Skip to main content

Lionel Messi’s return should help Argentina when it faces Brazil


Lionel Messi missed Argentina's last three qualifying matches and the results showed with draws against Peru and Venezuela, and 1-0 loss against Paraguay.

Messi scored in a 1-0 victory over Uruguay in the only match he’s played under Argentina coach Edgardo Bauza.

Lionel Messi is back from injury, just the tonic Argentina should need in Thursday’s World Cup qualifier against Brazil.

Messi missed Argentina’s last three qualifying matches with an injured left knee, and the results showed with draws against Peru and Venezuela, and a 1-0 loss agains

He (Messi) is extremely intelligent and has a great finishing skill, so we have to do double marking on him whenever we can,” Brazil midfielder Renato Augusto said. “We have to close the gaps for all Argentina players, and we have to remove Messi’s passing angle whenever he has the ball.”

Thursday’s match takes place in the same stadium where Brazil was humiliated two years ago in a 7-1 loss to Germany in the World Cup semifinals. But this time, the hosts will be focusing on containing Messi.
“It’s impossible to stop the ball from reaching Messi because he will start floating around to get it,” Renato Augusto said. “We need to take him out of his comfort zone.”
Messi scored in a 1-0 victory over Uruguay in the only match he’s played under Argentina coach Edgardo Bauza.
Argentina, World Cup runners-up two years ago against Germany, is five points behind group leader Brazil; not desperate but needing points Thursday and next week in a difficult match against Colombia.
Brazil leads qualifying with 21 points, followed by Uruguay with 20 and Ecuador and Colombia with 17. Chile and Argentina have 16 points each.
The top four teams qualify automatically for the World Cup. The fifth-place team could advance through a playoff.
Brazil has won four straight matches since coach Tite took over after the five-time World Cup champions fired Dunga.
Tite will count on striker Neymar and right back Dani Alves for any new strategy to deal with Messi.
“(Brazil) has to do what it has been doing,” winger Douglas Costa, “regardless of Argentina.”
And regardless of Messi.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Gwanda chakwamba dies

Chakuamba was one of the great politicians in Malawi, he had problems of heart before. Since his jovial and vocal political career dating way to the middle 1980s , Chakuamba has been a bonafide and controversial member of ‘big’ political parties like the Malawi Congress Party (MCP) , United Democratic Front (UDF) Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and was recently affiliated to former governing Peoples Party (PP) prior to the May 20 Tripartite elections .He was born on 4 April 1934. During the rule of President Hastings Kamuzu Banda, he held many cabinet positions and was Commander of the MCP youth group Malawi Young Pioneers. Known for his temperamental nature, Chakuamba was a fearless opponent of John Tembo. One account has it Tembo and Chakuamba squared up for a fist fight at Nasawa MYP Training Base where Dr. Banda was within minutes of arriving to inaugurate the 1976 Youth Week Rally. I n February 1980, Chakuamba was ‘charged’, ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Kenya received sh198 million as treasure refund for troops fighting Al-shabaab from European union

The Europe Union has released Sh198 million to the Treasury as refund for Kenyan troops fighting Al-Shabaab militants in Somalia after a seven-month delay attributed to a verification hitch. Treasury documents show that Kenya received the money in September with the last refund coming in February in a reimbursement that is meant to happen quarterly. Kenya received Sh4.2 billion from the UN in the first seven months of last financial year against a claim of Sh6.4 billion, meaning the country is owed Sh2.2 billion. It expects to receive Sh6.4 billion in the year to June 2017. The Treasury did not explain the delay, but earlier reports in the BBC indicated that payments for the 22,000-strong African Union force (Amisom) were being withheld over “accounting issues”. Nearly 4,000 Kenyan soldiers are part of Amisom and the international community provides $1,028 (Sh103, 828) for each Amisom soldier each month; their respective governments then deduct about $200 (Sh20,200) for ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Dreamworld family demanding the cause ; We want to know what went wrong?

Australia: THE father of two of the victims killed in the Dreamworld tragedy today gave a heartbreaking statement in which he said the families want answers. “Like everyone else in Australia, we want to know what went wrong,” said Shayne Goodchild, father of Luke Dorsett and Kate Goodchild, with Kate’s partner David Turner standing by his side in Canberra. “We want to know why our loved ones were taken from us in such horrific circumstances. No one wants those answers more than we do.” Speaking on behalf of everyone who loved his children, he noted that Dave had “lost the love of his life and the mother of their children, in the most tragic of circumstances.” Dave not only has to deal with his own grief, but be strong for their beautiful daughters. Our darling Evie, is only eight months old, and far too young to be without her mum. “And he must be a rock for his oldest daughter Ebony, who saw her mum’s life taken. “Only 24 hours earlier, my family was on the beach, taking Evie i...
Post a Comment
Read more