Despite nearly 60% possession and numerous attempts of organized assaults, the defenders of Fifa U-20 World Cup title weren't able to gain victory over Czech Republic.
The Argentine youngsters rushed forward at the sound of the whistle and fought a 90 minute offensive battle. Mauro Zárate, Serigo Agüero, Maximiliano Moralez and Ever Banega were all very active through out the game, showing high degrees of experience and professionalism. They created numerous scoring chances, but the boxy midfield of Czech republic was able to maintain good control over the spaces, and didn't allow much chances from the good positions on top of their box. Instead, it was the Argentines that let lose some freekicks, luckily Federico Fazio was there to defend, and none of them went into back of the net. Fazio also showed his remarkable ability in the air, perhaps something our senior side lacks and could take advantage of in near future.
The field used was of synthetic grass, and Boca's Ever Banega might of been the only Argentine on the pitch with experience on such surface. So it came at no surprise that Banega was the only player looked very comfortable on this field. Never the less, Czech had to pull out a 7 men defense towards the end to preserve their 1 point. Our players did well on an uncomfortable pitch, and not getting a win had a lot to do with the conditions of this match.
However, in the past 5 world youth championships where Argentina reached final, they won each of their respective opening matches. So something is different this time around. Perhaps a hint that this journey won't be as smooth as in the previous years.
Also noticeable was the beautiful positioning of the Czech keeper Petr Radek (yet another Petr from Czech). He made the stops look easy, while some of the Argentine shots on goal were genuine chances.
Well, it was a good game. I only wished our boys would of loosen up a little. After all, they should have the skill advantage over most of their opponents. Next game would be against Panama in the eve before 4th July. With all 4 teams going into 2nd match holding just 1 point, it's a fresh start, and a new chance for the U-20 Albicelestes. After the remaining group matches, they will move to a different stadium for knockout stages. This awful synthetic surface shouldn't remain a problem for much longer.
It's REALLY HOT down there. Mercury stack constantly points over 100 degrees Fahrenheit, and the humidity is high. This hot and humid weather in the lowlands of Venezuela lasts all year long. Annual temperature usually end up in the high 80s (28 degrees celsius). With weekend matches played in the afternoons, to cope with the weather will be one of coaches' top priorities.
Basile had led our boys onto some pool trips, accompanied also by their families and friends.
The first game win against US was very helpful. With 3 points and 3 GD in our pocket, we can now relax a little, and hide a little from the blazing sun. Let the other teams fight it out, preserve our energy, and get ready for the knockout stages.
Rumors of Riquelme going to Atletico Madrid with Diego Forlan had surfaced. I was immediately saddened because the recognizable possibility of such move. Month or two ago, Boca Junior had claimed they did not have the financial capability to keep Roman, and Villarreal had confirmed that he would not return to the Yellow Submarines after his loan contract with Boca had expired.
With Fernando Torres moving to liverpool, Atletico will likely try to reacquire a striker. With their financial capability, buying Forlan to partner up Aguero wouldn't of been much of a problem. But now they want Roman too, and there's not a damn thing El Submarino could do about it...
I've been a long time Villarreal fan, since when she was struggling in Spanish Segunda División in the 80s. My first Jersey was a Villarreal Jersey, and I've fell in love with the Yellow Submarines since the first sight.
Little did I know, to remain a faithful fan of Villarreal would of been such a struggle, a hard and long one. It took 10 years for us to get the promotion, only to be relegated again right the way.
But it was an experience worthy of every bit of the pain and tears.
Without having the financial backing like Spanish giants such as R.Madrid, Valencia and Barcelona, Villarreal remained in the Primera División after its second promotion, and little by little forced its way onto international stages. By placing 3rd in Primera División after 2003-04 season, Villarreal finally appeared in Champion's League for the first time.
Against european giants, our players fought their hearts out. Tying ManU twice to remain undefeated throughout the group stage; defeating Rangers in 8th finals; and finally beating Inter Milan in quarter finals... El Submarinosplayers showed the world what little clubs could do, and put all those deep pocket bum teams to shame.
But the struggles endured by Villarreal fans would continue. With Diego Forlan's injury, we not only lost 1-0 aggregate to Arsenal, the entire LFP season was jeopardized. With a 7th finishing after the season, we failed to place in any prestigious european competition. With the departure of Roman and Sorin, the future of Villarreal looked never so dim.
2006-2007 season started out difficult, at mid point Villarreal was out of sight of even Intertoto Cup. But to pull ourselves up by the bootstraps is what we do. With 8 consecutive wins towards the end of season, el submarinomanaged to defeat Barcelona, Real Madrid, Valencia and Seville. By doing so she placed 5th in LFP and earned entrance to UEFA Cup.
So now, maybe we'll see Forlan go to Atletico with Roman, maybe we won't. But you know what? Villarreal fans aren't really worried about it! We're used to hits like this. Give your best shot, and we may fall, but I guarantee you'll see us getting back up, standing taller than ever before.
Gracias Villarreal. I am eternally a loyal fan ofEl Submarino Amarillo.
The young guns of Argentina will begin their U-20 World Cup campaign tomorrow, against a not so familiar opponent - Czech Republic.
This Czech side has the potential to pull of a surprise draw, or even a win over our U-20 team, despite our youngsters being the favorites of this tournament. As put forward by their star forward Thomas Pekhart, "Argentina are the favourites, but we've got to go and play our game. This match will show us exactly where we are, and I honestly think we can spring a surprise."
Argentina U-20 keeper Sergio Romero responded: "We've got a number of objectives at this tournament, but the main one is to play seven games. That's what we're here for and we're hopeful of achieving just that."
Don't be upset because the whole country is focusing on Copa America. We care about you youngsters just as much. Don't forget, you are the future of Albicelestes. You're wearing the same jersey so many of our heros had worn.
