Clear Blue Skies
Hi everyone.
As always, many thanks to everyone for taking out the time to follow the blog. It was particularly pleasing to see varying points of view on the previous post, intelligent discussion is always welcome. May the blog never get so big that I forget to say thank you.
Now, onto the business at hand. Unless you’ve been under a very big rock, you are aware that the Super Eagles have been drawn against and will face Argentina, Iran and Bosnia-Herzegovina in the Group Stage of the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil. Cue mixed reactions: consternation, relief and uncertainty respectively. This post is the report of a spy mission that profiles (or at least, tries to) these three countries, with a view to providing insight on how to progress through the group.
“…Bond. James Bond.”
ARGENTINA
Manager: Alejandro Sabella
FIFA Ranking: 3
Captain: Lionel Messi
World Cup honors: 2 wins (1974 and 1986)
Nickname: the “Albiceleste” (White and Sky Blue)
It took a long time and many unequivocal blunders, but Argentina finally have a manager who has figured out how to make Lionel Messi, the world’s best player (at least till January), tick in National team colors. It was always going to be the man who could do this that would last the longest in the job, and Sabella’s stay since after the 2011 Copa America has been eventful, to say the least.
They cantered through qualifying, reveling in the absence of arch-rivals and neighbors Brazil and were free-scoring and electric in equal measure.
So how has Sabella gotten this team to tick?
Unorthodox formations do tend to thrive in international football, mainly because the coach has to work with what he has and use his best legs in their favorite positions, as opposed to buying a player to fulfill a role. Messi may be the best in the world, but Argentina are also blessed with a wealth of striking talent, so Sabella reached a compromise.
In this system, Messi plays off the front two between the lines of the opposition defence and attack, dropping deep and dribbling forward with the ball. The front two of Higuain and Aguero move away from the center into the channels between the opposing center backs and full backs, opening up space for Messi to exploit.
In midfield, yet another compromise. The energy and inventiveness of Angel di Maria is accommodated by playing him as a shuttler, a role he played during his time at Benfica. Fernando Gago and Javier Mascherano sit deeper in the roles of ball winner and distributor respectively.
STRENGTHS
The sheer weight of attacking numbers, and the quality of the forward players. With Aguero and Higuain drifting wide, opposing full backs are more likely to be conservative, as going forward would leave the center backs in a 1v1 situation and stretched. Allied to Messi’s runs from midfield, it would be suicide.
WEAKNESS
The defence. Needless to say, playing a team with four players in purely attacking roles is risky. Sabella has famously said that when his team is defending he sometimes just shuts his eyes and prays. Argentina’s tradition of solid defenders (Ayala, Samuel, etc.) seems to have come to a halt.
Zabaleta is a fixture, as is Benfica’s Garay. Federico Fernandez is simply not good enough and will likely lose his place, and Marcos Rojo at left back is a major headache for Sabella. With no support from further forward for the full backs, they can get overloaded.
HOW TO PLAY IT
This is actually the final group game for the Super Eagles; if all goes to plan, we ought to be through before this matchup. The best way to beat this Argentina side is on the counter attack, sit deep and leave our wingers high up against Rojo and Zabaleta.
Compactness and a deep defence that gives no space to Messi and Aguero, combined with pace on the flanks (this is the sort of game in which Ahmed Musa would thrive), would make our play consistently dangerous, as Argentina’s full backs struggle against pace.
Well, that’s it on Argentina. The next post will profile Bosnia-Herzegovina. Thanks for reading. Comments, observations and corrections are welcome. Cheers.
