Saturday, June 12, 2010

ARG 1-0 NGA: Player ratings

Dave P is in Japan and I still didn't get his usual player ratings. It's very late in Japan right now, so I think he won't be able to send them over.

That is why I'm stepping up to replace him for today and see what I can do with this usually controversial stuff.

Sergio ROMERO: 6
He gave us (I think I speak on behalf of all of us) the security you ask in a goalkeeper. They say goalkeepers from good teams are asked to respond only a handful of times per match as they are not always under attack. A great debut for what we hope is a long World Cup career for him, keeping a clean sheet. Needs to improve his delivery (and that pony tail), but that would be asking too much.

Martín DEMICHELIS: 5
The weakest from our defensive unit. Opposite to what ROMERO did, he never transmitted that kind of security that you need from one of the anchors of your team. It's true he had to cover some extra space because there weren't four at the back today, but that's no excuse. Sloppy at times. He needs to improve if we are to progress deep into the month of July.

Walter SAMUEL: 6
Rock-solid. I'm not giving him a higher grade because of that ball he lost at the beginning that left us all out of breath. He did recover well enough in that same action and after that he was his usual self. Didn't hesitate to send it out of bounds when being under fire in a Nigerian counterattack.

Gabriel HEINZE: 7
Before you criticize me because you think he deserved a higher grade, you won't see me giving away too many 9s or 10s. He scored and he helped Argentina win three points. His goal was also crucial to settle our team down a bit and frighten away our nervousness. He didn't make any of his trade-mark fouls and the only action in which I remember he scared me was when he went too fast for a tackle and exposed our defence to one very dangerous attack on the right by the Super Eagles. I want to meet the person (if someone was crazy enough) who bet on Argentina winning 1-0 with him being the scorer! I'll be happy to go to his/her new mansion, because that would have paid like 4000000 to 1.

Jonas GUTIERREZ: 4
A victim of playing out of position. A gamble that could have cost the team dearly. The only moments in which Nigeria were dangerous in the first half were when he lost the battle with Chinedu OGBUKE OBASI, who was more difficult for him to mark than for me to spell! You can't fault him in the 'sacrifice for the team' department. Improved dramatically when he was moved to the left hand side of our midfield. If it wasn't for that, he would have probably gotten a 3 from me. Plus...he was the only one of our players to see a yellow card.

Javier MASCHERANO: 8 (Man of the match)
My man of the match. He played one of the best games I remember from him. Calmed. Composed. A motor to help winning the ball back and then pass it to a team-mate. Committed only one foul and completed 59 of 73 passes. Great leadership from our captain.

Juan Sebastián VERON: 5
He couldn't control the pace of game the way Argentina expected him to do it. Diego gave him freedom of movement but he often choose the wrong areas of the pitch to chase a ball or an opponent with no back-up near him. He did play some neat passes between lines, but it was too little for the kind of performance the team expected from him. Concerned when he had to leave the pitch on 74 minutes.

Angel DI MARIA: 4
Anonymous in his World Cup debut. Never got involved in our attacking circuit with MESSI-TEVEZ and HIGUAIN. Never made one of his trade-mark runs on the wing. Never tried to take on a defender and beat him one-on-one. Completed only 15 of his 35 passes. Had one shot (off target). The only two good things I can think of were: 1. When he chased a ball all the way to the corner flag to prevent Nigeria from winning a corner kick. 2. When he played a nice one-two with MESSI in the second half. We need to see more from him.

Lionel MESSI: 8
Just edged by MASCHERANO in my personal appreciation but gets the same grade. He was the player we see every week playing for Barcelona. Everytime he was on the ball, you could hear the crowd and you could see how a few green shirts would try to surround him to prevent him from making one of his scintillating runs. Sometimes he played too far from TEVEZ and DI MARIA. Combined well with VERON and HIGUAIN and if it wasn't for Vincent ENYEAMA, he could have had a hat-trick. If this is the kind of World Cup we will have from Lionel MESSI...then nobody can stop us from dreaming.