U-20 Argentina lineup:
# - Name - DateOfBirth - Position - Club - Height - Weight 1 ROMERO Sergio - 22/02/1987 - GK - Racing Club (ARG) - 191 - 86 2 FAZIO Federico - 17/03/1987 - DF - Sevilla FC (ESP) -194 - 88 3 INSUA Emiliano - 07/01/1989 -DF - Liverpool (ENG) - 173 - 82 4 MERCADO Gabriel - 18/03/1987 - DF - Racing Club (ARG) - 182 - 83 5 BANEGA Ever - 29/06/1988 - MF - Boca Juniors (ARG) - 173 - 71 6 CAHAIS Matias - 24/12/1987 - DF - Boca Juniors (ARG) - 183 - 79 7 YACOB Claudio - 18/07/1987 - MF - Racing Club (ARG) - 182 - 73 8 SANCHEZ Matias - 18/08/1987 - MF - Racing Club (ARG) - 175 - 76 9 ZARATE Mauro - 18/03/1987 - FW - Velez Sarsfield (ARG) - 172 - 78 10 AGUERO Sergio- 02/06/1988- FW- Atletico Madrid (ESP)- 170- 69 11 ESCUDERO Damian-20/04/1987 - MF- Velez Sarsfield (ARG) -174-79 12 GARCIA Javier - 29/01/1987 - GK - Boca Juniors (ARG) - 180 - 75 13 VOBORIL German - 05/05/1987 - DF - San Lorenzo (ARG) - 176 - 71 14 SIGALI Leonardo - 29/05/1987 - DF - Nueva Chicago (ARG) - 179 - 70 15 CABRAL Alejandro - 11/09/1987 -MF- Velez Sarsfield (ARG)- 186- 81 16 GOMEZ Alejandro- 15/02/1988 -MF-Arsenal de Sarandi (ARG)-161-55 17 MORALEZ Maximiliano- 27/02/1987- MF- Racing Club (ARG)- 160-54 18 DI MARIA Angel - 14/02/1988 - FW - Rosario Central (ARG)- 167-55 19 PIATTI Pablo - 31/03/1989 - FW - Estudiantes (ARG) - 165-55 20 ACOSTA Lautaro - 14/03/1988 - FW - Lanus (ARG) - 170 - 72 21 CENTENO Bruno - 08/08/1988 - GK - San Lorenzo (ARG) - 181 - 85
The number one fan of Basile's team talked about the game yesterday in a brief interview by the media.
Diego said:
"The jersey is the flag, it represents the country. When we lose, it's also the country that suffers."
"This team will have to be the one to go to the World Cup. Not only would I say this, most of the Argentineans would say the same."
"We have a good team. Most of the boys are playing well. We have the wisdom of Roman and Messi to set Crespo up for goals."
"I did not like how the ball kept going to the back. And that for a while I saw a very slow team."
"It's the flag, the country we represent. Last night when we started to dis-sync, if they lost, it would of also been those the jersey represented that suffered."
As pointed out in the previous article, Messi and Veron's poor showing in the first half, together with many other issues led to our sluggish performance.
Messi did well to improve his game in second half and ultimately resulted in the brilliant pass, so the youngster deserved encouragements eventhough we criticized him. We demand so much from him because he's the hope. Messi is the future of Albicelestes! Aguante Messi!
But Veron would be a different story. Veron was bought back at the cost of Maxi! Maxi went through a long injury period and came back scoring 3 goals in LFP for Atletico! If Veron doesn't turn himself 180 degrees and show improvements IMMEDIATELY, bench him!
Milito and Ayala had also taken a lot of criticism. Gabriel Milito, like his brother, isn't an extrodinarily fast player. Never the less, we expected more from him. He did not initiate one attack from the backline, and struggled against a 2nd rated striker Eddie Johnson. Argentine defense traditionally lack the speed to cover African forwards, but US had only one player with the sort of speed and 2 of our CB could not cover him? Not only did they let the counter attack developing into a PK, they also allowed numerous stop ball opportunities and had to check Eddie Johnson continuously to contain him. Poor performance from 2 world class defenders. These two need to get better or we'll get the betters.
Back to the topic. The sync problem Diego mentioned was obviously the cluster fuck between Milito, Cambiasso, Mascherano, Heinze and Veron, at the defensive screen position towards our left. This was a complicated problem and was temperarily solved by, well, taking the ball away from them (and taking out Cambiasso all together). But it was done by sacrificing the defensive contribution of Cambiasso, and isn't a long term solution. The ideal solution is to strengthen offensive threat on the opposite side of field, and setup correctly for left waist to long lob to right front and initiate counter attacks., so either put on a more offensive outside midfielder pair, or use Gago instead of Mascherano to get better distribution. Or play some other formation :D
As demonstrated in the second half of this article, the job of Aimar in this Copa America is to pressure Roman, force Roman to play well at Enganche.
What we saw today was a clear demonstration of this strategy adapted by Basile. And it proved to be extremely effective. The Albicelestes looked like half asleep up until Aimar came on, and Roman's performance improved immediately after the substitution. That was Basile's warning sign, saying "hey Riquelme, start playing or Aimar is taking over."
The first goal in second half was not cooperation between Roman and Aimar, but it was due to the pressure Basile put on Roman by putting Aimar on the field. VAMOS BASILE, VAMOS ARGENTINA. With this demonstration of Basile's wiz, I'm even more confident now that we'll do very well in this Copa America.
Other observations and thoughts:
1. Heinze had pushed up alot more than I thought he would, to provide width for the formation. But by doing this he forced our outside midfielders to a more defensive position and therefore not helping the offense as result. It could be partly why our offense seemed paralyzed for a while. Plus having Messi mostly on the right side rendered most of Heinze's push meaningless. Since we have already Zanetti pushing on the right, perhaps we should just play a more offensive midfield pair and have Heinze stay at home more to relieve pressure on Milito and Mascherano?
2. Having Aimar at the outside still isn't a first rated choice. Hopefully Riquelme wouldn't need this type of encouragement in the long run, and we could use a more dedicated outside midfielder to pair with Veron.
3. Messi wasn't utlizing his lateral freedom efficiently. Nor was Veron. These 2 really need to do more lateral channeling. Especially Messi. We need him to lose markers and open himself up, that's why he's on the field. If he could not improve on this then we are better off starting Carlito. I'm sorry for saying this since Messi is such a nice and prospecting kid, but he's too used to his right wing position on Barca and not doing exactly the right thing with his enganche. Unless Basile started to play 4-3-3, or Messi started to improve at the right front of 4-3-1-2, I think we'll be seeing Tevez more, especially since he's got a stomach full of rage ready to release right now. I would say, UNLEASH THE FURY!
4. Last thing I want to mention is Basile's last sub to switch the team into a boxy 4-2-2-2 and lock down the midfield. Obviously a time wasting strategy. But things like this should be done by moving onfield players around, instead of relying on substitution. What if we already used 3 subs? Learn from the 93' Copa team, that was a time wasting machine!
Messi 7 no lateral movements till 2nd half. due to that he didn't work actively enough with riquelme and could not help out the left when they got the ball upfield. he improved drastically 2nd half. Basile probably put in Carlito to show Messi how it's done right, cuz Tevez obviously better at that job. so Messi went from a 5 score to a 7 imo.
Crespo 8.5 running all over the place, doing his job and helping out offensive on both sides. Crespo's efforts was above 9 but since the team wasn't supporting him accordingly his overall performance only get a 8+.
Tevez 10 If Messi failed to change and Basile insist on playing 4-3-1-2, then he better be starting Tevez ahead of Messi.
Riquelme 7.5 He put in good effort through out the game. But wasn't playing very intelligently in the first half. He let US took control of the tempo and let them overload to our left, forced us into a position we didn't want to play at. Haven said that, Roman's performance in 2nd half more than made up for it, and averaging a first half 6 and 2nd half 9, he gets 7.5 in my book.
