A National Team usually shows fluctuations in its performance due to lack of work time. Because it has skipped competition. Due to the fluctuating performance of the players. It is difficult in such an even football to sustain a high level over time. The world champion dispels that idea. Argentina plays like a club team. For three years now, names have been repeated, they have been on an upward trend, they have coexisted on and off the field as if they were together every day. That historical phrase from Bilardo was long gone when, tormented by the difficulty of training, he said that “Burruchaga throws a cross from Nantes and Ruggeri heads it in Madrid.” Scaloni can vary roles or tactical schemes without affecting performance. Whoever enters settles in instantly. The one who leaves chews his pain without affecting the mood of the group. For that conviction, winning the Copa América at the Maracaná was decisive. The wall broke, as Di María patented. Trust released talent and they became the best team in the world. From there, Argentina seemed to know the end of the movie. It was a final against Brazil or against France. There is an idea of the game, although more than anything you see an excellent mix of footballers, a huge competitive gene, intelligence and a positive mind. There was a time, unfortunately, when it was suspected that something was always going to happen to make Messi sad in the last photo of the tournament. Even if it was an extraordinary litter. Today Leo can make his debut in a Copa América after a somewhat sabbatical year in the MLS and throw two passes to win the difficult debut match.
Messi’s most competitive club now is the National Team. Respectfully, he trains with Inter Miami to lift the last Cups with Argentina. It’s not literal. But he already focused on PSG, where he prepared to be world champion. Unique as he is, 10 was the most complete version of him at 35 years old. He helped everyone, because the best makes the others better, and the rest helped him. He always had a team behind him. You could see a contradiction where a complement actually appears. The new colleagues are from a generation that had Leo on the poster. But it seemed to be good for him to be taken down from there when the photo was wrinkled. They forced him to make himself look like the Maradonian leader who exploded in the Copa América that fought with Conmebol. So he also enjoyed each call, already with a positive halo in the people and in the press. Nobody questioned anymore because here he didn’t play like he did in Spain. When he had a voltage drop the rest appeared, like 2-0 against Canada. Messi, who at one time was said to dribble like no one else but didn’t understand the game that much, invented two assists from a 10 who has the field in his head. Both times he released the ball with extreme quality and vision… he missed two one-on-ones that he doesn’t usually miss, but there was no need to mourn him. First, Alexis Mac Allister, one of the most intelligent players in the world, threw an excellent diagonal shot to assist Julián Alvarez. Later, Leo’s pass was transformed into an assist by Lautaro Martínez, the other 9. The National Team is such a team, that in that second goal 8 of the 11 players touched the ball. They went from back to front, from left to right, from right to center. Even the goalkeeper participated…
Dibu Martínez is another decisive player. A kind of Fillol with a green hoodie and high profile. He has such a winning head that he got bigger when he served the first ball, at the end of the first half, because he knew that he had not been able to help the team in the World Cup debut with Saudi Arabia. He remembered that game and not the eternal save against Kolo Muani against France. His psychologist should also join the National Team staff… But it’s not just head but reflexes at the moment that Canada overflowed the sides. And a good start with his feet: he enabled Messi in one of his all-match attacks of the match. He is an archer who always goes better. When he was a substitute for Armani and seemed like a complementary player to the squad, he announced on television that he was going to keep the goal for Argentina. Now, after the game, he complained about the state of the playing field and said that it was a disadvantage compared to the Euro Cup. He attributed the play that Di María could not define to the grass. He built a containment barrier with Cuti Romero, who played in his version of the best 2 in the world. It was the most even of the match. He attacks the forwards. He comes out playing with the quality of Juan Simón but in one-on-one he has the aggressiveness of Passarella… The setback, some leaks, are points to improve for the team thinking about the final stages of the Copa América. Projecting to the last day is not an overconfidence or shirting: in the last four Copa América the National Team played until the last day.
When the team had to be reorganized, Scaloni, the active manager of this winning group, also played. First, in his role as a leader who must make decisions, he brought out a leader like Nico Otamendi to play Lisandro Martínez, number 6 in the next World Cup. He chose Julián Alvarez instead of Lautaro to have pressure at the start and also to help the midfielders so that Messi and Di María, the greats, would be left behind in the setback. The change of Paredes for Enzo Fernández seemed to respond more to the return to the best level of the Chelsea midfielder after the operation. Later, when the game called for holding back, he created a line of 5 and put Mac Allister in the center. That adjustment allowed solidity at the back without giving up attack. The coach does not have tactical ruminations nor is he hypnotized by any system. And although he usually says that football is a game, that the sun rises tomorrow whether you win or lose, he made a difference even though he was up 1-0 and the rival was not a power. That Scaloni is connected, without measuring his own energies, is another good sign for the National Team. With his elections he was decisive in the cycle. Some were findings, such as De Paul’s summons in the 2019 Copa América. Others were relevant, such as the change of permanent starters in the World Cup, when he removed two of his players such as Paredes and Lautaro Martínez. And there was another unforgettable one, when he surprised with Di María on the left against France. At the end of the day, Scaloni is the responsible driver of this National Team that plays like a club team.
