Are we out? Or do you still think we have a chance?

If we do not qualify, I want maradona to see off his contract, make a complete fool of himself. Only then probably his rabid worshippers in argentina would shut up. Argentina would be cured from his hynotic spell after two decades and then we can probably build a new team from the ashes

I swear am worried too much about that Litte MESSI .. we all know he’s the best player in the at the moment and he seems to keep on doing good, but Argentinian players are not so professional players, or else Messi could do better and help Argentina to qualify (ARGENTINA need RIQUELME)

Hi all. I’m from India and have been a fan of the Argentina team since a long time but havent been following it much. I heard of the team’s recent performance and was disappointed. I’m not saying anything but asking you guys who are in a better position to answer this question. Does the argentina team too many players (eg Messi) who are individually good players but not good when playing in a sync? Pls dont think I am making fun of anyone but am just worried about the team. No Argentina, no World cup for me!!

The ideal thing would be to have Pekerman back to train the Pekerboys he knows so well in order to prepare WC in few months. With Batista as his assistant. The chances of this scenario can be evaluated at 0,1%. As I said before, only 1 or 2 coaches would accept to get the team in these present conditions.

Cambiasso, Lucho, Riquelme, Aimar, Heinze, De Michelis, Gonzalo, Samuel, Maxi, Palacio, Saviola, Burdisso, Coloccini, Mascherano, Tevez… know how to play together with Pekerman. Almost all of them have done it for a decade.

JULIAN,
We need 4 points to be secured to be 5th.

Julian,
You are right; we need PRAYERS. The Argentinean nation
DESERVES a shock so that they can CHANGE
by asking for a FOREIGN coach. Any homegrown
coach will continue with PREFERENTIAL
treatment with the current consequence that
we already have one foot out of qualification.
Argentina’s third world mentality will NOT change
but a FOREIGN coach can field ONLY the best players at a given based
on their performance and how they fit in the tactics.

For those like RUNE who think we do not need Riquelme, well he is world class. Brasil must be laughing right now…

We wil not qualify if we do not dispose of him immediately. There is no point waiting and not going to 2010 .

Even Peru will act like a predator that sees a wounded prey item and go for the kill. They all know how fragile the team is at the moment with this **** in charge.

Or perhaps the bastardo at the AFA can organize another dubious fix as in 1978.

As for Argentine players not being professional that is arrant nonsense.

Messi is a world class player though he will never be in the numpto’s class ,but the way he and other players are being utilized or not as the case may be ie not eve called up is pathetic.

At Barca Leo has the luxury of Eto’o a mobile forward capable of running beyond the defence, bending his runs behind them or gong out wide when required.

And two attacking full backs in Abidal and Alves to give him width so the the oppo defence cannot form a brick wall, not to mention X-I pulling and pushing attracting the oppo DM’s from him.

Without space no player can suceed. It’s sucha shame to see Argentine principles of play of creating space and crisp passing being laid to waste by this pillock.

VISHAL,
Messi, Tevez, Aguero, Lavezzi, Datolo are individualistic players. But Messi has improved a lot in this area. Maradona is probably asking them to dribble a lot. Messi is asked each day by the “motivator” to score gols like Maradona VS England. The pressure on him is huge.

All the rest of the team that started VS Brazil/Paraguay are very collective and clever when their coach give them a clear direction.

Aurelius,
you completely ignore INIESTA and XAVI in your above posting; they are the very reasons that Messi can do his thing. Please stop being bias and speak the truth for once.

No Ken I will repeat the coaches are there aside from Pellegrini who’d I like for the 2014 campaign when he inevitably will be booted out of the Real circus.

Coaches like Angel Cappa plus Hector Cuper would do a job or assistants like Tocalli et al.

And its hardly a third world mentality that produces such capable golfers, tennis players such as del Potro, the Lions,Pumas ,the basketballers ,from a set of resources which are far scanter than say many western European nations and the likes of China.

Agreed with AURELIUS. Shining example would be Bianchi – but he refuses to work with AFA and rightly so.

I agree AURELIUS, how could win get 4 points with Maradona? I see us winning against Peru (we can afford to defend with 6 players, like always) with Maradona opening his big mouth. But versus Uruguay, it’s going to be hell. If they are in the race, they will beat us for sure. Maradona is not a coach and is not even a motivator anymore (like at the beginning). Some players have probably understood that Maradona is useless and will shut up. The others have totally lost confidence.

X-I for your information Ken are the said players

You would do well to speak the truth and this garbage about the desperate need for a foreign coach from a nation that has produced many of the technical/tactical innovations in the game Pucelle,Zubeldia et al.

The main problem we face right now comes from within. Maradona must go no matter what. His coaching or lack of it is disgraceful and icon or not a good player does not make a good coach. Even with only 2 games left put back togeather the GOLD MEDAL WINNING team that looked so impressive and turn them loose on the competition. The cancer that is Maradona must be cut out or there is no chance. how did they fit Maradona and his EGO into a small country like Paragauy.

Hector Cuper… If he had been our coach instead of Maradona, he would have argued with 10 players, but we would be qualified for months…

Aurelius,
We are talking about the cancer that infests argentinean FOOTBALL.
Preferential treatment is the key reason we are in this mess. GOlf and tennis are INDIVIDUALISTIC sports. There is no comparison with football where all 11 players must work in unison and achieve perfection in a very short time together. Would you not agree that overall that Argentina has the most talented football players compared to ANY given country? Yet they are utter failures because of their policy of preferential treatment by fielding SENILE players like Veron etc and alienating AIMAR, RIQUELME etc. Do you get it buddy?

Hi again. Well, its quite late here in India and am off. Will read your comments tomorrow. But somewhere I feel, Argentina would pull it off. Its a too big name to be missing the world cup. Gn and Tc

Only 23% of Olé readers believe that the 1st guilty man in the present situation is Grondona…

Maxi,
this is because he acts BEHIND the scene; he is only interested in power
and the Argentinean nation is too PASSIVE; if they ask for their players
to be fielded, they will be on the field. Remember the case with Ribery when Dominique would not field him… Fans demanded him and he was fielded thereafter. Argentina does have UNITY in them. They hate their OWN and today
they are paying the consequence of their own culture.