Cambiasso 7 Cambiasso's job is to do what roman tells him to do. he did just that. Nothing creative from cuchu though, while his defensive efforts weren't remarkable. For example, when Heinze pushed, why wasn't cuchu with him? Why no one was with him. I DONT ********ING UNDERSTAND THIS CRAP. he could of done better than getting an 7.
Veron 4- his shot on goal was the onlything helped him not getting an EGG. bad passes to messi, ************ lobs right onto Crespo when 2 defenders are on him, no lateral movements and therefore no support to the left field. Veron's current performance does not meet requirements for our outside midfielders.
Aimar 9 excellent performance. Aimar not getting 10 only because when he first came onto the pitch he almost went into the left defensive vicious cycle. IMO he could of started pushing a little earlier.
Mascherano 8 Did his job and did it fairly well. We weren't expecting to see good ball distribution from mascher, so his bad pass didn't hurt his scoring too much. His positioning and tackling were excellent, in mascher we trust.
Gago ~ unnesscary sub to waste time
Ayala 7 Ayala and milito were constantly checking eddie johnson. Then towards 90th minute EJ checked ayala in their end of the pitch, something was going on between those guys. Having such a hard time against this 2nd rated runner doesn't say much on their resume. However, the cooperation between Ayala and Milito was way better than in the friendlies. They controlled the spacing between backline and midfield very well, and that's why only few of the US counter attacks successfully developed, and only 1 scored. However, that's still too many setplays to give up against an overachieving USMNT, so captaino gets 7 althought he probably deserved alittle more.
Milito 6 Milito's performance should of bought him a 5 at the most. but he didn't show alot of efforts also partly because Twillman sucked. DIsagreeing from many of you guys, I think Milito's positioning when in box defense was good, that's where he get 1 more point from me.
Heinze 9.5 Heinze pushing for width was because the inactivity of Zanetti and Veron. The right side looked so dead I thought it was towards the end when I tuned in for the game. For someone that doesn't push, I'm totally impressed with Heinze! I take back all the crap i said about him earlier this year. And he was right there locking down his corner and defending the box when US was on offense. The left wing was highlight of the game and Heinze was crucial part of it.
Zanetti 6 He gets a 6 for doing nothing. Nothing good, nothing bad.
Pato 8 he made a save. Well, his positioning was good so he was right infront of the long shot from Feilhaber. He also positioned himself well to take out one on the right, and he punted the balls out like he always do. Pato has pretty good control over the box, just not extrodinary defending the goal. ___________________________________________________________
P.S There's a great comment here from an Argentine supporter. It brought foward some excellent points and is definitely worth reading.
People post about transfering news, I post about the NOT transfering news, haha. In this Goal.com article Nerazzum boss Moratti was quoted saying "Tevez is no longer a target, we are fine as we are in attack".
Thank you God! Whatever the real reason might be, whether inter's financial limitation, or their inability to sit out/sell players to yield space for Carlito, the bottom line is: FUCK THE INTER BUMS.
In conclusion to the analyzation of formations and starting lineup, let's take a quick look at Pekerman's campaign in 06' World Cup, since many players on the current NT appeared on that WC team.
Game 1 vs. Ivory coast. Pekerman started with 3-4-1-2, against Ivory coast's 4-4-1-1. Very ballsy move considering Argentina's past reputation against African teams.
Argentina scored 2 goals early on, so by half time Ivory Coast was already planning offensive substitution. 55' FW Dindane for CAM Kalou, shifting to 4-4-2. Then Bakari Kone at 62' for LB Boka, making it 3-4-3. At this point Pekerman's sub was Palacio for Crespo (64'). A fresh leg to strengthen our offensive pressure, in attempt to force Ivory Coast back. Ivory coast desperated needed a point, so instead of dropping back, they pressed even further forward and started to show real threat. With 2 goals in our pocket Pekerman made his first defensive substitution. Lucho for Saviola dropped us into a 4-4-1-1 (Sorin dropping back to make flat 4 defense). WIth the wings locked down, Ivory Coast again found themselves inable to creat real chances. So at 77' they made their last substitution, bringing on their 4th forward Arouna Kone for Keita. This is a desperated move to overload our box, and it immediately took effect. Lucho got a yellow at 80th minute and gave out a set play, then Drogba's score made it 2-1. But Obviously that goal was too late for a team playing 4 forwards. Their lack of midfield control allowed us to maintain decent possession and waste their valuable time. Aimar for Riquelme was simply to waste even more time during stopage.
Game 2 vs. Serbia and Montenegro. Probably due to the reputation S&M accquired during european qualification, Pekerman started out with the more conservative choice of 4-3-1-2 instead of 3-4-1-2. S&M planned a 5-3-2 (therefore 3-5-2) to face our boys. Maxi's score at just 6 minutes in gave the impression that this S&M team wasn't what we expected to meet. And then more offensive opportunities and more serbs struggling at defense... So by 17th minute Pekerman made up his mind to switch into higher gear. Cambiasso for Lucho allowed us to go back to the formation against Ivory Coast: 3-4-1-2. The floodgate was opened. We ended up pounding the shit out of S&M.
Game 3 vs. Neitherland. With both teams guaranteed to 2nd round, this match wasn't of extreme importance statistically. But for whatever reason (my guess to avoid Portugal), Pekerman unleashed his all star 4-3-1-2 to make sure it won't be a lost (in which case we would have to face Portugal instead of Mexico in 2nd round). Neitherland took their traditional 4-3-3. The fact they didn't use a more defensive formation against this Argentine team that had accquired fierce reputation through first 2 group matches suggests that they didn't value the match very highly either. Messi for Cruz and Aimar for Riquelme were probably for testing reasons. Most noticable event of this game was the injury Burdisso sustained. So in the following match against Mexico we had to use Scaloni as right back.
Game 4 vs. Mexico. Scaloni for Burdisso had minimum impact on general strategy and tactics. But it's notable that this move proved the fact Scaloni's position on that team was defensive substitution, instead of midfielder. Which also brings up the point that this Copa America team has 1 less defender compared to the 06' World Cup team. Against the midfield dominating Mexico, Pekerman used 4-3-1-2 again. Mexico brought out this odd shaped 3-4-1-2 with midfield looking like this: Marquez and Pardo DM Mario Méndez Right wing; Morales Left wing Guardado CAM Both teams scored early and the game was tied 1-1 at 10th minute. Then back and forth, back and forth. At 38' the next real event took place, which was of course Pardo's injury. Mexico used their first sub to bring in another DM (Torrado), general strategy remained unchanged. And then more back and forth, no real chance was created by either side. This seesaw battle lasted till the end of first half. At the begining of second half, both teams switched into higher gear. With first yellow appearing soon after the restart. Mexico finally gave in to the pressure at 65th minute and started their defensive substitutions. First they brought on left wing back Pineda for Guardado, switching formation into the 6:4 4-2-2-2. Then at 74th minute, they brought in yet another DM Zinha (Boca Junior) for the left winger Morales, making it a 7:3 4-3-3, with only 3 offensive players. This substitution finally eliminated Mexico's options to further modify their formation, and Pekerman saw his chance to modify ours accordingly with substitutions. Mexico going into defense allowed us to upgrade our offensive capabilities by allowing some sacrifice in defense, so we could improve our chance at getting a go ahead goal. Pekerman made 2 changes at 75', brought on fresh leg Tevez to replace the tired and not performng Crespo. His other substitution was to bring in Aimar and take out Cambiasso. A common method when playing 4-3-1-2illustrated here. Then at 84', with the game destined for overtime, Pekerman used his last sub and put on Messi. At this point he not only thought, but KNEW Mexico could not make further modification to their formation without substitutions, so it was safe to use our last sub. We all know what happened next. Maxi's wondergoal 8 minutes into overtime send the Mexican home.
