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Oh good lord, how bad was that? Argentina and Chile played out one of the dourest matches of what has been a rather exciting South American edition FIFA World Cup qualifying campaign as the hosts eked out a crucial 1-0 win thanks to a penalty from... who else, Lionel Messi. With so much on the line for both sides, more was expected from the match, but it failed to deliver on the hype and the promise.
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In the context of South American qualifiers, though, this has had an overreaching impact, with Argentina moving up to relative safety (for now).. this is what the standings look like currently after each team has played 13 games:
1. Brazil – 30 Points2. Uruguay – 23 Points3. Argentina – 22 Points4. Colombia – 21 Points5. Ecuador – 20 Points6. Chile – 20 Points7. Paraguay – 18 Points8. Peru – 15 Points9. Bolivia – 7 Points10. Venezuela – 10 Points
Here then, are the key talking points from the match-night:
5. Edgardo Buaza’s gameplan? “Let’s hope Messi does something today”
For a nation with as rich a history in the sport as Argentina, for a nation that is bestowed with such amazing football talents as Argentina, it is a crying shame to see their team in such a pitiful condition. The players may have united to blockade, and boycott, the press for saying what they term ‘deragotory things’ about them, but there has been no evidence on the field of play that suggests that they have the walk to take it up against the talk.
Bauza’s men looked utterly confused out there, and the lone scraps of magic on show arose when Messi got the ball – the little magician was everywhere on the pitch, and with Bauza’s starting XI a little top heavy, he spent more time near the centre circle than the area where he wrecks most havoc, outside the opposition penalty box. At times Biglia, Mascherano and Messi appeared to be a flat midfield three.
Edgardo Bauza seems to lack any sort of discernible strategy or gameplan when it comes to his team, and the effects are clearly evident on the field of play
4. Chile look a disjointed outfit, and Alexis Sanchez embodied it
Is this the team that has ruled South America over the past two years? Today, they looked a pale shadow of their normal selves – hell, their first decent passing move came in the 83rd minute and they only played with any sort of cohesion after the 80th, when the mercurial playmaker Jorge Valdivia was introduced.
Chile’s icon, Alexis Sanchez, embodied his team’s state of mind – he was all huff-and-puff with no discernible end product in the first half and improved considerably in the second half as he added a touch of skill to the huff and puff. He almost got one back for the visitors with a superb free kick that thwacked off the crossbar then sent another (from a near identical position) flying into row Z.
Juan Antonio Pizzi’s side now find themselves in the same plight as Argentina were before this match started – in 6th and out of the qualifying positions. They will need to improve, and drastically so, if they are to have any hope of catching the flight to Russia 2018
3. When will Argentina see the light, and put Mauro Icardi in the side?
Argentina started with a front four of Angel Di Maria, Gonzalo Higuain, Sergio Aguero and Lionel Messi and haven’t looked this toothless in a while. While Messi was quietly brilliant when he got the ball (which was rarely) and Di Maria had one moment of inspiration where he produced a sublime turn and pass in the 60th minute (and won the penalty by simply running into the box in search of Messi’s ball), Higuain and Aguero barely registered their presence – the only reason I can confirm to you they played is because I saw Kun get subbed off, and I saw Higuain protesting some decision or the other. While Messi and Di Maria are rather untouchable at the moment, why do Argentine coaches continue to persist with Higuain? The man looks like an imposter of the goal-machine we see in Serie A every time we see him pull on the Albiceleste and Aguero hasn’t been in the best of touch this year.
So why then, do Argentina keep ignoring one of European football’s hottest properties, 23-year-old Mauro Icardi? The former La Masia graduate has been in scintillating form for Internazionale (22 goals in 33 games already this season) and would surely add the much needed cutting edge-cum-Leo Messi support act that Argentina so desperately need
2. Brazil and Uruguay are still the teams to beat in South America
Argentina may have climbed to 3rd in the table, but the two teams in front of them are still a cut above. The Uruguay v Brazil match that kicked-off half-an-hour previous to this was everything this match was not – exciting, end-to-end, with plenty of good goals, and both teams giving it a good ol’ go. The match may have ended 4-1 in favour of the Tite's excellent Brazilians, but Oscar Tabarez will have a valid point if he says that they were still a good match despite not having their best player on the pitch - Luis Suarez.
Neither of the teams that played the game we are focused on would have stood a chance against either Brazil, or Uruguay... and those two old rivals have now given the rest of South America a proper benchmark to measure their own performances by. Expect both these teams to go a long way in Russia '18.
Bauza can probably learn a lesson or two from Tite – who has fielded players solely on the basis of performance and not how big, or small, a name the player is. A prime example of his meritocracy is Paulinho (who is currently playing in China – an automatic disqualifier for most coaches) and the midfielder rewarded him for it with a sublime hat-trick today.
Oh and Neymar, as ever when he wears that canary yellow, laid down the gauntlet with a stellar performance and a superbly taken goal. He is arguably the best player (for a national team) in the world right now.
1. Lionel Messi’s task with current Argentina squad is tougher than Maradona’s with the ‘86 team
Popular legend has it that Diego Maradona took Argentina to the zenith in 1986 single-footed-ly. This is of course partly true, as he was the heart and soul of the team, but it does a great disservice to those around him. His manager Carlos Bilardo was a defense-organiser-par-excellence and Argentina’s defence in that World Cup was nigh impregnable at times while in the two Jorges – Valdano and Burruchage, Maradona had two in-form (and importantly clinical-in-front-of-goal) attacking players in support.
This team has Marcos Rojo and Nicolas Otamendi in the heart of the defence and a misfiring duo of Sergio Aguero and Gonzalo Higuain up top. In fact, other than Javier Mascherano (who gave his all, as always, today) I doubt any one of the others would have made the ‘86 team – on performance, not on big-name-ness. Today Messi showed just how great a task he has on his hands... he was seen as much in a defensive midfielder role as he was in an attacking one, as much on the wings as he was in the centre and at times it looked only he gave a damn as he pressed hard and ran harder for the duration of the match. The only offensive threat Argentina posed was when Messi had the ball at his feet – Di Maria won the penalty from a Messi through ball, and Otamendi missed a glorious chance from a superb Messi set-piece.
If Argentina do make it to Russia (which looks much more likely now) and if they do make a fist of it, it will all down to Lionel Andres Messi and his sheer will to win.