Carlos TEVEZ: 6
If you go to FIFA's website and access the Matchcast for Argentina-Nigeria, you will see that TEVEZ was the player who ran the most of all of the Albicelestes. He clocked 9,546 km (3 metres more than HEINZE, though I think they are counting Gab's crazy run to the bench after scoring!). I give TEVEZ 10 for effort, but I always take that for granted. I want to judge Carlitos more for what he provides on the ball. Especially on offence. I can think of a great pass to HIGUAIN that could have been an assist had Pipita scored it. Other than that, he didn't let his mark when we need him most. He needs to play more and run less. You can't be unhappy with his performance but you have to admit we can expect more from the real TEVEZ.

Gonzalo HIGUAIN: 4
I was tempted to give him a 3. But you have to recognise that, despite missing a few clear chances, he always made himself available and he put himself in good positions for his team-mates to find him. That said, when you are the number 9 for Argentina, people will demand that you score goals first and foremost. That's what Pipita should have done today. Diego took a long time to replace him.

Subs:

Maxi RODRIGUEZ: N/A
I won't give grades to players that play less than 30 minutes. I could tell you about Maxi, though, that he helped our team show some composure in midfield when the match was entering 'crazy time'. It was the moment of the game in which Nigeria were going all out for the equaliser and Argentina were trying to keep the ball and make time go by. He did make a mistake when he kept a ball and ended up giving Nigeria a goal-kick instead of passing it back to a wide-open MESSI who was in front of goal.

Diego MILITO: N/A
It seems to be always the same old story for him. Get on the pitch when things are hot and only get to play a handful of minutes. Today there were 12 minutes. Not enough to judge him. He was released on a counter-attack in one of the first balls he touched. Tried to stop and cut inside (his trademark move), but he couldn't control the ball and lost it. Then, he played a beautiful one-two with MESSI that sent Lio in front of goal only to be denied by a Nigerian defender. Nothing much. If anything, it was good that MARADONA considered him and that the nervousness of the World Cup debut are history for him now.

Nicolás BURDISSO: N/A
Replaced DI MARIA in what was a clear message from Diego to tighten things up at the back. He relieved Jonas from his punishment of playing RB and had no real impact on the game. He only played 5 minutes.

28 comments:

Happer said...

Seba, the title: ARG 3-0 NGA?

Anonymous said...

Heinze's header was incredible, one of the best and powerfull headers i ever saw at the wc! from at least 12 meters distance, BOOOOOM!

and he is known a good header, so it is not soooo surprising he scored after the corner. i am sure they practised this a lot in training.

we definetely had problems in the defense. i watched right now the shitty england. i hate them but they always defend with 8 men, even if USA attacked only with 2 men. In Argentina 6 players defended against 4, but more players should defend.

but it was the perfect start. a 5:0 win with 3 messi goals would be a nightmare!!! everybody would scream: Argentina are the best, Messi is the best and so on.

i hope for another 1:0 after setpiece victory against corea, without leaving any substance. today nobody got injured and nobody physically exchausted. VAMOS ARGENTINA!

Vitalij from Germany

Anonymous said...

next match stay with the 4-3-3 but start burdisso in right back instead of jonas, start milito instead of higuain

Happer said...

Good ratings as ever Seba. However, from what I saw, I think Tevez did a fine job today. He connected well with Messi and Higuain, had a few killer passes that should have been transferred to goals. I'd give him a 6.5 or 7.

I agree with Vitalij, it's not necessary to have a 5-0 win, although a score of 2-0 would prevent us from sweating in the last minutes.

I'm very happy right now, not only because we have 3 points, but also because the overrated England only got a draw against USA. Look at how they kept crossing the ball with the closed eyes in the last 20 minutes. This team is going to nowhere near the quarter-final. Hahaha poor England.

Hiep from Vietnam.

gebrihell said...

honestly, we need to buck up. That said, 3 points is 3 points; we need to settle down our midfield. Let Messi, Tevez and Higuain/Milito do the football for us. The rest must concentrate on their jobs. We virtually played with 10 men today; di Maria was absent really. For me in the next game Burdisso must start together with Maxi and Milito. Another good idea would be to utilize the 4-2-3-1 like Inter Milan.

