Argentina’s line-up from training in Manchester

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With the players all in Manchester, the first Argentina line-up from training is out and it’s different from what we have seen in the past.

Argentina National Team coach Jorge SAMPAOLI has opted to go with a four man back line in training session, which is different from the usual three man at the back that we have seen from him. There’s been a variation of players tested in training. Here was the first line-up tested out:

ROMERO; MERCADO, FAZIO, OTAMENDI, TAGLIAFICO; BIGLIA, PAREDES; MEZA, MESSI, DI MARIA; HIGUAIN

However, per TyC Sports, Chelsea’s Willy CABALLERO could get his first ever cap for Argentina at the home of his former club, Manchester City’s Etihad stadium when the team play Italy on Friday. Fabricio BUSTOS and Manuel LANZINI could also start. Here is TyC Sports’ probable eleven against Italy:

CABALLERO; BUSTOS, OTAMENDI, FAZIO or ROJO, TAGLIAFICO; BIGLIA, BANEGA or PAREDES; LANZINI, MESSI, DI MARIA; HIGUAIN

Going with the line-up above, Marcos ROJO could play in his natural position for Argentina as he would partner Nicolas OTAMENDI in the heart of the back line. But his spot is up for grabs as Federico FAZIO could also start alongside OTAMENDI instead of ROJO. Nicolas TAGLIAFICO of Ajax would start as left back.

In midfield, it appears to be between Ever BANEGA and Leandro PAREDES to play beside Lucas BIGLIA. Manuel LANZINI would get the start on the right side of midfield. What does remain the same is that Lionel MESSI, Angel DI MARIA and Gonzalo HIGUAIN (who formed part of the original fabulous four with Sergio AGUERO back in Alejandro SABELLA’s days) start.

This is still not confirmed and far from it. Coach SAMPAOLI is still holding training sessions and we could have a better idea of the eleven which will start against Italy by Thursday. Make sure to keep checking for updates!

Which line-up would you like to see start against Italy? The first one with Sergio ROMERO as the goalkeeper or the second one with Willy CABALLERO as the goalkeeper?

62 Comments

  1. i don’t know why aguero is in this team ,a club material who is only there becoz of super midfield of man city.we need ikerdi and dybala.

  2. I think leaving Dybala out will be a big mistake though nothing is clear yet, but all signs tell us that Sampa isn’t gonna take Dybala to Russia.

    It’s true that Dybala didn’t gel with the team well but he is a high quality player that needs the coach’s trust. He can be a super sub and his long range shots are great which is something the team needs when opponents PARK THE BUS.

  3. Has anyone seen Messi’s recent goal during training at Etihad stadium? Please tell me who was the goalkeeper at that time.It should have been stopped by him no matter it was from Messi.I wish he was not Romero.Positional sense is required here.

  4. What is the sense to start with Higuain once again. If he will score in friendly, does it prove anything, regarding his talent to choke in finals? Taking into account his goalles recent times in NT (no matter qualifiers or friendly) he is not worth even low rank friendly.

  5. So game over for dybala and icardi in a press conference sampaoli clearly indicated he most probably won’t pick dybala and icardi for WC.so so disappointed with sampaoli.again a national team coach omitted a superb player in dybala.dybala should have been in the squad at least.with aguero injury prone so is dimaria and Martinez very young still we r thin in forward line now.

  6. India fans – any idea if argentina matches are being telecasted live in any of the sports channels. I searched online now & could not find any channel showing friendlies live. Any updates ?

  7. I am very excited to see this new team playing finally in 442. I haven’t seen Bustos playing yet, will be great to see the pair Di Maria-Bustos on the right and Lanzini-Tagliafico on the left. 2 inverted winger with 2 fullback-winger, so that the 2 wingers can cut in and let the fullbacks attack, with the DM(Maschereno or Biglia) playing as libero, it will be easy to switch from 442 to 352.

    I don’t know if anyone knows why suddenly Enzo Perez is not picked up by Samp this time. Is he injured or Samp prefers Pablo Perez? Honestly I have never seen Pablo Perez playing but so far I am always satisfied with him when he plays for NT. Besides he is the only box to box midfielder, he’s the best sub if we want to secure the score. He can replace either Di Maria or Lanzini.

  8. italy match will be good testing one as i got the news veratti buffon bonnucci immobile pellegrini etc are training so this italy is not as weak as we thought previously

  9. Acuna should be starter as LB or at left midfield.His crosses are best and he will make a lot of chances of goal scoring for Augreo in WC.As Augreo’s headers are good.If Di maria play bad replace him with Acuna.Taglafico/ acuna is good choice as LB.

    • For Di Maria, I think he will be used as right midfielder, he is much better in this position as proven in PSG. He lost a bit his pace and less physical than before, so playing on the left as a traditional winger for crossing is not ideal for him. On the right hand side, he can cut in with his dribbles and can use his long pass skill.

