How Argentina won the 23-game World Cup

December 20 – An analysis of Argentine player data from qualifying to the World Cup final by the CIES Football Observatory shows how coach Lionel Scaloni used 40 players to hit the jackpot.

At the center of his thinking was Rodrigo de Paul, who played the most games overall: 23, including all seven in Qatar. Nicolás Otamendi leads in terms of minutes played (2,023).

But it's Lionel Messi whose stats are impressive at 35. Messi, who along with Otamendi and goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez played every minute of the seven matches in the final, missed just one game in the 23-match campaign and was only just behind Otamendi overall in terms of minutes played.

But of course, Messi is more than ubiquitous, as the CIES authors point out: "With 14 goals, including seven in the final tournament, Lionel Messi is the Albiceleste player who has scored the most goals en route. to the Argentina title. That's twice as many as second-top scorer Lautaro Martinez (7). Julian Alvarez completes the podium with five goals, four of them in the finals. Thirteen players in total scored all 42 of Argentina's goals."

The way Scaloni's selections have changed over the campaign is also highlighted by CIES. Giovanni Lo Celso played the most minutes in the qualifiers among those who didn't make the final tournament. Enzo Fernandez, on the other hand, was the most used in the final phase (563 minutes in seven games) without having played in the qualifiers.

To see the complete data, click here. https://football-observatory.com/IMG/sites/b5wp/2022/wp402/fr/

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