Argentina 5 - 0 Canada - Player Ratings

Player ratings sent in by Dave P.

With all the controversy on who is going to the world cup and who is not going, we finally get to see some of the players who are officially representing us play. No Messi, Samuel, Demichelis, and Milito (All resting). A 5-0 victory over Canada, a decent win considering how weak Canada is, they had one chance the entire game and I think we possessed the ball for about 80% of the time. They barely pressured our back 4 and midfield and were content in sitting back and defending. There really was no test for our defenders and Romero was only needed once. In the first half we held possession all the time which carried over into the second half, we were a little wasteful with some chances and some of our crosses were off but Maxi's two goals were scored because of Jonas and Tevez's immense work rate. In the second half the same continued however this time Higuain was working much much harder, and set up Tevez's goal. Here are the ratings:

Romero 6: Literally was only needed once the entire game, but when he was needed he was there to save Burdisso's mistake clearance

Heinze 6: Not tested defensively the entire game, however, he did get forward well and combined well with Di Maria. Passionate and worked hard until he was subbed out.

Otamendi 5: Not tested, did everything he needed to do, missed a header early on but other than that just passed the ball around fine.

Burdisso 5: Same as Otamendi, had one slip up but other than that cannot really rate him because never was tested defensively

Jonas 7: Every game he seems to never go unnoticed in a positive manner. He is everywhere all game pushing down the right side from corner flag to corner flag. Good moves in the attack and high pressure all game amazing work rate.

Mascherano 6: Worked hard all game and really was never worked to hard in the defense but did break up a lot of passes and had a hard work rate all game.

Maxi 7.5: Early on combined well with Jonas and Tevez, beginning to find his form again worked hard down the line until he came off at halftime injured. But before he got hurt he did the damage in scoring a beautiful free kick and topping off the counter attack after a clever Tevez pass. I hope he is okay, because if he is in this form he can be dangerous like he was in 2006

Di Maria 6.5: Great finish by Di Maria, outside of the left into the upper right which came out of no where. This is his explosiveness as usual, he can do something amazing in the blink of an eye. He played well pushing forward and pressed the Canada defense all game. His crosses and corners were a little off today which are usually right on the money.

Pastore 6: Excited to see Pastore start, and early on he was linking up well with Tevez and Di Maria, the much needed link between the midfield and forwards was working well. However, as the game went on he got quiet and began to not play his good balls. Good move to get a foul called which allowed for Maxi's goal. And good pressure but expected a little more from him.

Higuain 5: Terrible start to the match by El Pipita, had 0 touches on the ball in the first 22 minutes, he was running hard but not close enough to Tevez when he needed to combine. He was a part of the lighting quick counter attack in the first half which got Tevez in to pass it off to Maxi, but a disappointing first half. The second half was completely different for El Pipita, he was working and running harder pushing more outside to try and cut i n. He had 2 good chances however both were put wide, but he did press hard which won him a ball which he unselfishly laid off to Tevez to score our 4th. Great speed displayed as well, just work on the finishing.

Tevez 8: Man of the match, Tevez continuing his from from Man City. He hustled all over the place all game until he got subbed out in the 70th min. He looked to take on defenders and did so well. Set up Maxi for his second goal, and scored his finish well by pressing and then getting into position to recieve Higuain's pass. Also, because of his pressure Canada passed the ball to Di Maria to score his goal. What work horse, great game by Carlitos in the absence of Messi.


Subs:

Veron 5: Came on at half time and played just behind Pastore, did well was great in possession and played some pretty good long balls, very calming feel whenever he is on the ball.

Bolatti N/A: in for Mascherano 59min: Did not really have to do much. Did not see much a difference in the midfield once Masch was subbed out, good work by Bolatti.

Clemente N/A: in for Heinze 59 min: Really was not tested and did not make any mistakes in his 30 mins.

Palermo N/A: in for Higuain 69 min: No impact.

Aguero 6 in for Tevez 70 min: Wow in for 3 seconds and beats the defender sideways and very powerful shot for the 5th goal. Other than the goal Aguero ran hard.

Garce in for Pastore 74 min: N/A

It was good to see our team play and have a forceful win without Messi, even-though Canada is a poor quality football team. Get excited for the World Cup its coming close and anything can happen in South Africa. I can't wait...I will be in Japan during the first 2 group stage matches and will most likely not have access to write player ratings but I will be watching and routing them on from Tokyo. I hope we can show the world our talent and I believe in our team and Maradona, we worked very hard all game today, great work rate.