As Pekerman's campaign clearly demonstrated, 4-3-1-2 has very high degree of flexibility and can be modified easily into 4-2-3-1 or 3-4-1-2. It also assured us that with a doctrine build around 4-3-1-2 and enganche, we won't be seeing 3-4-3 in this Copa America. Because the offensive formation 3-4-1-2 is a closer relative to 4-3-1-2. Is 4-3-3 still a possibility? Yes. Because it can employ the same set of players suitable to 4-3-1-2. Whether to play 3-4-1-2 or 4-3-3 would largely depend on Messi and Riquelme's performance. If Messi Performed well and Riquelme unsatisfying, then I believe we have a chance of seeing 4-3-3. Show themBarça people how it's done the right way.
Also called 4-4-2 diamond, 4-3-1-2 is quite possibly the most balanced formation. With 5 defensive players and 5 attackers split into 2 semi-independant elements, 4-3-1-2 has the agility and elasticity few other formations could rival. Especially among balanced formations, 4-3-1-2 offers one of the best defensive setup while maintaining very significiant offensive presence.
In 4-3-1-2, the CAM is highlighted at an unpresedented level. This CAM is specifically defined as an "Enganche". Enganche in spanish means "to hook" or "to link" . Linking is easy to understand, like a connection piece. But what is this hooking? It's the Tango move where the female dancer wraps her leg around the male dancer's body.
If lines are drawn between the CAM and the 4 other offensive players (2 forwards and 2 outside midfielders), they would all be free to pivot around the CAM. Therefore the the Enganche could also be considered a pivot point. Any 2 of these lines pivoting around the enganche then form an angle, so if you connect the 2 players at outter ends of these 2 lines, you have a triangle.
The idea of deploying an enganche is so the 4 offensive players can form many triangles with the CAM, so some routes to move the ball forward would always exist while having the space around the ball under controll. In order to do this, the 4 players must have a good understanding of their positions in relations with the enganche at all time, so when the enganche reposition himself, these players would know where to go and in what orientation and shape to form these 'triangles'.
One benefit of this cooperation between the offensive players and the enganche is that the connection piece function of the enganche gives extra lateral supports to the offensive players so they can have more lateral freedom and be allowed to position themselves more vertically inline in references to each other. The lateral freedom allow these players to do alot of diagonal channeling, making them absolutely nightmare for opponents to mark. However, in order to maintain the uniformity of the entire offensive element, they also need to maintain their relationships with the enganche. So the lateral freedom isn't unrestricted, and vertically they must stay at the correct level compared to each other.
Usually one of the outside midfielders need to be more defensive than the other. When the forward element/sub-formation operates, he would usually stay at a relatively lower position than the other outside midfielder. So this midfielder also serves the purpose of a semi-defensive midfielder. Vise versa, the other outside midfielder would be more like an attacking mid.
The enganche must then drag this 'planetary system like' sub-formation around the field by relocating himself (both vertically and horizontally). By doing so, not only was he able to concentrate the players around the bal area, also allowing them to be in good positions for their defensive duties.
While the enganche, the 2 outside midfielders and the 2 forwards work as an integrated and semi-independant offensive element, the rest of the field work as the also semi-independant defensive element. With 4 players forming a tightly spaced backline and a holding midfielder screening infront of it. Due to the relatively free displacements of the offensive players (especially the enganche and the 2 outside midfielders), the backline need to push forward constantly so the defensive and the offensive elements stay at ideal distance from each other. Then on top of that, one of the fullbacks usually would be choosen from the wingback pool so he could sprint up and add even more complexity to the offense.
4-3-1-2 is a 5:5 formation where at least one of the 5 defensive players (wingback) usually also shoulder some offensive responsibilities. So it requires an excellent holding midfielder to ensure overal quality of the defense. In Argentina's case, Mascherano. Mascherano is stronger than Gago defensively. With 4-3-1-2 the holding midfielder's defensive duties overweights the need to initiate attacks, therefore Mascherano would be more reliable to fill the CDM position than Gago. The defense player pool of this Copa America team only allow the right side to have wingback function so ideal D-line would be Zanetti, Ayala, Milito and Heinze.
In the midfield, Roman's return indicates that he's the best enganche in Basile's opinion. So first choice CAM would be Riquelme. Aimar can be super sub so if Riquelme failed to perform we would still be able to use 4-3-1-2. Defensive to offensive order of the other midfielders should go like: Cambiasso -> Veron -> Aimar -> Lucho -> Messi. So depend on the team we're against. Against more offensive teams we should use a combination of Cambiasso with Veron/Aimar/Lucho; Against defensive teams we could use Veron in combination with Lucho Aimar or even Messi; Lucho and Aimar or Lucho and Messi would be a even more offensive option, which we probably won't see in this tournement. Also worth to note, since Lucho has right preference, when Lucho is on the field, the other outside midfielder should start on the left, just a general rule when drawing the formation charts, eventhough the lateral differences of the 2 outside midfielders' starting positions in 4-3-1-2 has minimum impacts, as illustrated in this diagram.
And in the front, one forward needs to be the general target person so one of the taller guys should be used. Crespo starting wouldn't be a surprise. The other forward will be chosen between Messi, Tevez and Palacio. If both Crespo and Messi perform well, Tevez, Palacio and Milito might only start for fatigue or injury reasons.
Once the importance of Enganche was understood, scientific guesses can be made in attempt to understand the recent events, namely Veron and Roman's return, and now benching of Cambiasso to yield room for Aimar.
First of all, why Riquelme? Because Roman is the best enganche in the world! He had always been Basile's choice, it was determined long ago, just not announced for obvious reasons.
But Roman has the potential to tank games. We know how important enganche is to the 4-3-1-2 formation. If Roman isn't performing, subbing him out would become a priority.
Secondary enganche is Aimar. If Roman sucked, and if at this time Aimar wasn't on the field, then Basile must use a sub to bring on Aimar and replace Roman, which might not of been an option in real matches (used up subs for example). So a safer option would be starting Aimar on the field at a position other than CAM. In which case if Riquelme started to tank, he could switch positions with Aimar. Roman would still be able to function as left outside midfielder, and enganche would be replaced by a less talented by more consistant Aimar.
