Don't Touch That Dial: Leo Messi and Argentina

The story of Leo Messi and the Argentinian National Team has long been a story of criminal waste. The appointment of Alejandro Sabella changed all that, and gave fans cause for optimism leading up to the World Cup. After two games, I still feel mostly justified in that optimism. But I am sick of the dominant narratives surrounding the team. So, let's review.

1. In 2006, Argentina were fortunate to be managed by the marvellous Jose Pekerman, a man who knows a thing or two about setting up a team, and about youth development. He did all the right things in bringing a young, budding Messi into the team. (The mistake he made against Germany had nothing to do with Messi and everything to do with a sudden loss of faith in his talisman. But I digress.) 
2. But even then there was something strange in the way senior members of that team spoke about Messi. We heard stories about how the young, shy Messi was uncomfortable within the highly hierarchical squad, all of whom knew each other and expected him to behave like any other young Argentinian player - join in the banter, Leo, but don't you forget that you're a kid. Messi was isolated and alone, except for his room-mate Oscar Ustari, who'd been with him in 2005 at the U20 World Cup.
3. This trend continued with Coco Basile. Again, I don't blame him - Messi was unfinished. It wasn't ridiculous for him to be junior to Riquelme and co in a team built to service Roman.
4. As a supporter of Argentina, having Maradona as manager was what I imagine a bad acid trip must be like. Going from the perfect system of Pep's Barca to the chaos of his Argentina was a shock to me, just watching - I can't imagine what it was like for players. Quite aside from his ineptitude, his squads contained a lot of the same senior guys from 2006, who still treated Messi like a kid. Hell, some of them even felt free to brutally dress him down in the locker room. (Of course, none of this is ever spoken of now.) Despite what Maradona said to the press, this wasn't a team built around Messi. This was a team with Messi grafted onto it. The same squad dynamics persisted. To waste the best player in the world the way Maradona did in 2010 was just bizarre, bordering on criminal.
5. Sergio Batista was spineless and clueless. Argentina won games in spite of him, not because. The ultimate reflection of his complete lack of ideas and/or principle was his decision to try and squeeze Tevez - who has almost never performed for Argentina - into the line-up, resulting in an unbalanced team.

Now Messi's managing the team? Don't give me that crap. Sabella is a very smart man, but his instincts tend toward the pragmatic. That's why, faced with the prospect of his first World Cup match, he fell back on old habits - the trusty 3-5-2 he'd employed for difficult away games, and many times as a club manager. I can't blame him for that.

I can only commend him for seeing the light at half-time of the first game and switching back to the 4-3-3 that had brought Argentina success in qualifying. That formation was tried and tested, it maximised Argentina's attacking resources, it worked. Going back to it makes all the sense in the world. So what's the problem?

Under Sabella's leadership, for the very first time Messi is surrounded by a group of players who aren't going to try to play stupid macho dominance games with the best player in the world. This group accepts his quiet style of leadership. A lot of them have achieved whatever international success they have with Messi.

Out of the current squad, Messi, Aguero, Gago, Garay, Biglia and Zabaleta were all in Argentina's 2005 U20 World Cup squad. They weren't the most talented team there. But manager Pacho Ferrano learned to put his trust in Messi, one of the youngest players at that tournament. The players on that team did, too, and that was how they won. Those guys remember.

Before, the only thing critics could say to dent Messi, given the completeness of his skill-set, was that he wasn't enough of a leader. Now he's a dictator because he actually gave voice to the transparently obvious? (Hell, we were all screaming it during that first half.) Give me a break. This isn't just shouting heads on twitter either - this is coming from respected journalists in England, in Spain, in Argentina.

Tito Vilanova called Messi 'the least autocratic of the greats'. (Hat-tip to Rory Smith of the Times for that one.) When everyone else talks about how the team plays, it's a normal day. When Messi does it, it's sinister. Seriously, everyone else does it. I've just picked one story, but it's really easy if you want to play that game. For them, it's called taking responsibility, being a leader.

Now compare Messi's behaviour to that of other star players of his class, or close to it. Look at how they behave on the pitch, how they relate to team mates. Then come back and tell me he's a dictator.

The absurdity is those acting like having Messi on your team is such a huge problem, that it makes life difficult. As a supporter of both Argentina and Barcelona, I have countless memories of game-winning moments that say different. Any team would be lucky to have him.

Messi is a solution. He desperately wants to win the World Cup. If he has to play in goal to make it happen, he will. Fortunately, Sabella is smarter than that. Give the man some credit. Not everything is a Machiavellian power struggle. You've been watching too much House of Cards.

argentina's preliminary squad: dear diego

Without going into shadowy conspiracy theories (I'll just say that I broadly agree with the thoughts of Sam over at Hasta El Gol Siempre and move on for now), a few thoughts below.

Goalkeepers: Sergio Romero (AZ Alkmaar, Netherlands), Mariano Andujar (Catania, Italy), Diego Pozo (Colon, Argentina)


Romero has been really impressive everytime I've seen him play (since his days in the youth/Olympic teams), although neither he or Andujar are what you'd call hugely experienced at international level. No bone to pick here.


Defenders: Walter Samuel (Internazionale, Italy), Martin Demichelis (Bayern Munich, Germany), Gabriel Heinze (Marseille, France), Nicolas Otamendi (Velez Sarsfield, Argentina), Nicolas Burdisso (Roma, Italy), Clemente Rodriguez (Estudiantes, Argentina), Ariel Garce (Colon, Argentina), Juan Manuel Insaurralde (Newell’s Old Boys, Argentina), Fabricio Coloccini (Newcastle United, England)


I got two words for you: Gabi Milito. I know, my Cule bias is showing, but is anyone seriously going to argue that Coloccini and/or Burdisso are better options? Also a little worried about Micho, who's had an injury-plagued season.


Midfielders: Juan Sebastian Veron (Estudiantes, Argentina), Javier Mascherano (Liverpool, England), Jonas Gutierrez (Newcastle United, England), Mario Bolatti (Fiorentina, Italy), Juan Mercier (Argentinos Juniors, Argentina), Maxi Rodriguez (Liverpool, England), Angel Di Maria (Benfica, Portugal), Javier Pastore (Palermo, Italy), Jose Sosa (Estudiantes, Argentina), Jesus Datolo (Olympiakos, Greece, Sebastian Blanco (Lanus, Argentina)


I've had mixed feelings about Veron in the NT for sometime. Won't go over them again here, but suffice to say that at least he'll be a staunch ally for Messi in the squad should the need arise. Great to see Di Maria and Pastore on there - I hope they both make the final list. Would have liked Aimar as well, but at least with him I do get why you'd exclude such an injury-prone player. On the other hand, Bolatti instead of, say, Banega (who's had a pretty good season) or Cambiasso (ditto) is far more questionable. And don't even get me started on the eternally scorned Lucho Gonzalez.


Forwards:
Martin Palermo (Boca Juniors, Argentina), Lionel Messi (Barcelona, Spain), Gonzalo Higuain (Real Madrid, Spain), Carlos Tevez (Manchester City, England), Sergio Aguero (Atletico Madrid, Spain), Diego Milito (Internazionale, Italy), Ezequiel Lavezzi (Napoli, Italy)


Great to see Lavezzi on there, even though he's unlikely to make the final list. We all know by now that it's probably going to be Messi-Higuain up there when the first game rolls around, so in terms of alternative attacking options I can sort of understand the inclusion of Palermo. If I squint really hard. Maybe. But if it came down to a choice between him and Diego Milito, there's no question which I'd prefer. (And I swear to you this has nothing to do with my longstanding Riquelme fandom. Really.)



You can follow me on Twitter @blackwhitengrey if you want to see my less rational reactions. Oh Diego, why are you doing this to us?

Argentina vs Australia squad news

This is the list of 21 players who have been called up for the friendly against Australia, to be played in Melbourne (in the famous Melbourne Cricket Ground) on the 11th of September:

Goalkeepers: Roberto Abbondanzieri (Getafe, Spain), Oscar Ustari (Getafe), Sergio Romero (AZ Alkmaar, the Netherlands)

Fair enough, given the situation with Carrizo (which I'll touch on below). I'm becoming increasingly concerned about playing time for Ustari at club level as well.

