FIFA World Cup 2018 - Group D (Argentina, Iceland, Croatia, Nigeria)
- Thread starter LionNYC
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I see Iceland beating Nigeria tomorrow. So it's all going to come down to Tuesday, June 26 at 2 PM ET as NGA-ARG and ICE-CRO at the same kickoff times.
I blame Maradona. You get away with a handball that blatant and you curse your national team for decades.
Wow still haven’t come down off of that high. A lot of people said Argentina was doomed the minute they released their lineup. I think they’re a good team that’s poorly coached. A midfield led by Mascherano isn’t too scary. The Even the subs were odd. I thought Aguero actually had a decent game and created some chances. The subs should have come in midfield and with a tactical change. Higuain has zero impact on the game. They simply couldn’t find room to be able to get the ball to their forwards with any kind of space around them. Everything was down the flanks and Croatia pushed the wingers further into the corner and forced errant crosses or the ball was played back. They really just had a very poor game plan and Messi didn’t work his magic in the middle of the pitch to provide that creative spark.
Hint: Messi is great because he plays for Barcelona in a lopsided league.
I say that half tongue in cheek, but there’s truth to it. He’s not dominant on the national team stage because he plays competition that matches up much more evenly with Argentina than LaLiga teams do with Barcelona.
Holy god, Argentina is awful. Sampaoli clearly doesn't have what it takes to insist on a gameplan (if he even has one) with a team full of stars. Wretched.
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So many thoughts counter to so much here.
Arg:
Mascherano isn’t the reason Arg loses. He’s the reason they are in more games than they should be. Wake up, dudes.
They have too many exceptionally good attackers. Portugal doesn’t.
Their keeper situation is really bad.
Ottamendi is utter dog shit that was over paid for and is and has always been overrated.
Also, if you try to intentionally injure someone’s head, fuck you, you’re an asshole. So fuck you, Otto.
Finally, if you force midfields to go 3 deep, Croatia can damn near go 6 before anyone catches up with them. I’ve always been surprised they didn’t dominate like today. Glad they did.
Finally, fucking Lovren is what I call HAM. Dude has been amazing for like 3 (5?-6) months straight. Don’t point your attack towards him. Pointless. He locks shit down.
Arg:
Mascherano isn’t the reason Arg loses. He’s the reason they are in more games than they should be. Wake up, dudes.
They have too many exceptionally good attackers. Portugal doesn’t.
Their keeper situation is really bad.
Ottamendi is utter dog shit that was over paid for and is and has always been overrated.
Also, if you try to intentionally injure someone’s head, fuck you, you’re an asshole. So fuck you, Otto.
Finally, if you force midfields to go 3 deep, Croatia can damn near go 6 before anyone catches up with them. I’ve always been surprised they didn’t dominate like today. Glad they did.
Finally, fucking Lovren is what I call HAM. Dude has been amazing for like 3 (5?-6) months straight. Don’t point your attack towards him. Pointless. He locks shit down.
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Sampaoli put in Dybala on the forward right and then CONTINUED TO RUN ALL THE ATTACK UP THE LEFT. Jesus effing Christ. When Dybala *was* occasionally allowed near the ball he did some good stuff. But what a waste.
You can't play a 3-2-3-2, foregoing wingbacks, if BOTH YOUR CDMs AND YOUR CBs ARE OLD AND SLOW AND BAD. You can't try to run a pressing system with the same problems either.
You can't play a 3-2-3-2, foregoing wingbacks, if BOTH YOUR CDMs AND YOUR CBs ARE OLD AND SLOW AND BAD. You can't try to run a pressing system with the same problems either.
Sort of. Messi comes up massive against Madrid, so it´s not just about mis-matched teams.
https://www.theguardian.com/football/2018/jun/21/argentina-messi-shambles-croatia-world-cup
Jonathan Wilson generally knows his shit. Except I don´t think he gave Croatia enough credit for their defensive structure, which appeared immaculate. But to your point about a lopsided league, I think it´s more that at Barca he´s surrounded by better pieces. Or put another way, it´s not that he plays so great for Barcelona because they´re playing in a lopsided league, but that he struggles for Argentina because he´s playing in a lopsided team. From the article:
Paulo Dybala hit upon the truth in an interview earlier in the year: Messi is simply too good. Dybala said he found him almost impossible to play with because the temptation is always simply to give him the ball.
The Total Soccer Show guys get quite exercised about how poor Argentina was, starting at 31:36.
https://tfss.libsyn.com/argentina-v-croatia-australia-v-denmark-france-v-peru-review
https://tfss.libsyn.com/argentina-v-croatia-australia-v-denmark-france-v-peru-review
I think were saying the same thing regarding quality of teammates creating lopsided league environments. Messi is better for Barcelona because his teammates are so good - what defense can focus on him when they have Suarez et al to also deal with? And he’s great when given the opportunity to go 1v1 without the defense collapsing on him. But Messi isn’t capable on a regular basis to carry the team on his back, whereas Ronaldo is forced to do that regularly and is successful in doing so. In any game of team-pickem, I’d start with Ronaldo as my first pick every time.
Argentina needed to have left some aging stars at home and bring younger, hungrier players. There are always 2-3 teams at a World Cup of which this is true, and they are the shining example in 2018.
The was true for the USMNT. Except that it should have been the majority of the roster left at home so that younger, hungrier, and exceedingly more talented players could have easily secured qualification.
EDITED to fix mistake.
So, if I am reading this correctly, Argentina need to beat Nigeriaby 2 goals or more and hope that Iceland does not beat Croatia.
If both Iceland and Argentina win, it comes down to goal differential, and Iceland has a one-goal advantage. If Iceland beats Croatia by one goal less than Argentina beats Nigeria, then the goals scored tiebreaker controls and after that the disciplinary tiebreaker.
All of this is just a theoretical exercise anyway, since there seems very little chance that Argentina can get its act together enough to do anything but lose.
So, if I am reading this correctly, Argentina need to beat Nigeria
If both Iceland and Argentina win, it comes down to goal differential, and Iceland has a one-goal advantage. If Iceland beats Croatia by one goal less than Argentina beats Nigeria, then the goals scored tiebreaker controls and after that the disciplinary tiebreaker.
All of this is just a theoretical exercise anyway, since there seems very little chance that Argentina can get its act together enough to do anything but lose.
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