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發表於 2005-11-11 10:31:18
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Great players but bad vibes in Buenos Aires
http://football.guardian.co.uk/News_Story/0,1563,1637261,00.html
Potential World Cup winners Argentina face England on Saturday but not everyone is optimistic
Chris Taylor
Wednesday November 9, 2005
The Guardian
Being second only to Brazil in the betting for the World Cup and being blessed with a frightening array of talent on which to call should instil a calm confidence about a national team's chances in Germany next June. But Argentina, who face England in Geneva on Saturday, are engulfed in controversy about team selection, rumours of internal rifts and concern that the dismal experience of 2002 in the far east must not be repeated.
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José Pekerman's team were the first major side to qualify for next year's tournament, with a breathtaking 3-1 victory over Brazil in Buenos Aires in June. But in a confidence-sapping run they lost their final three away games and with them first place in the group.
In contrast to Sven-Goran Eriksson, whose first XI is pretty much nailed on, Pekerman admits he has yet to decide on his team. "Right now it's impossible to say what the side will be [in Germany]," he said recently. "We have only decided on around half the positions."
Though Pekerman appears sanguine about that situation, others are less so. Argentina's notoriously quarrelsome World Cup-winning coaches, César Luis Menotti and Carlos Bilardo, found themselves in rare agreement that Pekerman should name 10 or 12 players who would definitely be on the plane to Germany. "Now there's great uncertainty, nobody knows who is a first choice and that leads everybody to voice opinions," said Menotti last month.
Few doubted he was alluding to the supposed discord between the históricos, the veterans such as Roberto Ayala and Chelsea's Hernán Crespo, and the younger generation. "Something's up; things aren't going well," said Bilardo. "Something's going on between the players."
Absent again from the squad to face England is Juan Sebastián Verón. The midfielder's reputation may have suffered from his spells at Manchester United and Chelsea but the man known as La Brujita (The Little Witch) still casts a spell in Argentina. Not, though, with Pekerman, who has ignored the Internazionale midfielder's claims since he took over as national coach after Marcelo Bielsa's surprise resignation barely a month after winning gold in the 2004 Athens Olympics.
Pekerman came with an outstanding record at youth level, coaching Argentina's Under-20 side to three world titles and two South American championships, and promoted a number of players who had "grown up" in his teams. Verón's role as captain went to the Villarreal full-back Juan Pablo Sorín, a veteran of the 2002 World Cup side, and his position as the midfield linchpin went to Juan Román Riquelme, the Barcelona playmaker currently on long-term loan with Villarreal. Bilardo has called for Verón's restoration to the squad, as has the player himself: "If I were Pekerman I would pick me." The signs, though, are not good for him.
Verón's former team-mate Crespo is likely to start in Geneva despite his lack of playing time for Chelsea this season. But another striker, Carlos Tévez, is on top form. Last Sunday the 21-year-old hit a superb hat-trick as Corinthians thrashed the Brazilian champions Santos 7-1.
The man of the moment, though, is the prodigiously gifted 18-year-old Lionel Messi, who dazzled in Barcelona's 5-0 demolition of Panathinaikos last week. He will not feature against England because he was sent off 40 seconds into his first international appearance after coming on as a substitute against Hungary, but few doubt his potential. "Messi looks a good player to me," said Riquelme this week. "He's very young and we're going to have to keep the pressure off him. He should have fun, enjoy himself whenever he steps on the pitch . . . In Argentina as soon as a player plays two or three good games people clamour for him to be called up. Or he has to be like Maradona - but there'll never be another like him."
No doubt conscious of this, the president of the Argentinian FA, Julio Grondona, has called up the old Maradona to perform an as yet unspecified role with the national team. The newly slimline football legend will travel to Switzerland and has insisted he will not settle "for a merely symbolic role" under Pekerman.
"I want to make decisions on players," he said. "We can work together, but we must both agree on who should be in the squad. Nor must José think that I want to steal his job. He has earned his position, but I'd like to be able to discuss why a player starts so often and another not at all." Pekerman has so far said little about the prospective partnership, but can hardly fail to be concerned about the potential erosion of his authority.
For Argentinians, like the English, no encounter between these two old rivals is just another match. It will have added piquancy for the albicelestes as their first chance to exorcise the demons of Sapporo 2002 when David Beckham's penalty spelt the beginning of the end of their World Cup. But if they are to fare any better next time Argentina will need to ensure they are all pulling in the same direction. |
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