Football News

Greg (United States)

Posted on 11/4/2012 at 7:31 PM 0 I said that its a good way to see if argentina is prepared because they already played germany and they were not convincing at all. Russia is team with potential enough tobe at this next WC. They beat portugal, now russia is in first place at portugals WC Qualifications group. Sweden tie 4-4 against germany. Sweden also a very good team. Japan has a few talented players, argentina lost to them 1-0 after th 2010 WC. So yeah i am positive in this matches as good ways to see if argentina is ready for 2014. And well in 2014 before the WC i bet that argentina is going to play against the best National Teams like germany,Spain,Italy,France, etc.

Johnny (Thailand)

Posted on 11/4/2012 at 7:25 PM 0 @Abs-Datolo plays for Inter, in Porto Alegre.

Abs (United States)

Posted on 11/4/2012 at 6:58 PM 0 Where is Datolo now ?

Mataco (Italy)

Posted on 10/30/2012 at 6:12 PM 0 Hi Waveride Yes, I have seen many times el Bati in his golden era at Franchi Stadium in Florence...What a great 9, a true warrior, incredible strenght, carisma, wonderful shot, and a great killer instinct. In the modern football I've seen many great 9 play - Gerd Muller, Careca, Van Basten, Ronaldo Fenomeno, Romario - but Batistuta is my favourite. Nowadays, Higuain is quite good [all is relative], and Aguero [not a real 9] is a marvellous striker.

Kutz (India)

Posted on 10/30/2012 at 7:46 AM 0 Has any one seen Santiago Garcia Of Palermo play ?? He is 24 years plays left back or left midfield 191 cm and 24 years .. I thought he would be a good candidate for our back line woes !! Back up/ try out for rojo amd what ever happened to insua .. Also watched roncaglia of fiorentina and paletta Gabriel of pharma another 190cm early mid twenty.. Defender ..and seria A (Italy) supposed to have an awesome production line for defenders !! don't see where is the problem for an abundance of Argie defenders ??

Nishie (United States)

Posted on 10/29/2012 at 2:39 PM 0 Greg, matches against Russia isn't a way of preparing for the WC 2014. Argentina has played the best. Spain, Portugal, Germanny, etc....This a good way of seeing other players. Like Pastore, Rodriquez,

Greg (United States)

Posted on 10/29/2012 at 12:49 AM 0 Playing Russia is a great way for us to see if argentina is ready for the 2014 WC.August 2013!!! before the world cup.Although there also going to play Japan in february 2013.japan and sweden are good matches in which we could see argentina playing at world class level.Because ever since Sabella has become couch he has'nt convince me.

Slicer (Lebanon)

Posted on 10/28/2012 at 2:15 PM 0 Kenneth: It's because we were getting humiliated in that match and were under big pressure to qualify to the WC.

Dr.Magdy (Egypt)

Posted on 10/28/2012 at 5:50 AM 0 Kenneth You had to remind us of that sick celebration ,didn't you ? I still can't believe that was our coach in the World Cup.

Kenneth (United States)

Posted on 10/28/2012 at 5:13 AM 0 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OGetYkRX0ME Just incase somebody wanted to watch the 3-2 Argentina win over Russia...Im surprised Datolo didn't celebrate like that with his Screamer of a goal against brazil in WCQ

Slicer (Lebanon)

Posted on 10/28/2012 at 4:54 AM 0 no Abs, licha scores one, Aguero scores one, and Jesus Datolo scores another one. I'll never forget the way Datolo ran at Maradona for the goal celebration.

Abs (United States)

Posted on 10/28/2012 at 12:33 AM 0 I think both games would be great as long as both teams play with their first teams. @el principe: Licha score the other two against Russia. @sulav787 and @elpipita: I think their coach Palligrino isn't good enough, they are far stronger team that their results shows.