But then you face the problem of having Aimar on the wing, which isn't his best position, and there are other Argentine player(s) better suited to the position. This safer option isn't without compromises.
Whether Basile need to employ the safer option depend largely on how the team would function without a proper enganche. If they do ok, then Aimar starting at a wing wouldn't be necessary. If the other way around, then Aimar better start or it would be too risky for tournement matches, especially at knockout stages.
Therefore, Basile's priority in the friendlies would be to test the team with a "not functioning" enganche. This 'not functioning' enganche was played by Messi.
Messi doesn't have the experience to play enganche, and possibly doesn't know how. Enganche role isn't something any good player can play, it takes alot of indepth studies of related tactics and strategies, which isn't something Messi could of done in just a few days.
In the friendlies, the team played ok with the 'not functioning' enganche. but not excellent since Basile subbed in Aimar in both games after all. Something went wrong so he had to put in a real enganche to prevent a lose (possibly to gain a win in second friendly for moral purposes).
Eventhough Aimar had to jump in, apparently these 'ok performances' were good enough for Basile to go for a real outside midfielder, and his choice was Veron. Basile probably had Veron in mind all along, just needed the chances (friendlies) to make sure he could play Veron (and bench Aimar).
Now, Aimar taking over from Cambiasso issue. It may well be what the press claimed, that Aimar was performing well and worthy of one of the outside midfelder spots. But if following the above trend of critical analyzation, this could also indicate that Basile didn't like what he saw in Riquelme over the practices. If such assumption stand correct, then using Veron over Cambiasso could of meant that Basile wanted to preserve more offensive capabilities by sacrificing some defense. It's the US we're playing in first game anyway, not expected to be a particularly tough match.
On 28th, Basile may be starting with this lineup used in the practice game.
Fans want to see Tevez play, but god damn Basile wouldn't let him (not for Argentina's opening game at least). But we sooooo want to see Carlito! Is there really no way of playing Tevez in a 2 forward formation with the rest of the gang?
OK, I admit it. "Without totally sacrificing holding midfielders, Basically the only realistic chance of seeing all 4 (Messi Tevez Riquelme Veron) starting is if the Albicelestes played 4-4-3" was a lie, as there's another possibility to play them all in 4-3-1-2.
If there was a key to a Veron + Tevez + Messi + Riquelme solution, it's probably in the hand of Cambiasso. :D And if he does have this key, then there's no way Cuchu will give it up free of cost.
With Heinze being a defensive full back, having another defensive player on the same side would put most of our offensive pressure on the other wing. This unbalances the formation laterally and allows opponents to overload our right wing while man marking our enganche, which if succeeded, would make it extremely difficult for our offensive strategies to function.
Now, opponent overloading one flank CAN result in their other flank becoming less protected as a benefiting side effect. But due to Heinze's inability to sustain offensive pressure or to initiate counter attacks, in such case where our right side got totally shut down, the left will not be a more likely place to see real scoring opportunities. Can't win games without scoring you know...
To ensure offensive success, one approach would be to balance the two wings at the cost of the defensive contribution of Cambiasso. Cambiasso is a very good player, and he can play on either side, but sometime we might just not need the extra defense, so playing a offensive 4-3-1-2 with a attacker playing outside midfield role isn't completely out of the question.
For that possibility, I'm sure many are thinking "Messi+Veron". But that would of been quite significent a setback to our overal defensive capabilities.
Is there any way of replacing Cambiasso without hurting our defense? Fans of Carlito would probably say yes. Tevez can tackle very well, and he'd been giving excellent performances on WestHamUnited where he often had to play in the midfield. A 4-3-1-2 with Tevez on one side of midfield should be more efficient defensively than with Messi, while still obtain a significent boost in offensive capability over the 4-3-1-2 with Cambiasso and Veron on the sides.
Need to note, all of above were based on a major assumption thateveryone in the lineup will be playing disciplined football under all circumstances. Kindly pointed out by other fans, this is quite possibly an unrealistic assumption because Tevez and Messi are both so offensively oriented. They have the physical and mental abilities (especially Tevez) to fullfill their defensive duties as midfielders, but will they be willing to do it?
Well, it shouldn't be a big deal after all. Copa America games will be played at ~4 days intervals, which is noticeably shorter than in world cup. There will be ALOT of changes to the starting lineup. If Basile really end up benching Tevez (for the first game), he's probably expecting to go very far in this tournement, and we should believe in our team boss' confidence and root for our players regardless who will be on the field against United States. Just chances not all of them togather :(
So, we give up and go with Basile's practice lineup, shouldn't Cambiasso and Veron switch starting sides so it's better left-right balanced.
I think Veron playing to the right of Riquelme in the practice does not necessarily mean he will be starting on the right. As illustrated above, the 5 offensive players (in 5:5) channel all over the field anyway. In many cases Veron would be playing to the right of Riquelme even if he started left. The central idea is this
Zanetti will displaces to wing front some times and open up space in the right back region. At these times, Cambiasso (RM) should drop back towards right rear in order to maintain control over that zone. Since only Zanetti (right) side will push up, Veron should then stay generally higher than Cambiasso and give him vertical supports, while Riquelme staying more or less to the side of these 2 to provide lateral supports.
Mexico scored first, only to be equalized by RD's PK and then beaten by a wonderful 75 feet volley off the right foot of Feilhaber. For the Aztecs, it's another display of Football Negativity that led to a bitter end. At the begining of second half, they switched from a offensive 3-5-2 formation to a 4-3-2-1 (close to 4-5-1) in an attempt to perserve their one goal advantage, only to find themselves trailing 1-2 and not able to equalize due to the defensive orientation of the formation. Without much offensive midfield representation, Mexico had to rely on the wings in their search for equalize, where they were shut down by US effectively. Blanco coming in at 80th minute indicated their lack of CAM substitution option and this 2nd choice change did next to nothing.
Round of applause to Benny Feilhaber. The game winning volley was beautiful. Apparently Mexico is gaining the reputation of losing to WonderGoals. Remember Maxi Rodríguez?
According to Olé, second practice game before Copa was carried out today with following starter side lineup:
This lineup features some different offensive players compared to my previous guess (in this article). Here were my initial thoughts:
Veron: Veron is accustomed to the right midfield and is a strong possibility for that position. (Part.1). Having Veron playing RM in a practice match probably is the best way to test the chemistry between him and other starters. So, it came at no surprise that Veron played with Riquelme for the most part of the practice tonight, the two still need to dial in for Veron to have a realistic shot at starting in Copa.
Tevez: I think him playing on the sub team was a balancing act, to bring out some games from the weaker side. Also Tevez's ability as left forward has been proven, so there's really no need to further test him at that position. On the sub side, Tevez played with Palacio and Milito in a 3 forward formation, so perhaps we'll be seeing some 4-3-3 after all?
