Argentina World Cup Tour Preview
Argentina entered with the third lowest odds of winning the World Cup, second only to Brazil and France. Argentina successfully advanced to the 18th World Cup through the South American qualifiers, one of two teams that have not lost a single match in the qualifying round, and the other is Brazil.
They are ranked third in the FIFA world rankings, incredible over the past year and a half. Argentina is in the 35 unbeaten record, the longest unbeaten record for active unbeaten, close to Italy’s longest international unbeaten record of 37. This record dates back to 2019, including the Copa America champions, who beat Brazil 1-1 in the penalty shootout, ending a 28-year trophy drought in major events.
Under the leadership of seven-time Golden Ball Award winner Lionel Messi, Argentina will never have any difficulties in creating opportunities in offense. While this Argentine team may not be the most talented team they have ever had, they are certainly the most united and have proven their willingness to defend their honor. They finished the World Cup qualifiers with a goal difference of +19 and kept keeping goals in six straight games. In comparison, during the qualifiers before the 2018 World Cup, their goal difference was only +3.
Argentina's long-standing state makes them popular candidates to defeat Saudi Arabia , Mexico and Poland in Group C. They certainly learned their lessons and did not play the best football in the 2018 group stage. They ranked second in the group stage that year, behind Croatia , resulting in their having to fight against the higher seed French team in the top 16, and they lost the game 4-3.
Anything can happen in the knockout stage, but it's a team in good shape who has the ability to face anyone head-on in this game. If they stay in their best form, the Argentina team will hope to have a chance to win their third World Cup title.
Key Player: Lionel Messi
This will be the last chance for Messi to win the only coveted trophy missing from his legendary resume, the seven-time Golden Globe winner will perform a show for his country and others. Messi is certainly at the end of his career, 35 years old in June, but he still has the ability to change any game in seconds. His first season at Paris Saint-Germain for Ligue 1 , scoring 6 goals and 14 assists in 26 games, although it was his lowest goal contribution since the 2006-07 season. That is to say, Messi found his performance with France in Barcelona and was obviously motivated to go to Qatar. At the start of the club's season, Messi had 11 goals and 14 assists in 14 games in all games. During the WCQ, he led the team to score 7 goals.
The former Barcelona idol and current Paris Saint-Germain striker can become the leader of Argentina's World Cup appearance if he can participate in all three group matches and surpass Diego Maradona in 21 games. He is still five goals short of becoming Argentina's record-breaking scorer on this stage.
looks forward to the little magician playing more freely in his last World Cup as he no longer has the burden of winning his first major international trophy for his country.
Tactical Analysis
Lionel Scaloni took over as head coach in 2018 after Argentina lost in the 2018 World Cup round of 16. His preferred formation in this Argentina team is 4-4-2; when they attack, it becomes 4-3-3.
In the 4-4-2 formation, if everyone is healthy, Scaroni will play Rodrigo de Paulo and Leandro Paredes in the midfield, Angel Di Maria and Giovanni Lo Celso as wide midfielders, while Lionel Messi and Lautaro Martinez lead the line as forwards.
This Argentina national team is the core of possession of the ball. In the World Cup, they controlled an average of 59.4%. When playing with the ball, they push one of the outside guards forward to increase the number of attacks and turn into three guards.It makes room for Messi to roam with another player's offense. Normally Messi will catch the ball at a low midfielder or move to the right side near Di Maria, who plays a combination game near the sideline and has the ability to cut in with his deadly left foot.
On the defensive end, Scaroni encouraged his team to play at very high pressure and squeeze the midfield. During the South American qualifiers, they averaged 6.8 possession per game in the last three games, the most participating teams in the South American qualifiers. That number is twice as high as their World Cup qualifiers before the 2018 World Cup in Russia (3.4).
