Argentina 3-0 Costa Rica: Batista finally changes system, and Argentina progress
The starting line-ups
A much-changed Argentina side finally got a win, mainly thanks to some Lionel Messi magic.
Sergio Batista gave first starts to Gonzalo Higuain, Angel di Maria, Fernando Gago and Sergio Aguero. Carlos Tevez, Ezequiel Lavezzi, Ever Banega and Esteban Cambiasso dropped out.
Ricardo La Volpe brought in Jose Cubero and Cesar Elizondo in midfield, and their shape was similar to their opening day defeat to Colombia.
Argentina were utterly dominant here, recording 17 shots to Costa Rica’s five, becoming the first side in the competition to score three goals in a game.
Costa Rica tactics
Costa Rica sat deep without the ball in a broad 3-5-1-1 system, vaguely similar to the unusual shape North Korea contested last year’s World Cup with, albeit a more attack-minded version than that.
As in the game against Colombia, there was lots of movement, particularly down the left side of the team. Francisco Calvo, Pedro Leal and Cesar Elizondo often seemed to be playing in the same position, such was their tendency to cover each other on runs forward. On the other side, the right-sided midfielder Heiner Mora played much narrower, and the wing-back Jose Salvatierra was pinned back by Aguero.
Argentina shape
The main story in this game was all about Argentina’s new shape, however. Having persevered with the Barcelonaesque 4-3-3 in the opening two games – with little success – Batista’s radically-changed XI was expected to line up in a 4-2-1-3 shape, with Lionel Messi in the hole. This has generally been Batista’s plan B, although a more boxy 4-4-1-1 was also predicted by some.
In fact, it was neither of those shapes – it was a strange, lopsided system that was vaguely a diagonal 4-2-2-2, but featured so much fluidity and movement from the attacking players that it’s difficult to give it a definitive name. Javier Mascherano sat deep in his usual role, with Gago slightly in front of him, to his right. Di Maria was generally in the centre of the pitch in an attacking role, but retreated to become a third midfielder without the ball.
Further forward, Aguero moved around but generally stayed on the left flank, whilst Messi played as a number ten, and Higuain was a traditional centre-forward. All this meant that Argentina didn’t really have anyone on the right – both Messi and Higuain took it in turns to move out to that side, but with right-back Pablo Zabaleta hardly the most technically gifted defender, they lacked an outlet from that position.
Out-and-out striker
Having struggled so far without a permanent frontman, Argentina looked delighted to have an obvious reference point upfront, emphasised by the fact that they looked direct to Higuain for a half-chance within the opening thirty seconds of the game. Like Brazil, Argentina have attempted to play without a true striker – as if the fluidity enjoyed by Barcelona (and others who use a false nine) is a must for any side to play beautiful football.
That may be the ideal, but with little time on the training ground to work on attacking moves and combination play, it appears difficult for international sides to play without a true striker. Just as Brazil turned to Fred to save them against Paraguay, Argentina relied on Higuain here – the centre-forward is being treated as something of a ‘get out of jail free’ card.
In truth, Higuain had a shocking game in front of goal. Messi constantly teed him up for chances, only for the Real Madrid striker to slice the ball over, to fire straight at the goalkeeper, or to miss the ball completely, as he did when presented with a point-blank cross from Messi in the first half.
Messi influence
The key, though, was that Messi was involved. In the first two games, he only had two options – to run with the ball, or to play a through-ball for Lavezzi in the outside-right position. Tevez came inside into his space, and often wasn’t a worthwhile passing option. Here, he had more clear passes ‘on’ – Aguero was the wide forward Messi could look to in order to spread the play, Higuain was the man making runs over the top and providing a physical presence, and Di Maria broke forward from midfield far better than Banega did in the opening two games, connecting midfield and attack.
More crucially, Messi’s role allowed him to find space, and he could run at the ball with speed. Part of this may be simply the fact that he was up against an U23 version of a side ranked 53rd in the World, and perhaps we should expect a good performance from the World’s best player in these circumstances. However, there was an improvement in the way he received the ball – when playing as a false nine he always had his back to goal and was moving away from the danger zone (with only one player, Lavezzi, running towards it) and in the 4-2-1-3, he was picking up the ball deeper than the opposition’s two holding players, again, far too deep.
