Alrite guys. . . .Diego Maradona has already announced the line-up of his Argentine team that will face our Super Eagles on June 12 and as expected, it has that little devil and current Best footballer in the world, Lionel Messi.

[center]Maradona spoke freely about who will be making his final squad, the troubles currently engulfing his beloved Boca Juniors plus his unfortunate dog bite. He also revealed that his starting XI for the Nigeria game will be: Romero; Otamendi, Demichelis, Samuel, Heinze; Jonas, Veron, Mascherano, Di Maria; MESSI, Higuain or Tevez[/center]
http://www.goal.com/en/news/60/south-america/2010/04/17/1882973/south-american-dispatch-diego-maradona-names-argentina-squad

From 2005 to now, we have played Argentina twice (Holland 2005 and Beijing 2008) and on both ocassions, Messi has hurt us. . . first getting a penalty against us in 2005 & providing the defence-splitting pass that led to the goal by Angel Di Maria in Beijing 2008.

Now, I believe all the 10 outfield players pose a threat to us but the threat of Messi is the most significant IMO. . . so the question is how do we curtail/neutralize Messi? Do we give him a man-marker?. . .the most effective example of this method I can recall is how Godwin Opara man-marked Ronaldo in the 1st leg of the Strasbourg vs Inter Milan UEFA cup match some years back and rendered him ineffective and impotent.

[center]OR[/center]

Should the coach adopt a different strategy altogether in curtailing/neutralizing Messi?

Oya Nairaland highly-rated/first class Naija footie analysts. . . .Sagamite, Ibime, FBS, Honeric01, Rasputin, Ow11, Eastbay, Iyineda, Kgdavid, na so, hollandis, dis guy, Ayusco, tkb417, mbulela, largerwhenindoubt, imeobong, 12large, gxxxxx etc and all the other analysts too wack to mention, it's time to play Football Manager once again.  We've all criticised our previous coaches and the present one, drawn up our 23-man list and selected our starting XI's but this time lets talk specifically on strategy, special tactics and techniques on how you'll (assuming you were in Lagerback's shoes) keep Messi quiet and render him ineffective for the duration of 90 minutes keeping in mind Maradona's starting XI and formation the Argentine team will be playing.

Oya, ball dey una court. . . .make una begin dey talk. .  

A TALL order but not insurmountable. My fear is really a rejuvenated Veron. The Argentine Back 4 and Mascherano (thank heavens) are no threat going forward and we only have to deal with Veron, Jonas (who is very inconsistent) and the attacking trident.

I would suggest a 4-3-1-2 system that has fluidity and in counter attacking mode. Odemwingie and Kaita would be the key men in that game.

Adefemi Adeleye Apam Echiejile

Mikel Kaita Etuhu

Odemwengie

Martins Anichebe (I. Uche)

Etuhu will live and die with Messi on the pitch. Kaita and Mikel with try to neutralise Veron. This will leave Higuain and Di Maria without service to do any damage. If Tevez starts, that would be another kettle of fish entirely. The bottom line would be to press the Argentines and leave no gaps. Very difficult but not impossible!

We do need to man-mark Messi and play counter attacking footie and you would notice that the formation has NO lazy 'give me the ball' type player.

ow11 you are a big idiot. what has amodu given to you that you are so obcess with 3 defensive midfilders. if an argentina midfield consist of old man like veron, and a red card waiting to happen like masherano then why should nigeria also parade ball winners instead of ball dribblers. do you know that this is one of the main reason that amodu got fired for playing all defensive midfilders. imagine a times that we badly need an attacking midfilder and the only player playing that role for his club is dropped {h.lukman} while 3 useless defensive midfilders that have not scored any goal or any shot on target for 3 years 'mikel is on your team. ow11 please you don't know anything about nigeria football just shut the hell up. and remember never ever ever suggest nigeria to play 3 defensive midfilders ever. instead we should play all defensive players nonsence

@poster,
i don't know much about formation and stuff, but i know that the last time messi played against Nigeria, chibuzor okonkwo(former Bayelsa United star) didn't give him a chance. He played around the guy till the end of the match. If someone like him holds him like he did last time, we'll have less to worry about.

