FIFA World Cup 2018: Argentina

In 2014 Lionel Messi and his Argentine team-mates were so close to reaching their goal. In the World Cup final, they played well and fought with Germany the whole game. In the end, Mario Götze scored the decisive goal in extra time. One year later Argentina finished second again, this time in the Copa América they lost against Chile. 2016 the third final in a row Argentina lost again, again to Chile in the Copa América Centenario.

Especially, for Lionel Messi those losses were hard. Hes been compared to Diego Maradona since the start of his career. While hes won everything with his club, he couldnt earn a trophy with his country. Now thirty-years old, this World Cup could be one of his last runs at a title. In four years he will be 34 years. This is his last World Cup in his prime.

Argentina have a bunch of good players and definitely count to the extended circle of favourites for winning the World Cup. Besides, Lionel Messi, they have many good offensive players like Paulo Dybala, Gonzalo Higuain and Angel Di Maria. However, they still struggled during the qualification for the World Cup. To reach the group stage they had to rely on the genius moments of Lionel Messi against Ecuador. One of the biggest problems was the lack of defensive effort and the bad structure in possession, they relied on the individual class of their stars.

Jorge Sampaoli, who took over the coaching job last summer, still tries to implement his philosophy. In the friendly games this year, Argentina looked quite different compared to the game against Ecuador. The structure in possession was better, against Italy they dominated the game. However, they still struggled with individual mistakes defensively, against Spain they lost without Lionel Messi 6-1. But, they are on the right path and you can expect a better Argentine team at the World Cup.

Squad

Coach: Jorge Sampaoli

Goalkeepers

Willy Caballero, Nahuel Guzmán, Franco Armani

Defenders

Nicolás Otamendi, Christian Ansaldi, Gabriel Mercado, Marcos Rojo, Federico Fazio, Nicolás Tagliafico,

Midfielders

Lucas Biglia, Javier Mascherano, Giovani Lo Celso, Éver Banega, Manuel Lanzini, Marcos Acuña, Maximiliano Meza

Forwards

Lionel Messi, Ángel di María, Eduardo Salvio, Paulo Dybala, Sergio Agüero, Gonzalo Higuaín, Christián Pavón

Due to the injury of Sergio Romero during the preparation for this World-Cup, Willy Caballero who is excellent with the ball on his feet will most likely start in goal for Argentina.

With Otamendi and Fazio, Sampaoli has two ball-playing centre-backs, especially Otamendi who improved a lot over the course of last season. Marcos Rojo will compete for a starting spot as well but doesnt look that comfortable either defensively nor offensively. Jorge Sampaoli is going to play with a back-four, in a back-three Javier Mascherano could take the central spot. The former Barcelona player is still a crucial part in possession but lacks the speed to defend quick attackers.

The fullback position is the weakness of Argentina, although they have an interesting player with Tagliafico of Ajax Amsterdam on the left-side. However, he lacks the experience on international level. On the right-side, Gabriel Mercado of Sevilla could start for Argentina.

In midfield, Lucas Biglia will probably take the spot as the deep-lying playmaker. The midfielder of Lazio is really important because of his patient passing. Biglia will get support from one central midfielder who will be positioned behind the midfield-line of the opponent or deeper in order to give Biglia a passing option. For this position they have different candidates, Giovani Lo Celso of Paris St. Germain and Ever Banega of Valencia will fight for that spot.

The other spot in the centre is reserved for Lionel Messi who will have the freedom of moving between the lines from which he can start his dribbling after receiving the ball. Furthermore, the wingers of Argentina normally push inside. With Angel Di Maria, Eduardo Salvio or Manuel Lanzini Sampaoli nominated players who can also play between the lines in tighter spaces.

Up-front Sampaoli can choose between Gonzalo Higuain and Sergio Agüero. While Higuain participates in the combination play by moving deeper and play lay-off passes Agüero offers a more flexible option who can move a lot up-front and therefore makes life hard for a defence. And then there is Pablo Dybala who can play as an additional striker or instead of Lionel Messi between the lines.

Tactics

At the latest press conference, Sampaoli pointed out that he prefers a 2-3-3-2 during the offensive phase. So, they probably are going to play with a back four. The fullbacks stay wide in order to stretch the opponent while the centre-backs are responsible for the build-up. Together with the goalkeeper and the defensive midfielder, they form a diamond in possession which creates multiple diagonal passing options.

The next three-man line is positioned between the lines of the opponent in order to create triangles and put pressure on the opponent´s defence. The aim of Argentina is to reach the space between defenders and midfielders. With Di Maria and especially Lionel Messi they have a lot of talent in those spaces.

Here Bigilia support