Tuesday, August 4, 2009

Cry for Argentina, Diego.


This reminds me of that Germany-Argentina match in the last World Cup when the Albicelestes were ousted from advancing deeper into the competition -- confusion.


Then manager Jose Luis Pekerman inexplicably brought off Juan Roman Riquelme who got their high-powered offense going with his dazzling play in midfield. Maybe even worse, he kept Lionel Messi, already a star at Barcelona and an exciting and dangerous scorer on the bench for the entire match. Argentina lost to Germany.

Pekerman had all sort of issues that were disguised by their side thrashing Serbia and great play.

Almost four years later, they are still not playing well although this time under the great Diego Maradona who incidentally failed before as team manager. Argentina got drubbed by Bolivia 6-1; their worst defeat in 60 years. They also lost to Ecuador 2-0. They get by on 1-nil wins that come at the end of the game with the unlikeliest of scorers saving the day such as Daniel Diaz who is a defender.

Incidentally, a better prepared Venezulean team blew into Bolivia days later and beat the home side 1-0. It’s about doing one’s homework too, Diego.

The attack upfront with Lionel Messi, Sergio Aguero, and Carlos Tevez – while blindingly fast – are lacking in height especially for those crosses. Of course, if you play football, you’ll know it’s not about height because it’s about skill and desire. But the height helps when you add to all those ingredients for great footballers. Is this where I mention – shudder – Marco Materazzi?

This team has a hard time winning ball possession as they only control it 50% of the time. What Maradona has done is build the team from its back four with a predication on a quick counter. Argentina has always been built from the midfield that creates chances for its fearsome strike force. I'm ot saying a change in philosophy is bad becase we all have Jurgen Klinsmann to thank (see what he did for Germany in the last World Cup). But it should never be with players who are notperforming. But who knows -- maye this is their chance to shine?

This Argentine side may not strike fear in the hearts of most teams and rightfully so because a great deal of them are not in-form or underperformed with their respective clubs.

Goalkeepers: Juan Pablo Carrizo (Real Zaragoza), Mariano Andujar (Catania)

Defenders: Javier Zanetti (Inter Milan), Emiliano Papa (Velez Sarsfield), Gabriel Heinze (Real Madrid), Daniel Diaz (Getafe), Nicolas Burdisso (Inter Milan), Nicolas Otamendi (Velez Sarsfield), Martin Demichelis (Bayern Munich)

Midfielders: Javier Mascherano (Liverpool), Fernando Gago (Real Madrid), Sebastian Battaglia (Boca Juniors), Mario Bolatti (Huracan), Maximiliano Rodriguez (Atletico Madrid), Jonas Gutierrez (Newcastle United), Jesus Datolo (Napoli), Juan Sebastian Veron (Estudiantes)

Forwards: Lionel Messi (Barcelona), Sergio Aguero (Atletico Madrid), Carlos Tevez (Manchester City), Lisandro Lopez (Olympique Lyon), Diego Milito (Inter Milan), Ezequiel Lavezzi (Napoli)

As it was in the last World Cup, there’s a significant player missing in Gonzalo Higuain who scored 22 goals for Real Madrid last season.

So with a World Cup qualifier match against powerhouse Brazil coming up (September 5), Maradona was asked what he intended to do to stop the Selecao, he said, “I don’t know.”
Somewhere, Argentines are wondering if they will uqalify for the World Cup.

Maybe Oscar Ruggeri would know.

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