12large:

ow11 you are a big idiot. what has amodu given to you that you are so obcess with 3 defensive midfilders. if an argentina midfield consist of old man like veron, and a red card waiting to happen like masherano then why should nigeria also parade ball winners instead of ball dribblers. do you know that this is one of the main reason that amodu got fired for playing all defensive midfilders. imagine a times that we badly need an attacking midfilder and the only player playing that role for his club is dropped {h.lukman} while 3 useless defensive midfilders that have not scored any goal or any shot on target for 3 years 'mikel is on your team. ow11 please you don't know anything about nigeria football just shut the hell up. and remember never ever ever suggest nigeria to play 3 defensive midfilders ever. instead we should play all defensive players nonsence

JeeZ! You're such a slowpoke. Must you go about calling everyone who has a contrary opinion to yours an idiot or a fool? Post how you intend to play against Argentina (if you were the coach of the Super Eagles) given their line-up and how you'll neutralize Messi instead of criticizing and cursing other peeps. I've noticed this about you. . , you never post your own line-up, starting 11 or formation or tactics. . . you just wait for others to post theirs, then you criticize and curse them for their opinions. PLEASE, PROVE ME WRONG .

12large:

ow11 you are a big idiot. what has amodu given to you that you are so obcess with 3 defensive midfilders. if an argentina midfield consist of old man like veron, and a red card waiting to happen like masherano then why should nigeria also parade ball winners instead of ball dribblers. do you know that this is one of the main reason that amodu got fired for playing all defensive midfilders. imagine a times that we badly need an attacking midfilder and the only player playing that role for his club is dropped {h.lukman} while 3 useless defensive midfilders that have not scored any goal or any shot on target for 3 years 'mikel is on your team. ow11 please you don't know anything about nigeria football just shut the hell up. and remember never ever ever suggest nigeria to play 3 defensive midfilders ever. instead we should play all defensive players nonsence

Easy Tiger. . . Has it occured to you that Argentina will dominate possession? How do you get the ball off Messi and Veron when you play with Lukman in place of say Mikel? I would if anything replace Odemwingie with Lukman.

If you do know your footie, you would realise the difference between my formation and Amodu's is the absence of wing play. My strikers aren't wingers like Amodu decided to use them as.  

You are sounding like Nigeria is going to dominate the game. I think you are the one with little footie knowledge other than monkey post pass make I dribble score. . . . Against Greece, maybe BUT I would be vindicated when Lagerback plays something similar to what I wrote up there.

Go and watch extended highlights of Barcelona V Rubin Kazan OR Brazil V Argentina and tell me how many central midfielders played that game. Maybe Anderson, Mineiro and Gilberto Silva have become ball jugglers.

Osaze would have to do a Kaka' if we are to win else we would probably draw them which isn't a bad result. I would go for a bore draw anyway in that game.

semid4lyfe:

JeeZ! You're such a slowpoke. Must you go about calling everyone who has a contrary opinion to yours an idiot or a fool? Post how you intend to play against Argentina (if you were the coach of the Super Eagles) given their line-up and how you'll neutralize Messi instead of criticizing and cursing other peeps. I've noticed this about you. . ,  you never post your own line-up, starting 11 or formation or tactics. . . you just wait for others to post theirs, then you criticize and curse them for their opinions. PLEASE, PROVE ME WRONG .

The guy is such a douchebag

ow11:

A TALL order but not insurmountable. My fear is really a rejuvenated Veron. The Argentine Back 4 and Mascherano (thank heavens) are no threat going forward and we only have to deal with Veron, Jonas (who is very inconsistent) and the attacking trident.

I would suggest a 4-3-1-2 system that has fluidity and in counter attacking mode. Odemwingie and Kaita would be the key men in that game.

