It is well known that the Roman army never made the same mistake twice, but by choosing Cristian Romero over Lisandro Martínez for the second time in Argentina’s World Cup campaign, Lionel Scaloni showed that he needed to have certain things repeated to him several times before learning one. lesson.
As The Peoples Person reported after La Albiceleste’s shock 2-1 loss to Saudi Arabia in the Group C opener, the absence of Martínez at the back may well have prevented Saleh Al-Shehri’s equaliser, the goal that changed the game.
Romero came into this tournament having missed Tottenham Hotspur’s last four games due to injury and his lack of sharpness was evident to all.
Meanwhile, Lisandro Martínez has been in sensational form since joining Manchester United in the summer, silencing critics left, right and centre. His ability to snap at the heels of any attacker leaves center forwards without a moment of peace, regardless of his physical or technical qualities.
The ‘grinta’ that Erik ten Hag credited Martinez with shortly after his transfer would have been a huge boost to the national team’s chances of comfortably navigating a group few would have expected them to struggle with. No one knows why Scaloni seems to reject his most archetypal Argentinian player from the Argentinian side.
Watching a rusty Romero battling the Saudi Arabian front line and thinking it would be a good idea to pit him against Robert Lewandowski, of all people, in his next outing seems like utter madness.
Fortunately for Argentina, the Poland team taking on them have been terrible at providing their star striker on the tournament stage. Lewandowski is scoring a goal in 32 touches for Barcelona this season, but for his team he rarely shoots and only recorded his first World Cup goal earlier in the week against Saudi Arabia at the age of 34.
During the first half, apart from Wojciech Szczęsny saving Lionel Messi’s penalty, the Pole had absolutely nothing to celebrate. Argentina hardly had to defend and Poland’s talisman barely saw the ball.
An Alexis McAllister goal moments after the second half saved Messi’s blushes, and a more ambitious team might have taken it as a sign to consider occasionally venturing outside their own defensive third.
But this Poland side have already shown that they lack any ambition, sitting still waiting for the Group C game to end in their favour. Fortunately for them, Mexico scored just two goals, conceding as they chased the third they needed to qualify ahead of Poland.
As for Argentina, they will likely never have an easier game.
All I’d probably do is encourage Scaloni to continue with Romero, even though the defender didn’t win any of his outfield duels, conceded possession 10 times against a team that never pressured him, and failed to make a single tackle or interception. (SofaScore). What he had to do to defend Argentina was done in large part by the veteran Nicolás Otamendi.
Against better teams, particularly those willing to attack from time to time, Scaloni’s unwillingness to ditch Cristian Romero for Lisandro Martínez could prove to be Argentina’s undoing.
