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Football country

The British are considered the founders of football, but the Argentines are not far behind. In Argentina, they also started playing ball with their feet in the nineteenth century, and gradually this sport gained momentum among the population. Since then the most southern country South America gave the football world a lot of talented football players. At the top of this list are Diego Maradona and Lionel Messi.

The first ever World Championship took place in 1930. Before it was played, Argentina managed to win the America's Cup four times. The leader of the continent at that time was Uruguay (6 victories), and Brazil was the winner of two more tournaments. Already in those years, traditions of fundamental rivalry between Argentines and Brazilians and Uruguayans arose. In the final of the debut World Cup, the Albiceleste faced Uruguay, who competed in native land. The hosts won with a score of 4:2 and became the first world champions.

The Argentines, like many other South American teams, continued to practice beautiful, technical football. But for many years, the Albiceleste were limited to success at the continental level. At world football forums, Argentina did not advance beyond the quarterfinals. The situation changed in 1978, when the Argentines were the hosts of the World Cup. The Albiceleste won the home tournament, beating Holland in the final in extra time with a score of 3:1. The Argentine goalscorer Mario Kempes, who eventually became the top scorer of the World Cup, scored a double in that match.

Eight years later, Argentina repeated the success on the fields of Mexico. That World Cup went down in history and is still remembered today largely because of the quarterfinal confrontation between the Argentines and England. The Albiceleste won 2-1 thanks to a brace from Diego Maradona. The legendary Argentinean scored the first goal with his hand, which he then called “the hand of God.” And three minutes later, Maradona scored the “goal of the century.” Diego beat half the opposing team at speed and hit the goal.

After this, the Argentina national team never became a World Cup winner, although the football world recognized such players as Gabriel Batistuta, Javier Zanetti, Roberto Ayala, Diego Simeone, Hernan Crespo and Lionel Messi. In 1990 and 2014, the Albiceleste reached the finals, but lost only minimally to Germany. The Argentines plan to regain the World Cup at the 2018 championship. The whole country believes that Messi will still win something worthwhile as part of the national team.

Team today

Jorge Sampaoli quickly decided on his final bid for the World Championship. The main surprise was the absence of Mauro Icardi and Diego Perotti. And if the Argentina national team already has a lot of top-level players in attack, namely Lionel Messi, Paulo Dybala, Gonzalo Higuain and Sergio Aguero, then Perotti could be useful in the middle line. However, the Albiceleste coach chose to take Maximiliano Mesa and Christian Pavon. The first made his debut for the national team this year, the second last year. Commenting on his choice, Sampaoli said that the 23 players included in the team are better suited to the playing style.

According to the authoritative portal transfermarkt, the value of the Argentina national team is almost 700 million euros. The most expensive, of course, is Lionel Messi (180 million). The top three are Paulo Dybala (100 million) and Sergio Aguero (80 million).

Jorge Sampaoli prefers to operate in a formation with three central defenders and two laterals. At the same time, Lionel Messi often plays the role of a free artist. In search of the ball, the leader of the Argentina national team can at times drop closer to the central part of the field. The Albiceleste have plenty of other bright performers, but the team's performance largely depends on Messi. He is capable of single-handedly leading the team to victories, which he once again proved in the qualifying round for the World Cup, which we will talk about later.

Three players in the final entry of the Argentina national team represent the local championship. This is goalkeeper Franco Armani, as well as midfielders Maximiliano Mesa and Christian Pavon. The leader of the Albiceleste in the number of games, Javier Mascherano, plays in China, and goalkeeper Nahuel Guzman plays in Mexico. The remaining 18 play in Europe, with 15 of them representing the top five of the championships.

The problem area for the Argentina national team may be the goalkeeper position. After the final bid was announced, Sergio Romero was injured. He remained the Albiceleste's main goalkeeper, although he did not receive much match practice at Manchester United during the season. Now the first number of the Argentines should be the experienced Willy Caballero. He also didn't play much for Chelsea last season, serving as back-up to Thibaut Courtois. It is curious that all three goalkeepers of the Argentina national team have not played even a dozen games for the national team at the moment.

Argentina national team goalkeepers

Road to Russia

The Argentina national team's path to Russia for the World Cup turned out to be very thorny. During the qualifying round, the Albiceleste changed their head coach twice. In the three starting rounds, the Argentines scored only two points, even managing to lose to Ecuador at home. In the next three matches, Argentina only won, but this did not save Gerardo Martino from being fired.

