SportsRooter.com: Argentina Football

Kranevitter - the future of Argentina's midfield.

Argentina, who lost to Germany at the Brazil 2014 World Cup final, has an outstanding figure amongst their ranks. A captain among players, a lion, a footballer who has played for the best and biggest, passing through River Plate, Corinthians, West Ham United, Liverpool and Barcelona. Javier Mascherano has been Argentina's number 5 since 2003, excelling as the years have gone by. Nicknamed the little chief, he is a defensive midfielder who defends every ball as if it were the last. He is now 30 and the "albiceleste" will need to be looking for someone to step into his shoes soon.

Javier Mascherano

Matias Kranevitter is a 21 year-old defensive midfielder born in San Miguel de Tucuman in the north of Argentina. His family is from an area that clearly shows the unbalance of prosperity with disturbing poverty and is one of 6 siblings. He found his first job at the age of 12 becoming a caddy at the local golf course. Difficult and traumatic beginnings are common traits for the Argentine footballer. These roots, that are very different from immaculate European footballing academies, help up-bring committed players that give everything to succeed.

Kranevitter has played 40 matches for River Plate's first team after leaving San Miguel de Tucuman's youth ranks at the age of 14. He wears Mascherano's number 5 shirt at River Plate and has been impressing for the past 2 Argentine championships. He has also played for Argentina's Under 20's. He pulls the strings in the midfield and is an impassable wall at times, a balance between defence and attack. A great opponent play-breaker who quickly sets up his teammates in attack, Kranevitter is the next central midfielder to come from a long line of great number 5's from River Plate: Rossi, Merlo, Astrada, Almeyda, Mascherano.

Matías Kranevitter

Kranveitter had been recently called up to the Argentine National squad by Gerardo Martino (Argentina's head coach) for 2 friendlies against Brazil and Hong Kong on a tour of South-East Asia during October. Ponzio, Kranevitter's teammate and fighting him for a spot in River's team said about the redhead in an interview with Diario Ole (in Spanish): "He's the best number 5 in the country, he has an enormous future. He was made at River, he always wants to learn and in training he is all sacrifice and will". Ponzio, an experienced midfielder who has played for Newell's Old Boys, Zaragoza on 2 occasions and River Plate, also said: "Krane and I know that one may play one week and the other the next. We always talk, he's respectful and intelligent".

Unfortunately, while playing against Independiente in September, Kranevitter sustained an injury, a fracture to the 5th metatarsal bone of his right foot, that will keep him on the sidelines for at least 3 months. He will miss the Argentina matches and most of what is left of the Argentine National championship which River Plate is currently leading after playing 11 matches. River Plate's team and fans alike will be anxiously waiting for his recovery and return, and hopefully he will have a few more seasons in Argentina to demonstrate how much he is actually worth. Juan Pablo Varsky, a respected and renowned Argentine journalist said of Kranevitter: "He is the most important project of Argentine football. He is already good".

Due to the fact that most Argentine teams are debt-ridden, players like Matias Kranevitter usually do not have long careers in South America and are swiftly and cheaply recruited by European teams. Top clubs will be coming for the Tucuman-born player and regardless of the accessible price-tag, he has everything needed to become one of the best and even may become the next Mascherano, fill his boots as Argentina's new number 5 and who knows, he may even take the "albiceleste" that extra step in the next World Cup.

Article contributed by: James Hillyard

Twitter: @gasometre

Blog: Sportisms

Messi's World Cup Player of the Tournament Award.

Many football fans have showed dissatisfaction after the Argentine star Lionel Messi managed to win the Player of the Tournament Award. The same people have repeatedly claimed that Messi has been absent during the knockout-stage of the Tournament, especially failing to bring the Cup to Argentina. However, a person with a neutral football-based mindset knows that's not the way to look at it.

Messi with the World Cup Golden Ball trophy

First, let us look at how people expected things to happen. Many envisioned Aguero being the top scorer of the World Cup with Messi supplying him with assists, i.e. Messi being the play-maker of the team. Others saw Di Maria having a significant impact to the team's overall performance. In General, we expected to see a dominating Argentina side that'll win the group stage games with a 2-3 goal margin. However, what happened was completely different and unexpected.

