ARGENTINA NATIONAL TEAM SHAKEUP

[jenni_blog]

Things aren't working the way they should be for Argentina's national team. With so many supremely talented players, you'd think they'd be world champions every time they play in a World Cup. But fact is, they're not, as everyone knows. The team has been through so many managers and coaches recently that I can't remember them all. So I decided (again) to take it upon myself to revamp the team. You'll notice that Lionel Messi is not on it. This is because I don't think the team works well as a whole with him there. I doubt that any manager would have the balls to leave him off, but I do (even though I don't actually possess any of those.) ;)

Okay, this all totally tongue-in-cheek and there is room for Messi simply because as the winner 3 times of World's Best Player, how could he not be included?

But this is my idea for the new Argentina National Team, and it is based on what I see is the current best performance in the particular positions I am filling. I also like the idea of having more than one player from each club (if possible) because of their familiarity working together, and I have tried to accomodate that as well. You may not agree with my choices, however, so I encourage you to make your own. Mine are heavier in defenders and midfielders, the reason for that being that I don't think Argentina has too many world class goalkeepers and forwards, compared to other countries. I also believe in not calling up the same old OLD guys, so the only one of those here is Pablo Aimar, and that is because his current form is so good.

Right...so for me, the current best Argentine goalkeepers are:

Adrian Gabbarini (Independiente/Argentina)





Second-best goalkeeper:

Gaston Pezzuti (Atletico Nacional/Colombia)



Right Back(s)

Fabian Cubero (Velez Sarsfield/Argentina)



Central Defenders

Fabricio Coloccini (Newcastle United/England)



Fazio (Sevilla FC/Spain)



Nic Otamendi (FC Porto/Portugal)



Sebastian Dominguez (Velez Sarsfield/Argentina)



Left Back

Emiliano Insua (Sporting Lisbon/Portugal)



Right-sided midfielders

Nic Cabrera (GELP/Argentina)



Angel di Maria (Real Madrid/Spain)



Central midfielders

Augusto Fernandez (Velez Sarsfield/Argentina)



Erik Lamela (AS Roma/Italy)



Fernando Gago (AS Roma/Italy)



Ever Banega (Valencia CF/Spain)



Javier Pastore (PSG/France



Pablo Aimar (Benfica/Portugal)



Nic Gaitan (Benfica/Portugal)



Left-sided midfielders

Jonas Gutierrez (Newcastle United/England)



Maxi Velazquez (Independiente/Argentina)



Forwards

Kun Aguero (Manchester City/England)



Gonzalo Higuain (Real Madrid/Spain)



Pablo Piatti (Valencia CF/Spain)

Comments

[aglaiya.livejournal.com]

*lol* you did it!

I don't agree with your choices as you know ;) the only player I would take from yours is Emiliano Insua!

NO Vélez player!!! I love them all but they aren't good enough to face the best players of other countries in a WC.

Maybe: Kun and Gonzo.....

NO Nic Otamendi! I remember his performance vs Germany 2010 WC.

Nico Cabrera *LOL* I love him but he is never good enough to play in a NT!

Gago I like a lot and if he is IN FORM he is a MUST PLAY!

Éver as the player for the dirty things.

The number one argentine goalie is for me Cristian Campestrini! Adrián Gabbarini and Hilario Navarro aren't bad.

I don't know much about the players in European leagues and I'm not interested in them....

Result: I cannot name a team! I mostly like the players who will never play that good to play in a NT!

[lady--croft.livejournal.com]

I totally agree with your comments on Messi. Of course you know I am a Real Madrid fan and you may think my opinion is somewhat tainted by that fact but I really just plain and simple don't think Messi is the type of player I would want on my team either. He is good but he really needs to have the right players around him (which he does in Barcelona but clearly doesn't on the nat'l team). On the national team it seems like he just doesn't gel...like everyone wonders what are we going to do with Leo? Do we bend over backwards for him or do we just treat him like any other player? IMO he hasn't done enough for the national team to be treated any better than any of the other regulars. He certainly isn't their best player. I'd take both Kun and Gonzo over him as striker for my team. At best Leo would be a sub for my team. He's a great on the bench for an intimidation factor but let the regular players have their due. They earned it.