Back Four: Burdisso, Demi, Sam and Gab

2 Central Mid: Jefecito and the REAL Veron

3 Attackers: Messi, Tevez and Maxi/Kun

Lone Striker: Diego Milito

Sebastian said...

This is absolutely hilarious!

http://www.worldcupblog.org/world-cup-2010/englands-first-world-cup-goal-as-brought-to-you-by-itv-or-not.html?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

M13 said...

I commend you Seba for your excellent ratings. Argentina made hard work of a team they should have buried within 30 minutes. The 3 points are in the bag but the performance left a lot to be desired. I have never seen an Argentinian team fluff so many easy chances. If this had happened against Brasil or Holland in a knock out game Argentina would have lost.

Messi was excellent but he needs the supporting cast to step up. He cannot do it alone. There were too may passengers. Maradona should drop Hinguain for his wastefulness. I was one of those who clamoured for his exclusion but he did not look like an international striker. He missed 3gilt edged opportunities and at this level it is not good enough. Deigo Militto should replace him as he is the man in form and appears to be the man for the big occassion.

Tevez is another player who flatters to deceive. He was so poor in the WC qualifiers that his lack lustre performances were partially to blame for the team's difficulty in scoring.His goal ratio is poor and it is not enough to be just hard working. There has to be more of an end product but all you get is hustle and bustle.

Di Maria was invisible but in mitigation it could be claimed that he played as a left wing back. Jonas should replace him in that position and Burdisso should return to the defence.

i do not know what Veron brings to the team and do not understand his inclusion.His shooting is wayward, set piece delivery is sub standard, and his goal ratio is poor. He is not an all action midfielder like Gerrard. He is too slow and too old to have a central role. He simply does not deliver, Pastore or Maxi should replace as they are more mobile and pose more of a goal threat.

If the right changes are made Argentina will flourish but if Maradona persists with the same players so that he can include certain individuals Argentina will find it very difficult against top tier teams in the later rounds.

Anonymous said...

seba-veron was our worst player.
what did he do?and even the commontators said he was bad,this is what we say as i watched the game with some supporters from other teams and we all agreed on the following on verons game today = their was little link up play, little movement, 1 killer pass, played players into trouble, passed back and stoped fast movments, a lot of simple misplaced passes to no one or the opposition, looked very tierd quickly
sadly we will not win the w.c if he is out playmaker.
pastore has to be in his place.
tavez again lots of running but little end product.
hig was unlucky as was messi as the goalkeeper had the game of his life.
jones was poor.
demi has looked bad since the kick from ballck, i saw him go for headers with his eyes closed and thats why he loses the ball in flight n.b he ws bad in the champs lge final as well.
i still want hig and milito together.
end of the day 3 points but a lot of work to do.
n.b i had eng v u.s as a 2-2 draw .they all laughted before k.o and i really enjoyed the goal as i was with a few pommie suppoeters :)

Mike said...

I don't think DI MARIA should be judged on this performance. I agree he seemed non-existent most of the game, but he deserves another chance. he didn't get the ball very much.

MAXI should be starting for VERON. I think he is too old to keep up with the pace of the rest of the team.

Other than that i thought we played a good game. as Seba said MESSI could have had a hat trick if it wasn't for the Nigerian goal keeper. He looked calm, he wasn't greedy, and he made instrumental passes that could have resulted in goals.

The second half was a little scary at times, I can recall a couple of slip ups that made my heart skip a beat or two.

can't wait for thursday...
VAMOS VAMOS ARGENTINA!!!

Anonymous said...

where are the ones who were criticizing messi he's simply the best

Mohd said...

Mike-->

man how can you say Maxi should start instead of veron. in theory maybe I will perform better than veron, but the only player who can fill the play maker role much better than veron is Pastore (since Banega was not chosen..but the debate now is over).
if it was for me i would not have even selected Maxi in the list of 30.

on the other hand, the reason why DiMaria disappeared? in my opnion its simply the Tevez affect. With Tevez on the field, DiMaria had to spend most of the time backing up veron and masche in the defensive end. notice how nearly none of Nigeria attacks came from DiMaria and Hienzi's side.

