Four Argentina line-ups from training

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Jorge SAMPAOLI has tested a three more Argentina line-ups in training on Tuesday.

While we posted a first rumored line-up earlier today, SAMPAOLI has gone ahead and tested a second, third and even a fourth starting eleven on Tuesday afternoon. These three are slightly different, with the big changes coming in attack. If the first one had ICARDI up front, the other three had Boca man BENEDETTO as the number 9 in attack. Here were the line-ups SAMPAOLI tried in the afternoon:

First Argentina line-up:

ROMERO; FAZIO/MASCHERANO/PEZZELLA, OTAMENDI, MERCADO; BIGLIA, GAGO/BANEGA, Enzo PEREZ; DI MARIA, MESSI, SALVIO; ICARDI

Second Argentina line-up:

ROMERO; ACUÑA, OTAMENDI, MASCHERANO, MERCADO; DI MARIA, BANEGA, BIGLIA; Papu GOMEZ, BENEDETTO, MESSI

Third Argentina line-up:

ROMERO; ACUÑA, MASCHERANO, OTAMENDI, MERCADO; GAGO, RIGONI, Enzo PEREZ; MESSI, DI MARIA; BENEDETTO

Fourth Argentina line-up:

ROMERO; ACUÑA, OTAMENDI, MASCHERANO, MERCADO; DI MARIA, BANEGA, BIGLIA, GAGO; BENEDETTO, MESSI

We’ve added a poll below asking you which eleven you would prefer to see start against Peru. Make sure to vote below!

[poll id=”7″]

21 Comments

  1. I like Pezzella, I have been following him in Fiorentina..he has an excellent nack of scoring goals in set pieces and is composed in defense…he can take the ball out of defense…and combine with midfield..

  2. for sure not benedetto….he is 27 and never played in europe…never had an offer from european Clubs…why u think this is?! becaus ehe is simply not good enough! any argentine striker that manages to score 15 Goals in one season gets sold for 10 millions….not him! he is a mediocre Forward in an at the Moment very very mediocre league….laughable to consider benedetto over icardi or dybala….

    • I totally get your point, but many times if you play in your home ground with crowd behind you, you might have an additional spark in you…the match against peru will not be played on reputation on European club football, but it would be played on hunger and passion and hard work to do well and win for argentina…

      • It seems sometimes we are giving European football a bigger weight than it really has. European football isn’t everything! There are so many players who failed in Europe BUT flourished in somewhere else and the recent best example is Paulinho who was a big flop in Tottenham and later moved to China for a little amount of money but came back to Europe with Barca spending $40 million. Benedetto didn’t get an offer from European clubs will never be an excuse to exclude him from the squad or not giving him a chance to be in the starting lineup. He is a good finisher and he is at his peak time in his career, so he deserves to be in the team and get the chance to represent the National Team. His debut game was a very difficult one for him, coz you know everybody feels big pressure in the first time they do something they never had done before. For me, I prefer Icardi to start in this game and I think the coach has the same thing in his mind, but guys let’s not forget to tell what the players are worth and how good they are. Vamos Argentina!!!

  3. Hi Guys! Its my first commment after the Copa Final Defeat.
    Good to be back among you guys. I dont see Argentina not qualifying for WC. Its not possible. We will make it.

    This is my team vs Peru

    ————–Romero—————
    ——Otamendi——-Mash——-
    Mercado——————–Casco
    ———–Biglia—-Gago———-
    —-Messi—-Dybala—-DiMaria
    —————-Icardi—————-

    The game against Venezuela i ve seen some great movements upfront. We just could not score. Let these player play together instead of experimenting now. We can do the experimenting after we qualify. I would just want 4 defenders in the back for the next 2 games.
    Icardi is really good and he already had 2 straight games and i thing this time he will deliver. 3rd time charm. So is Dybala. And Dimaria no matter how much you hate him he creates and can send crucial passes/crosses for Icardi to chip in. I have a feeling this combination can give us our first goal on Thursday. Lets stick to the team and support. I believe this coach can do something once we are thru to the WC. Best of luck guys.

  4. The fact is that Sampaoli will play with wing backs the only choices he has on the left are Di Maria and Acuna. While on the right I would go with Enzo Perez his well rounded defensively and going forward and is comfortable out wide as shown by his great performances at the last world cup. For me Gago is a huge step backwards,sure his good on the ball but when it comes to defending he sucks and is a liability.

  5. i like the first choice , better not to start with Biglia,Banega and Gago or Maria at the same time, subs and play the in form players to start with. Utilised Salvio and Perez with Dybala as subs. Vamos Arg

  6. i think dimaria should play in the right wing…

    romero

    marcado——— macherano/pezzella————-otamendi—

    —— perez——————–gago/paredas—–
    banega/dimaria

    salvio/dimaria—————-messi——————-acuna/gomez(substitute)

    benetteto (because he is at home ground paplo perez and enzo can be good against peru) and most of the crowd will support them litle bit more) so he should start if he wont perform in the first half… icardi should replace him…

    and banega or gago can interchange position with messi… when messi drops deep banega or gago should go to the box… then only we can move the ball

    substitites in this match first preferences are a.gomez pablo perez icardi…

  7. I don’t prefer any of the four line ups displayed in the survey. Give me a line up with out Diva Maria.

    • Sure…but we’ll still have to start with ADM first. He’ll somehow get injured during the match and then your preferred player can be subbed in.

  8. With Diva Maria in, we are basically playing with 10 players only and that’s an advantage for any opponent we face.

  9. im going with the 1st line up if we can get away with playing that many at one time being 14 players 🙂
    ROMERO; FAZIO/MASCHERANO/PEZZELLA, OTAMENDI, MERCADO; BIGLIA, GAGO/BANEGA, Enzo PEREZ; DI MARIA, MESSI, SALVIO; ICARDI

    its simply all or nothing, yes the years of not trying other players is now haunting us big time and we are left with massive gaps at fullbacks and in the midfield.
    still as long as we win and i dont care how, just win and then we have time to try other options before Russia without this do or die situation we are in.

  10. Looking at those lineups makes us realize how deprived we are of quality fullbacks. Accuna as Lb is so so sad, he isn’t a fullback in any sense of imagination.

    On the other hand, if we play 3 at the back with Cruyff’s diamond and play Biglia as a pivot, we are fucked. In Cruyff’s diamond your pivot becomes a midfielder in posession and a CB/fullback in defense. I don’t think Biglia has the mobility and tactical intelligence to do that. He would just stand and watch.

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