How Argentina Can Get the Best out of the Team with Lionel Messi at the Helm

By
at Internationaled.org

Published: October 21, 2014

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It is admittedly a dilemma that 99 percent of the world's football teams—club and international—would love to face. But it is a dilemma nonetheless. Argentina are blessed with the best player on the planet in their ranks but still need to work out how best to use his talents. 

Albiceleste captain Lionel Messi has been in the national set-up for nine years. In that time he has appeared 95 times, scoring 44 goals to slot in behind the great Gabriel Batistuta as Argentina's all-time top scorer. Yet still, there is a case to state that the nation have never truly figured out how best to use their most valuable asset. 

A brief comparison between the team's most recent friendly matches, excluding a training-ground thrashing of Hong Kong, is telling. In the first clash under new coach Gerardo Martino, an Argentina without Messi turned to exhilarating winger Angel Di Maria for inspiration. 



The results were devastating.

The Manchester United record signing proved what he could do with three assists and a goal to down Germany 4-2 in Dusseldorf. If that match formed a slight piece of revenge for the Albiceleste, it must have been even more bittersweet for Fideo. 

Di Maria was forced to watch the World Cup final from the substitutes' bench due to an injury sustained in an earlier round, as Messi and Co. toiled in a 1-0 defeat. The question "what if" was impossible to avoid for Albiceleste fanatics and perhaps for the players themselves. 

In fact, Germany is the kind of opposition that Argentina can thrive against. Joachim Low will never go out to shut out a game, instead looking to hurt opponents and play as far up the pitch as possible. This leaves Argentina in danger of seeing their defence exposed, but it also means they will have chances to cause damage themselves.

In the final itself, if Messi, Gonzalo Higuain and Rodrigo Palacio had conver...
Article Source: Bleacher Report - International Football

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