      Acuna is the sure value and he will be the LB, I think if Tagliafico plays, it’s for testing him. He does not have enough experience yet with NT.

  10. OilWith current scenario, i prefer a 4_4_2 or 4_2_3_1 with 442 effect.

    Willy/Romero
    Mercado Ota Rojo Tagli
    Lanzini Biglia Peredes Maria
    Messi Pipita

    Bustos must not now come in for Mercado. Experience is a key there. Mercado can repeat a Zabaleta or Rojo of 2014. We all remember how frustrating Rojo in Sabella-time was & how solid he was in those 6 matches he played in Brazil.
    Experience is vital. Rojo Otamendi Mercado can make a solid line. Hopefully Taglifaco also will make his mark.. Midfield and front he have so many options. Other than messi, no one has a guaranteed spot there. It speaks about a certain degree of talent deficiency. But it has its positives too.. let’s hope Sampoli will choose the the best 5 to help messi in the days to come..

    I’m hoping the back 4 will be fixed in the next two games. He should start the same 4 in back for both the games.
    And i hope it will be
    Mercado Ota Rojo Tagli

  11. I prefer the second lineup , with Rojo over Fazio and Paredes over Banega.

    From the whole squad I would go with the starting eleven of Romero Tagliafico Rojo Otamendi Bustos Biglia Paredes Lanzini Perotti Messi Aguero. Perotti left mid Lanzini right mid. 442.

    • Aguero right now injured.sampaoli mayb giving a chance to Fazio mayb because of his form for Roma and maybe he feels in back 4 his speed will not matter as such.i have big doubts over bustos as starting rb.he is defensively weak plus inexperienced.starting 2 completely new and inexperienced fullbacks in WC will be too much risky who have no Europe experience also.just tagliafico playing in Europe lately.I still put Mercado or somebody else in as a starting rb.Mercado preferably as he is solid in defence and experienced don’t know we have better option in rb position or not

  12. Why Lautaro Martinez is in line up.He is still raw and has much to prove.Angle Correa is good replacement for Salvio or even better Fast,Athletic with defensive features but lacks vision.

    • martinez is not starting and you are right that correa is a great replacement for salvia butLanzini is starting there on the wing and I expect Correa to sub in for him in 65th minutes

  13. I’m pissed to see Biglia and Banega names all over again. Also the trio of Diva, Messi and Higuaín is not working for the knockout stages, it has been tested and failed for two reasons:
    1) Diva loses the ball easily or retains it for so long, erratic goal shots, besides getting injured before the semi final.
    2) HIguain is a liability in the knock out stages as he can’t handle the pressure and misses sitters.

    Same rotten roster, I just can’t believe it.

    • when Dimaria is healthy, he is deadly…and his compatibility with Leo is undeniable …the position we when to solidify is right wing…pavon, correa, salvia or Lanzini? what do you think?

  14. As reported by espn this is our world cup squad:Romero, Guzman, Caballero, Mercado, Rojo, Fazio, Acuna, Tagliafico, Otamendi, Mascherano, Salvio, Biglia, Banega, Di Maria, Paredes, Lanzini, Lo Celso, Pavon, Messi, Aguero, Higuain, Lautaro Martinez, Dybala

    • This is pure imaginary from espn.even sampaoli hasn’t decided the squad he will see this 2 friendlies and these trainings and in month of may he will see who is in form and fit and then he will decide the squad. so many places up for grabs

  15. 8In my opinion, and I apologize as I don’t have the time to watch every player.. I would like to see the following..

    Willy

    Mercado otemandi rojo tagl/acuna

    Mache

    Lanzini. Meza. Dimaria

    Messi. Hig/perroti

    I have not seen much of lautoro so I am unable to judge.. I only saw him the first game of world cup when he got red card..

    Also would love parades for mache, but we need some exp in midfield.

  16. I just want to say that those of you who are complaining about who should start and who should not, you must calm yourself down because all these friendly matches are being played so that samp… can see who will be the best one to choose for the world cup as well as the different types of combinations and formations.

    By the way I’m really excited to see what sampa… has in store, these other European coaches need to get their act together because they are in for a real fight as they will meet a genius of the game(sampa..). I can’t wait. Boom!!!!

    • he dont have lilo now so not sure how he can manage.and sampa should try oyher options rather than biglia as new players should be given a chance atleast

      • as long as matias manna is there everything will be fine.Now pablo aimer is also there and it’s heard that he will travel to russia .i am hopeful.as far as lilo is concerned i don’t think in argentine coaching panel people will like a spanish,i do think in argentina they are pretty conservative on this aspect had it not the case pep would be our coach.

      • As one will notice that sampa… actually called up a lot of young and inexperience players with respect to international football,of cause many of these young players are not knew to international football but this is their time to show sampa… that they (young players) have something to offer.