Tevez should be dropped to the bench and Pastore granted a start in midfield. since there is no way in hell Maradona would drop his friend veron, then at least I hope Pastore would partner Veron, Mache, and DiMaria in midfield. i believe then DiMaria will play better. Tevez can be a super sub.

and i would give Jonas another chance as a right back. its the midfield job to back him up just like they backed Heinzi up...

just hope maradona is the type of coaches who learn from matches and does not take the result for granted.

Anonymous said...

if we played like today against big teams who can actually finish, i'm sorry to say it, but we would have lost. I hope maradona can shore up the defense or else were doomed for a round of 16 exit

aaks said...

I want to add some points to TEVEZ and ROMERO.

TEVEZ created so many change of rythm with good passes.

ROMERO was pretty much solid all game.

Unknown said...

Higuain was awful. Veron off pace. Messi --will score a hattrick at some point in this tournament. He was spectacular. He could have had 3 goals and 3 assists.

Didn't understand what they were doing with DI Maria. Strangely absent.

Anonymous said...

once again, i don't want to see any hattricks from messi till the final.

remember his 4 goals against arsenal, or his hattrick against stuttgar. and then remember his zero goals and zero against inter!

better he scores one goal in every game in the ko-stage and a hattrick in the final, then 6 goals in the next two group-games. i don't want to become him the second miroslav klose: 5 goals in the group stage, then nothing, like 2002.

Vitalij

Anonymous said...

i think milito should start. He has great one touch to allow messi attack like he did today. Pipita has the same role with messi and tevez so i think he is better up front. Furthermore pipita miss easy goal which is surely at the back of the net if it is milito. He also gives variety to the team and good in the air.

Sir Raul

Anonymous said...

Dan said,
Lots of comments but keep these points in mind. These are facts, not fiction or speculation. We have not conceded a goal in four games. Uruguay, Germany, Canada, Nigeria. Jonas was a defender, not a midfielder today. We in effect played a 3-3-4.

FACT
If you want to put Burdisso instead of Jonas, you lose some forward movement from your backs. Burdisso should play instead of Demichelis who was again awful. He seldom comes up big and we cannot expect Samuel to constantly cover for him against better teams. He had 3 screw ups I counted in the game.

FACT
Veron is too old to play consistently at this level. When players get old they lose their legs. As the game went on, he was less and less accurate, and actually caused several giveaways;too many to count. Don't be tricked by his play against Greece and South Korea because those are inferior teams to Nigeria, just like Netherlands, Spain, Brazil are better than what we faced today. I would give Pastore the nod. Bring in Veron in the 60th-70th minute to close it up but let the young guy do the work.
FACT
Higuain and Milito are the same player but Milito is in form. I would give Milito the next game, but a warning for all Milito is MUCH slower than Higuain. Also, Messi missed more opportunities today than Pipita but in both Messi and Pipita's case the goalie played out of this world. Only guy I know that plays at that level consistently is Julio Cesar of Brazil.

CONCLUSION
If you swap out Milito for Higuain and don't change Veron you still are in the same spot. The reason Tevez was running so much is because Veron wasn't doing crap. My lineup would be as follows.
Tevez Milito Messi
Dimaria Mascherano Pastore
Heinze Samuel Burdisso Jonas
Romero

Nobody can beat this team.

salvio supporter said...

Jonas > Clemente Rodriguez. And that's all I'd change. Di María didn't get enough time with the ball, he did no mistakes when he had possesion of it, and he was defending just when we needed it, so he was ok, it's just the tactics. Same with Higuaín, whom I saw playing off position (right wing? he's a 9, isn't he?). I don't think Milito would have done better that way, he seems less skilled than Higuain in controlling the ball, but it's just an opinion.
Anyway, I see Maradona improved a lot, and I mean A LOT. The defense still worries me but it's not desperating anymore. And great to see al Negro Enrique and Mancusso talk with Maradona during the game, something I didn't see much often in the Qualifiers.

I'm TOTALLY happy to see Tevez and Messi finally work together. Messi did what I wanted from him, and if there were no more goals, thank the Nigerian goalkeeper for it.

