2021 should be a year, long remembered in Argentine football history as they ended their longest 28 years of trophy drought. Now the dream should be bigger, as the World Cup is only a year away. And when one of the greatest players ever graced the sport becomes more determined than ever to win it, it is supposed to be ‘The Dream.’ But how much plausible it looks from here on?
Argentina were able to claim their trophy by beating arch-rivals Brazil and are now 20 matches unbeaten-- their best run since 2000-2002. But after going through all the games of Euro and Copa America, one would be unlikely to bet on them against the likes of Italy, Spain, France, England, Germany, Portugal and so on. Their brand of football has not been very convincing. There is a lot of room for improvements and surely certain requirements must be met to achieve that. Here are a few of the things which Argentina must improve should they wish to lift that golden trophy next year.
Being less dependent on Messi
It has been a crying need not only for Argentina but also in Barcelona. This Messi dependency has really cost both the teams many times over the years. Although this time, it was quite evident that Argentina played more as a team than in the last decade. Still, contributing 9 goals in 12, Messi holds a lion’s share of responsibility to bail them out in scoring.
Lautaro Martinez’s fiery start in the national team scoring 9 in 12 games gave a ray of hope. But then, only 2 in the next 12 became a worrisome factor. However, he regained the form scoring 3 matches straight against Bolivia, Ecuador and Columbia. Considering that Scaloni likes to play a 3 man front line, Messi and Lautaro are set for 2. It’s the 3rd position that still needs to be sorted out.
Di Maria became a hero after scoring the winner against Brazil. But his history of getting injured in important moments doesn’t really convince anyone. Papu Gomez scored two beautiful goals in Copa America but it seems he is not Scaloni’s number one choice. Scaloni’s trusted Nico Gonzalez is guilty of poor finishing. Also, Angel and Joaquin Correa are not on Scaloni’s favourite list either.
Creative spark in midfield
Under Scaloni, there has been plenty of Rotation in Argentina’s Midfield. But the most used are Lo Celso-De Paul-Paredes trio. Rodrigo De Paul is a classic box-to-box midfielder. Paredes is more of a deep-lying one. Only Lo Celso provides that creative spark but his inconsistency and lack of fitness to finish the match is a big issue. The other players used by Scaloni does not help here either. Guido Rodriguez is more of use for his muscular presence. Exequiel Palacios is quite similar to Paredes. Scaloni probes to tackle this by giving Messi the free role. But when the opponents successfully isolate him, the forwards literally get nothing.
Defensive combination
Argentina’s defence has probably been their most significant improvement under Scaloni. Especially the inclusion of Romero solidified their defence greatly. Keeping four clean sheets in seven games conceding only three in Copa America has been their key to success.
Argentina surprisingly has a quite good centre-back core with the likes of Romero, Lisandro, Senesi, Palomino, Pezzella and Otamendi. But their full-back options are not that enriched with only Tagliafico, Acuna, Montiel and Molina who are not really the perfect modern full-backs. Except for Tagliafico, everyone lacks the attacking prowess while his defensive recoveries are often questionable. Both Montiel and Molina get exposed against pacy wingers.
There is plenty to sort and Scaloni might solve them too. But the problem is, he has less than one year to do so. He will get probably have 15-16 games for all sorts of experiments before the World Cup. A monumental task no doubt, but Scaloni can dream big with his recent success.
The author is currently an HSC graduate from Dhaka Residential Model College.