Sorry,
I meant NO unity in the above.

KEN,
The example with Ribery isn’t good.
Domenech and Maradona are very similar. They don’t know how to create movement in their team and they have endless ego. In 2005, Ribery was shining all over the place. Press pressured Domenech for a year to include him in the squad. He hold on and refused. He knew Ribery was a phenomenon and called him at the last minute. In 2006, the team had no chemistry but they had Zidane, the most clever & collective player ever. In the locker room, France had Thuram, Zidane, Makelele, Henry, Vieira: leaders that we don’t seem to have (except maybe Heinze, Coloccini, Zanetti, Veron). These guys were the true coaches. Since then and the failures which Domenech is responsible for, the press destroys him (really). 1998 winners insult him on TV. Domenech is still there. And Maradona will do the same, whatever happen. Press & fans can put pressure and hope. Only.

Your argument is a puffball. Rugby union , basketball and field hockey are team sports and in all those instances the (Argentine)coaches always select the best players available whether its Hernandez , Scola or Luciana Aymar ?

The fault is with the bastardo at the AFA for selecting an incompetent instead of the many gifted ARGENTINE coaches available.

Have I denied there is a malaise in Argentine football off the pitch in its administration and it needs root and branch reform, as pointed out by Albo, Maxi , Skywalker and the rest of us from the poor state of many stadia, the loss of youth players at such an early age, the lack of accountability in club finances, the crowd violence and influence of the barrabrava hoodlums ?

This was being pointed out in this blog in 2007.

If we had had a decent coach from the start, none of these issues such as the one you love to peddle around that somehow a foreign coach ie Hiddink would get us qualified with a clap of his hands (and yes he is a very good coach too but only latterly in his career) and which only crop up when the seleccion of any country is doing poorly would be being discussed as adjuncts to the causes of the failure of the national team.

MAXI,
the public pressure EVENTUALLY worked. Here the Argentinean nation JUST watches and waits. This
is pathetic..

The FFF are like the AFA in that stick with that idiot. Watching the game against Serbia Goucuff was impressive in his distribution but there is a lack of movement off him and no threat. And the central defence is paper thin.

A simple long ball flick on resulted in a penalty . But both federations stick by their man.

It’s nt just an Argentine disease as some here would like to pigeon hole it.

Argentina will qualify for the WC. Yes I was upset yesterday and still am today. I think the team will pull it off….I mean they have to. There is no way. I think and hope these losses will give Maradona a nice slice of HUMBLE pie and force him to truly sit with Bilardo and others and take pointers.
If Diego quits now – he would not just be quitting the NT but on the players….think about it. Im sure if the players wanted him out they would voice it as Messi and others did about Basile. Also it would be way to last min to switch coaches right now – it’s bad enough the team is confused already.

Kun Aguero in an interview said that the loss to Brasil was hard and just killed their spirits as a team.

Now – is it me or does anyone notice that Brasil, Paraguay, Bolivia and all the other teams are playing us the same. They form a wall and let nothing get past them until they get the ball or we make a mistake, then they counter or set up their play. What did Bilardo do in the 1990 WC when the team was not playing well? We countered most of the time, relied on our defense and countered. I hope that for Peru and Uruguay we play like this. we are trying to hard to score and nothing is working on the offensive end. Nothing. We have Messi who can be explosive – Aguero who is quick, lets use their quickness to our advantage, counter with them and possibly Iguain.

Argentina has to come out at full force the next 2 games.

Now Peru I think we can beat. We need to beat them. Uruguay, it’s always a fight with them and I hope as in the last qualifiers we at least tie with them. That would get us 4 points.

Yet we need Aimar, Iguain, Di Maria, and hopefully Riquelme along with all the other talents we have…..but they have to play as a group.

Aurelius,
the cancer spreads beyond the bastardo. Did n’t Basile not field Aimar also? In the past wasn’t Redondo not fielded also because of his long hair?

Hiddink has achieved miracle with at least three countries. You are right though it is a bit too late in his career. But he loves money as he has been found guilty of tax invasion. Here again AFA is not willing to pay…

Hoaxeneder,
the moral is too low right now and there is no tactics
in place. It simply over as Argentina can only win two draws at its best which is not enough. When there is no unity, players cannot function
and it is too late in the game to do anything specially when a
drug addict is in charge! BIGGEST victim is Messi though. What are real
tragedy for such a GOD given talent? Argentina should
be ASHAME of itself for being in that position.

We, Argies, have been through a lot of dictatorship in the history of our country.
Several types of dictatorship, trust me on that one so I don’t have to explain the obvious.
We are under dictatorship in football right now.

I am appalled at the permissive tone the newspapers and the Argy media use to deal with this nonsense that is taking place.
It’s our AFA dictatorship playing the power game.

Grondona has no right to stay in power of our football until he dies or gets bored with it.
Nobody in any function, be it political, social, administrative, should govern “for ever”.
Maradona is acting like a dictator too.
He doesn’t have the decency to quit, (never had any class). He decides to stay and keep on going at it.
This tremendous power that Grondona has, now adds up to the control of the media, as we can see by the ass-kissing treatment they’re giving Maradona.
And the news people sound like they’re looking at each other and see who explodes first.

The sad part of this, is that, glued in the heart of the Argie fans, there’s this terrible concept called “pecho frío” (cold chest) meaning “lack of effort”. The worst you can be called.
That’s the expression many used back in 2002 to talk about Verón.
Same expression was used by many fans in 2006 against Riquelme.
“Pecho frío” also equates to “loser”.

But WE DON’T NOTICE that us, Argy fans from Argentina, who are so afraid of being looked at as being cowards and quitters, are indeed the “Pecho frío” of the whole football world right now!!!!! just by allowing this crap to happen.

F…!!!!
Somos una manga de mierderos de quinta. Y Maradona es nuestro abanderado.
We’re nothing but a bunch of losers, and Maradona carries our flag.

