ABBONDANZIERI: Every great keeper must be able to make the woodwork play its part! Pato sent a couple of sharp looks towards the ball and he make it hit the post and the bar! Other than that, he didn't have a really busy night. Had troubles when tried to control the ball with his feet. 6/10
ZANETTI: Not as great as he's been throughout this competition. Still, our best option at right-back. I can recall a couple of errors. He waited too long for a ball that was stripped from him and then he gave GUARDADO a lot of space in that play in which the Mexico's midfielder hit the post. 5/10
AYALA: A couple of errors that, luckily didn't cost too much. Had a chance with a shot that was deflected for a corner kick. Worked well with MILITO and the highlight of his game was a sliding tackle inside the area that kept a Mexican from taking a dangerous shot. 6/10
Gabriel MILITO: His best game at this Copa. One unnecesary foul in the first half that looked to be a product of his lack of confidence. But it is the only bad thing I have to say about his performance. His passes were OK. 6/10
HEINZE: The best from our back four. Sealed the right channel of the Mexican attack, won a good number of balls with hard tackles and had a couple of problems with ball control (typical of him! ha!). However, he opened the scoring with a ghostly appearance and a karate-kick on the ball! 7/10
MASHERANO: A match that was tailor-made for him. A lot of action in that part of the pitch during the first half and MASCHE was always the winner, whoever his battle was against. We kind of missed him in the score sheet! I'm about to say something: MASCHERANO is the best ball winner in the World when using a sliding tackle. He is slowly making the transition between EL JEFECITO to EL GRAN JEFE! 8/10
VERON: I really liked him in the first half. Showed a lot of movement and was always happy to help a team-mate. He got to scoring positions too, but TEVEZ didn't see him free and decided to shoot (with the game still 0-0). In the second half, his clynical long-passes and pitch vision helped us big time. Did a quiet job and he did it well. 7/10
CAMBIASSO: He suffers from playing around those monsters that he has as team-mates. His job will never be as visible as the others', but it is effective. Battled hard on the left and his priority seemed to be focused almost exclusively in the defensive aspect of the game. He did have time to get in the box, jump and tried a back-heel pass towards MESSI. It would have been a beauty of a pass if it wasn't intercepted. 6/10
RIQUELME: Another man of the match performance, but he won't get that award from me tonight. He is not to blame for playing with an extra-terrestrial being. Roman is responsible for our first goal (lovely pass to HEINZE) and he scored our third with a classy penalty-kick. He was immense in the second half. Nobody was able to take the ball out from him. 9/10
MESSI: Would you believe me if I say that what I enjoyed the most from him tonight was that action in which he fought for the ball against three defenders, fell to the floor 3 times, got up 4. He is simply NOT AFRAID. Throw him all you've got. He'll always be back for more -if you can catch him-. To score a goal like that, you need to be extremely talented, but you also need to be very brave and mature to take that shot. Or all the opposite...extremelly unconscious! Whatever he is, I'm loving it. I can't get enough from you MESSI. Give me more! 9/10
TEVEZ: Hopefully, he is saving some goals for Sunday against Brazil. What he lacked in scoring, he made up with courage, hard work and passion. Gave a brillant assist to MESSI and then forced RAFA to foul him for our third goal. 7/10
GAGO: Played as a scape valve for our midfield as the game was dying. He opened up the field and tried to help the team defend with the most effective tactic there is: ball possession. 6/10
PALACIO: Could have done better with the first ball he touched after a perfect pass from MESSI. Came in to give the team some fresh air and tried some runs at Mexicans. 6/10
AIMAR: Didn't play too much. Helped ROMAN to get a standing ovation from the whole stadium.
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Crazy Johnny's Player Ratings:
PATO 7 No butterflys and no goals in his net.
ZANETTI 6.5 Looked a little more human. Still strong, and a pain in the ass for the opponents with his offensive capability.
AYALA 5 This is the semifinals of the Copa America and no time for napping. I almost threw my boot at the tv screen.
G. MILITO 6 Not as hazardous. He makes me nervous.
HEINZE 7.5 Straggly bearded Bruce Lee came through with a goal on a beautiful set piece set up by Roman. Scrappy as usual.
MASCHERANO 8 Automatically deducted one point for failure to score. I agree with Seba. Tremendous ball winner. Makes it look easy.
VERON 7 I wonder if Coco or someone had a talk with him. Much more active, less tight and looked a little more Gagoish as he moved the ball more out of the back in. Got dirty.