Edgardo Bausa also failed. Under the leadership of this specialist, in eight matches of the qualifying round, the Albiceleste celebrated only three victories and suffered the same number of defeats. It was up to Jorge Sampaoli to save the situation, whose journey in European club football was short-lived. Sampaoli started with three draws in a row, and he was often criticized for his choice of starting lineup.

In the last qualifying match against unmotivated Ecuador in the uncomfortable mountainous Quito, the Argentines could only be satisfied with a victory. Albiceleste fans must have experienced a shock when the Ecuadorians were able to open the scoring in the first attack. But then Lionel Messi took over. The star captain of the Argentina national team scored a hat-trick and secured his team a ticket to Russia.

M Team AND IN N P RM ABOUT
1 Brazil 18 12 5 1 41:11 41
2 Uruguay 18 9 4 5 32:20 31
3 Argentina 18 7 7 4 19:16 28
4 Colombia 18 7 6 5 21:19 27
5 Peru 18 7 5 6 27:26 26
6 Chile 18 8 2 8 26:27 26
7 Paraguay 18 7 3 8 19:25 24
8 Ecuador 18 6 2 10 26:29 20
9 Bolivia 18 4 2 12 16:38 14
10 Venezuela 18 2 6 10 19:35 12

In the spotlight

Lionel Messi is one of those football players who doesn't need much introduction. This is the greatest player of our time, as evidenced by great amount his fans all over the world. Of course, everyone knows the story of how Messi might not have become a football player due to growth hormone deficiency. By his example, Lionel shows boys all over the world that the impossible is possible. You need to believe in yourself and constantly move forward, maintaining optimism.

During his career, Messi broke a huge number of records that we could talk about for hours. In addition, the Argentine won a large number of trophies and individual awards. Lionel has won the prestigious Ballon d'Or award five times. All these achievements show how unique Messi is. He is a key player for Barcelona and the Argentina national team, and at the right moments he is able to single-handedly carry these teams on himself. For more than a decade, Lionel has been demonstrating this to the entire football world.

The only gap in Messi's great career is the lack of success with the Argentina national team. Leo won the World Youth Championship in 2005 and the Olympic football tournament in 2008, but nothing more. Messi has played in the Copa America finals three times and in the World Cup finals once. However, each time the Albiceleste were defeated in decisive matches. During the Russian World Cup, Messi will turn 31. One can imagine that he will play at the next America's Cup, but Leo is unlikely to play at the World Cup in Qatar. So the future football forum will certainly be the last chance for the great Argentinean to shine with national team to the whole world.

Trainer

After the failure of Edgardo Bauza, the Argentine national team was led by Jorge Sampaoli. He never played professionally because he suffered a serious injury at the age of nineteen. But Sampaoli was in love with football, and therefore chose a different path - he became a coach.

Sampaoli is a big fan of Marcelo Bielsa's methods. Over the course of his career, Jorge repeatedly consulted with this specialist, who in Argentina is called “The Crazy One.” It is worth saying that in his work Sampaoli actively uses modern technologies, in particular computer programs to create the physical profile of football players. In addition, Jorge at one time discovered a revolutionary playing scheme with a diamond-shaped midfield and three attacking players.

Sampaoli began coaching in Peru, but he achieved the greatest success with the Chilean Universidad de Chile - winning three league titles, a national cup and a South American title. These successes allowed Jorge to lead the Chilean national team. Here he also succeeded, leading the team to win the America's Cup in 2015. After this, Sampaoli tried his hand at European club football, heading Sevilla, until he received an offer from his native Argentina. An offer that was impossible to refuse.

World Cup challenge

The Argentina national team has no other tasks than the maximum. The Albiceleste haven't won the World Cup since Diego Maradona and are missing big victories. At the 2014 World Cup, the Argentines stopped one step short of their goal, losing to Germany in the final. Now Jorge Sampaoli's team hopes to win the World Cup. Lionel Messi will be especially motivated, for whom this World Cup will likely be his last. “The World Cup is a revolver at Messi’s temple,” Sampaoli rightly noted.

Fans

Football for Argentines is a whole religion, so the national team of this country always feels strong support from the stands. Fans from Argentina cheer ardently and fervently, using not only national symbols, but also musical instruments. The downside of Argentine fans is their temperament. Matches of the Argentine football championship attract increased attention from the police due to the occurrence of clashes, which sometimes even result in deaths.