I remember to have been very critical of Grondona’s decision to name Maradona coach of La Selection. To a point, friends like Maxi and Daystar asked me to lighten up a little bit and stop being so negative.
I did that.
Yet, it turned to be a much worse situation than I had ever imagined it would be.

4. Ecuador -2 23
5. Argentina 1 22
6. Uruguay 16 8 21
7. Venezuela -10 21
8. Colombia -4 20

Games Left

Argentina vs Peru
Uruguay vs Argentina

Ecuador vs Uruguay
Chile vs Ecuador

Ecuador vs Uruguay
Uruguay vs Argentina

Venezuala vs Paraguay
Brasil vs Venezuela

Chile vs Colombia
Paraguay vs Colombia

I beleive that if we beat Peru we will at least take 5th. If we beat Peru and either tie or beat Uruguay then I beleive we will take fourth.

Best case senario from first games is that ecuador beats Uruguay and Chile beats or at least ties Colombia. I dont believe that Venezuela will get more than three points out of there last two games so i am dicounting them if we beat Peru. After the first round the positions would be like this:

4. Ecuador -2 26
5. Argentina 1 25
6. Uruguay 16 8 21
7. Venezuela -10 21
8. Colombia -4 21

To me this is the most likey situation that we will be in when we travel to Uruguay. I am hopeful that this will be the case as I would rather that Uruguay lose at ecuador and dont have much to play for in the last game.

Welcome back ALBO,
Hope you make sure as usual that all my
posts are deleted. This will help Argentina to win…

Aurelius,
No one is talking about a disease. It is just a mentality that is very passive and pervasive. No one has the guts to DEMAND the BEST for their COUNTRY. What a shame?

Actually I think best case would be for Uruguay to beat Ecuador I think. If Argentina beats Peru then that would move us to 4th place and Uru in 5th. Even a tie between Uru and Ecua would benefit us that is if we win against Peru which we have to. Game 2 for Ecuador would be against Chile which hopefully Bielsa could give us a hand and defeat Ecuador or even tie. If Ecuador ties both games they would only get to 25 points. If we win and tie we would end up with 26. Great scenario would be to win both games and end with 28 points. If we get 26 points we would more than likely end in 4th place and Ecuador going to 5th if they tie their last 2 games.

It’s nice to see you back ALBO. What you say is true. I don’t know why all the ex players of the NT don’t ask Maradona’s head because it is so obvious that he is killing the team. I only read 1 ex 86 player criticizing him in the press recently. Only 1.

I am a naive person and wanted to give a chance to Maradona. I have been far too optimistic (especially after the victory in France).

I’m heartbroken about the situation. I believe we’ll get our futbol back when the economical situation of the country will get positive. Clubs presidents will have more influence on Grondona(’s son?) when they’ll sell players at their true value. We’ll need to be very patient.

This was posted on Clarin by Americo Gallego.

El técnico de Independiente comparó la situación que vive el equipo de Maradona con la que pasó Bilardo para clasificarse al Mundial del 86, donde luego fue campeón.

Diego Maradona atraviesa un difícil momento al frente del seleccionado nacional y por eso su amigo Américo Rubén Gallego salió a respaldarlo. “Diego es mi amigo y lo banco a muerte, tiene buena espalda y sé que se la va a bancar, aunque hoy voy a llamarlo para darle aliento, como siempre”, dijo el técnico de Independiente, tras el entrenamiento de su equipo este mediodía en Villa Domínico.

“La Argentina va a clasificar y cuando lo haga ojo, eh, porque en el 86 a Bilardo le pasó lo mismo”, advirtió el Tolo, comparando este situación en las eliminatorias con la que le tocó pasar al Narigón, quien luego sacó campeón a ese equipo en México. Y agregó: “Estoy convencido de que lo vamos a lograr. Hay que tener paciencia, mantener la calma y darle confianza a este equipo, porque hay grandes jugadores”.

Basically Americo el Tolo Gallego said the following:
“Diego is my friend and I will support him till death, he has a spine and I know he will be able to deal with all this, tho I will call him today to encourage him as I always have”
“Argentina will qualify and when they do be very careful, becuase the same thing happened in 86 with Bilardo”. I am convinced that we will do it (qualify). We need patience, stay calm and place our confidence in this team because there are great players”

HOAX, TODD,
We must keep our 5th place. That is the objective.
So it means that we need to face an eliminated Uruguay. If we face Uruguay still in the race, it will be a nightmare like RUNE said (I am already afraid of Forlan).
ALEXA’s Ecuador must win versus Uruguay! Venezuela must get only 3 points in 2 games. And of course, we must win against Peru.
Thank you Maradona/Basile/AFA for the present disastrous situation.

I believe we need some much needed luck to qualify, We need Ecuador to beat Uruguay and Venezuala to draw then we’re gauranteed atleast a 5th place finish! Maradona is an absoulute egoistic moron who would never listen to anyone. God save Argentina!!

worse than not qualifying for this worldcup, Maradona’s true poison, his lasting legacy might be to distance Messi from Argentina.

everywhere on the net, there are people criticising Messi for his lack of “genius”, his lack of “effort”, his lack of “personality” and his lack of “leadership” … they are saying that he’s overrated (ridiculous!) and that he’s partially to blame for the results Argentina have been suffering.

it’s easy to see why this kind of thing starts up, people grown old on tales of Maradona’s daring-do, Argentines feeding on crumbs [in football terms] for decades, yet still feasting on the memory of Maradona’s ‘86 WC … comparing it all to Messi and the current squad.

they may say that Maradona had the talent not to require much coaching. and indeed it may be true, but what about the 9 other outfield players? how did they know when and where to run, who and how to cover? they needed coaching to play with Maradona, to fit around him, to understand what he could provide and how best to hold the team together when he was on the ball.