Messi: was playmaker in both the recent friendlies. However, he had experience playing both right forward and right midfield in a 4-3-1-2 steered by Riquelme (06' World Cup). So IMO, Messi just played RF tonight for the hell of it. It's just a practice after all, he could be a ball boy, move around some cones, or simply fuck around. I doubt Basile focused on training Messi tonight. Communication with Veron might be something he could practice on. He haven't had much experiences with the bold asshole so how well they cope with each other isn't certain. I still think messi will be shouldering more midfield duty in this competition. He should only be starting right forward either when Veron was playing RM, or if they played 4-3-3.
After a closer look at the situation, I've realized that the fundemental problem here is the inability to play Tevez, Messi, Riquelme and Veron all at the same time in most formations. (I didn't count Aimar because eventhough he's a very capable player, he's probably destined to be a SUPER SUP for enganche role and replace Riquelme if he failed to perform. We know Roman isn't an easy player to interprete, I think same goes for his teammates, and that might be part of the reason why he couldn't do well in some past NT matches. )
And the center of this problem is Veron.
The way I look at it, Veron specialized in lobing long passes. I didn't watch a lot of italian games, but base on what i've seen him do in England and with Estudiantes, he is almost a pure passer who isn't fond of dribbling.
If this observation stand, then in order to play Veron you will need to use a person to partner up with him laterally so they could do 1-2 or man release or something. Therefore your choices are:
1. You play like what basile did in practice. No Tevez because Messi can't play right wing when it's occupied by Veron. 2. You play Veron as the enganche in a 4-3-1-2 diamond. On paper, he failed to bring changes to Inter when he was loaned there, where he played enganche in a 4-3-1-2. 3. You play flat 4 midfield like Estudiantes so another CM will work with him. he could be either the other CM or steer from one wing. This way of using Veron was successful as Estudiantes had demonstrated.
Note: in any of these cases, one of the forwards from Crespo-Milito group should start so someone taller and physical can be in the box.
In the first case, Tevez can't start. There are basically 3 options to sub him in: a: sub out Veron, let messi drop to Veron's position and Tevez go RF. b: sub out Cambiasso, Veron to other side, Messi drop back and Tevez up c: sub out Messi or Crespo directly with Tevez.
option a is worse than not playing Veron, unless this is a late late sub which has no meaning for Tevez's moral. option b drops a more defensive player and forces the enganche to shoulder defensive responsibilities with veron and messi -- neither of them very defensive player. the damage to offense with this option overwhelms the benefits from bringing in Tevez. Unless again, if it was a late game sub meaningless to Carlito's moral. option c is plain stupidity. The consequences of subbing out Messi with Tevez are obvious. But do we need Crespo up front? Crespo is physically stronger and taller than these little people and better suited as target person. Basile brought in not just Crespo himself, but also a sub for him (Milito) to ensure a target person will be avaliable, at the cost of bringing in only 7 defenders with one of them possibly not at 100%(Ayala) and forfeiting options such as LWB, dedicated RFB (right full back) and extra defensive sub!
2nd case. The best outcome for Riquelme in this case would be to support Veron from a wing. Which isn't something Roman would like to do nor could he guarantee to do well. Or you not play Roman at all, then Riquelme supersub for Veron, and Aimar 3rd sub enganche? you know, alot of national teams can't play 4-3-1-2 because their entire country cannot supply even 1 capable enganche us benching 2 would be criminal in the eyes of their fans.
3rd case. this case is an legitimate option but it means benching definitely Mascherano, and quite possibly Gago at the same time. Remember, the fundation of these assumptions is that Veron will need assistance from another midfielder. Tevez, Messi, Riquelme and Veron can play togather here, even Aimar. But at the cost of Mascher!
Without totally sacrificing holding midfielders, Basically the only realistic chance of seeing all 4 (Messi Tevez Riquelme Veron) starting is if the Albicelestes played 4-3-3.
Continoued Here ____________________________________________________________
Also to note, Ayala's leg felt a little uncomfortable so he was subbed out by Burdisso, it turned out to be nothing, whew! On the other hand, this incident assured us that Burdisso will be the primary sub for CB instead of Diaz, so only when Burdisso was occupied would Diaz have a chance to sub in.
In other news. Cambiasso was feeling loney so he went to play with Roman and Veron on the right side. Very undisciplined! Bad Cuchu bad!
Also in other news, Mexico scored at 66th min to tie the retro match(these old people sport only last 70 minutes) with Argentina at 1-1. Had nothing to do, I sat through the match, and realized that watching old people sports could be really bad for mental health.
4-2-3-1 is a variation of 4-5-1. So in order to evaluate 4-2-3-1, we need to take a look at the pros and cons of 4-5-1 first.
4-5-1 is the result of dropping the 2 outside forwards in a 4-3-3 to midfield. This formation was not discussed in Part.1 due to its defensive orientation. With 5 midfielders, the center pitch is packed so opponent offense wouldn't have much room to work with. Also, the tight spacing between the midfielders would make it difficult for opponents to maintain possession while pushing the ball forward. However, due to the lack of presence in upper midfield, opportunities are only created from the high wings or from defenders' long drop passes. Needless to say, 4-5-1 isn't very ideal for offensive plays and requires very well disciplined midfielders to prevent goals. On top of that, the center forward usually need to be very physical so he could fight for the balls that can go both ways. Chelski's way of using Dragba is one of the prime examples. 4-5-1 is commonly used when the team wants a 0-0 draw or if it's ahead by a little and needs to preserve the narrow margin. This NEGATIVE FUCKING THINKINGled Argentina from a 1-0 win to a PSO lost in 2006 WorldCup 1/4 Final.
6.30.2006 was A DARK DAY FOR POSITIVE FOOTBALL. Pekerman did a tripple substitution @ 70th minute: Leo Franco for injured Pato; Cambiasso for Riquelme; and Julio Ricardo Cruz for Crespo. As shown in the picture below, we went instantaneously from a perfect 4-3-1-2 to a 4-5-1. Pekerman's intention was more obvious than a fat lady with a pink hood, he wanted to keep the 1 goal lead, even if it meant risking a draw and PSO against the king of WorldCup PK on their home turf! Pekerman did it because he's a fucking PUTO. He saw Germany giving up everything for an equalizer and chickened out. How pathetic! Few minutes after the substitutions, Germany started to fall back. Partly due to the congestion in midfield, but quite possibily as a strategy to lure Argentina into attacking mode. If there was a trap, we fell right in (thanks to Peckerman's coaching). It's like a bear fell out of a tree in central park... Argentina was under heavy attack, but held our ground till Pato got hit. The attack was pushing into our box at this point which I persume was what scared Peckerman and forced him to choose his set of substitutions. Now Germany falling back and giving some breathing space, it wasn't a total surprise to see our boys switching gear. But by having the 2 wingers pushing up to assist attack, only 3 players were in the midfield without a CAM or even CM to link the front and back. Room suddently opened up for the Germans to infiltrate. Anyroad, @80', Ballack gets through the midfield from their left wing and crossed in a ball that found 3 forwards ready to head it... At this point the Argentines started pushing forward in an attempt to avoid PSO. But without Riquelme in the CAM position, they couldn't move the ball up into the box even when the entire backline was in the German half. So everyone started taking long shots. Lucho shot, Maxi shot, even Coloccini was shooting. And in the end, we could not score because the formation was just too defensive to provide enough opportunities.