This position seemed a happy medium – Di Maria was the man who brought the ball forward from midfield so Messi didn’t have to, and Higuain provided the battering ram presence to occupy the centre-backs. Higuain’s role also worked in a similar way to Javier Hernandez’s at Manchester United, in the way Hernandez forces the opposition to defend deep, opening up space for Wayne Rooney in the whole. Higuain doesn’t quite have that searing pace, but the concept is the same – the centre-backs’ first thought was not Messi, but the centre-forward.
The first goal was lucky – Aguero tapped home an open goal after a deflection and a rebound – but the second and third were excellent, and both involved Messi picking the ball up, running with it, and slipping the ball through to a left-sided attacker to finish – first Aguero, then Di Maria. The runs from the latter two are exactly what Tevez didn’t do, and exactly what Messi wants and enjoys at club level. Having strived to replicate Barcelona-spec Messi by copying Pep Guardiola’s formation, Batista seems to have found Messi’s best form by ditching it entirely.
Conclusion
Argentina have finally arrived. The quality of their performance shouldn’t be overstated considering the standard of opposition, but then Costa Rica put in decent performances against Colombia and Bolivia.The Costa Ricans often defended with nine players behind the ball, and Argentina created enough chances to justify praise of their system.
Batista now has to make a decision about his next line-up – Higuain’s finishing was terrible, yet he played an important part in the way the team played. An unchanged line-up wouldn’t be a surprise, although opposition with a strong left side would relish the lack of protection afforded to Zabaleta.
For Costa Rica, this tournament was purely a learning experience, and they may be out. If so, they’ve acquitted themselves admirably…but a Venezuela win over Paraguay would see them progress to the knockout stage.
Argentina 3-0 Costa Rica: Batista finally changes system, and Argentina progress
i think messi, gago, pastore, aguero should start everytime, mascherano/banega and lavezzi/di maria/tevez/higuain taking the 2 remaining starting places.
the players can switch positions easily so the most important is to put players linking well with messi, and be ok defensively
after all Argentina’s three games, one thing for sure: Batista is not a fan of Pastore.
if gago keeps his form, yes. Gago was unusually good this time, let’s hope it’s not a one time thing
They finally found ways to use Messi properly. He’s a diamond of a player, it’s unfortunate in the last two games he had become the undeserving scapegoat for bad/lack of tactic and bad teamwork from the whole team.
@hatem
mascherano versus banega???? really that’s a question????
EL JEFECITO PLAYS UP TO 120 MINUTES EVERY SINGLE TIME
i think Costa Rica played with something closer to a 4-5-1, with a V shaped midfield. in this game they seemed more reactive than usual, with little shape change. Campbell was positioned well to exploit the triangular space around Zabaleta-Burdisso-Mascherano. Gago’s defensive awareness was key in this game, just as much as his dictating of play in Argentina’s half, something Banega has mistifyingly failed to do.
a lot of the time, Costa Rica’s players were found ball-watching as Messi cut-in towards a central position. Di Maria & Aguero’s goals are the perfect examples. also, for all the talk of Argentina needing a 9 figure in the box, Higuain was pretty wasteful. his presence worried the opposition’s defence, which may have allowed Messi the time and space he regularly found outside the box.
not a bad performance overall, but coming in 2nd place would put Argentina against any one of Peru, Chile, Uruguay. no easy games in this year’s Copa!
off topic: Pastore has so much class on the ball its unbelievable!!
I feel like D. Milito would do a better job than Higuain. Both are off form in terms of their finishing, but Milito is superior with his movement and linkup, which is surely something Messi prefers.
I was thinking the exact same thing. Higuain did help create space, as the article noted, but his finishing was absolutely awful. Just a little over a year ago, Milito would have been considered one of the most clutch and coolest finishers in the world. While his last season with Inter was poor, I imagine he would have been much more likely to put those chances away while equally drawing up defenders.