Messi played well for most of the match against Brazil, but the other 9 were playing on instinct and/or making it up as they went-along. there was the undoing of Messi, it wasn’t for a lack of his “genius” or “character” or “leadership” it was for the absolute absence of any team structure and discipline, which is what Maradona’s job was to provide!

yet, given how people love to jump to quick judgements (Messi is neither “God” nor “overrated”, he truly is the best player in the world, right now) and how at least two generations have grown up hero worshipping Maradona, it’s natural to be incapable of being honest. to lie and hold that lie closer to your chest than your loved one … because that lie saves you from realising your hero is just a very deeply flawed man. it’s a choice between being honest and saving face (after all, if Maradona’s your hero, what does it say about you when the world sees him as an ass and a fool?).

so, with the rise of the Messi backlash, and given Messi’s youth, I think the shock of such criticism and especially of the way Maradona has hung him out to dry, may end up removing the real Messi from Argentina forever.

it is, to me, a very real possibility that Messi may be lost to Argentina, that he will never again have the confidence to play with positive, open, joyous glee for the team.

Aguero looked utterly pissed off with Maradona lastnight, hopefully that means he’s not going to listen to the buffoon for advice on football.

Maradona’s brain doesn’t know football, it was all in his boots (and his hand )

In 2014 Argentina will have Messi, Di Maria, Zarate at their best and with an experienced coach they will be difficult to beat.

About Maradona,

He is and will always be the greatest footballer of all time. Maradona also gets my respect today more than ever becuase he tried and failed. Unlike Pele, Maradona has the courage to try new things and risk his reputation. By the way do you guys know that Pele’s passport it says he is a WHITE. Loooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooool.

Napolifan,
there’s no dishonour in NOT messing up something you’re not good at.
dishonour is fucking up someone else’s joy because of your ego and pride.
dishonour is Maradona’s conduct through much of his career.

the fact that Maradona is the best footballer ever, is neither here nor there, he has a monstrous ego built up by the uncritical worship of millions and he is now completely without any sense of shame or dignity… pulling a really talented generation of players into the sink with him.

Pele deserves MORE respect for NOT fucking with the Brazil NT, he had the intelligence and honesty to realise that he would be no good. and the wisdom to stay away.

there is NO honour in meddling in things you are not intellectually suitable for. as the Rock used to say “know your role”, this really ain’t Maradona’s role.

Procastinator,
Very eloquent indeed. Aurelius should learn from you.

So there is no way for us to get into 4th place at this point? Even if we win both games and other games go our way..? the best is 5th place for us?
If this is the case then he must call our European based players for the qualifiers. these players he is picking from home cant even handle the CONCACAF teams… I think Riqulme will be back.
When does Cambiasso come out of injury?
This is my lineup:
————–Romero——————–
Zannetti—-Samuel—–Gonzal——-Heinze
———-Mascherano—-Cambiasso———-
—————Riquelme——————–
Messi——————————-L Lopez
——–Milito or Crespo or maybe Aguero—-

what do you think Maxi?

procrastinator

Fans should direct their anger towards the people who are supposed to vet people according to merit. Maradona was chosen; he neither qualified for the post nor fought for it. They just gave to him.

I am not just saying nothing, I am just telling (hip hip lingo)lol

Great and saddening posts Albo and procrastinator. I think the Brazilian hierarchy also knew to keep him away from the NT as well.

The team is a function of its players and what I fear is the idiot will resort to chest thumping and level the accusation that the overseas players a re somehow less Argentine and field yet more domestic players some who are deserving Blanco, Bolatti , Fritzler , Yacob etc bt are still not to par.

And we will have the same non entities who should not be near the seleccion picked again , the same blinding errors ie no nine for Aguero to feed off. Messi tasked with all the attacking duties but without width because Zanetti can barely stagger forward scared witless because he knows Vero cannot cover a counterattack and a central mid stuck out wide no one to draw off the deep lying defensive mids off him .

All the criticism levelled at him is appalling. It’s as if he is responsible for the calamities we have to endure. As if its Messi or bust.

Let Guardiola coach Argentina for arguments sake and I’m sure we’d see the same dazzling magician reappear.

And the same farce at the back when quality proven defenders and tough combative mids are not chosen.

How the hell was Gago selected ? Ever since he left Boca he’s seems to have gone backward. No longer any surging runs forwardm even the passes lack crispness at times and more often than not are lateral. And when the pressure is on he vanishes.

Why no Ever ? Unitl he is removed it will be the same sad story. 2014 and 2018 when we still have many jewels finished available to us is a long way off.

It’s a disgrace we have to rely on other teams to do us favours and no doubt **** will whine when Brazil field a weak side against Venuzuela.

And if there is no change in personell and managr there will be no change in fortunes.

The press have to scream and shout for his removal and the people of Argentina riot .Make your feelings known to this buffoon who probably thinks he is still revered.

I’ve already sent my ‘withering’ e-mail to the AFA for what its worth. I hope the hundreds of thousands of Argentina fans aroundthe world do the same.

Neither men and the other parasites in the Argentine game ie Aguilar have any shame or decency to step down as those in the UAR did (albeit after enormous player pressure).

I agree Maxi we should pray for results that make the last game against Uruguay only a matter of rather we take 4th or 5th or it is Ecuador. We will want to play an Uruguay with nothing in the game and also somewhat disheartened because of there lose to Ecuador. I also beleive that Chile will play well against colombia since a tie in that game will asure chile of qualification. I am of course assuming that we get the three points against Peru. i dont see many scenarios where we can lose both of our last games and still take 5th.

Perhaps I should learn from you ,as Albo must have done and everyone else. You Ken are the undoubted master of sagacity, logic and rhetoric.

I bow down to you and ask you forgive my ignorance.

:_?

When we play Uruguay…..no matter what has gone on, they will play us till death. Wether they lose to Ecuador or not, we have a rivalry with them and they will give their 100% to beat us.

With that said I still rather have Uruguay beat Ecuador since they will play us tough regardless. I rather they beat Ecuador and Chile beat them as well. If they get 0 points in the next 2 games and we at least win 1 we pass them and at least secure 5th and maybe 4th.