And I'm also surprised by how little violence we saw in this match. I expected the Nigerians to break Messi in half, or to be more physical against him. If this has something to do with FIFA being more strict about physical contact, then Messi will shine.

I don't know what to say about Verón. Messi and Mascherano outshined him (just what we all want and what it should be). Didn't pay much attention to him, and don't remember him doing anything dangerous. By the way, I remember seeing him before getting into the field on the second half; some players were at the gate waiting for the rest of the team, and Verón was there, touching his leg. I wonder if he already was tired by then.

Anonymous said...

Anonymous, i agree with all of what you say except on jonas/burdisso.
jonas offerd nothing going forward and nothing in defence, hes not a wingback like micron.
back to 4-4-2 and not jonas as a roamer as today a better team would have done better against us.
the demi/jonas was a poor show today and does not work.
i would also drop demi as i said hes not the same since ballak injured him.
tevez a lot of huff and puff but no real end result
i think back to 4-4-2
romaro
?? sam bud heinze
messi mash past de maria
hig milito

Mike said...

Mohd-

when I say maxi over veron, I mean from the players that maradona played today. Pastore or maxi could start before veron, as long as veron doesn't start. Veron would be a
better substitute.

Orr said...

I think we can look at 3 important conclusion from yesterday's game:

1. our defense is our weakest link. they always say that you are meassured by your weakest link and it could be right regarding Argentina. what would it help if our attack score many goals but our defense seems not fit to handle the big teams in the final stages.Samuel Heinze and Romero are great and Samuel is truly a world class defender, but Demi had a really poor match and Jonas is not right back. I think that Otmandi and Burdiso can perform better but I know Maradona won't make any changes for next game.

2. midfield: you already said everything about Veron, but do we have a better player to pass the ball accurately to our strikers? we have a real problem there since Messi is not a playmaker and he moslty creates chances for himself. I thing Di Maria would improve in the next game. Maxi is a very good option as a substitute becasue he creatd changes in the game,but not good enogh to be in the first 11 from what I saw. I think we are stuck with Veron and mostly beacause Maradona likes him so much. Mascherano is amazing at defense but doesn't effect the offense game, that's just the way he is and won't change, which means that in the 4-3-3 formation the other two midfielders must create more chances for Messi-Tevez-Higuain. all of our chances came only from plays that Messi began, this is very not healthy for a team theat needs to win 7 games in a row. with that being said, there is also a good thing to say about them and that is that they controlled tha pace of game which is a good start.

3. it's not new that our offense is our best link. the best think to take from this game is the cooperation between Messi and Tevez. these couple can be the nightmare of every defender in this tournament. the problem is with Higuain which is not a winger nor a classic no.9. he had a great season in Real Madrid but failed to score goals in deciding matches. on the other hand we have Milito thats scored the winning goals for Inter in all of her final matches of this season, and he can play as a taget player for long balls. I still think Higuain should start beacause he is fast and dangerous,and if he scores next match he will start to gain self confidence, but Milito should play more than 15 minutes.

and a final remark. Nigeria's goal keeper is amazing. I know him because he plays at my country's (Israel) champion, I guess now not for long. against any other normal goal keeper (exept Cesar and Casias) the result would have been 3-0 and we would have been saying completely different things. so we should keep in mind that the only purpose of the group stage matches is to finish first. after all, we saw what happend to previous Argentina teams that playd good in the group stage.

Anonymous said...

Hey Orr, greetings to Israel!

yes the diffense must clearly improve, but it is not necessary that we find the best formation and the best form in the next game, we must find it in the ko-games. i really had the feeling that Argentina relied too much on their attacking skills, and sometimes doesn't concentrate on defense.

ok, i repeat myself for the 10th time, but i can't stop thinking about it. this was a really perfect day today, just a pity usa didn't win against england.

by the way, Argentina defeated nigeria now in all their 3 wc games, and always with a 1 goal margin.

however, in these games we scored all 4 goals from set pieces!!! that's amazing and shows again that the importance of set pieces at the wc. Go Argentina!

Vitalij

Batigol said...

8 years ago, we had the same scoreline against the same team in the same tournament. We also used the same method to score in that match in 2002, it was also a headed goal from a corner by a player with the first name as Gabriel.

