Player Ratings: Paraguay 1-0 Argentina

By Dave P.

Wow, that’s all I have to say. I remember way back when MARADONA was first elected coach of Argentina how controversial it was but deep down inside I was a little happy to see our great player be coach of the NT. Oh how everything has changed, it has been a while since I have done player ratings and once again I am writing them with negative emotions. I can’t remember the last time I wrote these with a satisfied feeling. In the first 15 mins it felt as if our team was starting to get a little chemistry together but as the clock moved forward everybody drifted away from the mentality of winning. It seemed as if we were just going through the motions, no combination, just lazy passes and sloppy positioning. It’s not like we were
dominated by Paraguay, we just did not have any attack what so ever, which means eventually our defense was going to break down. Especially with our make shift defense at the moment.

Anyways here are my depressing ratings again…

Sergio ROMERO (5): Our best player on the night, he was not tested too often but came up with a few quick reaction saves. The goal that was scored on him he could have quite possibly gotten down to the ground quicker to parry the shot, but then again he is our tallest keeper and it is harder for him to get down compared to ANDUJAR or CARRIZO. Saved ZANETTI's butt at least 2 times when he was quick to come off his line and collect the ball. Good game.

Javier ZANETTI (2): In the beginning of the match was very quiet, but had a few good combination runs with MESSI and VERON. On the goal that was scored he was slightly out of position but the main thing was that he was not fast enough to keep up with HAEDO VALDEZ. I have always had good things to say for ZANETTI, but after tonight’s performance coupled
with his last 3 games I say its time for ZANETTI to move on. Not only was he too slow to catch HAEDO VALDEZ but also he seemed to be lost all game with whom he was defending.

Sebastián DOMINGUEZ (1.5): Wow! Another very shaky performance from a CB. This is exactly what we don’t need, he got beat by the Paraguayan strikers far to easily and too often throughout the game. Was probably the main reason why we conceded the goal. He pushed up way to far to help GAGO and MASCHERANO, which opened up space for HAEDO VALDEZ and spread the back 4 leaving the rest of our defense confused. I thought DOMINGUEZ was a fast player but after tonight, he proved that he is not a NT quality player.

Gabriel HEINZE (3): In the beginning HEINZE had some good tackles when DOMINGUEZ got beat which could have possibly saved us from further embarrassment. But like the majority of our team as the game went on no one seemed to know what playing football meant. He drifted all over
the place and became his reckless self. However that being said he was probably the best defensive player on the team tonight.

Emiliano PAPA (4): One of our most active players, which is sad to say because he is our left back. PAPA hustled up and down the entire left wing all game without ever losing his speed or tiring. Every time he joined the attack his quickness was a problem for the defense of Paraguay, however his final touch or cross never ended in anything positive. Still I was impressed with his endurance and determination. Good outing in a bad game for PAPA.

Jesús DATOLO (4): Played only the first half then LAVEZZI was subbed in at half time. DATOLO was very active and a bright spot for us in the first 20 minutes. He could not be slowed down and was able to beat defenders to get to the end line. Played in some crosses and one dangerous one that our short strikers would never be able to head. However, for some reason after the 20 min mark he drifted out of the game and seemed to not have the hunger that he had in his last two outings. Played good for not having any support from AGÜERO or MESSI.

Javier MASCHERANO (2.5): Very poor outing from MASCHERANO. You would expect his typical bulldog approach in helping out our back four, but instead he was too reckless and caught out of position too many times. On the goal that was scored, DOMINGUEZ was beat then GAGO and MASCHERANO both missed chances to poke the ball away and were beat. Not much else to say for Masche our captain acted nothing like a captain in tonight's consecutive loss. Should be embarrassed.