Also, didn’t Gago just do what Banega was supposed to be doing in the 1st two games? Mati touched on it above.
Messi as right winger , Tevez as false nine , Lavezzi- Aguero left winger .In center Pastore Banega/cambiasso and Mascherano . Left wing back – Rojo , right wing back Zabaleta /Zanetti . It isnt so dificult to replecate Barca system mr Batista
Tevez lacks the positional discipline and technical reading of the game to serve that role. Talented player, but I feel he is best in front of 3 players. Support on wings to give him service, to what I think is his preferred position, and technically simple out balls. Also, his aggressive movement opens the defense for the player behind him. It should also be added (from someone who doesn’t worship at the FCB church…) that Messi’s wing play is not as effective as his play from the middle in international competition.
The Copa America football has been a joke, yesterday the game was no longer a great story to tell, Costa Rica and have been abdicated to play so soft that if need be they would put up the ball inside their own goal.
This Argentina is very weak as a team, bad attitude, bad choices of the coach.
The worst is that no one is much better there. Who knows a Colombia or Uruguay does not win a competition
Copa America compared with the World Women’s Cup or the World under-17, is a long distance, or more than that.
Regards
http://thebluefactoryofdreams.blogspot.com/
You’re a joke. The world cup qualifiers in S. America were very close and every single country that made it to the WC did well. The quality is very high. We’re just going through a defensive phase.
Go back to watching women’s football.
you tell him man, u-17???? womens world cup? pshhh. Obviously hes a democrat lol jk.. but all jokes aside.. South America is becoming very even, and all the teams representing it, did in fact do well in the WC.
Higuain should be credited with drawing a clear foul in the penalty area that should have led to a penalty kick. Remember in the second half when a Costa Rican defender grabbed his shoulder and pulled him from behind? A striker drawing a foul in the penalty area is almost as good as an assist, especially if you have Messi taking penalty kicks.
I was disappointed to see Argentina bringing Pastore into the game very late. After they scored their third goal, the game was already over, so it would have been nice to see what Pastore could contribute to assist the team and see how he might link up with Messi. I though Batista missed an opportunity to get 25 solid minutes of a lineup with Pastore in it, which plenty of people in Argentina had been clamoring for.
although i disagree, i think checho really likes DiMaria’s pace and also DiMaria plays more defense than pastore.
But personally, i would take out dimaria and start pastore in his place. His passing is so phenomenal and instead of messi passing to dimaria, pastore could pass to messi and allow him to do what he does better than anyone in the world, finish.
I couldn’t believe how much better they played compared with there previous performances. The first half wasn’t excellent, but they turned it on in the second half. Messi was sublime; the amount of sitters he gave Higuain was countless. I think Higuain’s movement was good, it was just his finishing what was shocking.
finally argentina got clicking, like ZM as indicating, Zabelata is a weak link, he will be put under immense pressure if they were to face chile, uruguay,
I didn’t see the “shape” like this at all. I saw it as a fluid lopsided 4-2-3-1/4-1-2-3/4-1-2-1-2.
Also Zanetti did push forward and di Maria also move towards the outside as well (not just the engache position) when Augero was cutting-in the space opened by the now turned wide-forward Higuain.
Messi was both the No. 10 in the 4-2-3-1 and the 4-4-2 diamond as well the “Iniesta” in the 4-3-3 shape.
I think Argentina’s formation might be a bit too lopsided and may place undue pressure on Zabaleta. That being said, I know that Messi is brilliant in the hole, but does he have to play there? Can he not similarly play well on the right wing to give the team more width on the right?
there were a couple of plays (2 or 3) where messi received the ball along the right sideline and did some cool stuff.
i think that’s a wonderful feature of batista’s formation, messi has the liberty to attack from the middle or right. against costa rica, where zabaleta had little pressure and could take up the right wing, it didn’t make sense for messi to leave the middle often. but against a more offensive/attacking opponent when zabaleta has to stay back more often, messi will surely adjust and spend more time on the right wing.
