December 20 – An analysis of the Argentine player data from World Cup qualifying to World Cup final by the CIES Football Observatory shows how coach Lionel Scaloni used 40 players en route to the big prize.
At the centre of his thinking was Rodrigo de Paul who played the most games in total: 23, including all seven in Qatar. Nicolás Otamendi leads the way in terms of minutes played (2,023).
But it is Lionel Messi whose stats impress at 35 years of age. Messi, who along with Otamendi and goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez played every minute of the seven matches at the final, only missed one game of the 23-match campaign, and was only just behind Otamendi overall in terms of minutes played.
But of course Messi is more than just ever-present, as the CIES authors point out: “With 14 goals, seven of them in the final tournament, Lionel Messi is the Albiceleste player who has scored the most goals on the way to Argentina’s title. That is twice as many as the second highest scorer: Lautaro Martinez (7). Julian Alvarez completes the podium with five goals, four of them in the final phase. In total, thirteen players scored the 42 Argentine goals.”
How Scaloni’s selections changed through the course of the campaign is also highlighted by the CIES. Giovanni Lo Celso played the most minutes in the qualifiers among those who did not participate in the final tournament. Enzo Fernandez , on the other hand, was used the most in the final phase (563 minutes in seven games) without having played in the qualifiers.
To see the full data click here. https://football-observatory.com/IMG/sites/b5wp/2022/wp402/en/
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