The Problems With Argentina Football Team
A lot has been written about the attack of Argentina in the World Cup and it seems that Maradona has a lot of options available to him. The Argentinean attack is so powerful that players like Tevez and Aguero would have to sit on the bench. The real problem, however, is the midfield of the squad, which lacks luster and ability.
The problems were obvious during the Qualifying campaign of the club as Maradona tried all kinds of players but failed to get desired results. Argentina, therefore, had a rough run to get their spot in the World Cup. The real problem is the absence of Riquelme, who is an established play-maker. In his absence no one has been able to fill his spot and the team seems to be in disorder, as far as the midfield is concerned.
The only player who has shown some form at club and international level is Javier Mascherano. Mascherano has played well for the Liverpool for quite some time, despite his poor run at West Ham. He would be playing a role of a defensive midfielder for the team as he has good defensive and attacking abilities. He can control the ball well and can also disturb the flow of opposition’s football in the midfield. He is also a strong presence and his defensive abilities are also quite good. But, again, he has won nothing for quite some time, as his only major performance was at the 2004 Olympics final.
Juan Veron is also present in the midfield, and it seems that he would be playing a role of a playmaker. However, his performances at the club level were quite ordinary and his international career; had almost ended. Although he was a renowned midfielder, but his stay at Manchester United, Chelsea and Inter Milan were below par, which was very heart-breaking for a player of his abilities. However, he has been given a chance though it would be hard for him to deliver it in an extra-ordinary manner.
Angel Di Maria is another exciting player for Argentina who has been given this chance at a very young age. He, however, has proved himself to be an efficient winger and a good goal-scorer for his club Benfica. Di Maria also has pace and he can easily run past any defender in the world. The real problem is that he has not developed into a great team-player and often does selfish things, which only harm the chances of the team.
Among other midfielders, available to Maradona, are Maxi Rodriguez and Mario Bolatti. Maxi has a good reputation of playing some good club football in Espanyol, Athletico Madrid and most recently Liverpool. He also has the ability to score some goals, but overall he is just a good player and lacks real quality. Bolatti also is quite an average player and it is supposed that he only made it into the team because of his goal in the qualifier that got Argentina their spot in the World Cup.
So the problem is there for Maradona. The possible solution, I believe is that Maradona should play a formation that minimizes his dependency on the midfielders. Therefore, the only viable option is that he plays a 4-3-3 formation, as his real strength lies in his forward line. Another thing that he can do is to move Messi in the midfield, which I believe would be a waste of Messi. In the midfield he can always play Di Maria, Mascherano and Veron while relying on the forward line to come up with goals. This would however cause some problems as well, because it would be hard for the midfield to hold on to the ball for long.
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his thing is for sure, that Argentina would not be able to play a possession game because of the lack of quality in their midfield. If the defence plays well and the forward line does the job then only an average performance would be enough to see Argentina through the early stages of the tournament and into the quarter finals. After that, however, this would be a real uphill task of the Maradona’s Men to move forward and then the lack of quality in the midfield would feel problematic.
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