And then there were three. Argentina will on Tuesday have to drop or at least adapt the label that has been stuck on them at this World Cup, the tag “The Fantastic Four”.
The nickname was inspired by a line-up that includes a quartet of garlanded attacking players, Lionel Messi, Gonzalo Higuain, Angel Di Maria and Sergio Aguero.
Aguero will miss the last-16 meeting with Switzerland because of a muscle injury, though the Argentinian medical staff insist he continues to work his way towards fitness with a view to being ready for a quarter- or semi-final should the Talented Trio lead the team forward in his absence.
Fantastic Four has a ring to it, but none of the players are indulging the slogan, perhaps mindful that the last time it was widely applied to a World Cup contender, it ended up looking somewhat pretentious.
Click here to visit The National’s World Cup 2014 landing page
Remember Brazil at the 2006 tournament in Germany? They had a Fantastic Four that coach Carlos Alberto Parreira looked for ways to build a tactical scheme around: Kaka, Ronaldinho, Ronaldo and Adriano.
Brazil, the defending champions that year, crashed out in the quarter-finals, looking exposed in midfield, down the flanks and unbalanced.
“Balance” is the buzzword among Argentina’s coaching staff. Alejandro Sabella, the coach, wants both his Fantastics and more mortal footballers to think always about how to best use their attacking resources with an awareness of their vulnerabilities when their opponents have possession.
There is, specifically, a concern that full-backs Pablo Zabaleta and Marcos Rojo are left with too much space to patrol, a worry exacerbated when they look at the fortes of a Swiss team that includes attacking right-back Stephan Lichtsteiner, and the incisive forays from wide positions that Xherdan Shaqiri makes.
“Switzerland work the flanks very well,” said Sabella’s assistant, Claudio Gugnali. “They have strong players there and an aggressive midfield.”
Gugnali said that the likely replacement for Aguero in the starting XI would be Ezequiel Lavezzi, the Paris Saint-Germain striker, who may turn out to be better suited to a role on the right of the front three of a 4-3-3 formation, given his recent experiences in club football.
Lavezzi coexists with a dynamic duo of attackers at PSG, playing alongside Zlatan Ibrahimovic, the senatorial Swede, and Edinson Cavani, the expensive Uruguayan.
Rather like Messi for Argentina, Ibrahimovic sits atop the hierarchy when it comes to taking the central, spearhead role. Cavani and Lavezzi take their decisions and choose their runs around Ibrahimovic.
As young player, Lavezzi had a reputation for being difficult.
At one stage, unhappy with being redefined as a winger rather than a centre-forward by one of his youth coaches, he considered giving up and becoming an electrician.
A more mature Lavezzi, who at 29 still has an electric turn of pace, is a more self-sacrificing footballer.
Aguero’s misfortune may turn out to be his great opportunity.
Lavezzi, or “El Pocho” as his national squad colleagues know him – it means something like “Podgy”, and was his nickname as a child – was disappointed to be left out of then-coach Diego Maradona’s squad for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, a decision that surprised several of his Argentina teammates.
His willingness to conform, track back and use his speed and high energy levels in a pressing game have made Sabella regard him as an essential part of this squad.
Although Sabella has admiration for the finishing of Rodrigo Palacio, the other striker in the party, he sees Lavezzi as proving the better balance to the match-winning qualities of Messi, the intelligence of Higuain, and the penetration and industry of Angel di Maria on the left.
Di Maria’s importance, if the awesome foursome are to carry Argentina to the final, can hardly be understated, and Sabella is grateful for the way “El Fideo”, or “The Noodle” – he is strikingly slender – developed his game at Real Madrid.
With the arrival there of Gareth Bale last summer, Di Maria effectively lost his spot on the right of Madrid’s attacking trident.
But operating on the left of midfield – he is left-footed – he was a key part of the Uefa Champions League-winning campaign.
Between them, The Noodle and Podgy may be as crucial to Argentina’s hopes in Brazil as their more-thoroughbred companions.
sports@thenational.ae
Follow us on Twitter @SprtNationalUAE