Dave's player ratings - ECU 2-0 ARG

By Dave P.

A very lack luster performance by us tonight that gave us the loss.

Compared to the game against Colombia, although we did not play well then either, there was not as much passion put forth by the players.

They did not seem as if they wanted to win. Everyone except for MESSI and surprisingly HEINZE seemed content with just hanging back behind our half and playing defense. It seemed like we were playing with eight defenders on our own half, and then MESSI and TEVEZ were the only two players ever to go into the attacking third. This may have been MARADONA’s tactic to deal with the altitude and avoid another Bolivia incident, however that is still not an excuse to attack with two players and not attempt to hold possession of the ball.

We were very unlucky as well, for TEVEZ, an usual above average finisher not to convert his
PK, and for MESSI and GAGO to miss their chances. In the end small lapses of concentration by our defensive mindset let us down and allowed for Ecuador to punish us.


Mariano ANDUJAR, (7): Second game as the #1 keeper and he played very well. In the first half he had pretty much nothing to do. A few touches here and there. He showed good reflexes on a free kick that bounced on the wet surface right in front of him. In the second half was more
involved in the game because of Ecuador’s increase of intensity and our lack of endurance in the altitude which caused some defensive errors. Still ANDUJAR made some confident stops on the ball especially in aerial crosses. He was confident in every ball he went up for. The two goals that he did allow were pretty much unstoppable. The wonder strike in the 72nd minute was hit with tremendous pace and was upper right and he still got a tip on it. The second goal took some lucky
bounces off our confused defense and landed perfectly for PALACIOS to shoot into the roof of the net from around 12 yards. Overall a good game unlucky to have goals scored on him tonight. I would continue starting him.

Gabriel HEINZE, (7): Seemed to play a lot better while wearing the captain's arm band in tonight’s match. From the get go our team had a defensive mind set and HEINZE made confident plays all game. I did not see one hesitant, or out-of-control move/tackle made by him tonight, which is extremely rare. Instead he was running all the way down into the attacking end and played some of our most dangerous balls of the evening. Still he would get back in time to make some key challenges and keep the Ecuadorians from having open looks at net. Unlucky that MESSI or GAGO could not score on the great balls he threw into the box. Great game by HEINZE proved to be one of our best players on the night.

Nicolás OTAMENDI, (6): In the beginning of the game the youngster did not seem to understand much of what was going on. He was caught out of position every once in a while and within the first couple minutes a mistake he made caused an great chance for Ecuador to go ahead. As the match progressed he adapted to the pace of the match extremely well. I was
impressed with some of his timely tackles and especially some one-on-one, all-or-nothing tackles which were key on keeping us in the game.

Martín DEMICHELIS, (5): You would have thought that DEMICHELIS was the youngest defender tonight because of his sloppy play. I was expecting a typical solid performance from 'Micho' but early on he made a few casual passes out of the back as well as being caught out of position. Other then that he had no impact on the game. The first wonderstrike that was scored can not really be blamed on him, but he did turned out of the balls path at the last second. If he had stayed there it may have deflected off his face. Also, the second goal, as the ball bounced into the box he was out of position and forced to scramble around to attempt to stop the attack. Not a good confident display by DEMICHELIS tonight.

Javier ZANETTI, (4): Oy, another sub par performance by an experienced defender. Very quiet game in the beginning of the match. He was caught out of position like DEMICHELIS, and showed his age in not being able to keep up with the quick Ecuadorians. When he was on the ball his runs were slow, predictable, and clumsy. ZANETTI’s age along with the altitude were truly affecting his play tremendously. He made the blind pass to Maxi’s back side which resulted in the first goal being scored. I am usually all for ZANETTI being a part of the team but a performance like this is making me strongly reconsider that.