Defenders: Daniel 'Cata' Diaz (Getafe), Gabriel Heinze (Real Madrid, Spain), Fabricio Coloccini (Deportivo La Coruna, Spain), Nicholas Burdisso (Inter, Italy), Javier Zanetti (Inter), Gabriel Milito (Barcelona, Spain), Martin Demichelis (Bayern Munich, Germany)

I can understand the need to experiment, but I would have liked to see Garay get another call-up. He's definitely a solid performer, and the defeat to Norway cannot be blamed on him. (Playing Gabi Milito at leftback, however, has to be one of the strangest decisions I've ever seen. With all the players Argentina have, you'd think we would have a couple of leftbacks to spare when Heinze isn't available.) I've put Demichelis in this category because Basile has called up so many defensive midfielders that I doubt he also wants Demichelis for that position. Still not too sure about Coloccini, although I hear good things about him at club level playing rightback.

Midfielders: Fernando Gago (Real Madrid), Maxi Rodriguez (Atletico Madrid, Spain), Jonás Gutiérrez (Real Mallorca, Spain), Javier Mascherano (Liverpool, England), Cristian Ledesma (Olympiakos, Greece), Federico Insúa (Club America, Mexico)

Gago must be getting concerned about his amount of playing time at Real now that the double pivot era seems to be over, especially when he's competing with the brilliant Mascherano. Gutierrez has been called up a couple of times, and he's done well for Mallorca in the past, but to be honest, I'm not sure he's the answer. Ledesma is a bit of an unknown for me, although I've heard good things. Insua has been on good form since going to Mexico, and it will be interesting to see if Basile intends to give him the responsibility of being the playmaker.

I'm still advocating for Aimar and D'Alessandro, but they've been off-colour for Zaragoza so far this season, so we'll have to wait and see.

Forwards: Javier Saviola (Real Madrid), Lionel Messi (Barcelona), Sergio Aguero (Atletico Madrid), Hernán Crespo (Inter), Carlos Tevez (Manchester United)

I'm glad to see Aguero called up, since he's very much deserving. Other than that, my concern is still the lack of no.9 options other than Crespo.

Unfortunately, Diaz, Crespo and Maxi Rodriguez have all had to pull out of the squad for various reasons. This means that Basile is left with a squad of just 18 players to face a difficult opponent on their home ground.

That doesn't even touch on the urgent and very serious problems that Basile must address before World Cup qualification starts with a match against Chile, which is our next game:

• Many of the countries went to the Copa America with an experimental squad in order to prepare for the qualifiers. We didn't.
• This lack of preparation has been compounded by the inactivity at club level of several important players, like Crespo, Riquelme and Carrizo (who has been loaned back to River but is at risk of not starting).
  
• Riquelme's case is the most severe, since he won't get called up if he's not playing at club level, and Basile had built the team around him in the Copa America.
• The team doesn't have the time to look for a new playmaker and to calibrate their strategy to that player.
• There is uncertainty in defence with the retirement of previous leader Ayala.

So to sum up, we don't know how we're going to play, and who should be playing. Needless to say, this is not a good situation to go into the qualifiers with.

some updates ahead of Argentina's game against Norway

I talked about the squad list when it was announced. There's been a few changes since then.

Unfortunately, Carrizo has had to pull out due to complications over his transfer to Lazio. He hasn't been able to play because his attempt to get an Italian passport has failed, and isn't match fit. His future is uncertain right now, which is quite sad for someone so clearly talented. Excitingly, though, this does hand a first senior start to Getafe's young Oscar Ustari (good friend of Leo Messi) who I'm very fond of.

I've heard good things about how Sosa is settling in at Bayern, but apparently he's injured, so we won't see any of him. Also doubtful is Daniel 'Cata' Diaz of Getafe, who is apparently carrying a knock.

Also on the fitness front, I'm not terribly sure about the Serie A guys, other than that Zanetti at least seems to be alright, but of those who play in Spain, Garay has played a couple of pre-season games, as has Coloccini. The same goes for Maxi and Saviola. As for Lucho, the Portuguese league has already started, so he should be match fit.

On the other hand, Diego Milito hasn't really played for Zaragoza in this pre-season, so he's probably some way from match fitness. His brother Gabi has only played 30 minutes for Barca, so there are doubts over him too, although he's suspended for the first La Liga game anyway, so the match practise might be good for him. Club team mate Messi has played only about 15 minutes more than Milito, but it has to be said that he looks pretty close to match fitness, and could probably stand to play at least half of the game.

Young striker Lavezzi played well for Napoli in the Coppa Italia last week, and given the state of fitness (or lack of) of the rest of the forward line, may get some minutes.

This is apparently going to be the starting line-up:

Ustari; Zanetti, Garay, Burdisso, G Milito; Lucho, Mascherano, Maxi; Messi; D Milito and Lavezzi

Looks good to me, except for the fitness concerns cited above and the fact that poor Gabi Milito will have to fill in at left-back due to Pinola being injured and Heinze being stuck.

Update: according to a new Basile interview, the 11 above are going to be playing 4-3-3, with Messi operating in his no.10 role from the wing (and higher up the field than your average midfield playmaker) like Ronaldinho does at Barca, except of course his domain is the right instead of the left. So I guess that leaves Lavezzi for the left wing. I'm quite intrigued by the prospect of this experiment in formations, actually.

Argentina squad against Norway

Ah, yes, yet another meaningless international exhibition match mandated by a shady deal done by the Argentinian FA. Only these friendlies will become increasingly meaningful as coach Alfio Basile seeks to work out the future of a squad in transition, and decide on a formation, let alone the team for the World Cup qualifiers starting very soon. Comments on the squad first, then a note on the glaring omissions.

Goalkeepers:
Juan Pablo Carrizo (Lazio, Italy)
Oscar Ustari (Getafe, Spain)
Sergio Romero (AZ Alkmaar, Holland)

The big surprise here is the omission of previous no.1 Roberto Abbondazieri, which I'll discuss later. Carrizo has been threatening to break into the team for some time now, although I would question the timing of this promotion for him, given that he's just gone to Lazio and may need time to settle in there. Ustari is in a strange situation himself, having gone to Getafe to be backup for Abbondazieri, or at least that's the assumption given El Pato's form for the Madrid club last season. Hopefully he won't just warm the bench there, as he's an excellent prospect. Congratulations are due to Romero, who just won the U20 World Cup for Argentina. Also a big prospect, and it's good to see so many young 'keepers coming through.

Defenders:
Gabriel Milito (Barcelona, Spain)
Fabricio Coloccini (Deportivo La Coruna, Spain)
Nicolas Burdisso (Inter, Italy)
Ezequiel Garay (Racing, Spain)
Daniel Diaz (Getafe, Spain)
Javier Zanetti (Inter, Italy)

Oh dear, does that mean we might see Coloccini at rightback again? To be fair, he had a good second half of last season playing for Depor in that position, so maybe he could also be redeemed at international level. Zanetti is a no-brainer, other than the fact that I'm worried about the fitness levels of him and Burdisso, who have just returned to training for Inter after the Copa America.

Good to see Garay finally get his chance. An important member of the 2005 U20 World Cup winning side, he's become a vital player for Racing as well. Very reliable, and definitely one for the future.

I'm not sure about 'Cata' Diaz quite yet, having only seen him play one game for Argentina in the Copa America. I've heard good things, though, and hopefully Getafe will suit him.

Midfielders:
Luis 'Lucho' Gonzalez (Porto, Portugal)
Maxi Rodriguez (Atletico Madrid, Spain)
Jose Sosa (Bayern Munich, Germany)
Javier Mascherano (Liverpool, England)
Fernando Gago (Real Madrid, Spain)
Cristian Ledesma (Olympiakos, Greece)
Federico Insua (America, Mexico)

The return of Maxi Rodriguez is extremely welcome. I think we missed him at the Copa America, especially since Lucho was a bit off-colour.

I'm quite surprised by this part of the list, to be honest. No Riquelme (more on that later), no Aimar, 3 defensive/holding midfielders. Very strange. I haven't been too impressed by Insua's previous performances for Argentina, and young Sosa, who was so good playing in Argentina, has just moved to Bayern. Perhaps Basile will abandon his commitment to a single playmaker who can be stifled by heavy defending, although I don't see him playing anything else other than the diamond 4-4-2.

Forwards:
Javier Saviola (Real Madrid, Spain)
Diego Milito (Zaragoza, Spain)
Lionel Messi (Barcelona, Spain)
Ezequiel Lavezzi (Napoli, Italy)

22 year old Lavezzi is yet another player on this list who has just made a move, in his case from San Lorenzo to Napoli. I have to confess, my knowledge of him is limited, but I'm excited to see what he can do.