Fan expectations

Fans of the Argentina national team are waiting for their team's victory at the World Cup after a 32-year break. Now that Lionel Messi is shining in the Albiceleste, fans are looking forward to seeing the World Cup. In Brazil, the Argentines lacked just a little. Four years later, fans from Argentina hope that their country's main team will win the main trophy in world football. Messi and company will try not to disappoint their fans on Russian fields.

Bookmakers' opinion

Bookmakers place Argentina in fifth place on the list of World Cup favorites. Only France, Spain, Brazil and Germany are rated higher than “albiceleste”. Experts from the world of betting are confident that Jorge Sampaoli's team will advance to the playoffs, but are not entirely sure that the Argentines will bypass Croatia in the group. The bet “Argentina will take 1st place in Group D” comes with a good odds of 1.6. Bookmakers give a slightly higher odds for Messi and company to reach the quarterfinals - about 1.65.

Messi will turn 31 during the World Cup. Apparently, the tournament in Russia is Lionel’s last chance to win the World Cup.

For 4 last year Argentina have lost 3 major tournament finals. This happened at the 2014 World Cup and two America's Cups (2015,2016).

Argentina is one of three teams that have won all FIFA tournaments (World Cup, Confederations Cup and Olympic Games). France and Brazil also succeeded in this.

Forecast "Euro-Futbol.ru"

It is important for the Argentina national team to take first place in Group D, because in this case, Jorge Sampaoli's team in the 1/8 finals will avoid a potential meeting with France - the clear favorite of Quartet C. In this situation, the Albiceleste should advance to the 1/4 finals, where they can wait for someone from the Pyrenean pair Portugal - Spain. We expect to see Lionel Messi and company at least in the quarterfinals. We propose to bet on the Argentines reaching this stage. The coefficient is about 1.65.

National team association

What reminds us of Argentina, apart from Diego Maradona, Lionel Messi and football in general? Of course, the symbol of this country is the exciting, energetic, sensual and passionate tango dance.

Awards and achievements

World Champion (2): 1978, 1986
World Championship silver medalist (3): 1930, 1990, 2014
Confederations Cup winner (1): 1992
Confederations Cup silver medalist (2): 1995, 2005
America's Cup winner (14): 1921, 1925, 1927, 1929, 1937, 1941, 1945, 1946, 1947, 1955, 1957, 1959, 1991, 1993
America's Cup silver medalist (13): 1916, 1917, 1920, 1923, 1924, 1926, 1935, 1942, 1959, 1967, 2004, 2007, 2015
America's Cup bronze medalist (4): 1919, 1956, 1963, 1989
Olympic champion (2): 2004, 2008
Silver medalist Olympic Games (2): 1928, 1996
Pan American Games Champion (6): 1951, 1955, 1959, 1971, 1995, 2003
Silver medalist of the Pan American Games (2): 1963, 2011
Pan American Games bronze medalist (3): 1975, 1979, 1987 Football country

The British are considered the founders of football, but the Argentines are not far behind. In Argentina, they also started playing ball with their feet in the nineteenth century, and gradually this sport gained momentum among the population. Since then, the southernmost country in South America has given the football world a ton of talented players. At the top of this list are Diego Maradona and Lionel Messi.

The first ever World Championship took place in 1930. Before it was played, Argentina managed to win the America's Cup four times. The leader of the continent at that time was Uruguay (6 victories), and Brazil was the winner of two more tournaments. Already in those years, traditions of fundamental rivalry between Argentines and Brazilians and Uruguayans arose. In the final of the debut World Cup, the Albiceleste faced Uruguay, who competed on their native soil. The hosts won with a score of 4:2 and became the first world champions.

The Argentines, like many other South American teams, continued to practice beautiful, technical football. But for many years, the Albiceleste were limited to success at the continental level. At world football forums, Argentina did not advance beyond the quarterfinals. The situation changed in 1978, when the Argentines were the hosts of the World Cup. The Albiceleste won the home tournament, beating Holland in the final in extra time with a score of 3:1. The Argentine goalscorer Mario Kempes, who eventually became the top scorer of the World Cup, scored a double in that match.

Eight years later, Argentina repeated the success on the fields of Mexico. That World Cup went down in history and is still remembered today largely because of the quarterfinal confrontation between the Argentines and England. The Albiceleste won 2-1 thanks to a brace from Diego Maradona. The legendary Argentinean scored the first goal with his hand, which he then called “the hand of God.” And three minutes later, Maradona scored the “goal of the century.” Diego beat half the opposing team at speed and hit the goal.

