Argentina to shock the world in 2010?
The current crop of Argentine players is a blessing to the world of football: Messi; Aguero; Tevez; Riquelme; Maxi Rodriguez; Mascherano; Zanetti; Higuain; Di Maria; Cambiasso; Lisandro Lopez. These are just some of the star names that Diego Maradona has to choose from when selecting his squad for the World Cup in South Africa. With such an array of talent at his disposal, Maradona’s men should be the favourites for the World Cup, yet they have been written off in most quarters. The bookies place them behind Spain, Brazil and England in the running to lift the trophy.
Maradona’s tenure as manager of his country has been nothing short of explosive. There have been rows with players, coaches and journalists; he has been issued with a two month ban from football as a punishment for a lewd outburst that came after his side secured their place in South Africa. While El Diego may feel that he has achieved vindication by qualifying for the tournament, he is wrong; qualifying is not even the minimum that this team should be aiming for; with the current talent pool, Argentina should make it to the semi-finals at the very least.
There has been criticism levelled at the manager from the start of his reign. A dispute with the lavishly talented midfield playmaker, Juan Roman Riquelme, has cost Argentina one of their most potent weapons. Riquelme is a player who can single-handedly dictate the tempo of a football match; while it can be argued that he is an inconsistent performer, to not have him as an option at all is a loss for Argentina. Maradona deserves credit for his decision to replace Riquelme with another player who divides opinion and has been written off in Europe, Juan Sebastián Verón. Verón has done well upon his recall to the side but a number of Maradona’s other call-ups have not fared as well. He called up a total of 70 players for 14 matches and some of the performances have been abject. The 6-1 humiliation in Bolivia was extraordinary, altitude played a part, but it was Maradona’s decision to fly the team in two hours before kick-off, giving them no time to acclimatise. There have been other issues with player selection; the reasons for leaving Sergio Aguero on the bench recently may have something to do with rumours about the player’s personal life, whilst established European-based players like Inter’s Cambiasso and Samuel have been left out in favour of unproven home-based players.
A massive problem for Argentina is that Lionel Messi, the most talented player on the planet, has failed to match the form he shows for Barcelona when wearing the blue and white of his country. With Barcelona, the midfield duo of Xavi and Iniesta are the playmakers that control the game and this allows Messi to drift in and out of the game dangerously. With Argentina, no such players exist to control the game (with Riquelme out of the reckoning) and so Messi has to take a more fundamental role in building attacks which allow him to be isolated and crowded out of possession by defenders. Building a team around one player is always a dangerous thing to do, but with Messi it may be a gamble worth taking; if a midfield can be constructed to give Verón the protection to link up with Messi in the way that Xavi does, and the ageless Javier Zanetti is given license to support Messi, there may be a way for Argentina to be defy their critics.
Their recent friendly defeat to Spain will have come as no surprise to anyone; Spain are a remarkable team with remarkable players, Argentina are a mediocre team with remarkable players. It should be remembered that this is Maradona’s first high-profile managerial appointment, he is still learning, but he will have to learn quickly. If he manages to correct the errors of the past year, Argentina have the players to go all the way, they are strong in every area of the pitch except for their goalkeeper (and arguably their left-back); if Maradona can create a strategy that works, Argentina should come close to lifting the World Cup. If he doesn’t, he will hope that his presence in the dressing room will be enough to inspire his side to greatness. The chances of an Argentine success are slim, but there are great players in that team, and to write them off completely would be a grave error indeed.
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Should never write off Argentina, their talent means that if they click they can beat anyone in a one-off game. But Maradona has to be questioned if only because of the sheer amount of players he has used so far.
I will be shocked if Argentina shock because I think Maradona is a shocking manager.