Messi was asking to be included in this squad right after the Copa America ended, and not surprisingly he's got his wish. He has the same fitness concerns as everyone else who was in the Copa squad and hasn't been training for too long, though. Saviola has earned himself a recall by some good performances in pre-season for Real Madrid. It remains to be seen if he will remain in contention, given the competition for a place on the forward line at Real, but he's looked good for Argentina before, especially alongside Crespo. So welcome back. Good to see Diego Milito get another chance, too. He was much maligned in the Copa, but I've always been convinced of his quality.

the omissions

It's a young squad, almost half of whom have just been involved in a transfer, quite a few of them making the jump from Argentina to Europe, which is probably a fair reflection of what happens to any young talents who shine in the domestic league these days.

On the other hand, giving a chance to all these young players means the omission of a few surprising names. The retirement of Ayala and the probably retirement of Veron we all know about, but what about the likes of Abbondanzieri, Heinze, Riquelme, Aimar, Cambiasso, Tevez, Aguero and Crespo?

I suspect the omission of Riquelme and Heinze has a lot to with their uncertain future, and the lack of Tevez can also be explained by his long, drawn-out transfer saga, which has just been resolved. As for Abbondanzieri and Cambiasso, perhaps Basile already knows what they can bring to the table and wants to see what others can do in their place. Crespo still has fitness concerns, (I certainly hope his Argentina career isn't done yet) and so does Aguero, although for him it's more a product of a strange pre-season that included being called back to help Atletico qualify for the UEFA Cup straight after winning the U20 World Cup. When he's fit properly again, I hope Aguero gets more chances at senior level. He's certainly proven his devotion to the cause. As an aside, I'd like to see Pablo Zabaleta of Espanyol back in contention too, but he's young and I'm sure the chances will come. A fit Gonzalo Rodriguez would also be nice to see sometime soon. Such a great young centerback, so unlucky with injuries.

The likes of Aimar and D'Alessandro have been figures on the sidelines for a while now, and I can't really see any of those players ever fully breaking through, given the incredible rate with which Argentina turns up the Next Big Thing, leaving the former prospects behind. Just look at the way attention has turned to the stars of the side who won the U20 World Cup.

Hmm, that was a rather cynical note to strike. It will be good to see how this group of players shape up, and to get some indication of Basile's thinking ahead of the qualifiers.

the same as always: Argentina 0 - 3 Brazil

Maybe I'll write more when the grieving stops. For now, I leave you with only this bit of personal reflection:

My club: FC Barcelona. My NT: Argentina. Both deeply neurotic and more prone to dramatic disappointment than uplifting triumph, and I end up pinging from one to the other, seeking solace from the pain inflicted by one in the temporary bursts of the sublime offered by the other, right up until the neuroticism strikes again.

So it was that one of my first thoughts after coming out of mourning for the way Barca lost the title was for the Albiceleste and their preparations for the Copa America, and one of my first thoughts while still mourning Argentina's defeat at the hands of Brazil - it's always that, isn't it - was 'so when does Barca's pre-season start again?'

To finish, I'll drag out the same quote I posted when La Liga was decided, one of my favourite things ever said about football:

In a wonderful documentary following Boca to Tokyo for the match against Bayern Munich in 2001, Argentinian novelist and devout Boca follower Juan Sasturain witnessed his team's defeat up close. As his parting shot in a film called Thank You For The Game; What We Talk About When We Talk About Football, Sasturain delivers one of the most hopeful sentiments I have heard. Not winning one trophy is not so bad, he says, because we always have next season, next time ... "it's infinite. This game is infinite".

Amen.

(shorter) Argentina v Brazil preview

News first. Argentina have named an unchanged starting line-up from the 11 who defeated Mexico. Brazil are likely to field Elano in place of the suspended captain Gilberto Silva.

A few wise words from the players. Mascherano:

No-one has an advantage. We will play with eleven players, and so will they. I think if Brazil have reached the final there is a reason for this. We also have our merits and on Sunday we will show this.

Cambiasso:

'To think about the absence of Kaka and Ronaldinho is a lack of respect to the other Brazilian players,' he said. 'They weren't picked by playing in the street, they are playing in world class teams. The absence of two of them doesn't mean that Brazil don't have a great potential. We are respectful to our opponents but we want to win this cup and we will do the impossible to take it to our country.

I've already written about my feelings in regards to this wonderful team. No matter what happens, that will remain.

Vamos Argentina!

Argentina v Mexico overview

We tried our best, but we must say the opponents were superior. There's nothing left but to recognize just how good this Argentina team really is.

- Mexico coach Hugo Sanchez

Argentina 3 - 0 Mexico

Goals: Gabriel Heinze 45', Lionel Messi 61', Juan Roman Riquelme 65' (pen)

Argentina (4-3-1-2):

------------Abbondanzieri
Zanetti----Ayala----Milito---Heinze
-------------Mascherano
-------Veron-----------Cambiasso
--------------Riquelme
----Messi-----------------Tevez

Subs: Palacio for Tevez (78'), Gago for Veron (78'), Aimar for Riquelme (86')

...and to think, the American fans had me believing that Sanchez was a sore loser. A gracious concession from the Mexican, who has done very well with the squad at his disposal. More on Mexico at the end of this post. Argentina on the other hand gave another patient, mature performance, although the disadvantages of the favoured diamond 4-3-1-2 formation were laid bare in the first half. Those disavantages being mainly a lack of width and the possibility of being overrun by a packed, physical midfield. Detailed analysis of Argentina's performance below.

Defence

• El Pato looked a bit more nervous than he did against Peru, but he did keep the clean sheet with the invaluable aid of the woodwork. My measure of how well a 'keeper has done aside from goal mouth incidents is whether or not he transmits a sense of security to his defence, and I'm sorry to say that Pato did not meet that criteria in this game. Still our no.1, though.
• Zanetti had a couple of lapses, but I'm willing to ignore them because of the rest of his performance. Tireless as ever, and he had a couple of very good attacking runs.
• Ayala made me nervous a few times, particular with a tough tackle early on that could have seen him ruled out of the final if the referee had seen fit to give a yellow card. A couple of lapses, but overall I was satisfied with the way he organised the defence.
• Milito had his best game yet in this tournament. Maybe the transfer speculation was unsettling him, and now it's done he can play without it weighing on his mind? Whatever the reason, he was solid in the back and did a good job dealing with Mexico's long balls out of defence.
• Heinze also had his best game yet in the tournament. Aside from scoring an excellent goal, he contributed well to the attack in general. The most improved aspect of his performance has to the balance he seems to have finally achieved between attacking and defending. Perhaps Basile had a word? Defensively he did a good job shutting down the left side.

Midfield

• What can I say about Javier Mascherano? What a player. Tireless as ever, and always in the right place at the right time, marking, tackling and passing to our creators. Plus, about 80% of his tackles are clean ones where he ends up with the ball. Almost the perfect holding midfielder performance.
• Juan Sebastian Veron has finally convinced me that he deserves to be in the starting line-up alongside Roman. It took some doing as he had a few wobbly performances, but his long-range passing has improved massively from the first few games, and his work rate has been impressive. Somehow, him and Roman are working together, although conventional wisdom says that there's no way they could. His only problem right now is that he doesn't seem to be able to last the full 90.
• Veron's replacement Gago has also improved from his prior showings, with better passing and better judgement with his tackling. I still wouldn't play him ahead of Mascherano, but a combination of the two does work very well in bossing the midfield when Veron needs to come off to rest.
• Cambiasso gave a satisfactory performance, continuing to improve upon his earlier showings. His movement and passing in attack is much better now, and defensively he's always done well to provide security for the main creators.
• I can't tell you how pleased I am reading all these reports about how happy and relaxed Riquelme is feeling right now. It's long been established that the key to getting great performances from Roman is to make sure that his head is in the right place. Easy to say, not easy to do, so much credit to 'Coco' Basile. Another impressive performance, not only in the passing, the impressive freekicks and corners, but also in the determination and effort displayed. Interesting thing about Roman - he's depressive, sure, but he's not unconfident. That chipped penalty took some nerve.
• Aimar didn't play long enough for an assessment, although I will note that he (still) combines really well with Messi.