As the first game for Argentina against Bosnia and Herzegovina kicked off, we expected Argentina to crush their opponents, to easily dominate the game. However, as the referee whistled the final whistle of the 1st half, we had seen an offensively disappointing Argentine side, with no major goal-scoring opportunities except their single goal that was actually an own goal. As the second half progressed, things were getting worse, until Messi showed up with a moment of brilliance, scoring a fascinating goal with the help of Higuain, saving Argentina. However, that wasn't the highlight of the match. The general outcry of the game was clear. Messi was all alone to do all the job of carrying the team on his shoulders. Why? Aguero, one of the best strikers in world football, happened to be out of form, with Di Maria failing to add impact. This idea was proved in the remaining group stage games, as Messi scored 3 goals in 2 games to solely give Argentina an early Qualification to the knock-outs. Until then, it was safe to say that without Messi's brilliance, Argentina would not have progressed any further. As the game vs Switzerland kicked off, we had hoped that some other players in offence would show up. The match was first going the same way the previous matches went, with Argentina not providing the expected display.

The game even went to extra time, and was going towards the penalty shootouts, when Messi, with another moment of brilliance, dribbled past a player and gave a key pass to Di Maria that finished the ball in the net. Again, it was Messi who took the responsibility of handing his team qualification, however, how long will it be his and only his responsibility to be Argentina's savior? Now that Di Maria has gotten injured, and Aguero has also been injured for a while, Messi was LITERALLY alone in offence with out of form Higuain only succeeding in scoring 1 goal against Belgium that gave Argentina the qualification they needed. Argentina then played Holland in a very tight draw with limited scoring opportunities for both teams, with Argentina being the dominating side in terms of possession. The game was decided by penalty shootouts to the advantage of the Argentine, they had reached the final. As the final kicked off, the majority of people were rooting for Germany to win the game.However, the game progressed to witness two solid sides, with Argentina being better with a small margin.The first half saw some Messi runs and dribbles, especially that sprint on the wing escaping Mats Hummels and creating a chance.However, at half time, Argentine coach Sabella took out Lavezzi, that was doing a great defensive job, to replace him with the out-of-form Aguero. 'Argentina had been playing with two lines of four, with Enzo Perez closing Philipp Lahm and Lavezzi doing the same on the other side. Because they were so compact Messi could walk while defending and then when he got the ball he had the energy to make the difference' Jose Mourinho stated commenting on Sabella's decision. The game progressed to extra time, and was on the track to reach the penalty shootouts, just when Mario Gotze puts the ball in the net with a classy volley after a Schurrle cross. It was over for Argentina as the match ended with a 1-0 win for Germany.

In this final stage, Messi wouldn't have scored or assisted, but that's not the only criterion to describe a player's performance. Messi had been playing with a team that lacks attacking midfielder, with the strikers of the team not being up to the required level, especially in the last 2 games. The World Cup is a team trophy, no player even with the greatness of Messi could win it alone. Yet, Messi finished his World Cup with 4 goals, 1 assist, most chances created (23) and most successful dribbles (46), with being involved in 71.4% of the goals of the runner ups. That isn't as and as people claim. We should also consider that Messi wasn't playing in his natural position, having to go back to central midfield to claim the ball. He even made defensive track-backs, and that's not the job of a forward like Messi. Here's how Jose Mourinho commented on Messi's performance ' He sacrificed for his team. He wanted to win, rather than be the best or win the Golden Ball or Golden Boot. Messi is in the national team to try to make history, and because of that, in the World Cup, he moved in zones that aren’t his. Argentina’s game didn’t allow him to play where he feels most comfortable.' 'When Sabella brought Aguero on for Lavezzi, Argentina changed from a 4-4-2 to a 4-3-3 and they lost a lot of balance. Messi had to run much more after Lavezzi went off,' he added. To conclude, Messi has done great achieving all the previous results with a team that lacks offensive options. So, did he deserve the award?

Article contributed by: Mahdi Anani

Twitter: @AboSaleh_313

The Stepping Down of Sabella: A Step in the Right Direction for Argentina?

Alejandro Sabella did not have a massive reputation when he was appointed as the head coach of Argentina. He only had 3 years of managing experience, and his first and only tenure before the Argentina job was at Estudiantes, a club which not many consider elite. Although he had a long and fruitful playing career, being a good player might not always translate into becoming a successful manager. Certainly, many thought this would be the case at the time of his appointment as the manager of the Argentine team. However, despite his many flaws, Sabella gave his nation something to be proud of when no one expected it.

Argentina is a country where fans treat their football like religion, similarly to most other countries in South America. In 2010, their fans were left heartbroken and dismayed by Argentina's 4-1 defeat to Germany, causing many to lay the blame on national hero and icon Diego Maradona. The abuse towards him was ruthless.

