Argentina approach Qatar 2022 in a paradoxical position.
In terms of pure talent, they might be the least gifted Albiceleste incarnation since they won their second World Cup in 1986.
But they might also be better placed than any of their predecessors to add a third star to the storied sky blue-and-white jersey.
The reason is balance.
Having won the team’s hearts, coach Lionel Scaloni’s 4-3-3 has no ill-fitting parts.
As midfielder Rodrigo de Paul candidly explained, the team have gone from initially “mistrusting” their novice coach to a situation where “now Scaloni could convince us of anything”.
The Albiceleste head to Qatar with the longest ongoing international unbeaten streak – 35 games. They could better Italy’s record 37-match mark in the group stage, having also ended it in June.
Argentina’s last defeat came in July 2019, when they lost to Brazil in the Copa America semi-finals.
They should be considered as much of a contender to end Europe’s 16-year stranglehold on the World Cup as great rivals Brazil, who are the bookmakers’ favourites to lift a record-extending sixth trophy on Dec 18.
In Pole position for second
Poland have won just one of their last five matches, scoring four times and conceding 11 goals.
Their recent major tournament record has been poor, their last two outings – the 2018 World Cup and Euro 2020 – saw them finish bottom of the group.
Qatar 2022 offers them a chance to rewrite the narrative. Second place in Group C is very much up for grabs.
Coach Czeslaw Michniewicz has flirted with a variety of formations but lately has flitted between a 3-5-2 and 3-4-2-1.
Those systems allow him to use attacking wing-backs like Roma’s Nicola Zalewski and Aston Villa’s Matty Cash for width, while potentially playing two No. 10s in Napoli’s sensational schemer Piotr Zielinski and Feyenoord’s lone ranger Sebastian Szymanski to provide the guile for Robert Lewandowski.
Married players might be favoured, with Michniewicz admitting: “You do not need to keep an eye on them... instead of a coach, this job is done by their wives.”
Mexican pessimism
Mexico coach Gerardo “Tata” Martino summed it up best when he said: “The environment around... is absolutely one of pessimism”.
They lost to the United States in the finals of the 2020 Concacaf Nations League and 2021 Gold Cup and stumbled through the World Cup qualifiers for stretches before finishing second behind Canada.
Previously, Mexico’s perennial World Cup conundrum was how to end their last-16 hoodoo – they have exited at that stage at every tournament since 1994. Now the quandary is how to even make it out of the group.
Even squad selection has become more about who is not in El Tri than who has made the cut.
Former Manchester United and Real Madrid striker Javier Hernandez, his country’s all-time leading scorer, has been frozen out since 2019 for helping to organise a party with a gaggle of models in the lead up to a match. Ex-Arsenal and Real Sociedad attacker Carlos Vela, who earned his last cap in 2018, feels his “chapter has closed”.
The pair have a combined 30 goals and 12 assists in the Major League Soccer regular season and Mexico legends Hugo Sanchez and Jared Borgetti say the duo should be in Qatar.
Home advantage for Saudis?
Since making the last 16 on their debut in 1994, when Saeed Al-Owairan’s slaloming run gave us one of the World Cup’s great goals, the Saudis have won just one of their 12 games at the tournament. And that was a dead rubber against Egypt in 2018.
But can the “home” advantage of familiarity with the climate and conditions at the first World Cup in the Gulf help improve that record?
Coach Herve Renard, who favours a 4-2-3-1 or 4-3-3 formation, says his side are more at home playing a style similar to Arab neighbours Egypt, Morocco (whom he led to Russia 2018) or Algeria – “teams (who) have talented technical players who play attractive football”.
Group C fixtures
Argentina v Saudi Arabia (Nov 22, 6pm)
Mexico v Poland (Nov 22, 11.59pm)
Poland v Saudi Arabia (Nov 26, 9pm)
Argentina v Mexico (Nov 27, 3am)
Poland v Argentina (Dec 1, 3am)
Saudi Arabia v Mexico (Dec 1, 3am)
Team factfiles
Saudi Arabia
Last World Cup: Group stage
Best World Cup performance: Round of 16 (1994)
Fifa ranking: 51
Record in qualifying: 13 wins, 4 draws, 1 loss
The coach: Herve Renard
The Frenchman made his name in Africa but has had little trouble adjusting to his maiden Asian voyage. The 54-year-old with the floppy hair has managed four African nations and is the only coach to have won the Africa Cup of Nations with two different teams.
His 2012 win with Zambia ranks among international football’s best underdog stories.
In 2019, with the Green Falcons having missed two of the last three tournaments, he took over and breezed through qualifying, finishing ahead of Asian World Cup fixtures Japan and Australia.
