Off-Topic: Argentina National Team

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what a day .finally saw messi live in action.

even if argentina didnt play particularly well i must confess its just a different feeling seeing messi live is a fantastic feeling.the crowd of 90000 was hysterical and one thing was crystal clear that they were there to see messi and messi only.the best moments were when the people in the lower tier stormed in front of the fencing everytime messi went to take a corner.

a large section was actually very displeased with the rest of the argentina . unexpectedly venezuela got a great reception which was great to see.

I wanted to go, but the overall cost was a little prohibitive. I didn't want shitty tickets, and the good ones cost quite a hefty sum for my liking. Plus air costs, hotel. Nah.

got to see and hear the tremendous fan following barca has in our city.dont know if they are bandwagoners

Actually Messi dodges all the fans at the airport. People waiting him here (VIP gate)


but he enteres from another gate

billionmillion wrote:

Doesn't even smile once lol

english_jewel wrote:

billionmillion wrote:

Doesn't even smile once lol

Lol..This is in Malayalam..

Like Giovanni said Messi is just like an Emotionless Robot.. Atleast Masch smiles there..Or maybe he's just being Humble and respectful..

Very hard to draw conclusions out of this friendly. The players looked tired. It was a distinct "friendly" environment, unlike in past friendlies for Argentina. Sabella only had 2 days of training to get through the ideas what he wants his players to portray. All in all, other than Sabella's preferred formation and starting eleven, I don't think we learned much. I'm waiting for the qualifiers to draw conclusions.

Surag.Blueguy wrote:

english_jewel wrote:

billionmillion wrote:

Doesn't even smile once lol

Lol..This is in Malayalam..

Like Giovanni said Messi is just like an Emotionless Robot.. Atleast Masch smiles there..Or maybe he's just being Humble and respectful..

I have seen him smile before.

-¿Qué sensaciones te regaló Calcuta?

-Es increíble, no esperaba que en la India fuera a recibir ese cariño que me demostraron desde que llegué, y la verdad que estoy agradecido por cómo se comportaron conmigo y con toda la selección.

-¿Hay alguna imagen que hayas visto aquí y no te la puedas sacar de la cabeza?

-En lo humano, la pobreza que hay en las calles, que, en definitiva, es mucho más importante que cualquier otra cosa en el mundo y todos deberíamos tomar conciencia de que hay prioridades que se deben atender. En lo personal, me sorprendió la cantidad de gente que había a las 4 de la mañana, cuando llegué. La que hay cuando nos vamos a entrenar, cuando salimos a la cancha, el ingreso en el hotel, que está prácticamente lleno, con muchos indios con la camiseta argentina.

Quotes by Messi regarding India

BarrileteCosmico wrote:-¿Qué sensaciones te regaló Calcuta?

-Es increíble, no esperaba que en la India fuera a recibir ese cariño que me demostraron desde que llegué, y la verdad que estoy agradecido por cómo se comportaron conmigo y con toda la selección.

-¿Hay alguna imagen que hayas visto aquí y no te la puedas sacar de la cabeza?

-En lo humano, la pobreza que hay en las calles, que, en definitiva, es mucho más importante que cualquier otra cosa en el mundo y todos deberíamos tomar conciencia de que hay prioridades que se deben atender. En lo personal, me sorprendió la cantidad de gente que había a las 4 de la mañana, cuando llegué. La que hay cuando nos vamos a entrenar, cuando salimos a la cancha, el ingreso en el hotel, que está prácticamente lleno, con muchos indios con la camiseta argentina.

Quotes by Messi regarding India

please alfred can you translate it?

What feelings Calcutta gave you?

'It's amazing, is not expected that India would receive the affection shown me since I arrived, and I'm really grateful for how they behaved with me and the entire selection.

- Is there any picture you've seen here and you can not get out of my head?

-In the human, the poverty in the streets, which ultimately is more important than anything else in the world and we should all be aware that there are priorities that must be met. Personally, I was surprised how many people there at 4 am, when I arrived. Which is when we go to train, when we go to court, the entry into the hotel, which is almost full, with many Indians with the Argentina shirt.

sagnik92 wrote:got to see and hear the tremendous fan following barca has in our city.dont know if they are bandwagoners

most are bandwagoners.. sad but true..

diptiman wrote:its all bout messi not argentina

its really sad.. messi ,messi messi

forget the argentina team , the venezuelans havent got any respect whatsoever.. instead of their team , the paraguay team have been depicted on hoardings with messi.. imagine!!

I hate to admit this but I agree with you. I was unhappy with the way my nation's organizers handled this event with too much focus being on Messi and the Venezuela team not given enough respect. Anyway as far as we are concerned what should be the focus is on developing the Argentina national team. Finding the right formation and the players. Then having Messi's genius is what gives you that extra fillip. However without a proper structure in place even Messi can't achieve great things with this team as has been shown several times. I will end by stressing on the acronym of team.

