The most important thing, as Edgardo Bauza said in the days before the game, was for Argentina to get the win. And get the win they did. In an incredibly tight World Cup qualifying group, a 1-0 victory over Chile on Thursday night means Argentina move a little closer to Russia regardless of how they did it.
Beyond the result, it was also a chance for the country’s fans to see whether this team are coming together, and whether Bauza is stamping his mark on them. However, the answers might not have been to everyone’s taste.
Frustrated in his “Plan A” by Paulo Dybala’s injury, Bauza’s main two options for the middle man of the attacking trio — lined up behind striker Gonzalo Higuain and in between Lionel Messi and Angel Di Maria in a 4-2-3-1 — were Ever Banega as a playmaker, or Sergio Aguero as a second striker. Opting for Aguero, against a team like Chile who were entirely capable of going toe-to-toe with Argentina in midfield, seemed like the riskier option even before the match.
In the first half, it was hard to see what Argentina’s plan was — or whether there even was one.
The return of the “Fantastic Four” brought none of the incisiveness of Alejandro Sabella’s side. There were flashes, mostly from the boots of Messi, but too often Aguero and Higuain duplicated each other’s runs and neither managed to get into decent positions on a regular basis.
Di Maria appeared only in fits and starts, but made the difference 16 minutes in when he went down in the box under a challenge from Jose Fuenzalida. Messi, who missed his spotkick in the 2016 Copa America final against Chile, stepped up to take the penalty and sent Claudio Bravo the wrong way.
Argentina could count themselves lucky to be ahead as their best first half moments came from midfielder Lucas Biglia, who broke up play, distributed the ball intelligently in midfield and got forward to help Messi out when he could. The problem, though, was that between the two centre-forwards tripping over each other’s feet and the lack of options out wide, any attacks often seemed dead before they had even begun.
Biglia has been a reliable midfield engine stoker for Argentina for a good while now, but the first half was yet another example in which he looked like the only player trying to play the same game as Messi.
It’s often said that Argentina don’t get the most out of Messi because they don’t give him the same passing options as he gets at Barcelona — where multiple forward runners and intelligent support from midfield mean he always has a teammate somewhere to find. But against Chile, not only did Argentina not give Messi enough options, they didn’t even give their other players any.
Although it had scarcely seemed possible during the break, Argentina got even worse in the second half. From the sporadic, isolated attacks of the first half, the hosts moved on to a second in which they barely seemed able to reach Chile’s final third, never mind the penalty box.
Marcos Rojo’s switch to left-back owing to Emanuel Mas’ withdrawal through injury gave them a bit more penetration down that flank, but only in the sense that it couldn’t have given much less.
Protecting their lead, Argentina were unable to do more than hack the ball clear and hope Messi could lead a charge all on his own. And with a second goal suddenly seeming urgent in the quest to kill off the visitors’ hopes of an equaliser, Banega was introduced for Aguero on 57 minutes.
Tactically, bringing on a player to encourage possession and build attacks at precisely the point when Argentina had little choice but to play on the counter seemed an odd decision. But the result was achieved.
After the match Argentina’s players held firm on their promise not to talk to the press, but Bauza did attend the news conference and put in a bullish performance, even if some of his conclusions from the game seemed strange.
“I’m happy, the match went as planned,” he responded to one question early on, and then raised eyebrows around the room by continuing, “we played a great game.” Such was his insistence that the performance had been fine in all aspects that one journalist felt moved to ask him whether he was being serious, whether the attack had really satisfied him. Bauza insisted he was. “As much as we could, we attacked well.”
Bauza is no fool, as his club record across South America shows, so the logical conclusion to draw is surely that he knows there are “aspects to improve on” — as he momentarily conceded at one point — and is simply trying to shield his players from the criticism.
The question is, even if this is the case, does Bauza have a clear idea of what he wants? Of course Dybala, if fit, would surely have dovetailed more effectively with his Juventus club teammate Higuain than Aguero managed, but why was the midfield surrendered by pitting just Javier Mascherano and Biglia against Chile’s three? And why aren’t the full backs encouraged to push on, especially when space opens up for them?
Chile’s Argentine manager Juan Antonio Pizzi sounded a distinctly modest note when he said: “I think we did enough to deserve a point at least.” Chile have problems of their own, of course, but it was a moment of humility that was in sharp contrast to Bauza’s words shortly afterwards.
For now, Argentina are up to third in the table, but that could all change again by the close of play on Tuesday (especially given they’ll be away to Bolivia). A win is a win, but there’s a lot of improving still to do.
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