Anyroad. 4-2-3-1 is the result of pushing up the center center midfielder in 4-5-1 into CAM position. LCM and RCM would then drop back a little and effectively reposition into CDM. Consequently, there's now more space between the 2 CDM and outside midfielders, making the outside midfielders more or less wingers.
4-2-3-1 remained relying on the congestion in midfield to disrupt opponent possessions, just like in 4-5-1. The formation therefore is also relatively defensive. But in comparison with 4-5-1, a CAM is now presented to support the attack from center, and more space had been free'd up on the wings giving LWM, RWM and the forward higher degree of freedom. On defensives, since the CAM and wingers still need to have solid contact with the 2 CDM in order to make the congestion in midfield effective, they cannot be pure attacking wingers and leave the midfield like in 4-3-3. This should be kept in mind when reviewing our midfield options for 4-2-3-1. Vise versa, the outside backs can join attack since 2 CDM will be screening, therefore by playing this formation we also could benefit from the wing ability of Zanetti and Ibarra.
Keep in mind, due to the defensive nature of 4-2-3-1, it shouldn't be Basile's first choice because ARGENTINES PLAY OFFENSIVE FOOTBALL . But in the case we need to deploy a defensive formation, 4-2-3-1 will likely be the choice.
The 2 CDM of 4-2-3-1 must join the attack with CAM to maintain midfield formation, so they need to have good offensive capabilities instead of pure defenders. This requirement is similar to those of the CDM in 4-3-3. Except here we need 2 of them. First elimination is again, Lucho. Because he's too offensive and not suited to holding midfielder role. Gago is ideal choice for one of them, leaving Cambiasso and Mascherano for other spot.
Mascherano isn't offensive at all. He likes to stay home and chase down the balls even if they were going deep into our defensive territory. I can't see Argentina in a position to start out a game with 4-2-3-1 where Mascher and Gago both played, but Gago and Cambiasso togather is still possible as the formation would look more like the offensive variation of 4-4-1-1, where Gago and Cambiasso line up more diagonally so wingers will get to play at higher positions. Mascherano should only appear in 4-2-3-1 from a substitution to perserve advantage.
The outside midfielders in this case need to be disciplined wingers that can pull back to maintain their defensive formation. So our choices are: Lucho, Veron, Messi, Riquelme, and Aimar, in that particular order... Lucho should play right since that's his natural side, so Veron could take up the left spot in order to free up Riquelme for CAM. In the case a substitution was made to morph some other formation into 4-2-3-1 in order to maintain a lead, Cambiasso could be free'd and would be ideal for one of the wing positions, so for the 2nd lineup option he should be LWM... In this case, Lucho should be right wing and there's no need for Veron.
Riquelme is the first choice for CAM position in 4-2-3-1, but for the purpose of indicating his capability to substitute in at the positions, I'll put Aimar at CAM on the optional lineup.
The only real forward in this formation is obviously a target person. Crespo is the ideal choice, and Milito 2nd.
4-3-3 is one of the most confusing formations, partially due to its resemblance to the result of a catching-up substitution to a 4-4-2. When teams playing 4-4-2 were losing, coaches often bring in an offensive player to take over from a midfielder.
In fact, the common 4-3-3 is an evolution of 4-2-4. In a 4-2-4, 4 defenders are lined up closely to provide good coverage left to right; The 2 midfielders are actually half backs to screen for the defenders and support them vertically; This 4-2 setup making it very defensive (like 3-4 in NFL). At the same time, there are alot of space in the midfield so both midfielders need to know how to initiate attacks, or the ball will never get to the 4 forwards up top. Some of the forwards also need to back track in order to have better connection with the midfield. Compared to 4-2-4, the common 4-3-3 pulls back 1 forward so the midfield could be stagged and have better connections with the front. When playing 4-3-3, the midfielders would usually stay in formation and move across the field like a screen, so 4-3-3 is actually also a defensive formation like 4-2-4 where attacking routines are usually initiated in the midfield.
However (here comes the tricky part), the 4-3-3 formation deployed by Argentina is actually an evolution of 2-3-5! In 2-3-5, the 3 midfielders are also half backs so the formation can mark 5 attackers at the same time. 2 backs mark the 2nd attacker to each wing, other 3 attackers marked by the 3 midfielders. The center midfielder in 2-3-5 could be viewed as a CM and is of great importance because he would need to mark the center attacker at the same time organizing offensives. In Argentine 4-3-3, the 2 side midfielders of 2-3-5 were set into the defensive line, then 2 attackers were pulled back to become midfielders. So in our 4-3-3, the center midfielder had the same job as the CM in 2-3-5, while other 2 midfielders were capable of offensive duties. Outside forwards in Argentine 4-3-3 usually stayed very high up so it remain a 5-5 balanced formation, like 2-3-5.
In this 4-3-3, the center attacker should stay higher than the other 2. With 5 offensive players, it would only make sense if at least 1 of them constantly hangs in the box. This is the primary difference between 4-3-3 and 4-4-2 diamond.
So, the 4-3-3 played by Albicelestes is a balanced formation that uses 2 outside midfielders to assist the CM in ball transportation. The CM is also a CDM and must mark center attacker of opposite team.
We have 4 midfielders that are capable of CDM position. Lucho's recent performance probably hurt his chance at such important role. Mascherano is the best defensively but not as good as Gago or Cambiasso in offensive organization and ball distribution so only Cambiasso and Gago are suitable for this position. Between these 2, Gago's defensive techniques seemed more refined than Cucho, but Cambiasso is probably little more experienced and has a better understanding of offensive composures. The defensive responsibilities of the CM in 4-3-3 should overweight his offensive duties because there are 5 other offensive players. Condition being he must be able to make correct choices of targets to pass to. From this point of view, Gago beats Cambiasso to the position.
Now the 2 outside midfielders. The 2 outside forwards should be allowed to channel and displace freely. So, the 2 outside midfielders must be able to play anywhere from center midfield to opponent corners. The CM also needs their assistance to disrupt opponent possessions. Cambiasso and Lucho should be our 2 defensive choices; While Veron and Riquelme being the more offensive 2. Since Gago will need help defensively (as demonstrated in friendly vs. Switzerland), at least one of the outside midfielders needs to help him. The other guy though, will likely be a playmaker from the side, so we don't risk being cutoff at midfield. I think Lucho in form would be the ideal defensive outside midfielder, that's probably why Basile chose to test him again in the friendly against Algeria despite his poor performance vs. Switzerland. To me, he performed quite well in the 2nd match. If Argentina ended up playing 4-3-3 and Lucho had earned Basile's trust, then I think we can expect to see Luis González on the right. Then the other outside midfielder will likely be a left playmaker. Veron, Aimar and Roman are the 3 that have experiences in the job. Aimar steers better from center, and Veron is usually more defensive than Roman. On top of that, Riquelme is well experienced with the left playmaking role while Veron had played more towards the center for the later part of his career. I hate Veron, but honestly that's not the reason I would pick Riquelme over him for this spot. Riquelme is simply a better left playmaker. First pair: Riquelme-Lucho; Second pair: Cambiasso-Veron.