LOL @ Aurelius!!!!! HAHA

I just read that Argentina has a friendly game on Sept 30th.
I hope Maradona calls on the correct players for this game. This will tell us somewhat of what we can expect for the Peru and Uruguay games in Oct.

finally someone with the nuts to denounce morondona

http://espndeportes.espn.go.com/news/story?id=898259&s=futbol/mundial&type=story

I guess we all have our preferences but for me I take a for sure 5th versus a maybe 4th. I will be cheering for ecuador against uruguay. Also note that uruguay has a better goal differetial than us and Ecuador does not.

HOAX,
Maradona will call the same players (he obviously liked Palermo/Schiavi), use the same tactics (static 4-4-1-Messi with Jonas/Maxi on the flanks who only defend).

I prefer my team to finish 5th. At least, the 2 games vs Concacaf team could allow us to train and progress. The “could” is important. I don’t exclude a 6th position.

May the ARGENTINEAN nation stand up
as mediocrity take center stage
in world cup football qualification for 2010.

If Maradona is removed then we have a chance. With Maradona as coach even if we beat the team from Central America we will be a joke in the worldcup and I don’t want that. I’d rather we are out so that both Grondona and Maradona are kicked out.

I see no merit in doing something for the sake of doing it. I agree that Pele has shown more prudence than Maradona, football quality aside. Pele like others who know how to retain their former glory didn’t believe he could be a coach and retired on top and has managed to keep his reputation intact. Maradona screwed up with drugs, marxism and now by sinking the albiceleste with his rotten ego. If we miss this cup he will be remembered as much for this failure as he is for the career he so badly messed up.

tht was funny Aurelius. I request the regulars to ignore this idiot ken, he likes to provoke. his comments are so boring; every time when the team is in trouble, he comes out of the gutter and brags about a foreign coach.

Guys, this is my first post on this blog, I’ve been an Argentina fan since 1982, and it saddens me to see this team struggling the way they are.

Please explain something to me: Why isn’t Higuain on the team??? Don’t you think he could be number 9 the team’s been lacking since Crespo became irrelevant???

I don’t understand Maradona calling Palermo, PALERMO FOR GOD’S SAKE!!!!!

I think the problem with this team is that all the “bajitos” (messi, kun, tevez) cancel each other out, and that’s why is so difficult for this team to score goals; they have no physical presence on the opponents penalty box, and I think Pipita could be the reference we need up front…

Take care guys

Cesar,

I agree with you. Pipita should be in the lineup – if at least to come off the bench. We have tried with Los Pitufos (Messi, Aguero, Tevez) and have not been getting any good results.

I think Maradona is up against the wall here….he will either call the best or he will go down in flames and take the team and nation’s hope of a 2010 down with him.

And I don’t comprehend how you rather come in 5th if you can come in 4th and not have to play Costa Rica. That’s like winning a race, stopping 1 inch from the finish line and letting the runner behind you cross it so you can come in 2nd.

Cesar that last line was not for you ha

It’s likely Argentina will qualify for 2010 and go on to hoist the World Cup in South Africa under the stewardship of Maradona.

He was magical as a player and better late than never could do the same magic as our manager.

If the unthinkable happens and Argy does not qualify the only serious choice for NT manger would be a foreigner. We have not in recent history produced any quality manager’s and there are simply none ready now. This is just stating the obvious and all serious commentators in Argy are only debating which foreign manager to hire.

regards

No – if we don’t qualify hopefully Grondona will be ousted, Diego will follow and then we can finally give Bianchi or Gallego a try

Argentina has never beaten Uruguay in Uruguay, so they better get their points next match! they will not get 6 points in the next 2 games. with the team in disarray, they will be lucky to get 3.

if i was diego
—————romero————-
angeleri-burdisso-g.rodriguez-papa
–m.rodriguez-mascherano-tissone–
messi———zarate——-higuain

No – if we don’t qualify hopefully Grondona will be ousted, Diego will follow and then we can finally give Bianchi or Gallego a try

I have no problem asking for Grondona for his resignation. With respect were we part company is who you want to see as the next NT Manager.

My biggest fear is not qualifying for the world cup. My second biggest fear is the AFA replacing Maradona with an League B managers like Bianchi or Gallego, who in my opinion are not close to world class tacticians and thinkers.

regards

http://goal.com/es-la/news/1546/argentina/2009/08/04/1421835/opini%C3%B3n-cinco-promesas-a-tener-en-cuenta-para-el-apertura

Questions,

How many managers who love to waste our talents?

And how many AFA Presidents who love to screw up Argentine futbol?

Answers,

Grondona’s head must be chopped first before asking Diego to resign. Without Grondona’s head, we will be back to where we started.

What’s the price of Grondona’s head? WC 2010?

Reading Diario Ole and they are reporting that Diego left crying and with his cell turned off after the game. That he was trully hurt not only at how bad the players did on the field but that most of them seemed unfazed about it. The word is many of the older guys were more floored about the loss and the younger players treated it like whatever.

Also it’s reported that Maradona is so upset that he thinks that he will call mainly players from Argentina’s Primera A for the next friendly on the 30th. He was mainly upset with Aguero, Messi and Mashe for not playing as they do overseas.

I think ARGENTINA will never win until the results are less respected than the mens. I think Argentina has wasted a lot of world cup because their coaches (and it does not seem to disturb argentines people) make choices thinking about their personnal interests. In this world, competition is everything and the result must be the priority, but it isn’t in argentina, in argentina, if you are the boss you work for yourself instead of working for the whole nation. Argentina is the only country that don’t select the best player, that keep the “WORST COACH OF ALL TIMES” just because he’s been the greatest player. In fact that’s argentine’s people and argentines fans in the world who pay the cost. This is not how a democracy works, you argentines should make demonstration in buenos aires to show that you can’t accept to pay the cost once again. If maradonna was a real Argentina lover, he would resign. I think no coach has got a such bad balance sheet, he’s “THE WORST EVER”. This guy is ill, we all know, I don’t even take him as responsible because he’s a weak man. He had the greatest body for football, but his mind is weak. He does not want to resign ? Fire him, you’ll make him feel better because then Argentina will start to win again. Did you see how BIG (physically) diego is now ? He feels bad because argentina loses but he’s so proud that he won’t confess that he feels guilty.
Please argentine people, we are in 2009, you can change things, go to buenos aires to make a Demonstration to fire Grondona and diego.

