guys i haven't seen napolis' matches this season, which one of them is better " campagnaro or f. fernandez ?" Well Federico Fernandez played a total of 12 matches and finished 16th on the team rating list. Campagnaro played more than 40 and finished 2nd which is extremely tough for a CB. He was great in the CL, even against Chelsea. That said, I can't say Federico doesn't have talent. He had 2 solid vets in front of him so he wasn't going to get much playing time in his first year. A Garay-Federico pairing good be a good choice as both are young and will be peaking in a few years. We also definitely need height. If we're going to play a defensive, counterattacking style, we will face a lot of crosses, corners, free kicks into the box.

KUN (Ghana)

Posted on 5/30/2012 at 4:11 PM 0 Now how many players are expected to win the ball back from the opposition, i know Masche. is persistant chaser of the ball likewise Gago but i haven't seen the hunger of Sosa to retain the ball with the opposition in control. I hope Ecuador doesn't have the weapons to hurt as from the break.

El Negro (United States)

Posted on 5/30/2012 at 3:45 PM 0 I don't like Mascherano playing in midfield for Argentina either. He couldn't fit in midfield for an easy-passing team like Barcelona, how is he going to do better for Argentina in midfield? Mascherano delays Barcelona from playing their quick passing and flowing game. To make matters worse, Mascherano been playing as a center back for two straight seasons. Let's just wait and see how things will go as the days go by. As for Sabella, let's just calm down until Argentina's matches against Brazil and Ecuador. A draw against Brazil would be acceptable, apart of that Argentina should beat Ecuador.

Johnny (Thailand)

Posted on 5/30/2012 at 3:41 PM 0 As for Mascherano, without Brana who's going to be the #5 ? I'm all for Masche possibly dropping back to central defense in the future, but it doesn't make much sense against Ecuador.

Dante Pastrana (United States)

Posted on 5/30/2012 at 3:11 PM 1 Sabella doesn't use mascherano in cb because that's not his natural position. He's an excellent defensive midfielder. He was forced go become a cb in Barcelona to stay in the starting XI. If we all knew Sosa was gonna be included in the second string team then I don't really see the fuss in gago replacement when he tires. It's a slow process and even though he's become a regular starter this might change in the next couple of games. Sosa now needs to shine as a possible sub to stay in the team. He needs to show our coach what is or isn't special about him. Maybe Sosa will prove he's worthless or maybe shock us when we least expect it.

p2bn (United Kingdom)

Posted on 5/30/2012 at 2:51 PM 3 And in other news, a prostitute had sex for money, the earth was revolving around the earth and Mourinho was talking bullshit. I hope you get the point here. Seriously dear Mr Sabella, I know our defense is a headache, but what on earth do you think you the only way to strengthen our defense is by fucking (sorry but can't find a better word here) our attack? If we had great defensive player, it might work but to undermine our greatest strength in a supposed act to improve our weak part! So everyone, I suggest we start to pray to our respective gods; may it be Allah, God, Yahweh or the church of flying spaghetti monster.

Aaron (Iraq)

Posted on 5/30/2012 at 2:46 PM 0 i don't understand why sabella won't use mascherano as a CB , he is not that good as a midfielder, and guys i haven't seen napolis' matches this season, which one of them is better " campagnaro or f. fernandez " ?

pablo.d (New Zealand)

Posted on 5/30/2012 at 2:40 PM 0 sab:fools did you think i was ever going to left sosa out? mundo alb:can you not see how bad sosa is? sab:what are you talking about fools mundo alb: he slows down our attack,has poor ball control and struggles to know what way we are actually playing. sab:what do you lot at mondo actually know about football infact dont bother me again and as for dareing to question me im cloneing the sosa model for the greater good of all of argentina and theirs no need to thank me.....

Akash (Suriname)

Posted on 5/30/2012 at 2:01 PM 0 Jose Sosa: “No hay que sumar tanta gente en ataque porque a la vuelta cuesta. Más en estos partidos que te esperan”. Even Sosa is smarter than Sabella!!!!!!!!!!!!

Caniggia (Hong Kong)

Posted on 5/30/2012 at 1:15 PM 0 I watched a 10 minute highlight reel of Sosa on YouTube to try and figure this out. . Even then, for all the times he got past a player, many of his final passes amounted to taking the danger out of the attack. And most of the footage came from when he was younger...

ddr1123 (United States)

Posted on 5/30/2012 at 1:01 PM 0 I think Sabella is trying to figure out what is the best team for Sosa. Building it around Sosa! On a serious note, never realized this(Sosa) will become a serious problem. Hope he plays well.

Shinigami (Canada)

Posted on 5/30/2012 at 12:51 PM 0 -____________-

Johnny (Thailand)

Posted on 5/30/2012 at 11:46 AM 0 It was true good to be true. Sabella clings on to his well worn security blanket.

fotobirajesh (India)

Posted on 5/30/2012 at 11:41 AM 0 And the same script is there again.............