Forwards

• Who said that a Messi and Tevez strike partnership would never work? Alright, I did, now I'm eating my words and loving every bite. Perhaps they could both pass to each other a bit more rather than make a difficult attempt on goal sometimes, but then we'd never have those spectacular, showy goals the two of them love scoring so much. A great performance from Tevez, not measured in goals scored but rather in his work rate, his wonderful assist for Messi and the powerful runs which eventually won that (slightly dodgy) penalty.
• His replacement Palacio did a decent job running the Mexican defence down with his pace, and had a good opportunity to score from Messi's throughball.
• I wouldn't say Messi was MOTM, but he put in another solid performance, never compromising his style of play no matter how many times he was fouled. That little incident early on in the second half where 3 Mexican defenders surrounded him and hacked him down, only for him to get back up and attempt to keep going twice (before Marquez effectively body slammed him to the ground) perfectly sums up his attitude. While Marquez did make contact on the penalty/dive incident, it wasn't a penalty. Neither was it a dive, but that was the easy call to make and I can see why the referee went for it. What else can I say? Oh, alright, that goal. Brilliant.
  

Mexico

They've been the most positive team Argentina have played in this tournament. Sure, they get by in midfield by fouling all over the place, but they're not as rough as the Columbians and the strategy was effective in containing Argentina's attack in the first half, in which Mexico were perhaps the better team for large stretches. They did try to keep possession, build up attacks from the back and take the game to Argentina, and they were unlucky to be denied by the woodwork on a couple of very good opportunities.

If I have any criticism of Hugo Sanchez, it's that his double substitution at half-time effectively game Argentina free rein through the midfield, but he was forced by circumstances to be chasing the game at that point. Substitutions or not, Mexico had to come out and attack even more for the equaliser, and Argentina have gotten very good at killing off opponents who are chasing the game by keeping the ball and hitting back on the counter attack.

We all know about Nery Castillo now, but that kid Guardado is some player. I can't wait to see him playing with the likes of Gio Dos Santos and Carlos Vela once the latter two have 'graduated' to the senior team in a couple of years time. I hope Mexicans are proud of El Tri's efforts and their remarkable achievements in this tournament, given the averse circumstances. They've got good reason to look to the future with hope.


Another news round-up to come, and then some words before the final.

Argentina es un sentimiento: happiness, pride and the Albiceleste

Genius, genius, genius. Absolutely superb strike. And look, not a smile! What makes this guy smile? I mean, come on, Román, give us a look, give us a smile, baby.

- GolTV's Ray Hudson, after Juan Roman Riquelme scored a fantastic free kick for Villarreal in 2005.

Argentina 4 - 0 Peru

This is a different type of match report to my previous ones, which were based on individual player assessments. Because I wanted to say things that wouldn't have sounded right in that format, and the first of those is that watching Roman play right now reminds me over and over again just why I love football. I've never seen him play like this, not only passing brilliantly as always but running from box to box, tackling, and with a lethal finish. It makes one feel privileged to witness such an obviously inspired performance.

Ray - bless him - lamented the melancholy that we've all seen seemingly etched into his face, but now smiles from Roman have become far easier to come by, and from all indications, he's happy. In a way, Roman's quite easy to understand: when he's happy, he can play. And that's all you need to win games.

Bless 'Coco' Basile for grasping that.

Bless him also for recognising the worth of Javier Zanetti. You may say that everyone knows how good the Inter captain is, but his recall only looks like the most obvious move in hindsight because it has worked so beautifully. Zanetti sets an example for the team, because he never seems to get tired, he never stops working, looking for opportunities or defending with class.

I'm writing this just a few hours before the semi-final game against Mexico, and I feel a need to get this down: I believe in this team and their ability utterly. No matter what happens, I'll still feel proud to support the Albiceleste, and proud of this incredible squad of players.

How could I not be? Look at the fighting spirit, work rate and wonderful skill of Carlos Tevez, even though he's had to come off the bench. Look at the never-say-die attitude of Leo Messi, who takes the hard hits and keeps going, never letting fear dictate his style of play. Look at the absolutely masterful and tireless performances of Javier Mascherano.

Each and everyone of them desperate to come to Venezuela, to play and win for Argentina, despite whatever travails they experienced during the club season.

Thank you, boys. Now let's go for it.

Vamos Argentina!

(shorter) Argentina v Paraguay

Quick impressions only, I'm afraid, ahead of the quarterfinal against Peru.

Argentina 1 - 0 Paraguay

Goals: Mascherano (79)

Argentina (4-3-1-2):

---------Abbondanzieri
Ibarra--Burdisso--Diaz--Zanetti
--------------Gago
---Gonzalez-------Cambiasso
-------------Aimar
-----Palacio-------Tevez

The positives:

• Abbondanzieri looks much more confident, although he didn't exactly have a lot to do
• Zanetti is having a brilliant tournament. I can't praise him enough.
• Burdisso looks like a solid backup for Ayala and Gabi Milito.
• Cambiasso has improved massively.
• Palacio: he works hard, he's got pace, he can cross, and he can hit a ball. Not bad, although it's clear he needs a more traditional center forward to play off.
• Tevez looked very lively and created some danger.
• Messi's supersub performance. (And the fact that he's not injured, despite being hacked at every time he runs with the ball.)
• Mascherano. Not just a brilliant holding midfielder, but what a goal.

The not so good:

• Ibarra and Diaz were decent but one can see why they're not first choice.
• Gago looks out of sorts. Mascherano's a different class to him right now.
• Someone else who looks out of sorts: Lucho Gonzalez. Dear Lord. I really wish we had Maxi Rodriguez fully fit now.
• Aimar showed some spark, but also that he's better as an impact sub or a supporting midfielder than the starting playmaker right now. We definitely missed Riquelme.

Paraguay

I was very impressed with their defensive effort. They play a 4-4-2 with the two rows of four retreating very quickly and leaving little space everytime Argentina went forward, and it works very well. Offensively they were limited to counter-attacks or long balls up to their two forwards, but then they didn't have to win. If they can defend like this against Mexico, I think they have a chance.

Argentina vs Columbia and other Copa thoughts in bullet point form

Hey, remember what I said last time about how great it was that the first round games were full of positive football and didn't have too many fouls and diving? What happened to that?

Perhaps because the stakes had began to weigh more heavily on the players involved, the second round featured quite a lot of exaggerated rolling around, diving, dirty fouls and some really dire games. Sadly, this trend is only likely to continue as the knockout stages begin and the stakes get even higher, going from recent international tournaments.

Following the results of today's games, we now know which teams will be in the knockout round, with two match-ups yet to be decided. They are: Venezuela, Uruguay, Brazil, Mexico, Chile, Peru, Argentina and Paraguay. We'll know tomorrow whether Argentina and Paraguay will be playing Mexico or Peru respectively.

Argentina 4 - 2 Columbia

Goals: Edixon Perea (10), Crespo (19, pen), Juan Roman Riquelme (34, 45), Jaime Alberto Castrillon (73), Diego Milito (90)

I can't say I'm particularly satisfied with Argentina's performance, and there are still issues that persist from the first game, but at least we're through to the next round.

First the news items, then my evaluation.

• the big news is that Hernan Crespo will unfortunately miss the rest of the tournament, having torn a muscle taking the penalty that equalised the score for Argentina.
• at the same time, congratulations are due to Crespo for beating Diego Maradona's scoring record for Argentina and becoming the second highest scorer ever for the national team. The first is of course the great Gabriel Batistuta.
• Riquelme and Messi comment on the game, urging caution in general.
  
• Argentina supporter and Guardian writer Marcela Mora y Araujo writes about Argentina's progress. I think she's being a tad too optimistic, given the latest news, but then it's always nice to be feeling good about the national team again.

Argentina (4-3-1-2): Abbondanzieri; Zanetti, Ayala, G. Milito, Heinze; Veron (80' Luis Gonzalez), Mascherano, Cambiasso; Riquelme; Messi (84' Tevez), Crespo (21' D. Milito)

No formation diagram since it's the same starting line-up as the game against the United States. I will note though that Cambiasso played less like a second defensive midfielder this time around, so the team looked more like the 4-3-1-2 people had assumed they'd line up in rather than a wingless 4-2-3-1. Then again, Zanetti's frequent forays forward and Messi's constant tracking back meant that we spent much of the match with 6 men in midfield, which is a bit much, especially when at least 3 of those 6 are trying to run the game at their own pace. The midfield and attack still hasn't quite clicked together.

Another issue of concern is how exhausted many of our players looked at the end. I know it was really, really hot at the ground, and hopefully that's all it was. Personally, though I trust that Basile knows what he's doing, I was getting really antsy as some of the players (Veron and Messi, to name just two) looked really tired and he still wouldn't make any substitutions.

