Argentina Midfield Shuffle

The group stages are finished, the “easy” part is history, and like some people put it: the real World Cup starts now. Italy and France will not agree, but they have only themselves to blame…

 Coming into the WC, Diego Maradona managed to turn the Argentina national team into a laughing stock during the qualifications. From humiliating results like a 6-1 defeat to Bolivia or the 1-3 home defeat to Brazil, to a joke of players selections, and all the way to Maradona’s outburst at the press; the world seemed to fall apart for one of the most successful nations in football and to the greatest player to ever live. Even Maradona’s dog wanted to do Argentina a favor…

 On the eve of announcing World Cup squads, Maradona even managed to ignore some of the best performing players in Europe. Namely three players would have made it into any national team: Javier Zanetti, Esteban Cambiasso, and Ever Banega. Zanetti is one of the most versatile and experienced players and would have relieved Maradona from the agony of watching Jonas Gutierrez being butchered at the right back position by Nigeria while Cambiasso would have been the perfect alternative for Mascherano. Finally Banega would have given Argentina the Xavi-like factor in building plays, although not as good.

 Despite this entire circus, Maradona always blamed the lack of time he was given with his men to the poor showings. Of course his players would gather 3-4 days before the qualification matches, usually loose and go back to Europe. The players – according to Maradona – were not being able to form a solid unit which affected their performances; most notably that of wonder boy Lionel Messi.

 Before the World Cup, Maradona was probably the only manager who did not want to play friendly matches and risk injuries but rather took his men early to South Africa and started what seemed to be a family gathering. For once the legendary Argentine was given time to blend his players and to be honest he did so superbly.

 During their first three games in the group stage Argentina played like they never did before under Maradona. They fought for each other, played some entertaining football, and most notably for once under Maradona, Messi seemed to be enjoying his football; something which can only lead to great things as Barca fans know too well. All this happened with Maradona clearly enjoying his time and sometimes looking eager to get off his suit, fire his fashion designer, and show his players how it’s done.

 However, all this is starting to change. Argentina is set to face a complete new level of opponents. While Argentina’s draw was seen as fortunate because of their easy group, now they are on the toughest side of the draw. While Brazil can enjoy a run to the final facing probably only Netherlands as a world class opponent, Argentina barely made it against the ever stubborn Mexico, and now they have to face the very impressive Germany, followed by – if they make it – probably Spain. This is an extremely difficult route that might crash Maradona’s dream of lifting the World Cup again.

The good thing however is that, on paper, Argentina has a better squad than Germany. Spain can claim to have a better team, but at that point anything can happen. But Maradona has to change some players and his tactics must accommodate with these tougher opponents because the luck that served him so well against Mexico will not be his savor all the time.

The attacking mindset of the group stages that saw Messi, DiMaria, Tevez, and Higuain lineup together will cost Maradona against Germany. Add to that the presence of aging and slow Veron will make Argentina midfield extremely vulnerable when faced with skilful and fast players – ala Ozel, Muller, and Podolski. And since Argentina does not have a back four of Maicon, Lucio, Pique, and Ashley Cole who are very tough defenders on one-on-ones, then Argentina will be badly exposed.

 Against Mexico, Maradona got one point right and noticed that Veron slowness will be costly. So he replaced him by Maxi. But with that came a huge sin: Argentina were not able to build up plays in the midfield and their game was a pure case of havoc: give the ball somehow to the front three and let them do the job. That failed horribly and it took one offside goal and other horrible defensive error to kill of the Mexicans who until that period were able to take advantage of the empty Argentina midfield.

So what’s the solution? In my opinion the solution requires a midfield shuffle.

A work horse player to help Mascherano is a must. This player could be Maxi Rodriguez – as against Mexico – or Jonas Gutierrez. The former is regarded better offensively but is well beyond his prime while the latter is very tough defensively while still decent enough with the ball and for that I’d go with Jonas.

Now comes a tricky point: either Tevez or DiMaria will have to be sacrificed.

While never criticized for lack of effort, if you see it really, Tevez – pre Mexico match – has run a lot but the end product was nearly zero. So he would have been the one to drop; however, since its only basic sense that you do not change a player on fire then Tevez must play and DiMaria has to rest.

 DiMaria is the biggest unanswered question so far for Argentina. It has been said that he has hugely underperformed so far. I agree. But one has to look for the reasons. DiMaria has spent most of his time defending and tracking back rather than joining attack because he had to cover up for the front three (Messi, Tevez, Higuain) and for the slow Veron. The result is that he was not being able to do what he does best: take on defenders on the left flank and shoot from distance. And since he is not a good distributor of the ball and he is not a very tough defender, his role in the team was completely neutralized and now he is being labeled as the biggest flop in this Argentina side. So keeping him on the bench and as a strong attacking option in the second half would be for the best.

 The most interesting change however must be taking Veron off and bringing in one of the best rising talents in the world: Javier Pastore. Introducing Pastore would serve two purposes: first he is much faster, mobile, and skilful than Veron; and although he lacks Veron’s international experience, he showed in a breath taking 15 minutes against Greece that he is ready and like none other than Maradona put it: he respects no one and he plays as if he’s been here before. The Second reason however is arguably even more important; and that is Lionel Messi.

Nigeria and Korea were naïve enough to let Messi play his game and do wonders. Greece and Mexico on the other hand did what Messi can expect to face from now on: tough marking, a lot of kicking, and a struggle to breath in the final third. But all this changed once Pastore came in against Greece. Pastore is a skillful player who himself can dribble and play those defense splitting one-twos in the tightest of situations. Messi needs this kind of player to shake of his markers. Just like with Barca where Messi always drops to the midfield and uses the skill and mobility of Xavi and Iniesta to find tiny spaces where he can start his runs. Javier Pastore is the perfect player to serve Messi in that sense. And we all seem to agree, that the sought-after path to glory by Argentina can only be led by Messi.

 So the final setup would be as follows:

-------------Romero-------------

----Otamendi---Samuel---Demi---Hienzi

-----------Jonas--------Mascherano-----

------------------Pastore-------------

----------Messi------------Tevez--------

--------------Higuain--------------------

This midfield has the balance between defense and attack. Pastore tracks back every week with Palermo to help winning the ball and starting attacks while Tevez’s work rate is well known.

And with Veron coming off the bench for Pastore to add composure and experience when needed, and DiMaria filling in for Tevez or Jonas when a more attacking approach is required, while Aguero also ready to put his chemistry with Messi into action; this Argentina team has the ability to go all the way.

The bad Argentina performance against Mexico match can be a blessing in disguise if Maradona can learn the lesson and do the required changes. As a fan of Argentina I hope so, but have to admit I doubt it.