The star: Salem Al-Dawsari
The 31-year-old winger was one of nine Saudi players involved in the failed La Liga placement experiment ahead of the last World Cup. Like his compatriots, he struggled for minutes in Spain, playing just once for Villarreal, albeit against Real Madrid.
He is his country’s creator-in-chief, and he also scored the Green Falcons’ winner against Egypt at Russia 2018.
His importance is underlined by the fact the Saudis have struggled for goals. In their last nine matches (including unofficial friendlies), they scored just four times, with Al-Dawsari featuring only four times.
On the plus side, they also conceded just four times during that run.
Mexico
Last World Cup: Round of 16
Best World Cup performance: Quarter-finals (1970, 1986)
Fifa ranking: 13
Record in qualifying: 8 wins, 4 draws, 2 losses
The coach: Gerardo Martino
It’s not a great look when chants of “Fuera Tata” (fire Tata) ring out in the stands and the coach openly admits he is “public enemy No. 1”.
In September, there were widespread reports the Argentinian had in July submitted his resignation to sporting director Gerardo Torrado, who convinced him to stay on.
Shortly after, 144-cap former midfielder Torrado was fired, with Martino expected to join him out the door after Qatar 2022.
The star: Hirving Lozano
Nicknamed “Chucky” after the sinister doll in the Child’s Play horror movie series because he used to hide under beds to scare his friends, Mexico will need the 27-year-old to haunt opposition backlines.
The Napoli attacker can play anywhere across the front three of Martino’s 4-3-3 and is a speedy dribbler with 16 goals from 59 caps.
With Hernandez, Vela and Jesus Corona absent, and Raul Jimenez a shadow of the player he was before his skull fracture, the attacking onus will be on Lozano.
Poland
Last World Cup: Group stage
Best World Cup performance: Third (1974, 1982)
Fifa ranking: 26
Record in qualifying: 7 wins, 2 draws, 2 losses
The coach: Czeslaw Michniewicz
The 52-year-old became Poland coach only at the end of January after Paulo Sousa abruptly joined Flamengo. His appointment was greeted with criticism in some quarters due to his alleged links with Ryszard Forbrich – dubbed the godfather of the football mafia in Poland.
Forbrich alleges Michniewicz was aware of his match-fixing exploits and even claimed he told the coach who to pick for Lech Poznan, which Michniewicz denies.
Michniewicz, however, admits aspiring to have Rafael Benitez’s tactical acumen; “Jose Mourinho’s great charisma and self-confidence; Jurgen Klinsmann’s enthusiasm and Felix Magath’s power of personality”.
The star: Robert Lewandowski
He’s won the European Golden Shoe twice, the Best Fifa Men’s Player gong twice and holds the Bundesliga’s single-season scoring record with 41 goals in 29 games.
But amazingly, the 34-year-old has yet to score at a World Cup. Poland’s success will depend on servicing their all-time record scorer.
As Michniewicz said in September: “There is no point in discussing whether Robert needs a second striker next to him. It’s nonsense. At Bayern or Barcelona, he can play as the only striker and score hundreds of goals. We simply have to provide proper service.”
Argentina
Last World Cup: Round of 16
Best World Cup performance: Winners (1978, 1986)
Fifa ranking: 3
Record in qualifying: 11 wins, 6 draws
The coach: Lionel Scaloni
Since their Copa America win in 1993, Argentina have been helmed by a succession of experienced, distinguished coaches like Daniel Passarella, Marcelo Bielsa, Jose Pekerman and Jorge Sampaoli.
But it was Scaloni, who had no previous senior coaching experience, who ended the Albiceleste’s 28-year trophy drought at Copa America 2021 and guided them to an unbeaten qualifying campaign.
Not bad for someone who only got the gig after Mauricio Pochettino, Diego Simeone and Marcelo Gallardo could not be convinced to take over.
The star: Lionel Messi
Key to Argentina’s recent success is Scaloni’s ability to wring out the best version of Lionel Messi in an Argentine jersey by not trying to replicate his situation at club level.
A burgeoning attacking partnership with Lautaro Martinez and a solid, well-rounded midfield of Leandro Paredes, de Paul and Alexis Mac Allister behind them has been vital to this. So is Messi’s faith in Scaloni, having told his predecessor Sampaoli at Russia 2018: “We no longer trust you”.
This year alone, he has scored 10 goals in six games for Argentina and he will expect to improve his World Cup haul of six goals in 19 matches as he chases the trophy that could definitively end the Greatest Of All Time debate.