        I would really like to see “Roberto pereyra ” and “Erik lamella” to get a chance in these friendlies, yes both of them has been injured recently but they are still young in comparison to “Pablo perez” and “Enzo perez ” and they have abundance of experience and quality.

  17. Its not confirmed… Still have a doubt that atlast we would see banega starting instead of paredes…one ray of hope is that back 4 formation is fixed and biglia banega/paredes lanzini/meza is in prospect….better than mache biglia banega trio for sure…

    • be sure banega gonna be discarded soon ,but for biglia i can’t tell any more.in world cup i am pretty sure banega is not going centurion has bigger chance.

        • the reason is the presence of paredes,meza,pablo perez,lo celso and i think iamela also getting call in the squad of 35.Sampaoli still waiting for gago and praised centurion everything indicates one thing he doesn’t believe in banega.We gonna see pablo perez against spain. one surprising thing if carefully see messi’s training goal you’ll find meza biglia and paredes were in the same squad . banega got a beard these days and he is in red shirt just see carefully.

          • i thought the red team was the youth team coached by aimar.then its a concern that messi so esily beat those players and scored romero also could hv stop that .how can u give so much space to messi and where is the blocking .pathetic .no wonder the world dont see us as a favourite

          • good news for all . all the local players got called performed well in the training .read the sampaoli interview.

  18. Argentina latest probable starting line up by Ole.com:

    https://www.ole.com.ar/seleccion/equipo-argentina-seleccion-italia-sampaoli_0_1982201802.html

    Caballero/Romero; Bustos/Mercado, Fazio, Otamendi. Tagliafico; Biglia, Paredes; Lanzini, Di Maria, Messi; Higuain

    It seems that Fazio will start instead of Rojo; Paredes instead of Banega.

    Paredes is a very interesting one. In my opinion, he has the potential to be our best midfielder if given a chance, better than Banega, Lo Celso, Lanzini, or Enzo Peres.

  19. Perotti over any of z wing candidates any day so does Acuna over Tagliafico.

    Romero

    Mercado Ota Rojo Acuna

    Di maria Banega Biglia Perotti

    Messi

    Lauataro Martinez

    • I like your line up. Perotti is playing really good and he’s more consistent than many.he also have good defensive attributes, which is can only help NT.

      • Under utilization of Lavezzi have costed the NT a trophy in 2014 WC and in Copas as well. Perotti situation is similar imo. We all have seen how he ridiculed Chelsea wing/left backs. If the need to use extra mid player arises Messi can partner Perotti and Maria up front creating a slot for Lanzini/Locelceo at the expense of any of the No.9.

        • It’s going to be very important for sampa… to play those in the world cup who is the best in their respective positions with respect to their form.

          They can play many formations and combinations as they have all the different types of players, but I have to admit that I’m very pleased to hear that they are going to go with a back 4 and not back 3.

  20. I don’t want to see biglia starting.I want to see masche paredes or Pablo Perez starting in dm role

  21. I would like to see:

    ………….Romero
    ………Fazio…Otamendi
    Bustos……………….Tagliafico

    ..P.Perez…Paredes..Lanzini

    ….Messi…………..Meza
    …………Martinez

    • My problem with Meza that he is very slow too, a quick runner is a MUST, even current Messi is not the quickest. Meza in the midfield ok, but not for a winger spot.

    • 8 new players out of 11 from the last Copa? we need more experience playing….I think we can go with 4 new inexperienced tournament players such as Lanzini, Tagliafico, parcedes and Fazio…and martinez to come in for Higuain in minutes 70…correa and pAvon to come in for Dimaria and lanzini on the wings …I think caballero is starting which will be a good look for him to show his potential… busts might start which will be good to see how he does against Italians speed in counters…. vamos a ver

  22. 4-3-3 is not good formation Di maria as a forward is also bad decision.It cuts Messi role in attacking.Di maria is not good finisher of ball.4-4-2 and 4-2-3-1 would be good.Di maria Lanzini Biglia Meza would be good in midfield.Sampoli wants to attack like Barca and defend like Real Madrid.But 3 man midfield is not good.

    • If you want this is a 4-3-3, if you want a 4-4-2. Di Maria on the left (or on the right), Lanzini on Enzo’s place in 2014WC. Messi plays free like in Barca, maybe Sampaoli want to copy Valverde’s system, where Messi can decide every big match this year. (Real, Juventus, Chelsea, Atletico etc.) Barca definitely play 4-4-2, but is Iniesta a winger? No

    • what i understood from the rumoured line up , the formation will be 4231 not 433

      ****************romero*********************
      Bustos – otamendi – rojo/fazio – tagliafico
      ***********biglia – paredes/banega*********
      *********lanzini – messi – di maria********
      ***************higuain********************

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