adminRIO DE JANEIRO. — Argentina will take on Belgium in a World Cup soccer quarter-final match today and both teams have not convinced at all in this tournament so far.
The match starts at 6pm.
La Albiceleste required the prodigious skills of Lionel Messi to see them through the group stage. Messi scored in all group stage games, and twice at the very end of games.
Otherwise, Argentina struggled to find goals and dominate their group stage games against Bosnia-Herzegovina, Iran, and Nigeria, all supposedly “lesser” teams.
In the round of 16 game against Switzerland, Argentina looked almost ordinary, despite having several world class soccer stars in their side. Once again, Messi bailed Argentina out, making a good pass to assist Angel di Maria’s match winner.
Belgium too failed to impress against supposedly weaker teams. Although Belgium have the likes of Eden Hazard, Romelu Lukaku, and Adnan Januzaj, the tournament dark horses struggled to find goals against Algeria, Greece, and South Korea.
The Red Devils managed to find some sort of coherence against the United States in the second round match, but were stopped by an outstanding Tim Howard for 90 minutes.
Although Belgium found the net twice in extra time, it was only after the USMNT simply ran out of steam, and still the Americans came close to mounting a comeback via a Julian Green goal.
If Argentina are to beat Belgium in the quarter final, the other footballing stars on the team — Ezequiel Lavezzi, Sergio Aguero (if he is fit), Gonzalo Higuain, and Angel di Maria — have to step up their game a few notches, and get on the score sheet.
On the formation front, coach Alejandro Sabella needs to start finding solutions. His 5-3-2/3-5-2 system didn’t work out in the group stage, and while swapping to 4-3-3 has restored some balance to the side, results have not been totally convincing.
Of course, if Messi works some of his magic again, all problems are postponed, and Argentina are through to the semi final.
For Belgium, things are much trickier. Tactics wise, coach Marc Wilmots has been very smart and lucky with his substitutions thus far in the tournament, as almost all of them managed to bag goals. Wilmots should keep up his squad rotation and hope it works against Argentina.
However, Wilmots needs to find a way to make the most of his star players, particularly Eden Hazard, if Belgium are to prevail.
So far none of Argentina’s opponents has been able to stop Messi.
Perhaps Belgium has what it takes. But even if doesn’t, the Red Devils present a fresh challenge for Argentina at this World Cup.
For the first time in Brazil, Argentina faces an opponent with attacking potential that rivals its own.
“We will have to adapt, but what really interests me is to see how they will adapt to us,” Belgium coach Wilmots said.
Argentina have struggled on their road to the quarter-finals, relying on single moments of Messi magic to break stalemates against mostly defence-oriented teams.
Today in Brasilia, they are up against a young, sparkling team that’s considered a dark horse for the title. Even though they needed extra time to prevail against the United States, Belgium unleashed offensive qualities in that game that could present major problems for Argentina’s at times shaky defence.
Belgium fired 38 shots, half of them from midfielders Kevin de Bruyne and Eden Hazard, and strikers Divock Origi and Romelo Lukaku. An impressive performance by US goalkeeper Tim Howard kept the score down.
Meanwhile, Argentina’s attack hasn’t been as fearsome as predicted. Centre forward Gonzalo Higuain is scoreless after four games and his attacking partner Sergio Aguero is out injured. Ezequiel Lavezzi is replacing the Manchester City striker but was largely ineffective against Switzerland. — AFP.
Online Reporter