After this, the Argentina national team never became a World Cup winner, although the football world recognized such players as Gabriel Batistuta, Javier Zanetti, Roberto Ayala, Diego Simeone, Hernan Crespo and Lionel Messi. In 1990 and 2014, the Albiceleste reached the finals, but lost only minimally to Germany. The Argentines plan to regain the World Cup at the 2018 championship. The whole country believes that Messi will still win something worthwhile as part of the national team.

Team today

Jorge Sampaoli quickly decided on his final bid for the World Championship. The main surprise was the absence of Mauro Icardi and Diego Perotti. And if the Argentina national team already has a lot of top-level players in attack, namely Lionel Messi, Paulo Dybala, Gonzalo Higuain and Sergio Aguero, then Perotti could be useful in the middle line. However, the Albiceleste coach chose to take Maximiliano Mesa and Christian Pavon. The first made his debut for the national team this year, the second last year. Commenting on his choice, Sampaoli said that the 23 players included in the team are better suited to the playing style.

According to the authoritative portal transfermarkt, the value of the Argentina national team is almost 700 million euros. The most expensive, of course, is Lionel Messi (180 million). The top three are Paulo Dybala (100 million) and Sergio Aguero (80 million).

Jorge Sampaoli prefers to operate in a formation with three central defenders and two laterals. At the same time, Lionel Messi often plays the role of a free artist. In search of the ball, the leader of the Argentina national team can at times drop closer to the central part of the field. The Albiceleste have plenty of other bright performers, but the team's performance largely depends on Messi. He is capable of single-handedly leading the team to victories, which he once again proved in the qualifying round for the World Cup, which we will talk about later.

Three players in the final entry of the Argentina national team represent the local championship. This is goalkeeper Franco Armani, as well as midfielders Maximiliano Mesa and Christian Pavon. The leader of the Albiceleste in the number of games, Javier Mascherano, plays in China, and goalkeeper Nahuel Guzman plays in Mexico. The remaining 18 play in Europe, with 15 of them representing the top five of the championships.

The problem area for the Argentina national team may be the goalkeeper position. After the final bid was announced, Sergio Romero was injured. He remained the Albiceleste's main goalkeeper, although he did not receive much match practice at Manchester United during the season. Now the first number of the Argentines should be the experienced Willy Caballero. He also didn't play much for Chelsea last season, serving as back-up to Thibaut Courtois. It is curious that all three goalkeepers of the Argentina national team have not played even a dozen games for the national team at the moment.

Argentina national team goalkeepers

Road to Russia

The Argentina national team's path to Russia for the World Cup turned out to be very thorny. During the qualifying round, the Albiceleste changed their head coach twice. In the three starting rounds, the Argentines scored only two points, even managing to lose to Ecuador at home. In the next three matches, Argentina only won, but this did not save Gerardo Martino from being fired.

Edgardo Bausa also failed. Under the leadership of this specialist, in eight matches of the qualifying round, the Albiceleste celebrated only three victories and suffered the same number of defeats. It was up to Jorge Sampaoli to save the situation, whose journey in European club football was short-lived. Sampaoli started with three draws in a row, and he was often criticized for his choice of starting lineup.

In the last qualifying match against unmotivated Ecuador in the uncomfortable mountainous Quito, the Argentines could only be satisfied with a victory. Albiceleste fans must have experienced a shock when the Ecuadorians were able to open the scoring in the first attack. But then Lionel Messi took over. The star captain of the Argentina national team scored a hat-trick and secured his team a ticket to Russia.

M Team AND IN N P RM ABOUT
1 Brazil 18 12 5 1 41:11 41
2 Uruguay 18 9 4 5 32:20 31
3 Argentina 18 7 7 4 19:16 28
4 Colombia 18 7 6 5 21:19 27
5 Peru 18 7 5 6 27:26 26
6 Chile 18 8 2 8 26:27 26
7 Paraguay 18 7 3 8 19:25 24
8 Ecuador 18 6 2 10 26:29 20
9 Bolivia 18 4 2 12 16:38 14
10 Venezuela 18 2 6 10 19:35 12

In the spotlight

Lionel Messi is one of those football players who doesn't need much introduction. This is the greatest player of our time, as evidenced by the huge number of his fans around the world. Of course, everyone knows the story of how Messi might not have become a football player due to growth hormone deficiency. By his example, Lionel shows boys all over the world that the impossible is possible. You need to believe in yourself and constantly move forward, maintaining optimism.