Adefemi  Adeleye  Apam  Echiejile

          Mikel  Kaita  Etuhu

               Odemwengie

  Martins                     Anichebe (I. Uche)  

Etuhu will live and die with Messi on the pitch. Kaita and Mikel with try to neutralise Veron. This will leave Higuain and Di Maria without service to do any damage. If Tevez starts, that would be another kettle of fish entirely. The bottom line would be to press the Argentines and leave no gaps. Very difficult but not impossible!

We do need to man-mark Messi and play counter attacking footie and you would notice that the formation has NO lazy 'give me the ball' type player.            

Nice! I would play the exact 4-3-1-2 formation you have highlighted but with slightly different personnnel and I wouldn't man-mark Messi simply cos he'll be a distraction and prevent whoever is man-marking him from contributing to our game going forward. . . ._{Try watch that Strasbourg vs Inter-Milan UEFA cup match some years ago in which Godwin Opara man-marked Ronaldo and you'll notice Godwin Opara contributed nothing to Strasbourg's offensive play. . . .even when his team (Strasbourg) was with the ball, the guy was busy watching Ronaldo and never freed himself to collect the ball.} I'm afraid the same scenario will play out if Etuhu or anyother player man-marks Messi as we'll be playing short one.

Instead, what I'll do is to play very combative midfielders who'll battle very hard in midfield and neutralize the trio of Veron, Jonas and Mascherano as this will cut off supply to Messi and in return render Di Maria & Higuain/Tevez upfront useless.  Standing instructions to all my players will be to watch Messi and have the closest player mark him, chase him down at any point in time. This will in turn reduce the chance of a particular player getting a red card. . .remember Messi is the Best Footballer in the World and he has dimunitive, frail and fragile-looking physique so the referee will be looking to protect him as much as possible.

My starting XI against Argentina will be: Vincent Enyeama, Dele Adeleye, Apam Onyekachi, Elderson Echiejile, Olubayo Adefemi, Sanni Kaita, Mikel Obi, Lukman Haruna, Obinna Nsofor, Chinedu Obasi, Osaze Odemwingie/Ikechukwu Uche. They'll be playing a 4-3-1-2 formation. . .see below
               
                 Enyeama                      

Adefemi  Adeleye  Apam  Echiejile

          Mikel  Kaita  Haruna

                  Nsofor

       Obasi          Osaze/I. Uche  

Now, I believe for Argentina to sustain any kind of intense pressure against us, they'll have to play like Barca does. . .that is depend on a close marking system in midfield, defend not too deep with wing backs constantly overlapping and set a lot of offside traps. Mikel, Haruna and Nsofor will become very useful in playing the kinda counter attacking football style I have in mind. . .Mikel for his long accurate passes (hope he doesn't dilly-dally on the ball too long) from defense to our striking duo of Obasi and Osaze/I. Uche while Haruna together with his main defensive midfield duties will serve as a ball carrier (since he's comfortable with running with the ball) outta defence and launch fast counter attacks. Obinna Nsofor will be the main ball carrier and offensive midfielder that day. This way we can catch the Argentine defence off-guard cos Otamendi and Heinze will be overlapping a lot. . . .Personally, I think Demichelis and Samuel are useless defenders so I rate the chances of Obasi & Osaze/I. Uche against them very high.

Me, I believe very strongly we can beat Argentina with the right formation, players & attitude. . . .YES WE CAN!

Please let no one ever dream of playing Mikel and Etuhu on the same day in the same midfield. We can't have 2 immobile midfielders who are neither master driblers nor hard tackling ball winners playing on the same day.

it will simply kill the game.

The midfield of Mikel, Sani Kaita and Femi Ajilore is the best based on the Super Eagles players we know. Except largerback has some suprises from young unknown players like Haruna Lukman, Rabiu Ibrahim or the new media blitz RAMON AZEEM.

I also think our threat in South Africa should come from the wings, we don't have the players right now to solely play through the midfield.
The game mentality should be stroong defensive capacity, defending as a unit and hitting teams on the break.

That was how we played in China and it worked.

