World Cup preview: Argentina

The Road To The World Cup

Argentina cruised to their 16th World Cup qualification by topping the South American supergrupo on 32 points with a 9-5-2 record. No team was able to match La Albiceleste’s 35 goals scored, or their goal difference of plus-20.

Formation: 4-3-3 / 4-3-1-2

Few national teams look as threatening as Argentina when they’re moving the ball up the pitch.

With an incredibly quick and versatile group of midfielders and Lionel Messi leading the attack, defending against Argentina can prove to be a nightmare. The two-time World Cup champions don’t waste a second once possession is collected and build-up usually starts at the back with Javier Mascherano playing as a holding midfielder. 

Once Messi receives the ball, the attack picks up pace with strikers Gonzalo Higuain and Sergio Aguero moving wide to create space. The result is often a combination of perfect passes that split through the opposing team’s defense for a Barcelona-style goal.

Manager: Alejandro Sabella

Given Argentina’s quick style of play, you wouldn't guess that Alejandro Sabella’s nickname of La Pachorra translates to “the sloth.”

Sabella was assigned to replace Sergio Batista following a disappointing performance from Argentina at the 2011 Copa America, where the team was eliminated in the quarterfinals against Uruguay. He earned the job due to his two years coaching Estudiantes, a spell in which he won both the 2009 Copa Libertadores as well as a league title in 2010.

Winning the Copa Libertadores led to an appearance at the 2009 Club World Cup, and ironically, it was Messi who scored an extra-time goal that left Estudiantes hanging as runners-up.

Make no mistake that with Sabella in charge at the World Cup, Argentina will be a far more disciplined side than the team we saw in 2010 under Diego Maradona.

Projected Starting XI

GK: Sergio Romero

RB: Pablo Zabaleta

CB: Ezequiel Garay

CB: Federico Fernandez

LB: Marcos Rojo

RM: Fernando Gago

DM: Javier Mascherano

LM: Angel di Maria

AM: Lionel Messi

ST: Gonzalo Higuain

ST: Sergio Aguero

Projected Substitutes

GK: Mariano Andujar

GK: Agustin Orion

DF: Hugo Campagnaro

DF: Martin Demichelis

DF: Jose Maria Basanta

MF: Lucas Biglia

MF: Enzo Perez

MF:  Maxi Rodriguez

MF: Augusto Ferandez

MF: Ricardo Alvarez

FW: Rodrigo Palacio

FW: Ezequiel Lavezzi

The Star (Other Than Messi): Javier Mascherano

Although Mascherano's role in Argentina’s national team is that of a holding midfielder who builds up attacks from the back, he brings much more than that to the table. On top of excellent defensive awareness that helps keeps Argentina’s back line in a comfortable position, Mascherano’s reading of the game and ability to react quickly under pressure makes him a unique player in the footballing world. 

While Barcelona often deploys the 30-year-old as a defender, he’s too short to be a centre-back on a team that defends in its own penalty area. As such, Mascherano will be bringing his usual emotional intensity as a holding midfielder at the 2014 World Cup.

The Captain: Lionel Messi

The 5-foot-7 icon from the city of Rosario is the engine of La Albiceleste, and anyone who claims he can’t replicate his form at Barcelona with Argentina clearly wasn’t paying attention during the South American qualifiers.

Messi’s pace, footwork, and defense-splitting passes terrorized opposing teams matchday after matchday, and it’s largely because of the world’s best player that Argentina, a team that has struggled in previous qualifying campaigns, cruised in their mission to claim a spot at the World Cup.

His 10 goals in the qualifiers were only outmatched by Uruguay’s Luis Suarez, who notched 11.

The Young Gun: Marcos Rojo

On an ageing Argentina team, Marcos Rojo will be the squad's youngest player in Brazil at 24 years of age.

La Albiceleste's back-line is consistently seen as their weak zone, and Rojo is often viewed as the weakest link within that defensive line. Even Alejandro Sabella, who coached Rojo at Estudiantes, seems skeptical of including him in Argentina's starting XI. In the build-up to the World Cup, Sabella experimented with other options at left-back, none of whom were able to prove they deserve to start over Rojo. It's clearly a position where Argentina lack depth.

Rojo's struggles are likely due to a premature move across the Atlantic Ocean. He was only 21 when Spartak Moscow swiped him up from Estudiantes, and as is the case with numerous South American youngsters, Rojo's career was hindered by joining a European club at a dangerously early stage in his career.

The Swan Song: Pablo Zabaleta

At 29 years of age, Manchester City's Pablo Zabaleta isn't as old as his balding head might lead you to believe.

It's possible that the he could have another World Cup left in him if he stays fit, but it doesn't seem likely when you consider the energetic role that’s expected of an Argentine full-back.

However, the one thing that could keep Zabaleta in Argentina's squad for the foreseeable future is the lack of promising full-backs coming through the country's youth system.

Three Questions

1. How well-equipped will Argentina’s back-line be to deal with the pace and size of European teams?
2. Who will be Argentina's first forward off the bench? Rodrigo Palacio or Ezequiel Lavezzi?
3. Can goalkeeper Sergio Romero disprove the theory that he’s Argentina's weak link and come up big in the knockout stages?

Trivial Matters

Nickname: La Albiceleste.

Most caps: Javier Zanetti (145).

Top scorer: Gabriel Batistuta (56).

First international: July 20, 1902 Uruguay 0 - Argentina 6.

World Cup appearances: 15, beginning in 1930.

Best World Cup result: Winners (1978, 1986).

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