Last general comment: the referee made quite a few dodgy calls. One of them was the penalty, which was as soft as - well, as soft the one Robinho just won against Ecuador. Additionally, I felt his standards for what constituted a yellow card were somewhat inconsistent. The Columbians are well within their rights to complain, and as Argentina won I will refrain from pointing out that Arizala should have been sent off for that horror challenge on Mascherano, et cetera.

(Luis Gonzales and Carlos Tevez didn't play long enough for me to judge their performances. They should probably both have come in earlier, in my opinion, to relieve the players they replaced who both looked absolutely spent.)

defence

• Abbondanzieri worries me. I know we can't blame him for all our defensive problems, but he's at least partially responsible for the two goals we conceded, through sheer sloppiness if nothing else.
• Great game from Zanetti, both in defense and in attack. Lovely assist for Roman's first goal.
  
• Ayala was as solid as ever, although I still think him and Gaby Milito don't have a fully working understanding. Speaking of which, a much improved game from the younger Milito, although he still had far too many wobbly moments.
• Solid game from Heinze, who played on despite biting his tongue quite badly and through subsequent bleeding. I hope he's okay.

midfield

• Better from Veron, although him and Roman still aren't really clicking. He was obviously running on nothing by about 75 minutes in, though, which is a bit worrying.
• Mascherano shares my MOTM award along with Roman. Another brilliant performance from the tireless Liverpool man. But Masche, just one thing - other than Arizala's challenge, which was truly terrible and deserved your 'rolling around in pain' reaction, the others just look embarrassing.
  
• Cambiasso was much improved from the first game, involving himself more in the attack and giving the midfield some much needed width at times. Not bad.
• Roman showed up big time when we needed him to. That's the highest praise I can give to the fulcrum of our team. What a wonderful freekick as well. Unfortunately he was another one of the players who simply looked to be running out of stream by the end.

forward

• As the Argentinean papers like to say, Argentina Messi still doesn't look quite like Barcelona Messi, but in this match he got to use his trademark dribbling runs straight through the opposition defence to better effect, most notably in the run that resulted in the freekick which Riquelme converted. Went down too easily for the penalty, although he was viciously fouled away from the box for much of the match.
• Hernan Crespo played an important part in Argentina's progress, here as in the first game, and his work rate and intelligent movement will be much missed. Good penalty, and I'm truly heartbroken for him, having gotten injured at what is probably the last international tournament of his career.
• Diego Milito had a difficult task, coming on at such short notice to replace a striker of Crespo's caliber, having not had much significant playing time with the NT before. His lack of pace was readily apparent, but so was his striker's instinct and ability to dominate in the air despite not being all that tall. A bit lucky with the goal, but he worked hard for it. Hopefully his understanding with the rest of the team will improve with more practice.

Copa America round-up

Things I really liked about the first round of games:

• the lack of diving
• not too many dirty fouls
• lots of goals
• teams who try to actually play football

I'm a bit put out that the second round has seen some of this degenerate a bit. But anyway, on to the news.

In Group A, Uruguay beat Bolivia 1-0, while Venezuela had a scrappy 2-0 win over Peru. Congratulations to the hosts, who collected only their second win ever in the competition and can now look forward to very possibly qualifying for the second round. As for Uruguay and Peru, file under 'must do better', although the latter was probably unlucky to lose like they did.

In Group B, Mexico became the first team to qualify for the second round with their comfortable 2-1 victory over Ecuador, escaping the Group of Death completely unscathed amidst ever-lessening calls for coach Hugh Sanchez's head after their Gold Cup debacle. Brazil beat Chile 3-0, but the Brazil Offside, for one, still isn't very impressed. They were a touch lucky to win by that scoreline and still have some work to do to qualify.

Later today will see Group C in action with the USA taking on Paraguay and Argentina facing Columbia. That's On Point has a good preview of the USA game. As for the Argentineans, coach Alfio Basile has warned against excessive hype and emphasised that it was a dangerous moment to face Columbia, having been beaten as they were in the first round. He's in earnest, given that one of the darkest moments of Argentina's footballing history was that 5-0 home defeat to Columbia which occurred when he was in charge. The starting line-up for Argentina will be the same as it was for the match against the USA. Hasta El Gol Siempre has you covered for Columbia's.

Come on, boys.

Argentina v US fallout

Argentinean post-match comments:

• Basile: "We stayed calm," he said. "My players worked and were rewarded."
• Riquelme: “We knew USA would be a difficult opponent because they stay back and don’t let you play your game. But we were able to find a way to break through and were able to record a valuable victory”, said Riquelme.

Analysis of the game:

• A Pretty Move's match report
  
• Mundo Albiceleste's player ratings for Argentina
  
• La Nuestra's notes (Argentina-focused)
  
• That's On Point's take on both teams
• Jen Chang's take at ESPN Soccernet (US-focused, but makes some good points about Argentina)
  

I wanted to pick up a couple of points that I've seen discussed in the above reports:

• Aimar for Cambiasso was the key to the game, and Alfio Basile deserves a lot of credit for being brave enough to field four playmakers (Aimar-Messi-Riquelme-Veron) at the same time and doing it in a way that doesn't unbalance the team.
• As the report from That's On Point pointed out, the substitution was the antithesis of Pekerman taking off Roman for Cambiasso in the World Cup quarterfinal last year. I like Pekerman. I've written tributes to the man. But that decision still smarts today.
• I would very much like to see the 4-2-3-1 (with Veron or Cambiasso and Mascherano as defensive midfielders, and Messi and Aimar supporting Riquelme) we were fielding in the second half again.
• Oh yeah, and Tevez probably deserves to be in there somewhere too. But where?
• I don't think Paraguay are going to be as difficult for the US as they're anticipating. Having said that, they really need to look into their strike partnership.
• Yes, Gaby Milito is probably one of the slowest world class defenders ever. But his positioning sense is excellent.
  

Lastly, congratulations to Hernan Crespo for equalling one Diego Armando Maradona's record as Argentina's second highest scorer in international competition (34 goals, and it only took him 63 games), behind the great Gabriel Batistuta (56 goals in 78 games). Crespo is criminally underrrated as a striker and he fully deserves his great achievement.

Argentina vs US: full-time

[The US team] aren't underdogs, they're under-puppies. - Ray Hudson in the pre-game analysis

The under-puppies did pretty well. But even the most adamant US supporter would have to admit that there was a gulf of class on display here, and that eventually told against them.

Argentina 4 - 1 USA

Goals: Eddie Johnson (8, pen), Hernan Crespo (12, 64), Pablo Aimar (78), Carlos Tevez (85)

I was reading some US-centric blogs, and just being astounded by the pounding some of their players were getting. This is not meant to be patronising in any way, but I thought they were impressive in the first half. They were disciplined and sticking to what was fairly obviously a packed defence and counter attacking game plan well. In other words, tactically they played a perfect game, at least in the first half. Then they got tired.

The US team's low fitness level did surprise me. I actually thought at the end of the first half, 'maybe they'll tire', and followed by 'nah, it's the US, fitness is one of their great assets'. Well. Sure, they played hard in the first half and that tires one out, but that was a young US squad out there. The Argentinean team is much older, and managed to grow in strength as the game went on. What's going on there?

That question will be for the US-supporting bloggers to dissect, so I'll just end my brief analysis of their performance by repeating that they did about as well as they could be expected to in the circumstances. The solidity of the team is unquestionable, but they really need to look into where the goals are going to come from. Although, having said that, they won't have to worry against Columbia if the game against Paraguay was any indication.

Argentina: as a whole

"We knew it was going to be hard and that they would defend all the time," said Riquelme.

"But we played with patience. We knew we had 90 minutes and we were always sure we would win the game."

To be honest, I was quite worried before the game that the team wouldn't have the right mentality going into this match. Given all the hype, I was afraid that they would be caught up in it and underestimate their opponent. I was pleased to be proved wrong on this point, as Argentina clearly went into the game with confidence and patience, which proved to be crucial as the goal that gave us the advantage took a while to arrive.

(A quick note on formations: I thought it was going to be more of a 4-3-1-2, but it looked more like a 4-2-3-1, with Mascherano and Cambiasso on defensive duties and Veron and Messi on either side of midfield supporting Crespo.)

It was clear in the first half that this was a starting line-up who had never played a match together before. The defence took a while to gel together, as did the attack. Once they did, though, this began to look like a proper team who could play their way through the most determinedly massed defence through a patient passing game. On the whole, I was pleased with this performance. They got the job done, and they did it in some style.