TEAM = Together Everyone Achieves More

I would say that the formation used in this game was reminiscent of the first formation Sergio Batista used before he became obsessed with the fantasy like ideas of playing like Barcelona and using a false number nine. This formation then as now used a true number 9 in Higuain. Messi technically is on the right but actually has a free role and is of course the main play maker. Where Sabella has changed it possibly for the better is by making the midfield more forward thinking by using Lucho instead of Gago and R.Alvarez instead of Banega.

messixaviesta wrote:I would say that the formation used in this game was reminiscent of the first formation Sergio Batista used before he became obsessed with the fantasy like ideas of playing like Barcelona and using a false number nine. This formation then as now used a true number 9 in Higuain. Messi technically is on the right but actually has a free role and is of course the main play maker. Where Sabella has changed it possibly for the better is by making the midfield more forward thinking by using Lucho instead of Gago and R.Alvarez instead of Banega.

I agree with you. Batista's system before he became "Pep Batista" obsessed with Barca was not bad and in that match against Spain there was a lot of promise. However, when he started using Messi as a False nine with a midfield that could not support it, the system totally broke down.
With Sabella, Lucho and Ricky is a step in the right direction. However they had pretty poor showings in the Venezuela match. Right now I would say it was because of lack of understanding, as well as nerves. Also, they only had 1 full day of training. That definitely sucks.
I thought that defensively we were okay, except for Rojo who definitely should not be the long term solution. Ansaldi is definitely the long term solution for LB. Otamendi was great(a few mistakes but he was not in the NT for a long time so he was nervous) and Dimichelis was surprisingly ok(however I would NOT use him for brazil 2014)

I still would use Pastore instead of Ricky, but that's just me

I think Banega and Pastore are much better options in midfield.

Nice post shini. I pretty much agree with everything except that I thought Lucho was good. After a long time we saw a box to box midfielder for Argentina who can give tempo and verve to the midfield. Once integrated more he can play even better. R.Alvarez wasn't bad but his naivety showed at times.

Now as to the question who we should use. Firstly Lucho, Banega or Gago. We need to see how well the latter does at Roma. Banega is good of course but he is naturally deep lying and also has a tendency of disappointing at key moments. It's close but at the moment I will go for Lucho. He plays with industry and maturity and I really like seeing Argentina have a box to box number 8 in midfield. As for R.Alvarez or Pastore, perhaps Pastore for now but he needs to develop the defensive side of his game. R.Alvarez needs to become more mature.

One important point is we must stop doing everything through Messi. Rather than trying to get a Maradona 1986 out of Messi, we would be better off trying to develop our team as a whole. Messi will of course be the team's best player but not every attack has to go through him. Playing Lucho and giving him sufficient importance can help to reduce the burden on Messi and make us more of a team I hope.

Please ignore. I made an unneeded post that I am unable to delete now.

What was the result?

free_cat wrote:What was the result?

1-0 to Argentina. All Messi's great plays went to waste but we won on a fluke goal which even though was a good Messi corner and a great header by Otamendi came about only due to shockingly poor marking.

So what did you all think about Argentina - Chile? Higuain - Messi has the potential to be the best striking partnership in the world, if they arent' already.

Impressive beating Chile by that much, but Argie are so hot and cold its ridiculous. Actually need some stable good management. For Messi's sake I hope they get this.

What formation are they now playing? I saw some weird players like Sosa starting. What would be the first XI?

My final question would be... How many of Messi, Higuain, Aguero and Di Maria should play? Are they compatible or not? I think there are too many talented individualists in this team. They should start trying to find players that work well together and leave it at that.

I also think its worrying that Banega should be so key to there prospects but he's so inconsistent.

Argentina's defence is also woeful.

The team is the perfect example of a Fifa team, work brilliantly on a video game, but horribly in reality.

BarcaKizz wrote:Impressive beating Chile by that much, but Argie are so hot and cold its ridiculous. Actually need some stable good management. For Messi's sake I hope they get this.

What formation are they now playing? I saw some weird players like Sosa starting. What would be the first XI?

My final question would be... How many of Messi, Higuain, Aguero and Di Maria should play? Are they compatible or not? I think there are too many talented individualists in this team. They should start trying to find players that work well together and leave it at that.

I also think its worrying that Banega should be so key to there prospects but he's so inconsistent.

Argentina's defence is also woeful.

The team is the perfect example of a Fifa team, work brilliantly on a video game, but horribly in reality.

Yeah Sosa is a Pecho Frio, I don't like him at all and he was awful. He shouldn't even be on Sabella's mind tbh, let alone starting over the likes of Pastore etc. They played a 442 vs Chile.

Do you think 4-4-2 is good? And can you answer my other questions.

Who would you start and what would your formation be... to get the best 'team' not players.

4-4-2 is alright, we're much more direct now. We'll see with more games how we play. My ideal team at the moment


I really want to play with Aguero but there just isn't room for him, he'll have to earn his spot over Di Maria or Higuain.

With Banega he is hit or miss unfortunately