Due to their attitude towards defeat, I never expected many to show faith in Sabella. Regardless, the patience of the Argentinians towards their manager paid dividends. On the biggest stage of all, Sabella quite unexpectedly lead Argentina towards the finals of the World Cup. Although their defeat was inevitable, the team showed real fight and charisma, not allowing Germany to break free like they did against Brazil previously.

In spite of their brave effort, Sabella's men and the nation was once again left heartbroken as Mario Goetze won the world cup for the Germans.

Despite leading them closer to the world cup than they've ever been in their recent history, I did feel at times that Argentina could do better with a less flawed man at the helm. Not known for being an astute tactical mastermind, Sabella had not even figured out his best starting team before the quarter finals of the world cup.

Under Sabella, the Argentinians played a more restricted, even defensive style, with the bulk of the attacking work left on the shoulders of Messi and Angel di Maria. Unsurprisingly, the two did not flourish under his system. It might seem like an outrageous comment, because after all Sabella did unlock Messi's golden touch which had been missing for so long, but when you look at the majority of the earlier matches, Messi struggled with the lack of creativity from his midfield, and had to often drop deep and create chances himself. This left the Argentina captain with too much responsibility, hence why I think he was not at his best under Sabella.

Although this problem was not helped by the noticeable absentees of major players like Aguero and di Maria for a chunk of the world cup, Sabella could and should have produced better performances from a talented bunch of players. The lack of creativity in the side was quite surprising, since they did boast players like Ezequiel Lavezzi, Angel di Maria, Enzo Perez and Rodrigo Palacio, not to mention Messi himself.

For all his flaws, Sabella did manage to bring the best out of his defensive players. Players like Garay, Mascherano, Demichellis and goalkeeper Sergio Romero had fantastic tournaments, where they flourished in Sabella's system.

While Sabella's system reduced the creativity in the team, he did tighten up their defenses which allowed the Argentines to edge out on close encounters against teams like Switzerland and the Netherlands. Sabella boasted a defensive record which teams like England could only pray for. The defensive line that Argentina had were not exactly made with world class players, unlike Germany's back line, but Sabella did make these players look world class during the tournament, which he deserves credit for.

Now that he's gone, I feel Argentina need a manager who is tactically better than Sabella, and will build on the foundation that he has provided. Personally, I didn't like Sabella very much, but he did lead Argentina into the world cup finals, and he deserves all the recognition he got for the achievement. Many expected Argentina's attack to be the strong point in the world cup, but Sabella focused on securing the team's defense, which ultimately got them into the finals. Now, Argentina cannot afford to take a step back by appointing a mediocre manager, they need a top manager who will build the team to help them win the cup when the world cup returns in 2018.

When Sabella was appointed as the manager, he did not have big boots to fill, as his predecessor was Diego Maradona. Now, when he has stepped down, he has ensured that whoever replaces him has massive boots to fill.

Article by Mayank Tiwary. Twitter: @VanPerseing

Argentina beat Netherlands 4-2 on penalties

Argentina beat Netherlands 4-2 on penalties after a hard fought 120 minutes battle, followed by a tensed penalty shoot-out, to face the mighty Germans in the finals of the World Cup 2014.

Argentina players celebrating their victory

Although Messi is the main man heading into the final, but their semi-final victory over Netherlands will always be remembered as Javier Mascherano’s moment of glory. On at least three occasions, Barcelona star Javier Mascherano saved his side as the team showed defensive brilliance that Brazil lacked last night.

After a magnificent atmosphere had been built up by the two sets of supporters in the hour leading up to kick-off, the players did their very best to dampen spirits entirely in the 120 minutes that followed.

There were not many chances created by either teams during the first half. Ezequiel Garay’s header from the left corner was the closest attempt. Messi's free-kick, which was easily held by Dutch goalkeeper Jasper Cillessen, was the only shot on target during the first 45 minutes of the game.

Lionel Messi taking a free-kick for Argentina.

During the second half of the game, some amount of panic was felt by both the teams to score goals, but the gamplay remained almost similar. Arjen Robben went so close to scoring just in the dying minutes before full time, but some extra time taken by him to shoot allowed Mascherano to show a fantastic display of his defending capabilities.

That game-saving tackle from Mascherano.

The Dutch team's first real shot came in the 99th minute, which went straight into the hands of the Argentina goalkeeper Sergio Romero.

The game which was said to be a battle between Messi and Robben ended up with some brilliant works of defence by Ron Vlaar and Mascherano, who made sure that the match went to the penalties without any goals scored.

Vlaar made sure that Messi did not get a single touch in the box.

Ron Vlaar and Sneijder were the two Netherlands players who missed the penalties, which made way for Argentina to the finals.