Argentina: player by player

Defence

There were far too many hairy moments in the first half for my liking, despite the number of actual shots by the US (2 shots on goal for the whole game). At times Ayala and Milito looked flustered by the opponents' pace, especially when Zanetti and Heinze were caught up field on breaks. A lot of that seemed to be communication issues, though, and once they got those sorted out, the whole defence looked much better in the second half. Benefitted hugely from Mascherano's help.

Keeper Abbondanzieri was hardly tested, so it's difficult to say what kind of form he's in. Did well catching that volley at the end of the first half and looked alright on the few crosses the USA managed to put into the box. Good decision-making overall.

Javier Zanetti's legs are clearly not as fast as they used to be, and he had trouble linking with Messi in attack. However, his defensive performance was very impressive, letting little past him. A reassuring presence to have guarding the right flank.

Captain Roberto Ayala continues to amaze me. He's not particularly tall or big, but somehow manages to dominate in the air and boss forwards around all the time. Led by example and gave everything for the team, as usual. His partnership with Milito has yet to convince me, as they don't always seem to be on the same page.

Gabriel Milito has been named as the worst of the defenders in several discussions I've seen. In my opinion, this is probably fair, but not as bad as it sounds. He did have several slip-ups, including the one which led to the US penalty, which really shouldn't have happened, but it wasn't a horror show by any means. (Then again, my club is Barcelona. I don't even wince at terrible defending anymore.)

Gabriel Heinze was also partially responsible for the US penalty. Compared to Zanetti, his forays forward were more successful - most notably the lovely cross that provided the assist for Aimar's diving header - but he didn't reassure me as much in defence. Still, his absolute commitment as ever cannot be faulted. Not to mention that he also had a hand in Argentina's first goal, challenging for the ball in characteristic fashion to flick it on to Crespo who scored.

Midfield

Took a while to gel, but looked better as the game went on. Initially smothered by the US's tight marking and lacked ideas until Aimar came on.

Javier Mascherano was immense. I've seen him named as Man of the Match by some commentators, and it's a fair pick. Bailed the defence out of trouble countless times, made many brilliant clean tackles and was generally everywhere at once, winning the ball off an opponent and then passing it with unerring accuracy to one of the attacking players. How any team couldn't find a place for him in their starting line-up I cannot understand. I'd have him start over almost any other defensive midfielder in the world, and he's just 23 years old. Great stuff.

Juan Sebastian Veron returned to the national team after a 4 year absence and played...well, I'm not sure, really. He seemed to have trouble combining effectively with the other attacking players and most of his passes forward did not result in threatening moves. On the other hand, he was industrious, especially in defence, and one of Argentina's best chances in the first half came from his well-struck shot from outside the box. I'm still not convinced that him and Riquelme work well together.

Fernando Gago didn't play long enough for me to make an informed comment. Having said that, I will note that he will have a very hard time winning a starting place, given Mascherano's form so far.

Esteban Cambiasso worked quite hard in defence but didn't link up well with the other midfielders in attack. He should probably be given another chance, though, given his previously consistent performances for the NT. As Seba over at Mundo Albiceleste pointed out, the way the US played may have simply not suited his style. The problem is, his replacement Aimar was simply brilliant and that substitution was the catalyst for a huge improvement by the team. Leaving aside Aimar, there's still Lucho Gonzalez waiting in the wings for his position.

Speaking of which, Albiceleste supporters, doesn't the sight of Pablo Aimar playing beautifully again warm your heart? He's had a hard time with frequent injuries and being overshadowed by other players but when he's playing well it's a real joy to watch. And he certainly was playing well from the moment he came on, connecting well with both Messi and Riquelme and scoring a great header. The thing about Aimar is that he brings a certain dynamism to the attack that - with the exception of Messi, and Tevez when he came on - Argentina lack. That energy and those combinations were great to see. If he doesn't start the next game, he should certainly get more minutes. Having said that, Aimar does have a tendency to blow hot and cold at times, dependent on his fitness. So fingers crossed that won't be an issue.

As for the big one, the guy everyone has an opinion on, one Juan Roman Riquelme, well, opinion will probably be divided on his performance as usual. He was involved in setting up 3 of the 4 goals Argentina scored, and for me that is enough. The pass for Tevez's goal was especially brilliant. Like I said above, I don't think Roman and Veron have gelled, although to my pleasant surprise he did combine well with Messi. Not the best performance I've seen from him, but he was given very little space in which to operate and did his best. Dangerous as ever from freekicks and corners. (For my money, still one of the best freekick takers in the world.)

Strikers

(Messi and Tevez could also be classified as midfielders, but I thought it looked silly having Crespo in this section on his own.)

Frequently isolated in the first half, and benefitted in the second half from better service.

Lionel Messi only showed flashes of his best form but still produced some of Argentina's better chances. I'll be honest, I've seen Messi play so many times now, and this wasn't one of his best performances. Being double marked by the US in the first half stifled most of his forays forward. When Aimar came on it sparked him to life. Two factors were involved in this: 1) the switch to the left and 2) Messi's natural understanding with Aimar. Messi also showed a good understanding with Riquelme as in the great move that led up to Crespo's goal. Additionally, he also tried to help the defence out by tracking back, although his tackling leaves something to be desired. Decent display from the 20 year old, who also showed signs of an increased understanding with Crespo.

Carlos Tevez only played for 10 minutes, so I won't assess his performance in detail. He looked very lively and I suspect would have done very well against the USA's physical, tight-marking style if he'd had more time on the pitch. Great finish from Roman's pass for the goal.

Last but certainly not least, our number one striker Hernan Crespo. Who is only 31, article writers, so please stop writing about him like he's about to retire. Crespo's not really my type of striker - I prefer the type that participates more in build-up play - but that's by no means a criticism. Jeez, how do you criticize a guy who puts away 2 of the 4 chances he's given? That's not bad, is it. Besides, he also tracked back and helped out in defence. A great performance from one of the deadliest strikers in the world. Much as I like Diego Milito, Crespo deserves to be first choice.

other comments

• the spectators really love Messi and Tevez.
• GolTV shouldn't turn down the crowd noise so much.
• From looking around the US-supporting blogs, I really feel sorry for some of their players. These guys are young and inexperienced, people. The youngest guy amongst their opponent's starting line-up, the one with the least caps has 14 of them and has won the Champions League. There's no need to be so criticial given that difference.
  
• Our bench is awesome. And by that I don't mean the seats.
  
• I cannot understand why Riquelme and Aimar didn't get more playing time together in the past.
• The US have a decent shot at qualifying for the next round.

Argentina vs US half-time

1 - 1 (US goal by Eddie Johnson, Argentine goal by Hernan Crespo)

Can't say I'm surprised, really. The US played the defensive-counter attacking, very tight marking game that Argentina find uncomfortable and did it well, drawing a penalty on one of their few forays forward. It was a fair enough penalty, and Eddie Johnson's pace continued to give the Milito-Ayala pairing trouble. In fact, the Argentinean defence is really lacking in pace as a whole. Very worrying.

Roman has been very well marked, but still managed to supply plenty of good balls forward, and it was his usual skill at freekicks which created the equaliser for Argentina. Crespo finished well there, but otherwise he was very frustrated. Messi also seemed isolated on his wing and quickly closed down when he got the ball. To me, Veron's passing has been a bit off, but he did have a great shot at the end of the half. Mascherano's having a great game. I'd say we need to do something about getting overrun in midfield, our lack of width, and our strikers lacking support.

Come on, boys. Second half starting soon.

Argentina v US preview

Well well well, the Copa America has definitely provided some excitement so far. Mexico have to be congratulated on their performance against Brazil, especially coming right off the back of another tournament where they suffered a loss in the final. Even if the two line-ups are substantially different, that's gotta hurt morale. By the way, it's good to see Rafael Marquez back in form. Hopefully he'll hold on to that when the next season comes around.

Argentina are due to take on the team who beat Mexico in the aftementioned final. Well, not quite, given the differences between the US squad for the Gold Cup and the Copa, but I'm sure it was a welcome boost at the time. That's On Point has great coverage of the US squad and the group in general. (As opposed to Goal.com, who somehow managed to call Real Zaragoza 'relegation-bound' while trying to shed some light on Gaby Milito. They've corrected their mistake now, but geez. It only takes a couple of seconds to check a league table.)

Anyway, I've already posted about the Argentinean starting line-up, which was announced well in advance by coach Alfio Basile as a player-management tactic. And here's my earlier post on the squad in general.