During his career, Messi broke a huge number of records that we could talk about for hours. In addition, the Argentine won a large number of trophies and individual awards. Lionel has won the prestigious Ballon d'Or award five times. All these achievements show how unique Messi is. He is a key player for Barcelona and the Argentina national team, and at the right moments he is able to single-handedly carry these teams on himself. For more than a decade, Lionel has been demonstrating this to the entire football world.

The only gap in Messi's great career is the lack of success with the Argentina national team. Leo won the World Youth Championship in 2005 and the Olympic football tournament in 2008, but nothing more. Messi has played in the Copa America finals three times and in the World Cup finals once. However, each time the Albiceleste were defeated in decisive matches. During the Russian World Cup, Messi will turn 31. One can imagine that he will play at the next America's Cup, but Leo is unlikely to play at the World Cup in Qatar. So the future football forum will certainly be the last chance for the great Argentinean to show off with the national team for the whole world.

Trainer

After the failure of Edgardo Bauza, the Argentine national team was led by Jorge Sampaoli. He never played professionally because he suffered a serious injury at the age of nineteen. But Sampaoli was in love with football, and therefore chose a different path - he became a coach.

Sampaoli is a big fan of Marcelo Bielsa's methods. Over the course of his career, Jorge repeatedly consulted with this specialist, who in Argentina is called “The Crazy One.” It is worth saying that in his work Sampaoli actively uses modern technologies, in particular computer programs to create the physical profile of football players. In addition, Jorge at one time discovered a revolutionary playing scheme with a diamond-shaped midfield and three attacking players.

Sampaoli began coaching in Peru, but he achieved the greatest success with the Chilean Universidad de Chile - winning three league titles, a national cup and a South American title. These successes allowed Jorge to lead the Chilean national team. Here he also succeeded, leading the team to win the America's Cup in 2015. After this, Sampaoli tried his hand at European club football, heading Sevilla, until he received an offer from his native Argentina. An offer that was impossible to refuse.

World Cup challenge

The Argentina national team has no other tasks than the maximum. The Albiceleste haven't won the World Cup since Diego Maradona and are missing big victories. At the 2014 World Cup, the Argentines stopped one step short of their goal, losing to Germany in the final. Now Jorge Sampaoli's team hopes to win the World Cup. Lionel Messi will be especially motivated, for whom this World Cup will likely be his last. “The World Cup is a revolver at Messi’s temple,” Sampaoli rightly noted.

Fans

Football for Argentines is a whole religion, so the national team of this country always feels strong support from the stands. Fans from Argentina cheer passionately and fervently, using not only national symbols, but also musical instruments. The downside of Argentine fans is their temperament. Matches of the Argentine football championship attract increased attention from the police due to the occurrence of clashes, which sometimes even result in deaths.

Fan expectations

Fans of the Argentina national team are waiting for their team's victory at the World Cup after a 32-year break. Now that Lionel Messi is shining in the Albiceleste, fans are looking forward to seeing the World Cup. In Brazil, the Argentines lacked just a little. Four years later, fans from Argentina hope that their country's main team will win the main trophy in world football. Messi and company will try not to disappoint their fans on Russian fields.

Bookmakers' opinion

Bookmakers place Argentina in fifth place on the list of World Cup favorites. Only France, Spain, Brazil and Germany are rated higher than “albiceleste”. Experts from the world of betting are confident that Jorge Sampaoli's team will advance to the playoffs, but are not entirely sure that the Argentines will bypass Croatia in the group. The bet “Argentina will take 1st place in Group D” comes with a good odds of 1.6. Bookmakers give a slightly higher odds for Messi and company to reach the quarterfinals - about 1.65.

Messi will turn 31 during the World Cup. Apparently, the tournament in Russia is Lionel’s last chance to win the World Cup.

Over the last 4 years, Argentina has lost 3 finals of major tournaments. This happened at the 2014 World Cup and two America's Cups (2015,2016).

Argentina is one of three teams that have won all FIFA tournaments (World Cup, Confederations Cup and Olympic Games). France and Brazil also succeeded in this.

