It may be that the conquest of
Lionel Messi
and
the Scaloneta
in the
World Cup in Qatar
has distorted the scenario a little.
Since that unforgettable December 18, 2022, the omnipotence of the champions forces all the Argentine soccer teams to be protagonists.
They say that success is intoxicating and happens as soon as the ball is round, of course, with the teams that wear light blue and white.
And even more so now with the feat of the Middle East still fresh and in continuous evocation.
With that heavy backpack carries
Javier Mascherano's Sub 23
, which these days is playing for qualification for Paris 2024 in the Venezuelan Pre-Olympic, a tournament in which it came close to starting with a worrying misstep if it weren't for the agonizing appearance by
Luciano Gondou
in the 90th minute to disguise an unhappy night in Valencia and put the signature at 1-1 against Paraguay.
"It is clear that every time the Argentine National Team competes its objective is to fight for the top and in this case the objective is qualification for the Olympic Games
," a self-critical Mascherano precociously accepted, who has two bad records on his back such as DT.
The thing is that the
Little Chief
never quite made his footing with the Sub 20, with which he was first eliminated in the South American Championship in Colombia and later, after entering through the window when suddenly designated host, he did not go too far in the World Cup in Argentina. where he said goodbye in the round of 16.
And that close history is worrying.
Because of the lack of results and also because of the lack of an identity.
Especially taking into account that the filter is not very porous and only two teams will get the ticket for Paris 2024 - two of the five pass in the group zone and then the two best from the final quadrangle remain - and that that tournament for the gold medal, the one that Mascherano himself won twice in Athens 2004 and Beijing 2008, could be an ideal scenario for both
Lionel Messi
and
Ángel Di María
to close their glorious National Team cycle as two of the three major reinforcements.
Photo: EFE/ Rayner Peña R.
The game that marked the debut of the Sub 23 left many more shadows than lights
.
So much so that Mascherano himself, who twice said that he wanted to leave the youth team project and even opened the door for Lionel Scaloni to take the reins of the team in case of eventual qualification for the Olympic Games, opened the umbrella at the first signs of vulnerability.
"I'm going to be responsible for everything that happens. I like the challenge and I feel supported by the players, which is the most important thing,"
he said in a declaration of principles that was too alarmist for a result, after all, which was far from being negative despite being far from being expected.
Too early to undergo a crucifixion.
It is true that the team played below the expected level because it was difficult for them to transform the superiority resulting from greater possession of the ball and the technical wealth of the players into dangerous situations in the rival area.
But the concrete thing is that among the eleven starters that he released on the court, the letter of introduction in the contest, there were few high points.
And one of them, in particular, is worrying because the good performance of
Leandro Brey
in the goal speaks of some defensive inattention that forced the boy who emerged in Los Andes and who awaits his chance in Boca to wallow more than necessary against an opponent who does not It took too much elaboration to make a mess.
In the last line the highest point was
Marco Di Césare
, from Argentinos, who showed the solvency that he has been exhibiting in the La Paternal team since the days of Gabriel Milito as coach.
Joaquín García
was one step below and
Nicolás Valentini
alternated more bad times than good, including the clumsy penalty that gave Diego Gómez, Messi's teammate at Inter Miami, the chance to open the scoring.
Valentín Barco
, who returned to play as a left back, did not have much of a task in marking and excelled on offense.
Restless and mobile, the boy who just joined Brighton after executing the termination clause was one of the best in Argentina's pale debut.
But he had a hard time finding company.
Photo: EFE/ Rayner Peña R.
The midfield that Mascherano chose, with
Cristian Medina
and
Thiago Almada
on the wings and
Equi Fernández
and
Juan Sforza
as pivots, had a lot of the ball, but unbalanced little or nothing.
The best was Newell's central midfielder, but his ability to make good first passes was not exploited by his teammates.
The world champion Almada had more desire than clarity when making decisions.
Above it was seen that
Pablo Solari
and
Santiago Castro
are pure will.
The River man managed to unbalance from the outside, but he was almost never able to throw diagonals inward.
And the boy from Vélez looked anxious and fell offside too many times.
Far from the level he showed in the friendlies.
The changes, yes, oxygenated Argentina.
The doubt, in these cases, always arises whether it is a success or a late reaction from the coach.
"Everyone is in a position to play. We have that peace of mind. The solutions that we did not find at the beginning of the game we have to find with the replacements. Today the changes gave us speed in the game
," analyzed the Jefecito.
In this case, the team began to flow better in attack with the entry of
Luis Baltasar Rodríguez
for Medina and even more so when Mascherano brought in
Claudio Echeverri
for Solari and
Federico Redondo
for Sforza.
And not to mention how well
Luciano Gondou
, scorer in the last League Cup, took advantage of the six minutes he had on the field.
Surely, one of these names will appear starting on Wednesday when the National Team returns to the tournament.
They will face Peru, who beat Chile 1-0 on Sunday.
It will be from 8pm.