As commenter Rio pointed out, a lot of the reservations I expressed in the post about line-ups were related to one Juan Roman Riquelme. It's not that I don't rate him - see sidebar and numerous posts for evidence to the contrary - but he is rather unique. La Nuestra has two excellent posts exploring the upsides and downsides of Roman. On the eve of Argentina's first match, he says that he's very happy (the original interview has him saying that his family are very happy too), which is definitely a good sign from such a moody player. When he's on, Roman's the best player Argentina have, no question about that.

Basile himself is wary of the tag of 'favourites' before we've even played, and rightly so. Most of the time premature arrogance will only come back to haunt the team, after all. That's why it's good to save the gloating until after one's victory, which is a rule that applies as well to football as it does to supervillains. So let's see what happens first.

Here's hoping for a good game, and as always: Vamos Argentina!

Argentina starting line-up against the United States

The Copa America kicked off with an upset today, Peru beating Uruguay 3-0. Peru does have a fairly talented squad, but many people - including yours truly - expected better of Uruguay. In the day's other game hosts Venezuela drew 2-2 with Bolivia. Good to see lots of goals being scored so far. Hopefully that will keep up throughout the tournament. I'll also be keeping an eye on matches such as Brazil v Mexico and Chile v Ecuador, but to be honest, my tournament really starts when Argentina take on the United States in their opening game.

Argentina coach Alfio Basile has revealed his starting 11 far ahead of time, which I thought was quite a strange move on his part. The big news is that Carlos Tevez drops to the bench in favour of Lionel Messi to partner Hernan Crespo in attack. Speaking of the undoubtedly talented Carlitos, Sports Illustrated has a lovely interview with him. In other squad news, captain Roberto Ayala had an injury scare on Saturday but seems to be fine now.

Argentina starting 11 (4-3-1-2):

---------Abbondanzieri
Zanetti--Ayala--Milito--Heinze
----------Mascherano
----Veron---------Cambiasso
-----------Riquelme
-----Messi
------------------Crespo

At first glance it looks broadly similar to the formation used at the World Cup, but in reality given the change of key personnel like (now former) captain Juan Pablo Sorin dropping out and former captain Javier Zanetti coming back in, as well as the presence of Juan Sebastian Veron and swapping Messi for Saviola I suspect it may work very differently in practice. In fact, that's the problem: no one knows how well it's going to work because Argentina haven't used this particular starting 11 before. Basile's results from friendlies have hardly been impressive, but this team is substantially different to the one that lost to Brazil or the one which beat France.

The defence looks very good on paper and should be fine as long as they've learned their lesson from the embarrassment of conceding 3 against Algeria, which, to be fair, wasn't entirely their fault. Hopefully Abbondanzieri, who was at fault for at least 2 of the goals will go back to the form he showed for his club during this season in Spain and during the '06 World Cup.

The questions that remain, at least in my mind, are these:

1. Can Messi and Crespo form an effective strike partnership? They've played together before, but the jury's still out on their effectiveness as a duo.
2. Can Riquelme and Veron work together?
3. Lastly, and broadly speaking, will these players, many of whom have had excellent seasons, translate their club form into good performances for their country?
   

I guess we'll just have to wait and see. The United States have bought a relatively unexperienced squad who might benefit from the low expectations, and it would be wise to avoid underestimating them. At the same time, I'm always wary of the tag of 'favourites' before a ball has been kicked. Having a star-studded squad (which ours definitely is) doesn't guarantee anything unless they can play well together, and we'll have to prove that on the pitch. Can't wait.

Lastly, and I don't care how sappy this sounds: the evident desire of all the Argentinean players called up to wear the shirt and bring glory to their country makes me so proud to support the Albiceleste.

Vamos Argentina!

Argentinean birthdays and net etiquette

Ah, a nice break from the firestorm of news that's been the last few days. Two largely frivolous things to be covered here, one nice and one...not so much.

Firstly, a very happy birthday to Lionel Andres Messi, who turns 20 on June 24. Yes, he's still that young. Scary, isn't it? There's not much that hasn't already been said about him, so I'll skip all that and just say that as someone who supports both Argentina and Barcelona, I hope he goes on to become one of the best players in the world - if he is not in fact there already.

June 24 must have been a good day for Argentinean football, because it was also the day Juan Roman Riquelme was born, 9 years before Messi. My best wishes to him also, and if you want to read one of my posts waxing lyrical about him, you've got several to choose from.

Right, so that's the warm and fuzzy part over. Since I started this blog in September of last year, I've been very pleased by all the comments I've received and enjoyed all the discussion, which has enriched my own knowledge. So thank you to everybody for that. Today, I received my first personal attack.

To be honest, I kind of expected it long before this, but it's rather ironic that I've managed to discuss the future of Real Madrid with very nice and eloquent Madridistas (thank you, Gonzalo) without a problem on this blog while it's my post on Thierry Henry joining the club that got me attacked.

No, I'm not letting the comment past moderation. There's no need for that kind of language around here, and by that I mean the abuse of netspeak and the English language in general, not this poster's apparent desire to fornicate with my mother and young Leo Messi. No idea why he's even relevant in the discussion, but hey. Well done, wanker. You look really classy. Feel free to join the conversation any time in the future when you've learned to be civilized.

Argentina squad for Copa America

As has been widely reported, Juan Roman Riquelme makes his return to the national team. Coach Alfio Basile has opted to bring along a formidable squad, mostly made up of Europe-based players. At this stage, questions have to be asked about how a seeming overabundance of creative players will be used. For example, there's absolutely no point in calling up Roman if he doesn't start. So does that mean that Aimar will be relegated to the bench? What about Veron? Can Messi and Tevez be played together? Which striking partnership will Basile choose? I suppose we'll have to wait for the first match against the United States for these questions to be answered. For now, it's certainly a very impressive squad on paper.

Goalkeepers

Roberto Abbondanzieri (Getafe, Spain)
Juan Pablo Carrizo (River Plate, Argentina)
Agustin Orion (San Lorenzo, Argentina)

Abbondanzieri should be the undisputed number one, despite his alarmingly poor performance against Algeria. He's had a great club season in Spain and his expertise with penalties should serve the team well. I have to confess I don't know as much about Carrizo and Orion as I should, beyond the fact that Carrizo has impressed observers at River and is rated by some above Independiente (and next season Villarreal)'s Oscar Ustari, who I'm very fond of. (He would have been in the squad but for a last minute injury.)

Defenders

Roberto Ayala (Valencia, Spain)
Javier Zanetti (Internazionale, Italy)
Hugo Ibarra (Boca Juniors, Argentina)
Gabriel Milito (Real Zaragoza, Spain)
Gabriel Heinze (Manchester United, England)
Daniel Diaz (Boca Juniors, Argentina)
Nicolas Burdisso (Internazionale, Italy)

An impressive roster of defenders, really. If they can play like they did against France rather than the shambles that was the Algeria game, we'd be set. Ayala and Milito are a solid defensive partnership, which Burdisso is a nice backup to. I get nervous everytime he's played as right-back, but he really is a fine centre-back who gets used out of position too often. Otherwise Heinze can also double as a centre-back, although I prefer him on the left. Zanetti can play right-back or midfield, but with the options we have in midfield, I'd much rather have him in the back. Ibarra's experience will be nice to have in the squad, especially since we have all these young players. Unfortunately, I don't know much about Diaz, but he's just won the Copa Libertadores with Boca, so hopefully he's coming in with some good form should he be needed.

By the way, Ayala is a fine captain of the team, and I really hope his last international tournament brings him some well-deserved glory.

Defensive Midfielders

Javier Mascherano (Liverpool, England)
Esteban Cambiasso (Internazionale, Italy)
Fernando Gago (Real Madrid, Spain)

Very pleased by the options we have here. Neither Gago nor Cambiasso are pure holding players, but I can see Cambiasso starting with one of Gago or Mascherano since the Inter player is more of a central midfielder, and he's been a consistent member of the starting line-up for Argentina. If it came down to a choice between Gago and Mascherano, my personal preference would be for Mascherano. Yes, he's not much older, but he has tons more international experience and a better understanding with many of the other players who are likely to start. Plus, his form coming into the tournament looks very impressive. Gago has had a decent season at Real and Basile rates him very highly, but his performances haven't impressed me as much as Masche's have.

