No disrespect to Canada, but as opponents of choice this close to a World Cup; I’d have to question the opposition for Argentina.
Maybe nobody else would come. Maybe the intention was to leave home with bags packed and a comfortable and straightforward workout behind them. If that was the case then Argentina certainly did that last night.
I’ve seen some media outlets describe La Albiceleste’s performance as ‘impressive’, okay, fair enough, but I’d say you’d have to take the opposition into account. No easy games in international football? Found one.
I’ll give you a bit more on Argentina’s opponents in the group games soon, but it’s very unlikely that Nigeria, South Korea and Greece will roll over and ask for their belly to be tickled in the way Canada did.
Six of the Canadian players never actually stood up......
Starting with more of a back three in Otamendi, Heinze and Burdisso; El Diego gave a (proper, sort of) debut to Palermo’s Javier Pastore and to be fair the lad certainly looked the part with some decent prompting from midfield.
Leo Messi was rested (enter relevant conspiracy theory here), but not missed as Benfica’s Angel Di Maria and Man City’s Carlos Tevez frightened the life out of the Canadian defence.
Two early goals were nicely slotted home by Liverpool’s Maxi Rodriguez, with Di Maria claiming a tidy third before half time. A far more leisurely second half saw further goals as Canada continued to look like rabbits caught in the glare of a Ford Transit’s headlights. Gonzalo Higuain, who had ran around a lot, a heck of a lot in fact, but to little effect, set up Tevez for a fourth, with substitute Sergio Aguero claiming a fifth not long after coming on and showing how dangerous he is coming in from the left. Or off the subs bench for that matter.
Javier Pastore; on the way up, this lad
I’m not really sure you can analyse too much in the game as it was men against boys to be honest, but I’d guess it sets things up in a positive way. Everyone played well and Pastore, who could well be a major world star, has probably played himself into some sort of contention. Still just 20 though. As if that mattered.
El Deigo said:
''The guys understood we have no friendlies but international matches. We made our fans happy.
''We wanted to prove the players can do this and more. The Argentinean fans can be calm because we have good players.''
Very true. Let’s see how things go next time out.
Promised myself I’d write this without mentioning lumberjacks or Mounties.Bugger.
3 comments:
Any idea what Maradona's (most likely) first XI is after this fixture?
Lucho's exclusion was a surprise given how little creativity Argentina have in the middle without Riquelme (and Aimar), but Pastore could fill in that vacuum (as a sub most likely) and some of Maradona's choices do seem to be justifying themselves. Like Otamendi at right back.
As things stand, a lot of the creative reliance will be put on Di Maria, Messi and Veron, with Guttierez trying to pull defenders and midfielders out of position, and Higuain the (current) most likeley front man.
That's plan A, and I've never been convinced there is a plan B, short of asking Aguero or Tevez to magically produce something...........or lug the ball up to Palermo in the hope he can get his head on it.
Pastore probably has a good chance of any at making an impact because he offers a bit more creativity.
Good to you have you with us squire!
Thanks. I spotted your post on 606 so it wasn't all in vain!
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