Dr.Magdy (Egypt)

Posted on 10/27/2012 at 11:35 PM 0 Hernan Barcos with a "Hand of Barcos" goal xD http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8C4-3zY80eU

elpipita (Iraq)

Posted on 10/27/2012 at 4:59 PM 1 valencia are struggling this season, hope its just a phase since the prospect of seeing banega and gago marshaling the midfield is hard to resist. As for tevez, if he leaves his personality at home and only brings his footballing skills that I would be happy to have him.....on the bench! but knowing what a cancer he can be, I'd say forget at about him, because where the NT is concerned, he's damaged goods.

sulav787 (Canada)

Posted on 10/27/2012 at 2:46 PM 0 gago is turning into a beast in the midfield for valencia... valencia looked more threatening after banega came.. but they lost eventually

sulav787 (Canada)

Posted on 10/27/2012 at 2:42 PM 0 fat ronaldo!! lol... what a player he was..

Leandro (United States)

Posted on 10/27/2012 at 2:42 PM 0 @Sulav, he has been our plan A many times and failed. If you have a way to keep him distracted while sitting on the bench to better fowards, then yeah call him.. but unless he proves that he WANTS to play as a substitute to Pipita, Kun and Messi.. he should stay home and practice putting in golf.. his ego will not work well with the team.

Leandro (United States)

Posted on 10/27/2012 at 2:40 PM 0 Batistuta is everyones best #9.. Fat Ronaldo is the only player I have seen that can fight for the title.

sulav787 (Canada)

Posted on 10/27/2012 at 2:35 PM 0 tevez was awesome today.... he can be our plan B

waveride (Greece)

Posted on 10/27/2012 at 12:56 PM 0 Mataco as a Fiorentina supporter have you seen Batistuta live? He is my best 9 of all time.

Mataco (Italy)

Posted on 10/27/2012 at 11:03 AM 0 Roncaglia has surprised me very much...I saw his matches with Boca, he was a very strong defender and a good runner, but his debut in serie A has taken him on another level. He's perfect for Montella's 3-5-2, he's an inesorable defender, and a very quick attacker when the situation is favorable. I have never seen a so rapid "acclimatization" in serie A for a sudamerican player, since I support Fiorentina. The first months of the great Passarella - one of the greatest of all time- weren't so good [nor that I want to say that Roncaglia is better than Passarella in any way, claro]. I hope Sabella see serie A matches, Roncaglia deserves to wear the Albiceleste shirt. Sorry if I am not clear, but I have difficults with english...

el principe (United States)

Posted on 10/27/2012 at 8:57 AM 0 http://www.goal.com/en/news/1717/editorial/2012/10/27/3477681/old-boys-superclasico-higuain-falcaos-river-plate-vs-samuel a good one.

T!JU J0HN$0N (India)

Posted on 10/27/2012 at 8:13 AM 0 Hi all, writing somthing here after long...back with an Off topic ) KERALA, a beautiful state in India is known as GODS OWN COUNTRY for various reasons. That saying came true as Diego maradona visited Kerala a few days back for an inagural function of a Jewellery. It was a brief function, but a huge no of fans came and he rocked (though i missed this wonderful opertunity)... And BTW, any gossips running in argentina, about Diego's having a new Girlfriend in inida? I saw some news related to a TV anchor who danced with him in the function....lol.. :) :) Thanks diego, visit again..we luv you.

Tony Montana (United States)

Posted on 10/27/2012 at 4:42 AM 0 great scheduling against two well disciplined euro teams....sweden has great formation in defense and russia with their new coach, Capello will be touch at home.... we have lost to european teams in the last the last 6 world cups..so to gain experience against their height, strength and discpline is key for Brazil 2014!

messi (Lebanon)

Posted on 10/26/2012 at 11:52 PM 0 I think*

messi (Lebanon)

Posted on 10/26/2012 at 11:52 PM 0 Banega must be brought back, gago is doing very well . Those 2 alongside with tino costa are gonna player together in valencia,. If banega wants a call u think he must show some discipline , but hes a beast in passing And shooting but not so fast.

messi (Lebanon)

Posted on 10/26/2012 at 11:37 PM 0 Roncaglia lived his life in argentina and played for boca, but whats confusing that theres an article saying that prandelli is watching him closely and might get a call up cuz his ancestors are italian, i hope sabella is aware cuz heve got a very good rating in his first season at serie A ,th guy look good and is 25 years old.

