Saturday, March 28, 2009

Argentina vs. Venezuela WCQ Match Preview



It's all but confirmed that Diego will start with Carlos TEVEZ, Sergio AGÜERO and Lionel MESSI up front. Which means that Diego MILITO(who has 16 goals in 25 matches for Genoa in Serie A), Lisandro LOPEZ(6 goals in the UEFA Champions League this season) and Ezequiel LAVEZZI(Olympic Gold Medalist) will start the match on the bench. The following is the probable Argentina line-up that will start the match against Venezuela.

---------------CARRIZO---------------

---ZANETTI---ANGELERI---HEINZE---

MAXI---MASCHERANO---GAGO---JONAS

-------MESSI---AGÜERO---TEVEZ-------

Martín DEMICHELIS is suspended for this match due to accumulation of yellow cards.

Nine players are carrying yellow cards, meaning 1 more and they will miss the next match.

Javier ZANETTI (booked against Chile)
Gabriel HEINZE, Carlos TEVEZ, Lionel MESSI and Javier MASCHERANO (all booked against Uruguay)
Daniel DIAZ, Sebastián BATTAGLIA and Fernando GAGO (all booked against Peru, where DEMICHELIS got his first yellow -he followed that with a yellow at Chile-)
Jonas GUTIERREZ (booked against Brazil)

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Argentina/Venezuela History Facts
Argentina defeated Venezuela 2-0 in Maracaibo in November 2007, with goals from Gabriel MILITO and Lionel MESSI.



Argentina vs. Venezuela Head to Head Record
Argentina: 15 Wins, 0 Losses, 0 Draws - 62 Goals Scored.
Venezuela: 0 Wins, 15 Losses, 0 Draws - 8 Goals Scored.

In Qualifiers, Argentina has defeated Venezuela 9 times while scoring 30 goals which brings the Albicelestes to an impressive 3.3 goals per match ratio. Venezuela on the other hand has only scored 6 times against Argentina in Qualifiers with a not so impressive 0.6 goals per match ratio.

The last time Venezuela played in Buenos Aires was a 2006 FIFA World Cup Qualifier on November 17, 2004. Argentina won the match 3-2 with goals coming from Juan RIQUELME, Javier SAVIOLA and an own goal by Jose Manuel REY. Only 3 players from that win remain with the Albicelestes; Javier ZANETTI, Javier MASCHERANO and Luis GONZALEZ.

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Roy's Random Statistic!
Did you know that Hernan Crespo has scored 4 goals against Venezuela? The first came in a 1998 FIFA World Cup Qualifier(July 20, 1997), the second in a 2002 FIFA World Cup Qualifier(April 26, 2000), the third in a 2002 FIFA World Cup Qualifier(March 28, 2001) and the fourth in a 2006 FIFA World Cup Qualifier(September 9, 2003).

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Match Chat!
If you are unable to watch the match and/or need a place to chat with fellow Argentina fans, Mundo Albiceleste will be having a LIVE Chat during the match! The Chat is located on the right side of the blog. Waiting to see you there!

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Podcast Reminder
Please, don't forget to check out Mundo Albiceleste's first podcast.

If you haven't heard it yet, you can click on: download.

7 comments:

John said...

Over the top preview Roy! All the info, statistic and the some history lesson there is most certainly a breath of fresh air for all of us here looking forward to the match.

Though any win will do, but I want a big win for Diego's first competitve match as a coach. A big game from Lionel MESSI will just spice things up even better.

I'm off to bed now as the match will start around 6.00 am here in Malaysia.

Anonymous said...

hi
i don't see wat the problem with playing three short players upfront is. It's all about good movement, anticipation and having a good understanding with your team mates, as long as u have that doesn't matter wat the defence is in front of you, you'll get your chances, you just have to make sure u bury them.

day1star

Anonymous said...

and good luck for the game everyone, i'm very much looking forward to Diego's first game as coach.

Day1star

p2bn said...

Man, I so hope I can come to watch the match. Anyway hope to have a great display from the team.

Vamos Albiceleste

Rune said...

It's ok to use Messi Aguero and Tevez together up front against a team like Venezuela, but against bigger teams it's not a good idea.

Dr. HotNonPorn said...

Welcome Roy - I enjoyed this preview.

Seba and John - Mundo Albiceleste is really coming along with the additions of Roy, the live chat and podcast.

Good job! Keep it up.

Anonymous said...

is match started?