Semidy4life

Your line up is perfect and I agree with it.

This is why I said we never needed an oyibo coach to play well and hold our own in South Africa.

We know our best team and the under 23 boys who played in China forms the bulk of your selection and they are the best super eagles we have right now.

I also think Onyekachi Okoronkwo/Anichebe should be considered as a super subs.

And can I also add that anyday Nigeria files out in any match in South Africa and you don't see Sani Kaita in the first team list, switch off your TV because we will simply loose.

mikeansy:

Please let no one ever dream of playing Mikel and Etuhu on the same day in the same midfield. We can't have 2 immobile midfielders who are neither master driblers nor hard tackling ball winners playing on the same day.

it will simply kill the game.

The midfield of Mikel, Sani Kaita and Femi Ajilore is the best based on the Super Eagles players we know. Except largerback has some suprises from young unknown players like Haruna Lukman, Rabiu Ibrahim or the new media blitz RAMON AZEEM.

I also think our threat in South Africa should come from the wings, we don't have the players right now to solely play through the midfield.
The game mentality should be stroong defensive capacity, defending as a unit and hitting teams on the break.

That was how we played in China and it worked.

Lagerback has already released his 44 man short-list out of which the final 23 South Africa bound players will be selected. Rabiu Ibrahim & Ramon Azeez are not on the list so forget them.

semid4life you see i did not critisize you or curse you, why because you have a good squad. your squad is good although there can be some argument on echjile or taiwo
and maybe a target man, but it is good. i only curse people when a select totally useless squad. but nairalands what is you guys obsession with holding midfilders almost everybody are suggesting 3 defensive midfilders thats just not the way to play football

12large:

semid4life you see i did not critisize you or curse you, why because you have a good squad. your squad is good although there can be some argument on echjile or taiwo
and maybe a target man, but it is good. i only curse people when a select totally useless squad. but nairalands what is you guys obsession with holding midfilders almost everybody are suggesting 3 defensive midfilders thats just not the way to play football

Dude. . . .don't patronize me. Post how you'll play against Argentina and stop Messi instead of trying to play on my sensibilities. The word ''good '' as I have highlighted in your quoted post is relative and may differ from one person to another. . . geddit?

@semid4lyfe

I am a little pessimistic about the tackling ability of Lukman. I'd rather have Ajilore as Mikeansy pointed out in there as he did do well in the few games I've seen in terms of tackling and passing ability.

We seem to both agree that closing the Argentines down is the key to winning.

I'd have to adjust my team although I still believe our aim should be a point against Argentina and beating Greece and South Korea.

   Mikel Kaita Ajilore

          Nsofor

  Martins   Anichebe

Anichebe does a yeoman's job when he does play for Everton and Walter Samuel is quite physical and very clever. Osaze might loose out as is Obasi (I am not quite convinced about his mental strength). However, If we see the Argentines not holding onto the ball too long, then He or I.Uche can come in and do some damage to the tiring old men (Samuel and Demichelis).

Messi can be curtailed just like he was curtailed by Inter

lurvy:

Messi can be curtailed just like he was curtailed by Inter

Typical reply from a noob.

but we did curtail him in the Olympics finals in Beinjing

semid4life am not trying to patronize you, am just being real. when i critisize someone it is on the heat of the moment that am writing it and people right too many too bad stuuff.

ow11 please stop parading 3 defsive midfilders, it is totally useless formation. why are people talking about ajilore as if he is a good player, well he is rubbish. lets not get anything twisted amodu gave ajilore his chance against kenya and mozambiqu but he was poor in those two games how can any normal person parade
keita
mikel ajilore as a midfield

this 3 players lacks everything in an attacking way at least mikel gives good passes sometimes, but keita he is the most useless defensive midfilder nigeria ever have, the guy takes 4 touches for ball control alone, the guy cannot pass the ball 5yards without jumping up or pass it well. the only good thing about keita is that he is hardworking, but all defensive midfilders should be so in order for a defensive midfilder to be outstanding he needs to have another quality but keita is useless.