Leandro (United States)

Posted on 10/26/2012 at 11:21 PM 0 @MR.D, .. samson... wua ha ha ha! :)

cleanball (Indonesia)

Posted on 10/26/2012 at 11:20 PM 1 These 2 friendly games will be a good test for Sabella to proved his effectiveness and playing style. Sweden is doing great after their dramatic come back and never give-up spirit after losing 0-3 against Germany in qualifier. And, Fabio Capello have reformed the Russian team with counter and fast attacking football. They beat Portugal recently. Remind me of our lost player Jesus Datalo, who played a good game against Russia under Maradona in 2009. If not mistaken , Datolo even scored a goal at that time.Missed this guy.

pablo.d (New Zealand)

Posted on 10/26/2012 at 10:54 PM 1 im a fan of friendlys but i want us to try other options ie a plan b and its time to get some much better options ready for the bence not the sosas, maxis etc as they saying goes "you are only as strong as your bench" and ours is poor. we become obsessed about winning a friendly at all cost ahead or trying something new. do i ever want us to lose-no but id rather lose a friendly thats in the scheme of theings mans nothing ahead of the big picture and that is Messi lifting the world cup on brazilian soil :)

Jack! (United States)

Posted on 10/26/2012 at 7:04 PM 0 Holy crap, Zaba has hair!

aka Mr. D (Peru)

Posted on 10/26/2012 at 6:48 PM 0 Zabaleta is Samson.

msi2 (France)

Posted on 10/26/2012 at 6:20 PM 0 At 5:45...

msi2 (France)

Posted on 10/26/2012 at 6:19 PM 1 When Zabaleta will score a goal like this with the senior NT, you know the end of the world is near... http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&NR=1&v=PaMaFy9pTnA

some supporter (Argentina)

Posted on 10/26/2012 at 4:44 PM 0 Russia again? I know, it's been since Maradona's walk of shame towards to South Africa that we haven't played them, but it's so obvious this arrangement is because of those contracts that have AFA by the b*lls and not because of any actual good reason to play Russia. They might as well not even qualify for Brasil 2014 just like they didn't for South Africa 2010. OK team though.

los matadores (Argentina)

Posted on 10/26/2012 at 4:20 PM 0 The match against Sweden should give us a test against a euro-disciplined style defense with height where we will have to break them down with some creativity. The one against Russia should be a really open, great match. Russia is fast, has skill in midfield, and dangerous on the counter. The two teams together equal Germany, LOL.

Jack! (United States)

Posted on 10/26/2012 at 4:10 PM 0 I don't reply to Fantastic 4, thank you very much. If you are implying about The Four Horsemen then I would say, keep them for now until Sabella finds a better solution that can get a better outcome. And to be honest, we are playing very good, but I personally do not believe we haven't even come close to hitting our peak. We can even get better. That's a scary thought!

aka Mr. D (Peru)

Posted on 10/26/2012 at 4:05 PM 0 I like the Sweden game because it gives Argentina a chance to field the Fantastic 4 while facing a lethal finisher in Ibra. This is the point of friendlies to me, to test out formations. In official matches, The Fantastic 4 approach won't be tested until June against Colombia.

sulav787 (Canada)

Posted on 10/26/2012 at 3:57 PM 0 cant wait for these encounters. @jack what should sabella do with the fantastic four? :)

Jack! (United States)

Posted on 10/26/2012 at 3:37 PM 0 Russia and Sweden are teams that you so you get over these "trap games". These are teams that can surprise many. You need to really test yourself. Not every game has to be against Brasil,Holland,Germany,England,Italy and etc. We will still have another friendly date in Nov of 13 and a few more in early 2014 when we will play these upper echelon teams.

Johnny (Thailand)

Posted on 10/26/2012 at 12:31 PM 0 I'll join the chorus and hope Roncaglia gets called. He's a tough nosed kid with talent. He also is an Estudiantes alumnus.

Mataco (Italy)

Posted on 10/26/2012 at 12:17 PM 0 Hi Caniggia, thank you Alvarez is playing quite good this year, but not as in Argentina...Erik Lamela is improving much more is football, under the guide of the "Maestro" Zeman. Everyone is in contact with Sabella tell him to call Roncaglia, please, or he'll be called by Prandelli very soon, eheh. In Fiorentina team there's another defender that is playing very good, Gonzalo Rodriguez, just a bit slow, but very elegant, precise and smart.