Forecast "Euro-Futbol.ru"

It is important for the Argentina national team to take first place in Group D, because in this case, Jorge Sampaoli's team in the 1/8 finals will avoid a potential meeting with France - the clear favorite of Quartet C. In this situation, the Albiceleste should advance to the 1/4 finals, where they can wait for someone from the Pyrenean pair Portugal - Spain. We expect to see Lionel Messi and company at least in the quarterfinals. We propose to bet on the Argentines reaching this stage. The coefficient is about 1.65.

National team association

What reminds us of Argentina, apart from Diego Maradona, Lionel Messi and football in general? Of course, the symbol of this country is the exciting, energetic, sensual and passionate tango dance.

Awards and achievements

World Champion (2): 1978, 1986
World Championship silver medalist (3): 1930, 1990, 2014
Confederations Cup winner (1): 1992
Confederations Cup silver medalist (2): 1995, 2005
America's Cup winner (14): 1921, 1925, 1927, 1929, 1937, 1941, 1945, 1946, 1947, 1955, 1957, 1959, 1991, 1993
America's Cup silver medalist (13): 1916, 1917, 1920, 1923, 1924, 1926, 1935, 1942, 1959, 1967, 2004, 2007, 2015
America's Cup bronze medalist (4): 1919, 1956, 1963, 1989
Olympic champion (2): 2004, 2008
Olympic silver medalist (2): 1928, 1996
Pan American Games Champion (6): 1951, 1955, 1959, 1971, 1995, 2003
Silver medalist of the Pan American Games (2): 1963, 2011
Pan American Games bronze medalist (3): 1975, 1979, 1987 Football country

The British are considered the founders of football, but the Argentines are not far behind. In Argentina, they also started playing ball with their feet in the nineteenth century, and gradually this sport gained momentum among the population. Since then, the southernmost country in South America has given the football world a ton of talented players. At the top of this list are Diego Maradona and Lionel Messi.

The first ever World Championship took place in 1930. Before it was played, Argentina managed to win the America's Cup four times. The leader of the continent at that time was Uruguay (6 victories), and Brazil was the winner of two more tournaments. Already in those years, traditions of fundamental rivalry between Argentines and Brazilians and Uruguayans arose. In the final of the debut World Cup, the Albiceleste faced Uruguay, who competed on their native soil. The hosts won with a score of 4:2 and became the first world champions.

The Argentines, like many other South American teams, continued to practice beautiful, technical football. But for many years, the Albiceleste were limited to success at the continental level. At world football forums, Argentina did not advance beyond the quarterfinals. The situation changed in 1978, when the Argentines were the hosts of the World Cup. The Albiceleste won the home tournament, beating Holland in the final in extra time with a score of 3:1. The Argentine goalscorer Mario Kempes, who eventually became the top scorer of the World Cup, scored a double in that match.

Eight years later, Argentina repeated the success on the fields of Mexico. That World Cup went down in history and is still remembered today largely because of the quarterfinal confrontation between the Argentines and England. The Albiceleste won 2-1 thanks to a brace from Diego Maradona. The legendary Argentinean scored the first goal with his hand, which he then called “the hand of God.” And three minutes later, Maradona scored the “goal of the century.” Diego beat half the opposing team at speed and hit the goal.

After this, the Argentina national team never became a World Cup winner, although the football world recognized such players as Gabriel Batistuta, Javier Zanetti, Roberto Ayala, Diego Simeone, Hernan Crespo and Lionel Messi. In 1990 and 2014, the Albiceleste reached the finals, but lost only minimally to Germany. The Argentines plan to regain the World Cup at the 2018 championship. The whole country believes that Messi will still win something worthwhile as part of the national team.

Team today

Jorge Sampaoli quickly decided on his final bid for the World Championship. The main surprise was the absence of Mauro Icardi and Diego Perotti. And if the Argentina national team already has a lot of top-level players in attack, namely Lionel Messi, Paulo Dybala, Gonzalo Higuain and Sergio Aguero, then Perotti could be useful in the middle line. However, the Albiceleste coach chose to take Maximiliano Mesa and Christian Pavon. The first made his debut for the national team this year, the second last year. Commenting on his choice, Sampaoli said that the 23 players included in the team are better suited to the playing style.

According to the authoritative portal transfermarkt, the value of the Argentina national team is almost 700 million euros. The most expensive, of course, is Lionel Messi (180 million). The top three are Paulo Dybala (100 million) and Sergio Aguero (80 million).