If Chile draws or better in their next game against Colombia, they will have nothing to play for in their last game against Equador. So that means Equador will probably win against Chile. We should be happy if Chile could give us a hand with a win against Colombia, and not be too optimistic about them doing us another favour against Equador. So we must hope for Equador to win against Uru, even a draw can be bead for us because of Uru’s goal difference. If Equador beats Uru and we beat Peru, Uru are out before the game in Montevideo. They will still give us a hard battle, but with nothing real important to play for…and we’re secured the 5th spot even if(when)we lose. All this is IF Venezula don’t win their last two games….but I really can not see that happening.

PS! Nice to see you back, Albo! We need you in here

Seems that the whole blog team is complete hear on the blog Nice. Everyone has given his word.

I believe there are only 2 solutions to make Grondona leave (maybe):
- Barras Bravas (but they can be easily corrupted)
- Effects of a fast economical development in Argentina

All the rest that has been proposed here is anecdotic. Grondona controls the medias in exchange of TV rights. People in Argentina love their futbol but they have other reasons to do a revolution for a stupid sport. People have other problems to deal with. Put this in your brain KEN.

Grondona is maybe worried for the AFA current financial situation but he’s so happy to see Maradona falling in his personal trap. Maybe he’s gonna fire him in the next weeks? Who knows? Dreaming is not criminal.

One thing that many of you don’t understand: even if we are out of the WC qualifyers, Grondona will NEVER resign! He wants to leave the place to his son when he’ll be “ready”. He’s like a sport dictator.

The tragedy goes on: Maradona wants to change his players now. So it means that the “loyalty” criteria Maradona has been demanded to his players isn’t justified anymore. The NT “motivator” should resign only for this reason where he failed. Anyway, Maradona doesn’t understand that the problem is that he doesn’t give them directions, game plans, tactical demands,… The players did their best. Others will do the same without the results.
http://www.ole.clarin.com/notas/2009/09/11/seleccion/01996643.html

HOAW,
At that point, more we have games to play, more Maradona learns, the better it is for us to “prepare” WC. I should stop being optimistic and face the truth like RUNE & ALBO have done before.

RUNE,
“PS! Nice to see you back, Albo! We need you in here”
You mean in with us, in this futbol hell?

Guys, the match with Uruguay will be problematic they win or loose with ecuador it do not matter.
Something about Forlan, he is guy who gets going when going gets tough,
when the league is at last stages he wakes up and moves the whole team on his shoulders (Villareal, Atletico). But as per what I have seen the Uruguay NT coach do not use Forlan appropriately, so that may be a good thing for us.

Reagarding Uruguay’s goal difference: If Uruguay get a draw in Equador, we would have to beat Peru with at lest 7 goals to equal Uruguay’s goal difference….then a draw would be enough for us in Montevideo…

MaxiLopez:
Yeah, Albo has always been a bit realistic and I need another “pessimistic” man to back me up in here….or wait a minute…that’s NOT been a problem lately…hahaha

The guy is maybe gonna bench Messi & Mascherano, who knows… Maradona is capable to do this, he’s so proud.

Something related to Grondona resigning….how can anyone think he will resign from his empire, for him that is not a position of an organisation, its HIS organisation, there is no talk of selection and resignation.
He can only be removed by some other powerfull force , at present only possibility is his fallout with FIFA or Blatter but I dont see it happening.
In fact FIFA is more corrupt in scale compared to AFA so they are brothers in arms, only if Platini some how heads FIFA then slowly the brothers will separate.

Honestly, before thinking about Uruguay, we should pray for a win over Peru. The players are dead mentally. It’s good for them to go back in their clubs at Barca or Liverpool because Maradona is killing them.

RUNE,
7 gols? With a decent coach and months of work, it would have been possible. With Maradona, it can be the contrary. ARG-URU could be a 64th WC final if we win versus Peru.

WATCH10,
Oh this complex. Grondona has been Blatter’s right arm for decades. The mafioso vote for Blatter, influence his “friends” from America to do so, corrupt things for him to make him stay in charge. Grondona doesn’t care if FIFA referees are sometimes against our team. All he wants is money and power and Blatter will never bother him. Platini is Blatter’s futbol “conscious”, he is there at UEFA because Blatter wanted it (Johansson was a danger). Platini, like Blatter, is against video refereeing and do so on. Don’t count on a revolution at FIFA. Our solution isn’t there.

(sorry for my English, I wrote to fast)

Something out of context for us but
FIFA has a internal politics going on ( I know since 2 of my ex colleagues are in separate football federations and it seems all federations are in some degrees of corruption), Franz Bekenbaur is after FIFA presidency , Platini was with same intentions but Blatter sidelined him with UEFA role,
the problem with Blatter is he needs a successor who would not disclose his millions or billions of illegal business and especially illegal bettings, tickbacks etc etc etc
And guess what who is the most probable next president as per insiders…its a guy called Julio Grondona.
So I wont talk about federations since its all in dirt…

Our present problem is only team selection, if he/they/whoever callup correct players the players have enough wit to understand each other..especially the peker boys they know each other well .

nice, to have you back albo! Aurelius u should just ignore ken’s posts, i do, they’re not worth reading, and quite frankly he only comes out of the woodwork after losses.
It doesn’t matter who gets called up, because it’s not the players who r losing us games it’s the tactics and formation, and lack thereof of any sort of vision or contingency plans.
Well i hope diego falls ill and so cannot continue to coach and someone else has to take over, at present that is probably the only way, since he doesn’t have the decency to listen to people who no more than him, and will not step down.
PS that doesn’t mean i wish him any really bad harm, just enuff so that he can’t continue coaching.