Jonas GUTIERREZ, (5.5): The usual high energy high work-rate Jonas was not as evident tonight. He played well but strayed from attacking the entire match. He was helping out the back for pretty much all game. You could tell after playing in both matches that the altitude really took a toll on his lungs. He was beat very easily down the wing and contributed nothing to the attack. Really nothing more to say about Jonas, he tried but did not contribute much of the lack of passion to win from the rest of the team was also evident with his performance.

Sebastián BATTAGLIA, (4.5): Attempted to fill in for MASCHERANO in the DM role and
did a decent enough job, but never truly got involved with the game. I think I could count on my hands how many time he touched the ball. He made a few tackles but his passes were off the mark and did not help the possession that we so badly needed in order to break down the
Ecuadorians. Pretty much played in line with the back four and became a fifth defender. At some points of the game I didn’t even know if he was on the field he would just float around did not even make any key tackles. I feel that he is not NT quality.

Fernando GAGO, (5): Much like BATTAGLIA, he was sort of irrelevant in tonight’s match
because he played defense pretty much the entire game. He rarely went forward and when he did he missed a great opportunity to score, great reaction by the goal keeper however. GAGO seemed to be a little lost without Mascherano out there with him. He was clumsy on the ball and
could not link up with MESSI or TEVEZ all game until he was subbed out for VERON. Again it seemed like there was no passion in GAGO today, usually he has a fierce warrior attitude like MASCHERANO. Seemed like the altitude sucked it out of him.

Maxi RODRIGUEZ, (3.5): Again the lowest ratings are in the midfield because this is where we lost the game. Maxi contributed nothing in this game, he rarely touched the ball and rarely made any defensive plays. He would always be around the ball but would never make anything happen. He seemed lost out there on the pitch. Also, on the TEVEZ’s PK if Maxi would have scored that open netter, which TEVEZ some how got the ball into his path, the game would have been completely different. Very poor attempt to finish that ball, there were no defenders around him.
Other than missing the open net, and not being aware that ZANETTI passed the ball to him, which caused us to concede, Maxi was useless in tonight’s game. Poor performance.

Carlos TEVEZ, (6): Played well with MESSI and created/received some good passes which looked threatening in the first half. His ball, which got HEINZE in, was a delicate one-touch pass and he had a few one-twos with MESSI. However other then that, and because of the lack of midfield, TEVEZ was all by himself in the attacking third. Every time he was on the ball there
would be two defenders on him and when he would look up there would only be MESSI; with three other defenders on him. Other than that there would be no other Argentine players within 20 yards. He would create strong runs at the defenders but in the end no one was there to
help him. His PK shot was extremely poor, the ball was hit weakly and dribbled along the grass, very predictable.

Lionel MESSI, (7): As usual MESSI was THE attacking presence on our team tonight. Much like TEVEZ he was all alone up top with the ball, he made great runs all night at the defenders and would always beat at least 2 or 3. He played well with TEVEZ but an attacking midfielder was missing in support to help MESSI when he was caught up. Some great touches on the ball, but very bad attempt to finish HEINZE's cross in the first half. You would expect the best player in the world to finish that even if it is on his right foot. MESSI played well but it’s hard for him to have a superb game when he is the only one that had passion to attack and score.

Substitutes

Gonzalo BERGESSIO, (N/A): I would rate him but with no midfield he was pretty much useless up top with an altitude-winded MESSI. Showed some pace but could do nothing against five defenders.

Juan Sebastian VERON, (N/A): In for GAGO in the 75th. Tried to force balls into the attack but in the end did nothing to the game.

Diego MILITO, (N/A).

After looking back at the game, a very poor and disappointing loss for us. No passion was shown by anybody to advance the ball or even hold on to it and pass it around. Many things will be discussed and many things may be brought up as to what needs to change before our next
big match.

But I don’t know how much of it will happen because we do not know if MARADONA will want to make tremendous changes to the squad and throw together some new faces for such a big game against Brazil.

Maybe that is what needs to be done to shake things up. Another sad altitude loss for us, but we are still in a qualification spot at the moment and in the end that’s all that matters. As long as we get to South Africa.