Jorge Sampaoli prefers to operate in a formation with three central defenders and two laterals. At the same time, Lionel Messi often plays the role of a free artist. In search of the ball, the leader of the Argentina national team can at times drop closer to the central part of the field. The Albiceleste have plenty of other bright performers, but the team's performance largely depends on Messi. He is capable of single-handedly leading the team to victories, which he once again proved in the qualifying round for the World Cup, which we will talk about later.

Three players in the final entry of the Argentina national team represent the local championship. This is goalkeeper Franco Armani, as well as midfielders Maximiliano Mesa and Christian Pavon. The leader of the Albiceleste in the number of games, Javier Mascherano, plays in China, and goalkeeper Nahuel Guzman plays in Mexico. The remaining 18 play in Europe, with 15 of them representing the top five of the championships.

The problem area for the Argentina national team may be the goalkeeper position. After the final bid was announced, Sergio Romero was injured. He remained the Albiceleste's main goalkeeper, although he did not receive much match practice at Manchester United during the season. Now the first number of the Argentines should be the experienced Willy Caballero. He also didn't play much for Chelsea last season, serving as back-up to Thibaut Courtois. It is curious that all three goalkeepers of the Argentina national team have not played even a dozen games for the national team at the moment.

Argentina national team goalkeepers

Road to Russia

The Argentina national team's path to Russia for the World Cup turned out to be very thorny. During the qualifying round, the Albiceleste changed their head coach twice. In the three starting rounds, the Argentines scored only two points, even managing to lose to Ecuador at home. In the next three matches, Argentina only won, but this did not save Gerardo Martino from being fired.

Edgardo Bausa also failed. Under the leadership of this specialist, in eight matches of the qualifying round, the Albiceleste celebrated only three victories and suffered the same number of defeats. It was up to Jorge Sampaoli to save the situation, whose journey in European club football was short-lived. Sampaoli started with three draws in a row, and he was often criticized for his choice of starting lineup.

In the last qualifying match against unmotivated Ecuador in the uncomfortable mountainous Quito, the Argentines could only be satisfied with a victory. Albiceleste fans must have experienced a shock when the Ecuadorians were able to open the scoring in the first attack. But then Lionel Messi took over. The star captain of the Argentina national team scored a hat-trick and secured his team a ticket to Russia.

M Team AND IN N P RM ABOUT
1 Brazil 18 12 5 1 41:11 41
2 Uruguay 18 9 4 5 32:20 31
3 Argentina 18 7 7 4 19:16 28
4 Colombia 18 7 6 5 21:19 27
5 Peru 18 7 5 6 27:26 26
6 Chile 18 8 2 8 26:27 26
7 Paraguay 18 7 3 8 19:25 24
8 Ecuador 18 6 2 10 26:29 20
9 Bolivia 18 4 2 12 16:38 14
10 Venezuela 18 2 6 10 19:35 12

In the spotlight

Lionel Messi is one of those football players who doesn't need much introduction. This is the greatest player of our time, as evidenced by the huge number of his fans around the world. Of course, everyone knows the story of how Messi might not have become a football player due to growth hormone deficiency. By his example, Lionel shows boys all over the world that the impossible is possible. You need to believe in yourself and constantly move forward, maintaining optimism.

During his career, Messi broke a huge number of records that we could talk about for hours. In addition, the Argentine won a large number of trophies and individual awards. Lionel has won the prestigious Ballon d'Or award five times. All these achievements show how unique Messi is. He is a key player for Barcelona and the Argentina national team, and at the right moments he is able to single-handedly carry these teams on himself. For more than a decade, Lionel has been demonstrating this to the entire football world.

The only gap in Messi's great career is the lack of success with the Argentina national team. Leo won the World Youth Championship in 2005 and the Olympic football tournament in 2008, but nothing more. Messi has played in the Copa America finals three times and in the World Cup finals once. However, each time the Albiceleste were defeated in decisive matches. During the Russian World Cup, Messi will turn 31. One can imagine that he will play at the next America's Cup, but Leo is unlikely to play at the World Cup in Qatar. So the future football forum will certainly be the last chance for the great Argentinean to show off with the national team for the whole world.

Trainer

After the failure of Edgardo Bauza, the Argentine national team was led by Jorge Sampaoli. He never played professionally because he suffered a serious injury at the age of nineteen. But Sampaoli was in love with football, and therefore chose a different path - he became a coach.