Dr.Magdy (Egypt)

Posted on 10/26/2012 at 11:38 AM 0 Gerardo Salorio ,a scout working for AFA and the one who discovered Riquelme ,Aimar ,Cambiasso ,Sorín and Lavezzi ,says he found a "New Messi". http://espndeportes.espn.go.com/news/story?id=1642355&s=arg&type=story

Leandro (United States)

Posted on 10/26/2012 at 10:42 AM 0 Guys, these are good serious friendlies. Russia is strong this year. Also Sweden is better than usual this year too, did you guys see the epic game they gave Germany on the 4-4 last week? Epic. I would not assume those are easy wins. Also, as others have mentioned its a smart schedule as they offer very different styles of play. The fact that they are not Spain/Germany/Brasi/Italy is good, it will allow Sabella a little flexibility to try new things.

rey (United Kingdom)

Posted on 10/26/2012 at 8:49 AM 0 I was hoping to see Argentina vs England! I want to see Messi destroy the clumsy English defence!

Caniggia (Hong Kong)

Posted on 10/26/2012 at 8:17 AM 0 Hi Mataco! Welcome to the forum! I know your team is fiorentina, but have you been watching Alvarez at Inter? Is he improving? I've not managed to watch any full matches for a long time...

Mataco (Italy)

Posted on 10/26/2012 at 7:50 AM 0 ...RonCaglia, obviously.

Mataco (Italy)

Posted on 10/26/2012 at 7:49 AM 0 Hi Sorry for my bad english... I'm an italian big fan of Argentina. I hope Sabella will call Facundo Ronaglia, as a Fiorentina supporter I see him play every sunday, and I assure you he is far better than Campagnaro, Zabaleta or others. He's perfect on the right back in defense in a 3-5-2, but he can play in a 4-4-2, too. Sabella must call him before Prandelli naturalizes him for italian team! Aguante Argentina!

Kutz (India)

Posted on 10/26/2012 at 5:13 AM 0 Msi2@ Did not even realise the spellings were way off until u brought it up,:)to talk about something just around the corner messi is on 71 goals for club n country for this calendar year 2012..another 5 goals and he surpasses the biggest gloater football has ever seen (pele) and 15 more and he surpasses muller .. What's really exciting he has got 12 more leauge games to be played come year end ..wud love to see him surpass that number 85 .. interesting what the critics have to say then???

pablo.d (New Zealand)

Posted on 10/26/2012 at 3:43 AM 0 msi2 sorrryyyyy damn phone or is it the operator :)

msi2 (France)

Posted on 10/26/2012 at 3:22 AM 2 pablo.d> "lamera or gatlin"... Guys, i know some of you are writing from a phone and all but please some effort to write their name correctly.

el principe (United States)

Posted on 10/26/2012 at 3:03 AM 0 @Kenneth Argentina beat Russia 2-3 years ago in Moscow I think. If I am not mistaken, it was 3-2 and one of the goals scored by Aguero.

pablo.d (New Zealand)

Posted on 10/26/2012 at 1:26 AM 0 these are just friendlies and it should be a time to experiment not be concerned about settling old scores or who we are playing. guys like lamera or gatlin just to name 2 should (their are many more possibilities) should be considered to see if they have what it takes to wear the blue and white.

Kenneth (United States)

Posted on 10/26/2012 at 1:01 AM 0 Against Sweden it will be interesting to see how the CB's can do against the strength and trickery of Ibra, as for Russia they play a very quick style (doesn't make them good) in that sense they can be very inconsistent as it is a style that literally "works or doesn't" and is very easy to shut down with good positioning. Although the trickiest of it..is beating Russia in Russia..Historically nobody could do that not even Napolean!

Fred (Hong Kong)

Posted on 10/26/2012 at 12:48 AM 0 @Pablo.d I don't consider Russia as a second-tier team in Europe. A first-tier team may be over. I would say it is a 1.5th tier team. Sweden is a top second tier team, not bad. Also these two teams are of different styles. Russia mainly plays short pass while Sweden used mixed tactics.

Dr.Magdy (Egypt)

Posted on 10/25/2012 at 10:14 PM 1 Pablo.d I'm sure you'll get excited once you remember that one of these two teams kicked us out of WC 2002.

pablo.d (New Zealand)

Posted on 10/25/2012 at 9:57 PM 0 i cant get to excited about either of those matches.