But he wouldn’t give them width on the right, as he’s always cutting in…
Plus, if Messi is playing on the wing, he’s most certainly not going to be able to thread wonder through-balls for Aguero or Di Maria who are cutting in from the left wing.
you are underestimating messi’s passing ability
I think di maria was key for this game, providing the link between midfield and attack that was missing before. Now im not sure if he is good enough to play a central position against better teams, but he works hard enough and i would keep him in the team. He also provided width for aguero which improved the balance of the team.
I thought the front three worked really well with great chemistry and got the best out of messi.
The only thing i would change is banega for gago, i think he is a better player and can provide some runs out to the right wing to help balance the team.
Gago was just as important providing the link. His linkup with Messi was great. We’ll have to see how he does against a team who presses though.
Agreed. Gago’s distribution was excellent. He’s not yet Xabi, Xavi, etc.–doesn’t always hit his man with the pass or the correctly weighted pass–but he finds people quickly, and the ball moves side to side faster than in the prior two games. Impressive performance.
The side to side movement especially. Argentina was missing someone to quickly change the front. Did you also notice how often he was waving his hands calling for the ball?
I just think banega has been caught up with bad performance of the team in the prior two games when the shape was all wrong, Gago would have struggled just as much. I think banega could be a star for argentina and could carry the ball forward if needed as hes a good dribbler.
Gago is a good player and a great passer, but I still think hes a bit static and has rarely performed against good teams in the past.
But to be fair why change something that works, Banega has probably lost his chance now for this tournament, and Gago will remain, but I dont think argentina will will this copa.
Great stuff, excellent analysis.
I’m a Barca supporter, but I believe the Real players were key: Gago provided much needed stability and calmness in the midfield; Di Maria was outstanding in the midfield, holding the ball in traffic, creating, and making incisive runs forward; Although he squandered 7,000 opportunities, Higuain got himself into excellent positions. Batista should remain loyal because if given the chance, Higuain will bag a few big goals before this tournament is over.
Additionally, one of the reasons that Leo was so effective was his link-up with other players, particularly Aguero and Di Maria.
It wasn’t the full Costa Rica national team. They played a youth team. What did you expect? This match is not worthy of analysis.
That team beat Bolivia and was only beaten 1-0 by Colombia. I’d say the match is worthy of analysis.
Right, because exciting football with many chances and moments of individual brilliance don’t count in South American tournament football, where a squad field a youthful team, probably because that side is keen to get their players experienced for the 2014 World Cup, held in South America. Oh, not to mention the “weakly” fielded team was playing a squad rife with individually brilliant and highly paid players, including arguably one of the most lovable names in all of football, who are trying to shake a notion that they can’t get it done wearing the national shirt. Nothing to see here.
ha. 3 madrid players alongside messi !
No thoughts about how Gago played?
I thought Gago was ARG’s best player in the first half and overall second MOTM to Lionel. I lost count of how many CR forays out of their own zone he broke up in the first half, and his movement and distribution were excellent.
Terrific write-up, ZM — and congrats on the award this weekend. Well deserved!
After watching the video clip posted (as I did not get to see the match) I became increasingly aware (and excited) of Messi playing out on the right, like he did at the beginning of his career in Barcelona. After spending the past few seasons playing more centrally, I’m sure his early experience out on the wing combined with his growth in the middle will make him a terror in this Copa America, as we saw in this match. I can’t wait for the confidence from this game to spur Argentina and Messi through the knockout stages. Beautiful football in that clip.
Argentina’s shape was very interesting. Given the limitations of their full backs in getting forward an asymmetric 4-2-2-2 was a surprising way to play. It puts them at risk for losing width, especially on the right hand side as ZM points out.
One can imagine a tactically astute defense playing very narrow against Argentina and finding success with that approach. Even against Costa Rica that was a problem, particularly in the first half – ARG became too narrow and that played into Costa Rica’s own defensive shape.
But ARG made up for that lack of width with their fluidity and dynamism. Yesterday’s match was a good example of how the dynamics of a system can compensate for it’s structure. The interplay between the front four was impressive, as was the support by Gago.
