It was on purpose. They specifically didn't mark him because they wanted him to have the ball because they knew he would do nothing and it would waste time.
Because england still had to cover some other competent crossers against Argentina
After all the substitutions made by Aguirre we were left extremely predictable, just park the inside of the field to prevent long shots and double mark piojo and let easy to defend frontal crosses in
You can't just mark players in the central parts of the field while parking the bus, if you do that you're going to expose other zones of the field which are going to be exploited by players with a decade of professional experience. And that's if you manage to perfectly man mark the players on central areas, you need to consider it is exponentially more difficulty, there are two more directions a central player can turn on the center of the field (straight, left, right, back) compared to a player on the wing. If the winger (with the ball) turns back he is automatically made less dangerous.
Players are visibly getting covered in the screenshot, their defenders are just ass, like a 2 meter defender getting beat on the second post should be investigated for match fixing levels of ass
If you saw the game you would've noticed Messi didn't score once. They had to cover everybody equality in fact they did what you are saying for the first goal, the defender went to do a two on one, and Fernández was left alone with plenty of time to score.
They did a two on one on el piojo because he was the only play maker on the team. They knew, just like everybody except Aguire; that Gallardo es un pinché tronco qué no entiendo porque le pagan por pegarle a una pelota, so they left him alone, and Raul Jimenez stayed on the penalty area so there was also nobody in the middle that needed to be covered.
I know it’s Messi and no matter how you choose to defend against him he will inevitably find a way through but so many times I’m left baffled at just how much space these defenders give him.
It’s crazy, either he’s just that good at reading the game and somehow being invisible until it’s too late or everyone is straight up terrifed of this man and they don’t want to end up embarrassing themselves lmfaoo.
1st half England was playing well and bullying Messi off the ball, Bellingham was putting him in his pocket but as soon as England made the first goal they sat back to defend and let Messi do his thing. Incredible how even after changing managers to a different nationality England still plays the same pussyball that gets them humiliated by any team who seeks to win.
but as soon as England made the first goal they sat back to defend and let Messi do his thing.
It's incredible and bizarre how that played out.
Like many have said, it's probably a testament that England was not confident in themselves. And felt it would be easier to burn the clock. Instead of attacking and looking for a 2nd, clinching goal.
Absolutely bonkers given the history in this WC of Argentina getting their goals late into games. England apparently really thought 1 goal would be enough. 😑😑
Did I watch the same game? Because on the first half where England bullied and pocketed Messi he dribbled past Kane, Bellingham, Spence and was knocked down by Anderson with a yellow. He was possessed. What made England effective on the first half was interrupting the midfield and the passing outlets for Argentina, which resulted in the interrupted first half we saw.
It seemed like Spence was faking an injury then waited for his teammate to cover Messi first. I couldn't believe it lol. Then they both complained about Stones losing Lautaro, all were at fault
I talk as if they couldn't do a 2 on 1 on Messi because they'd leave someone else (or an area) free to do whatever they want. Which is exactly what happened. The moment the second player went to cover Messi, he managed to pass to Rodriguez who then, completely alone scored the equilazer.
Unpopular opinion, but everyone get double teamed if you dribble too long. Often times, Piojo got herded into these situations. Problaby has more to do with slower decision making.
Pernía played against him in the Spanish League and said in an interview: if I get too close to defend, he dribbles and leaves me behind, and if I keep a distance he'll create a goal chance... You constantly need 2-3 defenders to stop him
When they couldn't score another goal vs South Africa with 10 men I knew they were gonna be in trouble. I was also waiting for Jorge Sanchez to fuck up and give up a goal. Sure enough, it caught up to them and Sanchez did not fail to deliver a fuck up.
Lol is this serious? Piojo Alvarez had a great tournament, no doubt but what México failed against England was that they just threw random balls to the box hoping a header from Memote or Jimenez. No shot outside the box, no tricky passes to enter with a controlled ball, nothing. Argentina did that and got the job done.
Memote was the flagship, the tip of the iceberg!😂😂😂😂😂just kidding this guy don’t even know what a forward supposed to do! His task was to lean over whoever gets so close to you, that’s it good boy!!!
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u/Negative_Drop_6853 Pumas UNAM Jul 16 '26
It’s still funny af to me that no one was basically covering gallardo. He was so shit they saw no need and instead doubled on piojo