The scorer in 2002 was Gabriel Batistuta, 8 years later, it was Gabriel Heinze this time.

Everyone should still remember what happened in the 2nd match after the 1-0 win over Nigeria 8 years ago.

My ratings:

Romero 8: Did not really have much to do, but he did well on what he needed to do and keeping a clean sheet.

Heinze 7: If not for the goal he scored, he would be rated as 6 for me, there were too many wrong passes by him.

Samuel 6: Did not play really well, made a serious mistake early in the first half, but made improvement after that.

Demichelis 6.5: A little bit better than Samuel as he made no major mistake.

Jonas 4: Firstly, why is he still wearing the Jonas shirt? I thought it is not allowed? On his performance, he did not know how to defend and mark at all, if we play against bigger teams we would suffer. Please replace him with Clemente Rodriguez.

Mascherano 8: Man of the match for me. Great passing to organise the team at our own half of the pitch, great defending work throughout.

Veron 6: Too many wrong passes as the playmaker. Was slow to the ball for a number of times. But we do not have alternative, we have to continue to bear with him.

Di Maria 5: Constantly out of position, he was like playing as a centre-forward, he is not the Di Maria I know. Perhaps he was nervous as this was his first world cup match. Hope that he improves and Maradona to give him more chance.

Messi 7: Finally able to look dangerous with the Argentina shirt. Very skillful and he was the Messi we know in the Barca shirt. However, very poor finishing, I think it was due to the lack of composure.. he had been scoring those kind of chances in Barca shirt day in day out, but not for this match.

Tevez 5: He ran alot, but he ran without thinking. He made alot of wrong passes. I think his position in this team is not needed, it is just like a duplication of Messi's position. I rather Maradona bring on Maxi Rodriguez to play on the right of the midfield.

Higuain 5: Poor finish, poor passing and poor positioning. He was playing as right midfielder sometime, left midfielder sometime and centre forward sometime. He should have stay at the centre forward position to presure the Nigerian defenders, so that players like Messi and Di Maria would have more space to run.
Just like Di Maria, I think he was too nervous as this was his first world cup match. Hope that he improves and Maradona to give him more chance.


Subs:

M. Rodriguez 6: Almost earned a penalty. Played ok without any serious mistake.

Burdisso 6: Played ok also, no serious mistake.

D. Milito 6: Did not have enough time to score.

Rune said...

Well, my friends, here are my thoughts.
I am incredibly relived and happy that we won. In the opening game all that matters is the three points.

Every four year I get the same feeling as I did in the hours leading up to this game. Passion, passion, passion and pride. I just feel so proud to be part of this big family of argentinos. Watching the count down to kick off made my heart beat like crazy. I am 32. It was just like when I was 12, 16, 20, 24, and 28. It was even more intense. The national anthem......there was something in the eyes of the players and Diego that gave me goosbumps. It was so touching. Heinze's face, Mascherano's face, Messi's face, Diego's proud face. I stood on the floor in front of my TV with tears running down my cheek. It was an incredible moment. It doesn't get any bigger than this. Time stood still. I said a big thank you to God, for life and for the blessing it is to have this Argentina obsession with me through life. I will never EVER forget this feeling.

The game was quite good by us. Better than feared. Nigeria didn't wanna play, so it was difficult. But offensively I haven't seen our NT look as dangerous as in this game for a very long time. We created so many chances. 10 or 11 chances, I think. Messi was fantastic. 4 years ago Ronaldinho came into the wc as the best player on the planet, Brazil were big, big favourites. An immense pressure on Ronaldinho and Brazil. They flopped. Ronaldinho did very little. So the pressure Messi was under before this game was enormous, espessially after all the critic in Argentina. Messi played like he was obsessed. He did so many incredible things. Only the goal was lacking. This was probably the best game Messi has played for Argentina, and he suddenly did it right when it mattered the most. I am so proud that he is our boy.