CAMBIASSO 7 Not flashy but gets the job done. Doesn't seem to mind that he looks like the boy in the bubble.
ROMAN 9 Calm, cool and collected. Still with the laser passes, controlling the game and a zen penalty kick.
MESSI 9 The BOY WONDER to ROMAN'S BATMAN. Electrifying. Walks on water. Matinee idol. Just turned 20. Can you imagine what he will be like in a few years ? Knows every answer to the Riddler's questions.
TEVEZ 7.5 Workmanlike performance from Carlitos. Continues to break down the defense. Not able to get a good shot off tonight but drew a penalty.
GAGO 6 A trusted option for Coco in the midfield. Very seldom makes a big error. Likely to be part of the selection for many years.
PALACIO 6 Too bad his shot was played by the keeper.
AIMAR Not rated. Did you see his face as came on the pitch ? He looked giddy !
COCO 10 I will give Coco a 10 until he loses, God Forbid ! Still wearing his purple striped good luck shirt. I understand he has a speech coach who is working with him to get his voice lower to Merlo's level.
i shed a tear when i saw messis goal
Ole's ratings.
I don't know if it is a good or a bad thing, but they look very very very similar to mine:
R. Abbondanzieri (6): Dos pelotas pegaron en sus palos. Muy bien con el pie y en los centros.
Javier Zanetti (5): Pasó una vez al ataque, pero definió mal en el área. Bien en la defensa.
Roberto Ayala (6): Muy bien de arriba y prolijito con la pelota en el piso. Y no lo amonestaron.
Gabriel Milito (6): Tuvo algunas desatenciones con las pelotas frontales. Pero no desentonó.
Gabriel Heinze (7): Un toro marcando aunque con un defecto: no anticipa. Hizo el primer tanto, con aire de goleador.
Juan S. Verón (7): No tuvo un buen primer tiempo, aunque levantó en el segundo con algunos precisos cambios de frente. Luego lo sacaron.
J. Mascherano (9): Un león en el medio. Quitó muchas pelotas y estuvo preciso en el toque corto.
E. Cambiasso (6): Trabajo inteligente por la banda izquierda: se acopló con Riquelme y siempre picó al área en diagonal.
J. R. Riquelme (8): Metió la pelota en el tiro libre que terminó en gol de Heinze y luego pateó con maestría el penal.
Lionel Messi (9): Un gol de antología: la picó por arriba del arquero, luego de un pase de Tevez. Y muchas gambetas.
Carlos Tevez (7): Mucho coraje para aguantar la pelota arriba. Habilitó a Messi en el segundo y le hicieron el penal.
Fernando Gago (6): Aportó sus clásicos toques y manejó la pelota.
Rodrigo Palacio (5): Messi le dio un buen pase para que hiciera su gol, pero se la tapó el arquero.
Pablo Aimar: Ingresó faltando poquito, para que todo el estadio aplaudiera a Riquelme. Y se juntó con Lionel.
I would venture to join in the points debate for the first time. Like Johnny, I would give Ayala 5 only. His mistake could have been critical. It was almost like Heinze's blunder in the World Cup Round of 16.
Can anybody tell me what time (GMT) is the U-20 match against Poland?
I thought the rating of Palacio should be only 5 .He easily miss the chance that Messi gave him . The ball always lost at him.
The attacking played very well .But I thought Palacio was the only man who played below par .The ball always got lost at him .And he missed some scoring chance .Anyway I love the Heinze"s Kung-fu style .And classic Messi"s goal
Milito played OK .But what about Walter samuel .Do you think he deserve the call back
.........Tonymed
Samuel? I don't think so. He used to be very good, but I haven't been impressed for a while.
We have good young centerbacks waiting in the wings - Gonzalo Rodriguez, Garay, and so on. No problems with this position.
Defense was again weak and Lazy.Some of them could have been punishable.
But the attack was simply best.It was Flawless :-)
And the Goal from Messi,Gosh he really aint from this Planet,hehe.Seemed like he had calculated the Angle and the Distance before he took that cheap shot.
Riquelme and Masche were again at their best form.
Can wait to see the Clash with Brasil.
We will Prevail!!!
Hell bring it on...!!! Cant wait till Monday Morning.
Viva La Argees!!!
Hasta La Victoria Siempere....
Dear Seba
I loved the comment you made about Messi
"He is simply NOT AFRAID"
for a guy with his size and his age to do what he is doing to be up to the standards for all the professionals YES no one else can be that except MESSI
He will hold the next world cup along with Tevez
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