Whether or not they can thrive with that shape and that selection of players against better teams is an open question. Their midfield play will be especially tested – they could functionally lose numerical equivalence against a three man midfield due to how much movement is needed up top (especially with Di Maria being required to support play out wide on the left flank in addition to his central role). Batista needs to reconsider using Pastore as it would give them better control and focus for circulating the ball in midfield.
Higuain has hardly played much at all this past year – and from his finishing it showed. He was useful in occupying the full backs. But I think Argentina would be best suited to playing Aguero, Messi and Di Maria in a front three with Masch, Gago and Pastore behind them. Di Maria could provide width on the right and support Zabaleta defensively. Aguro and Messi could link up in more central regions. When Messi drops deep Pastore could exploit that open space through runs forward. If Batista wants to enhance his system’s dynamics that set of players would perhaps provide the greatest opportunity for playing in that style.
I don’t think Messi playing in an advanced central role for ARG can be deemed a failure based on how he functioned alongside Tevez and Lavezzi. Tevez and Messi is a poor combination given overlaps in their game and the space they seek to play in. And Lavezzi is better on the left. Messi was brilliant in controlling play yesterday but ARG missed his ability to finish from more advanced positions.
It’s absolutely true Messi doesn’t replicate his Barca form for Argentina.
But that is because he has 2 completely different roles in both teams.
Barca, he plays as a striker/forward. Argentina, he takes on Iniestas/Xavis role, well mainly Iniesta’s role and he is doing a brilliant job.
This is Messi’s genius. He can take on any role. How many chances did he create for Argentina? 12/13 clear chances. Wow. I can see him taking on Xavis role when he gets old and doing a better job than Xavi. His vision and improvisation is unbelievable.
Even in the past 2 games, he created Argentina’s best chances. In the world cup, almost every single goal Argentina scored was mainly due to Messi. I really don’t understand how people say that he underperforms for Argentina…. people expect him to dribble past 6 players every game? He has the capability to do it as we have seen during the season with Barca, but at the same time expecting “goal of the century” goals every game is ridiculous. At Argentina, scoring this type of goal becomes more difficult as he plays deeper, but since it is more difficult for him to score, he constantly creates clear chances and openings for his teammates. People should understand that.
Now that Argentina won, people are back to praising him, but if Argentina had lost, people would’ve criticized him.
Messi can replicate Xavi and Iniesta. But Xavi and Iniesta cannot replicate a Messi.
Even in Barca, he is the leading assist maker.
i love this comment. Messi became the undeserved scapegoat for Argentina failing as a team not to mention the coaches being quite…well, out of their minds.
I thought he was brilliant in the World Cup, I don’t know why he was scrutinized–look at the other club stars that played for their country–c.Ronaldo, Torres, Rooney–how did they do? They didn’t do much anything for their teams compared to how much Messi contributed. And Ronaldo scoring one goal doesn’t make it decisive for Portugal either. Sometimes (often) in football, scoring the goal isn’t everything.
People seem keen on actively looking and picking at every single flaw in Messi and magnifying them, it’s insane.
Of course Messi misses Xavi / Iniesta and the Barcelona system, but who wouldn’t ? Remove any one player and stick him with a ton of unfamiliar players in a new system, it surely cannot be as good as a team drilled to play a certain way for a decade? This is not just true of Messi, but of Xavi, Iniesta, Pedro, Pique, Busquets, and any other La Masia/Barca player. They just all play happily in Spain with a similar system and much of the same players, so they are not exposed.
Even so, Messi is/was brilliant for Argentina. The truth is that Argentinian fans are very passionate, moody, and emotional (this isn’t a dig, but just a neutral observation). They do not know about Messi because he is a bit of an outsider, he left Argentina too early and never established himself as a star before moving at the age of 13. If Messi had spent years winning titles for Boca Juniors, like Tevez, he’d be revered with a demi-god status.
But he didn’t, and Argentina fans are suspicious of him, many claiming he is really Spanish and not Argentinian. He had the chance to play for Spain, but chose Argentina, end of. But his patriotism comes under question, with a video circulating not too long ago of every player singing the national anthem except Messi.
