With two draws against the Ecuadorian team on the last FIFA date of the year, the Argentine national team closes this 2021 season, which found it with more international filming and with a new coach. The former technical director of UAI Urquiza, Germán Portanova took office in July of this year and already in the first matches the idea of a game change in the Albiceleste team could be glimpsed. What is this initial balance?
“The balance is more than positive, due to the unity of the group, the functioning and the understanding of the idea of the game,” Portanova said in a video on the official AFA account, after the two matches against Ecuador. At the Rodrigo Paz Delgado stadium, at 2,850 meters above sea level, on Saturday the national team drew goalless in Quito and on Tuesday it equaled 2 to 2 with goals from Mariana Larroquette. On this date, the returns of Soledad Jaimes and Lorena Benítez, who were headlines, stood out.
Since taking office, the national team has played six international friendly matches. In addition to these last two games, they faced Brazil twice (1-3 and 1-4), once against Mexico (1-6) and once against Chivas de Guadalajara (2-1). Despite the mostly adverse results against strong teams, Portanova’s intention for the team could be seen in the different matches: be protagonists, reach the rival goal, have the ball.
The balance of the matches makes it clear that there is a change in the approach to the game, in which the players are more comfortable with this idea within the field of play and that some issues will have to be refined and adjusted over time: The associated game ends up appearing on the wings but it becomes more difficult in the center, many times the Argentine defense – where the referentiality of Aldana Comett always stands out – is badly stopped, especially in reverse and stopped ball, and despite Larroquette’s goals this last game still lacks forcefulness when defining.
“With the passing of the games it will be happening, the girls respond to us,” said Portanova also in that same video. Six games have passed, next year Argentina has the goal of the Copa América to be played in July in Colombia for a ticket to the World Cup Australia – New Zealand 2023 and will have to go filing and polishing the idea. The key is possibly in the number of hours of shooting, of shared game between the players to meet, so that there is room for trial and error in the approach.
Another of the strengths of the team is precisely the mixture of generations: the new DT put together a team that has a base and rotates in the different calls to other players, but on the field there are always footballers with a lot of experience and years of experience in the national team, and some younger ones who arrive with rebellion in his ways of play and attitude. That is made clear, for example, by Dalila Ippolito when entering the field for Soledad Jaimes. It brings another rhythm and another game associated with the game. That there is replacement is also essential in this group.
We will have to wait until 2022 to see how the path of this Portanova team continues, which still delays the return of Estefanía Banini, former captain, to the team.
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