I jumped up and down and screamed like hell when we scored, and passed out on the floor for some seconds. Heinze's goal was superb. A fantastic header by a true warrior. He would give his life for Argentina. His celebration, his face as he run to celebrate after the goal...I will NEVER forget this moment. A player that many of us have been saying bad things about, but he is a player with a never say die attitude and he is a leader and a fighter. He doesn’t hide. He is still not flawless, but I will never ever forget this moment. There was something very beautiful about Heinze scoring the match winner in Diego’s first world cup game as a coach. All I could think of and I could see the entire night after the game yesterday, was Heinze's face after scoring. His smile, his teeths, his tounge, his PASSION!!! Thank you for your passion! I love you forever, Gabriel Ivan Heinze!

It was painfull to see us wasting so many chances, but these things happen sometimes in football. Apart from Messi none of the other offensive players had a really good game. But we looked very dangerous when we attacked, using Messi in the hole between Nigeria’s midfield and defence. Higuain and Di Maria did disappoint me, I must admit. So did Jonas. But Jonas is not a right back, so it’s not his fault. I still want him to play right back when we face “weak” teams. Veron was ok. No reason to hammer him after this game. He lasts for one hour, we knew all this before the game. Tevez held on to the ball too long in some situations, he should have played more 1-touch passes. Mascherano was great, just what we needed in such a game. Romero looked very solid. Samuel looked solid, but as a team we looked a bit shaky at the back, in my opinion. But this will get better in the next game, I hope.

Anonymous said...

Why would u all think that we need to change approximately half of the line up when we won and should have won by bigger margin????

What are u thinking???? If we won 1-0 the way we beat Colombia at home where we were lucky to win, then u guys could say that we need a change. But not when we had at least 8 golden chances against a team that is surely better than Colombia.

Some of the guys that are being discussed:
1. Gutierrez: Yes I agree he looked confused n fragile out there, but the next game is against a weak team that would definitely not attack us. So, why not giving Gutierrez another shot to get him used to his RB position? No need Burdisso now...Burdisso is needed for the 3rd game where we have already won 2 times by then and would rest all of the starters.
2. Veron: Maradona clearly designs his team to be like Barca. Just like Jonas is his Alves, Veron is his Xavi. If he didn't play well in the first game, that means that someone else could be better than someone who's been training in the last 20 days playing in Xavi's role, named Veron??
3. Di Maria: heinze was reluctant to give him the ball, that's all. He won't disappear again next time, believe me...
4. Higuain: if he missed his chances by shooting it over or if he didn't get any chances at all during the game, then we should think of Milito. But out of our 8 golden chances, 3 of them were from Higuain. That means he's dangerous! The same Higuain also was criticized for missing his chances against Lyon, but 4 days after, Pellegrini still trust him and he scored 2 goals! How abt that???

Brazil,Spain both have their strong almost untouchable starting 11:
Brazil: Cesar; Maicon, Bastos, Juan, Lucio; Gilberto Silva, Melo, Elano, Kaka; Robinho, Fabiano.
Spain: Casillas; Ramos, Puyol, Pique, Capdevilla; Xabi, Xavi, Silva, Fabregas (Iniesta); Villa, Torres (Navas)

They build their chemistry. Our major weakness in WCQ was lack of chemistry...due to 120 players called. Now, let's build a chemistry. We need to work as a unit. A change is only needed when someone is clearly not good enough...not just based on a game.

I would stick with the same 11...

Principee

Anonymous said...

Mascherano was brilliant. Now, in case he picks up an injury or is out due to a few yellow cards, Who's our replacement??? Oh! Yeah! Bollati!!!
Maradonaa... you are a genius. I heard there is a player by the name Cambiasso who is not as good a player as Bolatti. May be he can learn a trick or two by watching Bolatti play! Maradonaa... you are a gem. Here is a news flash, after the Nigeria game Zanetti called up Maradona and thanked him for letting Jonas teach him how to play in that right back position! Maradona in return has allowed Garce to train Zanetti during his free time. Oh! Maradona you are simply great!! I heard that these days Banega is training with a 20 kg Jack fruit tied to his legs and a jack ass called Grondona tugging on his shirt. But still he has not succeeded in running as slow as Veron. And without beating Veron's record of being the slowest man on the football field, Maradona will not consider him for the national team. Maradonaaaa.... you are phenomenal!!!!!!

NINAN

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