Fernando GAGO (2.5): Pretty much the same thing as MASCHERANO. GAGO played way too defensive and was part of the problem for why we had no support on any attacking runs. Every time he got the ball he would force a ball up to the attack, which would get us no where, just lose of
possession. Now I have seen GAGO play well before, but this performance was sad to watch. He had no clue what to do when he was on the ball and held on to it not just 1 second too long but 3 or 4 seconds too long. Sad to say but if this is the GAGO that comes to play he is not NT quality either.

Juan Sebastián VERON (1): Terrible. Through out the game VERON was too slow for the pace of our attackers and held onto the ball too long missing any chances that we had for combinations, which were few and far between. Had a few crosses but they were all wasted. All his set piece kicks were wastes as well. As the game went on you could see his tiredness
combine with his frustration build and it was inevitable that he was going to get a red card. Still was very stupid of him for once he get the red card that pretty much made our team concede. I don’t want to seem like a pessimist but he does not deserve to every be back on the
NT either.

Sergio AGÜERO (4): Was very active in the beginning of the game and played well with DATOLO, however not combining well with MESSI throughout his entire performance. AGÜERO worked very hard but no avail. Tracked down the Paraguayan defenders and ran at defenders which no one else, not even MESSI, was doing. Was subbed our for PALERMO in the 58min, which proved to be a dumb idea. No one was doing anything to help AGÜERO. Probably the hardest working player on the night.

Lionel MESSI (2): Hmm, usually I am the first one to compliment MESSI even in our games that we lose. However, in this game he was no where to be found ever. He did run hard, but barely was on the ball and never made any breath taking runs at defenders. You could see the frustration build as the game went on with MESSI. All his free kicks and corners were terrible. Yeah he may have been tired, but if you are considered the best player in the world then you should at least be some what of a threat to the opposition. PAPA was more of an attacking threat then MESSI tonight. Very sad performance for MESSI, I feel for him.

Subs:

Ezequiel LAVEZZI (4): Came in to start the second half and was a great choice by MARADONA. When the team was down and seemed that they did not have any fight in them the ball went to LAVEZZI and he would create or attempt to create an attack. He ran effortlessly and won some free kicks and corner kicks that could have been dangerous if MESSI could play a good
ball. Still when he was brought on our attack had no cohesion, which relates back to the fact that we have no attacking midfielder or player maker in the midfield.

Martín PALERMO N/A: Came on for AGÜERO in the 58th did absolutely nothing but win a header in the dying seconds that gave us our best chance all game but SCHIAVI could not get on the end of it. Would be a different rating if we had scored on that. Way too slow for the pace of the game even with fresh legs.

Rolando SCHIAVI N/A: Would not like to see him ever called up again, like PALERMO way too slow and was beat way to easily in the few minutes that he was in.

…So yeah another defeat in the books and we find ourselves in the 5th place 2 points behind Ecuador and only 1 point above Uruguay and Venezuela. Ok so we had a lot of injuries that limited some of our good defenders from being called up for this round, and hopefully they have speedy recovers for the upcoming October qualifiers. I have said it before and I will say it again, the past couple qualifiers have been sad for me to watch, we are losing our passion and ability to attack. I blame it all on the fact that we have no midfielder that can play with our strikers and pass and mover, also, not set tactic. Veron was supposed to do that but as we all saw the last two games he is no where near what he used to be and does not
deserve to play for the NT. What I think needs to be done, I don’t know how realistic it is. But I feel that we need MARADONA to quit or be fired. Many people think that if we do this that it will just cause more confusion. I disagree we are in a desperate position and are in
immediate need of help and change. Hate to say it but desperate times call for desperate measures, get MARADONA out of here, the first games that he coached we played well but that was because of his initial motivation factor. As the games have gone on we now see that MARADONA has no clear tactic at all and that he is making our players have no clue what we are doing while on the pitch. Get rid of MARADONA now! Bring in a interim coach, or BATISTA. Get a list of different players for the October qualifiers. New faces that will show their passion and willingness to help out their country in times of need, instead of playing the same old defenders and midfielders.