12large:

ow11 please stop parading 3 defsive midfilders, it is totally useless formation. why are people talking about ajilore as if he is a good player, well he is rubbish. lets not get anything twisted amodu gave ajilore his chance against kenya and mozambiqu but he was poor in those two games how can any normal person parade
keita
mikel ajilore as a midfield

this 3 players lacks everything in an attacking way at least mikel gives good passes sometimes, but keita he is the most useless defensive midfilder nigeria ever have, the guy takes 4 touches for ball control alone, the guy cannot pass the ball 5yards without jumping up or pass it well. the only good thing about keita is that he is hardworking, but all defensive midfilders should be so in order for a defensive midfilder to be outstanding he needs to have another quality but keita is useless.

was looking forward to your alternative suggestion given the players we have.

Inter Milan has shown us the way. We can curtail messi. But i am not really worry about Messi. If we concentrate on him too much we may end up paying for it dearly.

12large:

ow11 please stop parading 3 defsive midfilders, it is totally useless formation. why are people talking about ajilore as if he is a good player, well he is rubbish. lets not get anything twisted amodu gave ajilore his chance against kenya and mozambiqu but he was poor in those two games how can any normal person parade
                                        keita
                          mikel               ajilore as a midfield

this 3 players lacks everything in an attacking way at least mikel gives good passes sometimes, but keita he is the most useless defensive midfilder nigeria ever have, the guy takes 4 touches for ball control alone, the guy cannot pass the ball 5yards without jumping up or pass it well. the only good thing about keita is that he is hardworking, but all defensive midfilders should be so in order for a defensive midfilder to be outstanding he needs to have another quality but keita is useless.

You are a simpleton with a herd mentality. . . . Rules were stated and you have in 3 posts failed to do what is required of you. If my posts give you 'day-mares', I would suggest a little sip of the water flowing in the gutter in front of your little stall. This should send you to sleep and maybe just maybe you might grow some neurones to fill that empty head of yours.

I do not even want to dissect your rubbish post because there is NO reason in any sentence (2 of them in 3 paragraphs) you scribbled in the quote above. Any sensible football analyst should immediately see where you are coming from and conclude that you are indeed a doofus and should be largely ignored.

I really don't know of any assured way to stop Messi but Inter had shown that he can be stopped.Probably by putting one defensive midfielder around him and make another defender assist also cos i really believed that one player would be too dangerous to put on Messi.

^^^WTF??

@Topic

three defensive midfielders would only mean we are playing to defend
in any case, i wouldn't mind a draw in the match
but if we are going to lose, let us lose reasonably

4-2-3-1

                       Enyama
ordiah   yobo    adeyele/apam  tawio
                 
                                 etuhu
                  mikel

osaze          nsofor                  ik uche
           
                     martins/yakubu

Midfield is the key, etuhu job is to assist the defend in handling messi. physical presence is needed in the midfield to fustrate veron and "masherano" That is why etuhu and mikel will start.

their defence (otamendi, samuel, demichelis, henizie) is too slow. They are given strict instructions not to cross the middle line, so our main goal should be to get the ball behind the defence with pace.

http://www.zonalmarking.net/2010/05/28/argentina-tactics-world-cup-2010-diego-maradona/

The key to this game is the midfield. and i guess lagerback is working on it.

assuming maradona fields 4-4-2.

Messi needs to be marked, that why he is in the middle of three players(Adeyele, tawio, and etuhu)
etuhu and mikel will also watch veron.
Mikel is free and he should be able to cause enough damage.

If Nigeria file out against Argentina on June 12 and u don't see Sani Kaita in the midfield . . .kindly kiss the match goodbye.

He is the best ball winner in the country.

Dickson Etuhu should only feature in the world cup if others are injured, the guy is a waste of time.

Kaita is okay, bt i choose etuhu because he is better in ball distrubution

what is these all about? messi here, messi there. Is he not a human being? why should we Nigerians be scared of this man messi? I want to know.