It’s ridiculous: some perfectly patriotic people do not feel the need to sing. Perhaps he is self conscious, perhaps he is too focused on the game to bother, who cares? He’s not the first and wont be the last national team player not to sing. It’s not a requirement. But the suspicion lingers.
In this game, Batista finally made what I consider obvious switches: bringing on more attack minded players instead of Banega-Cambiasso (he chose Gago and DiMaria, but not Pastore, but fair enough) and finally getting rid of Carlos Tevez/Lavezzi whom he switched for Higuain/Aguero.
Higuain missed what seemed like a dozen chances, but other than that, he actually played well, sucking defenders towards him, moving well, etc.
Batista has essentially three choices, keep Higuain, switch him for Pastore and change the system, or keep the system and play Diego Milito. They all have their cost/benefit, so we’ll see,
While this may have been a youth Costa Rica squad, they had beaten Bolivia with a convincing 2-0 and even down to ten men held Colombia to only one goal. They were hardly cannon fodder, and they were ahead of Argentina on points and still have a chance to go through to the next round.
But Argentina played brilliantly, and could have won 8-0 with some better finishing. Hardly a guarantee that they finally have it together, but it was a much better performance, and you could see a huge weight lifted from the team after the first goal.
All those who propose Mascherano as a CB can please tell me who on earth will defend crosses? Argentina is lacking size as it is, let alone having Mascherano as a CB. He can work there on a team having a 70% possession, which requires a collective pressing to recover the ball which Argentina has not developed.
I think Milito and Burdisso are not super stars, still they are the best central defenders Argentina has at the moment. Milito may be lacking play, but still from a technical standpoint he’s one of the best Argentine central defenders of the last years. They need to play together more matches and get used to playing higher up the pitch. The LB and RB are more of a problem. Argentina needs players that can frequently play offensively in a decent manner since most of the teams will lay back and counterattack, and neither Zabaleta nor Zanetti (he’s 39 already, is Batista betting on devleoping him for WC 2014???) excel in that role. I still don’t know who should play there.
Gago was very good distributing the ball, and the midfield in general did not seem outmanned as in other matches (Zabaleta helped in this). This allows Messi to play higher up the field, which is good for Argentina (when he goes back, the midfielders take turns to foul him with no consequence – i.e. yellow cards and dangerous free kicks).
Higuain must stay, even if he missed many scoring opportunities he opened up the pitch for the remaining forwards.
Burdisso is very good at defending crosses, while Mascherano is better at the technical part of defending. Argentina’s best centre-back is Samuel, but he’s not fully fit.
As for the full-backs, Zanetti turns 38 next months. By normal person terms, he has just turned 31. In the next World Cup, he might still be a capable player, maybe not too energetic, but still a solid defender. Right now he’s a very good full-back, good at attacking and defending, and tireless. You can’t judge a player just based on his age.
At last a performance!
I’m looking forward to seeing Messi and Argentina push on during the rest of the tournament. Let’s hope that Brazil replicate Argentina’s brilliance with an impressive showing of their own.
Shame ‘Walter the Wall’ isn’t fit
seriously! milito is a disaster waiting to happen!
It was fun to watch, but against the best opposition, Argentina will suffer with this system. Higuain did a good job occupying players, but against a better team, they won’t have half the opportunities, and can Argentina afford missing all those chances in that situation? I would play Milito or Tevez as a number 9. They might not be as physical as Higuain, but they would make up for it. Gago was good, but I would play Banega in his position. I would place Messi on the RW cutting in with the right fullback overlapping, play Pastore as a number 10, play Milito as a number 9, and Aguero off the left. Or maybe even play Messi false 9 and Tevez on the right to help out defensively.
Higuain’s role also worked in a similar way to Javier Hernandez’s at Manchester United, in the way Hernandez forces the opposition to defend deep, opening up space for Wayne Rooney in the whole
Correction: whole instead of hole
Just wanted to point that out
Brilliant article, as always