Creative Midfielders

Luis 'Lucho' Gonzalez (Porto, Portugal)
Pablo Aimar (Real Zaragoza, Spain)
Juan Sebastian Veron (Estudiantes, Argentina)
Juan Roman Riquelme (Boca Juniors, Argentina)

Oh boy. An embarrassment of riches, anyone? Especially since Basile seems to count Messi as somewhat amongst this category instead of a wing-forward. The problem with this group of players is that barring Lucho - who I think has a high probability of starting - arguably all three of the others need the team to be built around them, which means that only one of them can start at any one time. Arguably both Veron and Aimar could be deployed on, say, the left side of midfield instead of in the playmaker role, but there's no point in playing Roman if he's not in the no.10 role. So we'll have to wait for Basile to make a decision, and hope that the reported antipathy between Roman and Veron doesn't rear its ugly head.

Form-wise, Lucho has had a great season at Porto, where he is now frequently dubbed the best player in the league, or at least close enough to it. Aimar has been plagued by injury problems as always, but when not laid up in dry dock he's done very well for Zaragoza, playing on the left side of midfield. Veron had a great first half of the season, but I haven't heard enough to judge how he did in the second half. Roman of course had a great second half of the season with Boca, playing some of his best football.

Forwards

Lionel Messi (Barcelona, Spain)
Hernan Crespo (Internazionale, Italy)
Diego Milito (Real Zaragoza, Spain)
Carlos Tevez (West Ham United, England)
Rodrigo Palacio (Boca Juniors, Argentina)

Continuing the 'embarrassment of riches' theme, Basile has taken along 5 strikers who barring one - Palacio, who's had a decent but not brilliant season - have all done very well for themselves in 06-07. Crespo is arguably still Argentina's best centre striker and this is probably his last international tournament, so he'll want to go out on a high. 14 goals in his 22 Serie A appearances this season is a pretty good return. Milito has had a brilliant season, scoring 23 goals and just being pipped to La Liga's golden boot by Ruud van Nistelrooy.

Leo Messi was out for 3 months with a serious injury but bounced back and played brilliantly for Barcelona during the latter half of the season. Last but not least, Carlos Tevez is widely credited with the survival of West Ham in the Premiership, carrying the team on his shoulders through his passion, hard work and sublime skill. Carlitos will also be keen to win the cup to erase the memory of the 2004 competition, in which he missed a penalty in the final shootout which Brazil ultimately won.

The mix is broadly similar to the '06 World Cup squad, actually, since Diego Milito is similar to Julio Cruz, except for the fact that Pekerman took 6 strikers. The one who has been left out this time around is Javier Saviola, whose lack of playing time this season probably counted against him in such a crowded field.

I would expect Basile to play one of the 'target men' - Crespo or Milito - and pair him with either Tevez or Messi. Palacio will probably only have an outside chance of starting, unfortunately.


So a good mix overall, but I'm still concerned about tactical arrangements. If supporting Barca for all these years has taught me anything, it's that just having a bunch of brilliant players won't help if there's no coherent tactical plan for how they're going to play together.

no place like home: the past, present and future of Juan Roman Riquelme

(Picture swiped from ole.com)

The Argentine press had repeatedly asked him whether the final victory would put an end to his spell at Boca, but the midfielder didn’t want to talk about the subject.

“I’m very happy, I’m very happy”, he responded when asked about his plans.

Punditry and fan opinion is sharply divided on Juan Roman Riquelme, especially amongst Argentina supporters. I think it's probably fair to say that the non-Argentina supporting press are far more admiring about him than the actual supporters. I'm one of his many strong admirers, but that doesn't mean I'm blind to his faults. It does mean that I'm willing to give him the credit he is due, and at least try to explain his issues as well.

the story so far

Even when at his peak in Europe, there were those who insisted that Roman's best days were back at Boca Juniors, under Carlos Bianchi, right after the turn of the millennium. The many honours he won during that time, both personal and as part of a great Boca team would seem to back that up. Before a combination of reasons led to Roman leaving for Europe, La Bombonera was his home in every sense, and many would say that he's never found anywhere to equal it since. Having seen him play amazingly for Boca this season, I'm starting to believe that.

However, there seems to be a tendency for current evaluations of his talent to dismiss his European adventures, which is an astounding bit of revisionist history. Leaving aside the Barcelona years, in which he was brought by a crazy president for a coach who didn't want him and didn't play him, I think it's hard to argue that his first 3 seasons at Villarreal were anything but a great success.

In the 02-03 season, Villarreal finished 15th. In 03-04, Roman's first season, they finished 8th in La Liga and went out in the semi-finals of the UEFA Cup, losing to regional rivals Valencia, who eventually won the trophy. The next season they finished an amazing 3rd in La Liga and again reached the quarterfinals of the UEFA Cup. (Villarreal qualified for the competition by winning the Intertoto Cup both times.) In the 05-06 season, they gained international recognition by making it into the semi-finals of the Champions League in their first ever season in the competition, eventually going out to Arsenal by a single goal. Their Liga campaign suffered from the priority placed on the European stage, and they finished a reputable 7th.

Least anyone forget, Villarreal were only promoted to the first division in 2000. Prior to that, the club spent all of its time - bar one season - in the lower divisions. The town in which the club is based has a population of less than 50,000. The club's upturn in fortunes came when Fernando Roig decided to invest in the club, bringing in a succession of South American players who proved successful. While Roman was not the only player responsible for Villarreal's rise, he was certainly widely acknowledged as the most important.

Why did I bore you with the above two paragraphs, you ask. Because it's a self-contained argument against the statement that Roman came running back to Argentina because he couldn't cut it in Europe. Wrong. The European press spent the 05-06 season practically salivating over him and expressing surprise that he wasn't more highly rated. I'll come back this point later. For now, we continue with the story.

Various injury-related and other, less tangible problems plagued Roman as the 06-07 season opened, and led to both a loss of form on the pitch and a falling out with the coach off it. Eventually, they came to the decision to off-load him, and Boca came in eagerly for their prodigal son in the January transfer market with a loan deal. There were some initial struggles, but it seems that La Bombonera does indeed suit him in every way, and eventually Roman began to show some of the form they still remembered from his last stay. The rest, as they say, is history.

MVP of the final series and second highest scorer of the Copa Libertadores, I don't think anyone would protest the statement that he was the player of the tournament. Roman showed all his usual talent in controlling the tempo of a game, finding a killer pass and scored some fantastic goals. His deadballs were as deadly as ever. For those of us who were saddened by his downward spiral in the 06-07 season and heartbroken by his departure from Villarreal, the sight of him playing so well again is a great comfort.

However, there are fresh questions over Roman's future. I'll discuss his recall to the national team in another post, but on the club front this is a time of instability for him. Villarreal have made it clear that they don't want him back, while being open to amiable negotiations of some kind from interested clubs. Boca have consistently said that they can't afford him for more than the six months he's already been there, but now that the reunion has been so successful, there are rumours that he wants to stay and will try to swing negotiations in that direction. Otherwise, there will no doubt be European clubs interested in trying to convert Roman's particular brand of magic to their own use.

understanding Riquelme

In the previous section, I've recapped Roman's club career so far using facts and statistics. This section is based on my own conjecture, which while based on fact is still only speculation, and definitely not meant in anything other than the most admiring manner.

Many of the positive profiles of Roman that I've read in the press go into his rather unique personality. He possesses a type of reticence that is fairly rare amongst footballers, especially attacking, showman-type players who have teams built around them. The only two other flair players I can think of who have similar personalities which causes difficulties for them professionally are Sevilla's Jesus Navas and Barcelona's Leo Messi. The former has anxiety attacks and chronic homesickness to the extent that he has walked out on training camps within Spain because they were too far away from Seville. (So take any transfer speculation surrounding him with a pinch of salt.) The latter would seem to have no problems in his club career, but his extremely reserved nature complicated his integration into the Argentinean national team, especially while at the 2006 World Cup.

Roman suffers from what might be termed a sensitive and depressive personality where traumatic events - like missing the penalty that would have sent Villarreal into the Champions League final and Argentina's exit from Germany 2006, along with the associated criticism of him within the press whenever he plays for the national team - affect his mood and by extension, his form. (If you read the Argentinean press, this is nothing new.) He can only play well when he feels comfortable and happy. When Villarreal were accomodating of him and built their team around him, he was fine there. But the aftementioned penalty incident soured that.

Something about being at Boca seems to curb the depressiveness, at least at the moment. Therefore, I can only hope that he stays there. It's so good to see him smiling and playing his best football again. Long may it continue.