Sampaoli is a big fan of Marcelo Bielsa's methods. Over the course of his career, Jorge repeatedly consulted with this specialist, who in Argentina is called “The Crazy One.” It is worth saying that in his work Sampaoli actively uses modern technologies, in particular computer programs to create the physical profile of football players. In addition, Jorge at one time discovered a revolutionary playing scheme with a diamond-shaped midfield and three attacking players.

Sampaoli began coaching in Peru, but he achieved the greatest success with the Chilean Universidad de Chile - winning three league titles, a national cup and a South American title. These successes allowed Jorge to lead the Chilean national team. Here he also succeeded, leading the team to win the America's Cup in 2015. After this, Sampaoli tried his hand at European club football, heading Sevilla, until he received an offer from his native Argentina. An offer that was impossible to refuse.

World Cup challenge

The Argentina national team has no other tasks than the maximum. The Albiceleste haven't won the World Cup since Diego Maradona and are missing big victories. At the 2014 World Cup, the Argentines stopped one step short of their goal, losing to Germany in the final. Now Jorge Sampaoli's team hopes to win the World Cup. Lionel Messi will be especially motivated, for whom this World Cup will likely be his last. “The World Cup is a revolver at Messi’s temple,” Sampaoli rightly noted.

Fans

Football for Argentines is a whole religion, so the national team of this country always feels strong support from the stands. Fans from Argentina cheer passionately and fervently, using not only national symbols, but also musical instruments. The downside of Argentine fans is their temperament. Matches of the Argentine football championship attract increased attention from the police due to the occurrence of clashes, which sometimes even result in deaths.

Fan expectations

Fans of the Argentina national team are waiting for their team's victory at the World Cup after a 32-year break. Now that Lionel Messi is shining in the Albiceleste, fans are looking forward to seeing the World Cup. In Brazil, the Argentines lacked just a little. Four years later, fans from Argentina hope that their country's main team will win the main trophy in world football. Messi and company will try not to disappoint their fans on Russian fields.

Bookmakers' opinion

Bookmakers place Argentina in fifth place on the list of World Cup favorites. Only France, Spain, Brazil and Germany are rated higher than “albiceleste”. Experts from the world of betting are confident that Jorge Sampaoli's team will advance to the playoffs, but are not entirely sure that the Argentines will bypass Croatia in the group. The bet “Argentina will take 1st place in Group D” comes with a good odds of 1.6. Bookmakers give a slightly higher odds for Messi and company to reach the quarterfinals - about 1.65.

Messi will turn 31 during the World Cup. Apparently, the tournament in Russia is Lionel’s last chance to win the World Cup.

Over the last 4 years, Argentina has lost 3 finals of major tournaments. This happened at the 2014 World Cup and two America's Cups (2015,2016).

Argentina is one of three teams that have won all FIFA tournaments (World Cup, Confederations Cup and Olympic Games). France and Brazil also succeeded in this.

Forecast "Euro-Futbol.ru"

It is important for the Argentina national team to take first place in Group D, because in this case, Jorge Sampaoli's team in the 1/8 finals will avoid a potential meeting with France - the clear favorite of Quartet C. In this situation, the Albiceleste should advance to the 1/4 finals, where they can wait for someone from the Pyrenean pair Portugal - Spain. We expect to see Lionel Messi and company at least in the quarterfinals. We propose to bet on the Argentines reaching this stage. The coefficient is about 1.65.

National team association

What reminds us of Argentina, apart from Diego Maradona, Lionel Messi and football in general? Of course, the symbol of this country is the exciting, energetic, sensual and passionate tango dance.

Awards and achievements

World Champion (2): 1978, 1986
World Championship silver medalist (3): 1930, 1990, 2014
Confederations Cup winner (1): 1992
Confederations Cup silver medalist (2): 1995, 2005
America's Cup winner (14): 1921, 1925, 1927, 1929, 1937, 1941, 1945, 1946, 1947, 1955, 1957, 1959, 1991, 1993
America's Cup silver medalist (13): 1916, 1917, 1920, 1923, 1924, 1926, 1935, 1942, 1959, 1967, 2004, 2007, 2015
America's Cup bronze medalist (4): 1919, 1956, 1963, 1989
Olympic champion (2): 2004, 2008
Olympic silver medalist (2): 1928, 1996
Pan American Games Champion (6): 1951, 1955, 1959, 1971, 1995, 2003
Silver medalist of the Pan American Games (2): 1963, 2011
Pan American Games bronze medalist (3): 1975, 1979, 1987

 

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