I suspect that people are actually worried for Maradona’s health, which is why the criticism is a lot more muted than it would be if anyone else where the manager.

He’s really done a lot to pull himself together and, in retrospect, it was the most irresponsible, wreckless, cynical and criminal action of the AFA to put him in such a stressful and tricky post.

There was no likelihood that Maradona could resist the temptation to stand in the spotlight again, to “play” again, he’s just too much of a child to be that wise. Also, I think his love for the players is genuine, but (again as has been said by others here) he has no idea of how important it is to achieve distance from the players… it’s all too emotional with him, too much passion and not an ounce of objectivity.

As some people are saying, it does look like Grondona did it calculatedly, to destroy Maradona’s (over inflated) reputation and to make himself look the saviour when he replaces Maradona with someone competant.

For Argentina’s sake, for the sake of the wellfare of the players, Maradona needs to go now. But… how will he handle it? is he strong enough to remain on the sensible path (away from bad old habits) if he suffers this blow?

It is tricky… a terrible position to have to face.

I just hope that the players approach Bilardo and ask him to work with them, around and behind Maradona… since Maradona wakes up in the afternoon, they could train and do tactics in the morning perhaps?

Maradona’s reputation has suffered grately, his defensive comments and his arrogant stance show just how much he is affected (arrogance being a mask for his failing self-belief)…

“Criticism doesn’t affect me,”.
“We will be in South Africa for the World Cup,” Maradona declared, “and when we qualify, all those hacks [who are criticising me now] will want an interview, and I’ll go in studs up.”
“I have spoken to Julio Grondona [the AFA president]. I am not going to break. While I still have a drop of blood in me I will fight to get Argentina to the World Cup.”

On Olé, they say Hugo Campagnaro from Napoli (again) might replace Zanetti. A new player, again, who will need to adapt to his teamates. Like Otamendi, Datolo, Dominguez before him.

By changing the players like that, Maradona is accusing them for the defeats.

In the Spanish press, they title “welcome back Messi” and criticize Maradona (”he doesn’t know how to use him”).

MaxiLopez,
It’s that type of comment from Maradona that I was thinking of. Far too defensive and hurt… he’s protesting too much.

Ideally he would be sacked or he would resign immediately, so that someone (any decent manager – an organiser) can come in as a temporary coach (like Hiddink did with Chelsea) and stabilise the players, let them know that the world isn’t blaming them for the terrible state of the team, that others know it was the lack of direction and planning… give the players back some confidence.

but since last night, I’ve been thinking… what would happen to Maradona’s health, if he was sacked? he’s such a spoilt child that it might be too much for his pride/ego to handle. Argentina don’t need his tragedy on their hands. Messi, Aguero, Mascherano… don’t need his tragedy on their minds…

imagine feeling guilty that you “killed your idol”? imagine if Maradona’s health failed, as a result of being sacked from this position (and the humiliation and criticism of failing to take Argentina to the WorldCup)… I don’t think Messi would cope well with that, and seeing how Mascherano was crying over the Paraguay defeat, I’m certain he would be traumatised for years if Maradona were to fall ill.

it’s a very very bad situation that the AFA have created. criminal.

MaxiLopez,
yes, he’s already partially blamed Messi for the defeat. I agree that he is an utterly stupid and egomaniacal fool.

I’ve just recently begun to wonder what would happen to him, if he were to be sacked. just thinking out loud…

I’ve said it before that, logically, it is best for Argentina that Maradona is fired immediately. so that the players’ confidence can be rebuilt, so that they can go back to working with professionals and work to a plan… Argentina cannot win with Maradona. this I do not doubt.

I didn’t think about that PROCRASTINATOR. One thing is sure, Grondona wouldn’t care.

Still on Olé, their journalists propose solutions:

- Play almost only local players around an enganche (Roman, D’Alessandro).
- Stop playing like we’ve always did. Stop thinking that the beautiful game must be used to win
- Train our players: movement, etc.
- Pekerboys (Saviola, Aimar,…) and calm down with the Messi, Tevez, Aguero combo.
- Get our style back.
- Maradona needs good assistants.

(nothing original tough)

Well is looks he might be heading in the direction of yet more domestically based players.

Those comments he makes are propaganda. He’s trying to accuse certain players of not caring and openly saying that some are not performing as they do at club level.

Well Diego. At club level they are managed by proper coaches who know their strengths and weaknesses and how to get the best out of them. I’ve already said as much about Leo and how poor Masche has to run round like a headless chicken trying to cover every threat which makes him look poor.

He needs to be removed now because he will not select the players needed and does not have a clue about how to get them working in patterns or give them any confidence.

The silence is deafening in the lack of criticism from former coaches and players. Haedo Valdez knows Paraguay do not match up to Argentina in depth of talent (of course they have a far smaller population) but a side which is coached properly and has character will more often than not beat a side with more talent and no character or system.

And the team that was fielded on Wednesday was far from the strongest we could have fielded.

And nice to note that both Paraguay and Chile have Argentines in charge.. There’s my further riposte to those who think only a foreign manager even if Grondona could be persauded to throw more money at the problem is needed.

It’s so dispiriting to see us having to hope for these permutations to come about when we should have breezed qualification.

1986 and 1994 were poor qualifications but we still had reasonable coaches in both instances and pretty solid defenders to rely on. This is a whole new kettle of fish.

I’d settle for beating Peru by whatever means necessary and hope that Ecuador win ,Venuzuela lose so that the game in Montevideo has nothing riding on it and be happy to face Costa Rica seeing as their last match is away in the United States (a game which they are very unlikely to win) over a double legged playoff.

Even with the curse round our necks we surely should be able to beat the players of powerhouses such as Deportivo Saprissa. Maybe not….

Right now Peru must be looking forward to a easy three points. The pressure on the players will be immense and we have a coach whose ineptitude knows no bounds who an not give them the slightest confidence.

No doubt Higuain , Gonzalo,Fazio, Pablito and the rest will have their feet up watching the game thousands of miles away when they should be on the pitch.