With a left-hammer-right-anvil approach to the 4-3-3 midfield, attack line of the same format should also be expected. Or in other words, if vise versa, Veron and Cambiasso started, then a left-anvil-right-hammer forward lineup should be employed accordingly. Again, the center forward needs to stay high and be the target man. Tevez-Crespo-Messi should be first choice for either orientation.
One of the interesting aspects of 4-3-3 is that in the case Argentina pulling out this formation, Messi would likely be starting at the same position he had played all year long with his club team, Barça. In the 17 league games Messi played after coming back from his injury, he totalled 14 goals; scored his hatrick against Real Madrid with a 10 men Barça to equalize the game; duplicated Maradona's goal of the century (in fact there are quite a bit of differences between the 2 goals, perhaps some discussion around this subject should be brought up in the future); and steered the team without Ronaldinho to a 2-2 draw against city rival Espanyol (scoring both goals only to be equalized by opponents in the 90th minute) - all from the right front position of this 4-3-3 formation. How well he understands the position isn't even a legitimate question, and it's definitely an asset if we play 4-3-3 somewhere during the Copa. The question is, whether the advantage gained from playing Messi at his usual position can offset the generic shortcomings of 4-3-3 formation.
Fans of messi often talk about his similarity to Diego, especially now with the goal against Gatefe and the Mano de Dios 2007. I agree that some the things can't be ignored, but deep down, I still believe messi's style resembles a different classical footballer who played mostly in this 4-3-3 formation modified from a 2-3-5, and that is no other than the most famous exponent of the football philosophy known as 'TotalFootball', the legendary flying dutchman and three time golden ball winner, Johan Cruijff.
I also believe it was no coincident that Messi plays for Barça which had been under so much Cruijff influences. On top of that, he plays in the 4-3-3 formation made famous by Cruijff's 70' Holland national team.
Regardless of the differences and similarities, there's no doubt Messi will get better and better, and there will be more incinerating displays of football at its highest level from our boy.
*A note to those yelling "Messi is a hype" or "He's a cheat that uses hands", I would like to say: "You are watching football from a totally different dimension than the one we live in. That's why you can't overlook the little imperfections and enjoy living in the same age with these colossals." The bottom line is, one can't argue that the performances from players such as Messi and Cruijff make our hearts pump and blood boil, and this is why we love the beautiful game so damn much!
back to the topic.
when the 2 offensive midfielders of 4-3-3 push upfield, the CDM and the entire backline also need to push up, so the spaces between the lines remain ideal. This also means the formation would be more susceptible to counter attacks, and consequently threatened by enemy breakaways, fouls, cards and set plays. However, even with Frank Rajkaard's resurrected 4-3-3 Barça failing over and over at stopping counter attacks, we should not allow ourselves to show leniency towards negative football! As a reminder, please repeat the following three times: Negative -- Football -- Is -- Baaaad. Counter attack is not just killing 4-3-3. Many other modern four back formations also require the entire backline to push up in order to allow more offensive plays, and therefore suffering similar fate.
But with only 1 defensive midfielder, and not a pure one, 4-3-3 definitely has the disadvantage in this area, similar to 4-3-2-1, which was used in the recent match against Algeria. Argentina scored 3 goals only to conceive 2 from successful counter attacks and got a 3-2 out of the friendly. In that game a variation of 4-3-1-2 was used and we had 60% possession with 80% of the game played in opponent's half!
Offensively, that game was quite successful and we didn't get more goals only because some the chances weren't taken properly. But defensively it was quite a disaster. The friendly exposed some serious problems with the NT backline. We can only wish that coco's selection and this short period of training were enough to fix these problems in time. having them exposed in the friendlies though was absolutely a good thing as these sync errors would of hurt us hell lot more in real matches.
4-3-1-2 is actually more defensive than 4-3-3 as the CM in that formation will be more of an CDM than the guy in 4-3-3. But 4-3-3 is more offensive and offers more attacking options, so it's hard to say whether 4-3-3 would of done better or worse in the recent friendlies.
We should also avoid measuring our defensive capabilities purely by the performance from those two friendlies. The team needed time to sync, reform and become more organized. In international competitions, the teams that showed remarkable condition early on usually couldn't go far because their synchronization were forged by long term practice as a unit. To gain such experience, the players need to be mostly or all of domestic origins. In many cases, these players were avaliable for training but not necessarily the most technically gifted, and often lose eventually to teams made up with very talented players who weren't very familiar with each other at the beinging of the tournament but managed to find their form and sync'ed up during course of the competitions.
Albiceleste : White and Light Blue. Colors from the triband flag of Argentina. Some say it's the sky and clouds. Some say it symbolizes Río de la Plata - River of silver... What really matter is: These are the colors of Argentina National Football Team An extraordinary representative of Offensive Football, Attractive Football and Positive Football. This Blog is about the Tactics, Strategies and Player Selection of Argentina National Football Team - Los Albicelestes.
AlbicelestesForever articles that might interest you:
Argentines have so much to love. Gorgeous sceneries in the Andes; Fair wind grazing through Río de la Plata; Juicy beef from the Pampas; Beautiful tango dancers on Buenos Aires streets... But nothing the Argies hold closer to their hearts than FOOTBALL. Because it's the football pitch where dim light from the ancient Diaguita and Guarani fire still glittering; It's the football match where Argentines are still displaying their determination and fierceness in resistances ever so proudly.
Despite nearly 60% possession and numerous attempts of organized assaults, the defenders of Fifa U-20 World Cup title weren't able to gain victory over Czech Republic.
The Argentine youngsters rushed forward at the sound of the whistle and fought a 90 minute offensive battle. Mauro Zárate, Serigo Agüero, Maximiliano Moralez and Ever Banega were all very active through out the game, showing high degrees of experience and professionalism. They created numerous scoring chances, but the boxy midfield of Czech republic was able to maintain good control over the spaces, and didn't allow much chances from the good positions on top of their box. Instead, it was the Argentines that let lose some freekicks, luckily Federico Fazio was there to defend, and none of them went into back of the net. Fazio also showed his remarkable ability in the air, perhaps something our senior side lacks and could take advantage of in near future.
Also noticeable was the beautiful positioning of the Czech keeper Petr Radek (yet another Petr from Czech). He made the stops look easy, while some of the Argentine shots on goal were genuine chances.
us benching 2 would be criminal in the eyes of their fans.
