London is Blue Dispatch #053

Watching Moises Caicedo & Kendry Paez go up against Enzo Fernandez were three solid reasons for any Chelsea fan to tune into Argentina’s clash against Ecuador in the Copa America quarterfinals, but the face-off between the two 100m cogs in the Blues’ engine room for bragging rights in midfield proved to be the most intriguing aspect of all.

So imagine the disappointment, the bafflement, at watching two of South America’s midfield maestros playing in roles that placed them as far away on the pitch as possible. Enzo started in midfield next to Mac Allister, but instead of being allowed to orchestrate proceedings from deep, found himself in the much-maligned box-to-box role Mauricio Pochettino entrusted him with last year.

One of Argentina’s clearest opportunities came early as the third minute, when Enzo made a run beyond Lautaro towards Ecuador’s last line and was played through by De Paul. Enzo tried to dart in behind, but his lack of explosiveness made it relatively easy for Preciado to intercept the ball from fullback. He made a similar run again in the second half, a lovely pass allowing him to run at the last two defenders. This time, his feint sent Preciado face first into the grass. By then, he had one option on each side, but he took on a shot selfishly with Lautaro expressing his disapproval in the box. All familiar sigs on a player still not used to great decisions around his opponent’s box.

Caicedo started as the 10, tasked with man-marking Argentina’s sole pivot. Perhaps that was Ecuador’s game plan – putting Caicedo to man-mark Enzo and nullify his influence on-the-ball, short-circuiting Argentina’s neural network. Except Argentina perhaps anticipated just that and switched up, leaving him marking Mac Allister instead.

The more the game progressed, the more surreal it became. Caicedo, afforded a degree of freedom he did not have earlier in the tournament, marauded down the wing and managed to create two excellent chances in the space of seconds – one for Brighton’s electric winger Sarmiento 1v1, and the other a cutback for Paez, who struck it high over Martinez’s bar.

Unsurprisingly, Moi has been Chelsea’s best performer in the Euros or the Copa. It is a testament to his unique blend of full-time midfield enforcer brawn and part-time ballerino elegance that he didn’t look out of place in an advanced role, looking comfortable under pressure, finding clever passes into the box for Ecuador’s willing runners. It is a role he may be asked to reprise under new manager Enzo Maresca, and quite positively, this game suggested Caicedo would get to express a broader range of his terrific skillset.

Enzo, meanwhile, had an abysmal game by his standards. Some aspects of his performance were uncharacteristically poor – a simple pass from Mac Allister miscontrolled and allowed to trickle out for a throw, loose passes in between lines and completing just 14 of his 24 passes (a shocking 58%) in 78 minutes. He also fired a nice header narrowly wide, skewed a volley on his weaker foot from a narrow angle with only the keeper to beat and made some well-timed runs into the box, things reminiscent from the season past where the intent was good but the final product was not.

Argentina’s manager Lionel Scaloni rectified that error by placing Enzo as the deepest CM in the semifinal vs Canada, and the difference was palpable. Against another physical midfield, Enzo was given the kind of freedom he prefers – the liberty to drop into the back line, receiving the ball with 3^rd man combinations facing goal, and slotting crisp passes into players between lines. He emerged as one of La Albiceleste’s finest on the evening, with Lionel Messi nicking what should have been his goal.

Bizarrely, these two games may just have solidified any existing ideas Maresca may have had about how to fit Enzo and Caicedo into the same team. The Harry Winks role does seem like a better fit for Enzo than the shuttling B2B role under Poch; that left-sided B2B will go either to new arrival Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall or Conor Gallagher. Enzo did run into trouble in transition against Canada, with their more mobile CMs able to breeze past him, which is something Maresca should be mindful about. But from an on-ball influence perspective, that regista role feels apt for Enzo’s strengths and limitations.

Caicedo has been near unstoppable after hitting his stride towards the end of last season. He will add a dimension to the Ndidi role that even Maresca may not have envisioned. For Ecuador, he was helping in buildup from 10, over and underlapping into the box and winning an exhausting 7.5 ground duels a game – a transformative dynamo that sparked the rest of the unit into life. In a week where Maresca asked hard questions of his new players in his first week at Cobham, the answer to a question central to his success may just have been answered in a tournament on the other side of the world.