Unlike the previous two matches, Jose PEKERMAN is playing hide and seek and a couple of hours before the game, our lineup was yet to be confirmed.
But now we're ready to go with these eleven men:
ABBONDANZIERI,
BURDISSO, AYALA, MILITO, CUFRE (a surprising move by PEKERMAN, leaving SORIN out of the team)
MAXI RODRIGUEZ, MASCHERANO, CAMBIASSO, RIQUELME.
And up front, the People's favourite: TEVEZ and MESSI.
A great mix and some surprises, but no doubt PEKERMAN wants to win the group and the 'Atomic Flea' Lionel MESSI is making his first start in a World Cup. Here's hoping for him to have a great romance with this tournament like the great Diego, who will be cheering him from the stands as our number one supporter!
I'll be watching it, of course, but if you want, you can join me here and we can comment on the match as things happen.
VAMOS ARGENTINA!
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14 comments:
vamos bien... Messi hace dos hoy.
Vamos Argentina carajo!!!
End of first half. 0-0.
Nice to see a solid back line despite playing with 2 substitutes from the start and another one from the 23rd. minute with BURDISSO being injured and replaced by COLOCCINI.
MESSI is definitely something special. The way he controls the ball is something unique in the World.
We hit the post (actually it was a Dutch defender) and were really close to opening the scoring through MAXI RODRIGUEZ, but his shot went wide.
Holland controlled the ball a little bit more but failed to create many chances. I remember one shot by KUYT stopped by ABBONDANZIERI.
RIQUELME is the best in my opinion. He is having his best performance so far in the World Cup.
TEVEZ and MESSI are also playing great, same for CAMBIASSO, AYALA, MILITO, MAXI and CUFRE.
MASCHERANO was a little bit insecure. But had a couple of key tackles and good passes.
Anybody watching?
Comments?
I missed the first 35 minutes, so I may be incorrect in this assessment. I thought Argentina looked as if they are not quite pushing full out for the win, they Pekerman wants them to be right in the middle between playing for a draw and going for the win. Is that how anyone else sees it?
The team is taking it easy, not showing any urgency as such.
It is a nice controlled display in the 1st half.
They played the same way in the 2nd half with Ivory coast.
The Oranges are also not pressing with much venom but I guess we will need to get some hunger into the team and then the team can grow further with confidence.
Tevez and Messi being played is good but Tevez seems to be slightly overawed by the situation trying to b individualistic quite a few times, hope he will get over the initial nervousness and show his true class.
Go for a win and win it ...
Spot on George and Subh.
The most important thing today is not to lose. Im not saying we should play for the draw. But we need to think we have a game coming up on Saturday (if things stay like this and we win the group) or Sunday (if we lose tonight), so I think we shouldn't play at a 110%.
We need to continue playing like this. A good chance will come, and we have the players to create them and to finish them.
Teams are on the pitch again!
VAMOS ARGENTINA!
Argentina have lost their bite the last few minutes. The Dutch are having a good spell. When Argentina gets the ball, the support seems a bit slow in coming.
What a shot by Tevez! Man that was a rocket.
0-0. No harm at all.
And before starting to review the match and talk about who deserved to win or lose, the most important thing I would like to point out is that we have won the Group of Death.
We avoid England, Brazil and Spain (and probably Italy) in our way to the final in Berlin.
We are still undefeated despite playing with some substitutes today and the hype will now decrease a little bit...
...but what a shame TEVEZ didn't score in that last play!
It would have been sweeeeeeeeeet!
Argentina holds them. I know its hard to judge because of the nature of the lineup, but this was probably the worst (although not terrible) of their 3 performances so far. Never too early to talk about Mexico. I hope you guys rout them.
a draw against holland should be considered a fantastic result.
our younger players got the chance to run for 90 minutes, which will provide helpful in the knock out stages.
the second half perfomance was poor by my standards - but with the amount of youth we had on the pitch, i am happy with the result.
Go Argentina!
I watched a lot of Mexico's last 2 games and with the exception of about 30 minutes in the middle of the Portugal game they have been below par. That may mean they are about to play their best game of tournament and they are going to need it.
It was my thought that both teams that would get out of the Group of Death (im my case I picked Arg. and Ivory Coast) would win in hte second round. It will be hard to pick a winner between the Dutch and the Portugese. Much more confident in Argentina.
I feel we played ok, Pekerman only used one real striker Tevez until the last minutes when he sent on Cruz. He probably played for the draw.
I don't think the Dutch made any real chances throughout the game. Even their free kicks were off target. I think they will be lucky to avoid defeat against Portugal again who beat them 2-1 just two years ago in Euro04.
I don't like the idea of us playing Mexico because last year we played in the Confederations Cup and it went to extra time and all that...
Had a long day today and my connection broke down. Will give my thoughts about the game tomorrow (Thursday), with more energy.
To start with, a decent result for Pekerman and his team. But said that, it should also be said it is not a great result as such. But then again I am happy with the result.
Pekerman I hope has noted down what are the areas to inject with more urgency and eagerness. As Pekerman himself has said (in Soccernet)that they lowered the tempo in the 2nd half.
There was something missing in Argentina's football yesterday. What could that be is probably a question best answered by Pekerman or other expert soccer pundits. Yet for me I can highlight a few that occured to me.
1. Argentina missed the hard-working ethics of Saviola surely upfront.
2. For me Messi was playing in a position he wasnt effective as much as he shud be or mayb he wasnt comfortable in. He did create 1-2 decent ball plays but he is capable of much more. He needs more space for his magic for me the wings is the best place for Messi as he does in barcelona as well as in the game against Serbia.
3. They defintely didnt play in a high Tempo. There was hardly 10 mins in which Argentina played with some tempo out of the 90 mins.
4. Collocini is not very good. We missed Sorin and also Hienze to a certain extent. Bordisso being out also didnt help much. But Ayala marshalled the defence well.
5. There was much less support upfront for Tevez. Tevez at times became a little extra individualistic.
6. Somehow Though Riquelme is a great player and I like him so much, yesterday I felt for any kind of counter-attacks Riquelme is probably the least suitable man to orchestrise that.
mexico comes next. Mexico may not have too much quality but they are really a very hard working side and they will play in a very high tempo something in the likes of Ivory Coast. We will have to be careful definitely.
the Dutch came with a strategy to narrow down the Argentinian attack , and with wing-play being minimum from Argentinian side they were not stretched much. Pekerman has to address this, because otherwise all teams will get a formula to clamp down and stifle teh attack of Argentina.
For me, Keep Messi on one flank and make life hell for the opposition. Saviola and Crespo starts for me in the next match. Maxi was good but still I will try messi at his position and check out hw Messi fares. probably Pekerman had his best chances to evaluate that yesterday.
lets see how pekerman addresses the small concerns that have risen from the game.
Its good that a few questions have risen, it will give a chance for the team to focus harder, improve and finally be on the top of the world..
Great going anywayz....
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