Still time to riot and protest. Pray for a miracle. Maybe he is kidnapped and not seen again until December the fourth.

Saludos.

That first suggestion from the Ole journalists is pathetic.
You pick the best players available not on where they happen to play.

Playing in Europe does not mean that these players have lost their desire to give their all for the nation.

It’s this same childish, small minded attitude numpto has used against Higuain, Pastore.

By and large the best players are European based because they were borught there because they have that extra level of quality.

I cannot imagine the Pumas for instance going into a Test series pickn just domestic players and ignoring those in the Top 14 or Guiness Premiership. That would be decried as madness by these self same sports journalists but because its the football team ,that makes it a special case ?

These journo’s are as mad as numpto. Perhaps he has infected them with his own brand of idiocy.

Argentine soccer fan Juan Rosales says;

“I don’t respect him now. He was a tremendous player, but as a coach, he knows nothing. He has to go now because he’s taking us down.”

http://www.calgarysun.com/sports/othersports/2009/09/11/10835616-sun.html

ALBO i hope you continue to post and tell us whats happening in the local argentine media (ALBO or anyone)

My hope is the oppostite from the local media. Play only europe based players and try to arrange one more friendly in Europe where those players can play one game as a team before the Peru game.

Maxi was spot on when he mentioned there are other problems in Argentina that need to be addressed.
There’s a virtual war between the Kirchners (president Cristina and hubby) and the Clarín Media Group.
There’s also a big mess between the government and agricultors.
AFA’s Grondona has his own issues because he broke his contract with T&C and decided to give free football on TV to argy fans. Which is great, but legally you just don’t break contracts like that unless you are (as I wrote yesterday) a DICTATOR.

I’ll be in Buenos Aires these days until the end of the month.
I’ll be very busy but I’ll try to send a report from down there if time allows.
Saludos

Well..it looks like Argentina is the same situation as England..they missed the Euros…will Argentina miss WC. Julio will not sack Maradona..however he can give some extra assistants and they could deal with him on choosing players…Argentina Team= Boca Juniors+ Napoli…period

Ridiculous. It’s the “home” [players that caused so much problems in defense. Morons.

Can it get any worse..maradona thrives on pompous rhetoric and pop patriotism.

FROM GOAL.COM
http://www.goal.com/en/news/1863/world-cup-2010/2009/09/11/1494430/diego-maradona-to-scrap-european-based-players-for

Diego Maradona To Scrap European-Based Players For Argentina’s Final Two World Cup Qualifiers
‘El Pibe de Oro’ affirmed that he will only select players that he feels are hungry to fight for the Argentina shirt…

Diego Maradona, the coach of the Argentine national team, told the press that several of Argentina’s European-based players will not be called up to his squad for Argentina’s final two World Cup qualifiers against Peru and Uruguay in October. Maradona will give an opportunity to several players who ply their trade in Argentina.

Maradona wasn’t happy with the fact that after the devastating defeat to Paraguay on Wednesday, his squad didn’t seem too badly affected by the result, particularly those players who play in Europe’s top leagues.

“I realised that I have options, that those [players] who play in Argentina can do a good job. Perhaps we will qualify for the World Cup with those [players] from here mixed with those from Europe,” Maradona told Buenos Aires newspaper Ole.

Maradona wasn’t impressed with the performance of several of Argentina’s top European-based players against Paraguay and Brazil. These included players like Lionel Messi, Sergio Aguero and Javier Mascherano.

Although the three are likely to continue to be part of his squad, Maradona believes Argentina’s home-based players are more “hungry” to fight for the Argentina shirt.

Maradona was annoyed with the attitude of several of his players, and according to reports will exclude many of them when he makes his next Argentina call up in two weeks.

Despite their age, he indicated that Martin Palermo and Rolando Schiavi will be given a more prominent role next time. As well as them, several new faces are expected to make his squad.

Argentina are in danger of missing out on the World Cup for the first time since 1970.

If only Messi or Mascherano or both refuse to be part of this madness, ala Riqueleme , there is a chance he will be sacked.

I guess Riquelme had fair idea about the situation and was right to step back.

wow, Maradona has fallen off the deep end, no euro players?! he must be on drugs again…

The new faces include Jose Chamot and Sergio Olarticochea.

You’d think he’d be saying I will be calling up Aimar , Gonzalo etc etc but of course not.

The stupid bastard doesn’t even realize that the players he criticizes are playing poorly because of his ’system’.

Can he sink any lower ? Is he deliberately attempting to make sure we will not qualify ?

Someone shoot him and put the fool and us all out of our collective misery.

you’ve got to be kidding me. His answer is to call up more Argentina based players. oh screw this, I need a break. everytime I catch up on Arg/Maradona news, it gets worse and worse.

what makes this whole episode that much harder to take is that upcoming WC is one of the most open in recent memory. there is no clear favourite, no dominant team. Even the best teams have guys in their 30s, this WC is so wide open. I don’t believe Brazil is as good as the media are making them out to be. Spain, like Argentina will have problems vs physical teams and now coaches have a blue print to follow after the USA game.

I can’t believe I’m saying this but somehow on paper, England might be the favourites. That’s all that needs to be said. England. crap. And especially for the poster here john, you mention that the ARG players deserve the blame as well, and I agree with that to some extent. But to illustrate how much coaching matters, take a look at England. They had McLaren in charge and couldn’t even qualify for the Euro. They swallowed their pride, picked the best coach for their bunch of guys in Capello and he’s transformed them into one hec of a unit. I still can’t believe I have England rated this high. I mean they’re England.

I just hope we can sneak in somehow and then with the 3 weeks of preparation before the WC, somebody drugs Maradona at night, forcing him to miss morning practices and have anyone, any coach teach these guys how to play as a unit.

btw, AURELIUS, your post: Even with the curse round our necks we surely should be able to beat the players of powerhouses such as Deportivo Saprissa. Maybe not……. had me reeling on the floor with laughter, till I had to stop and worry about the possibility that even beating Costa Rica is no given. wow

and following up on the topic of who we’d like to win, I would much much rather accept 5th place going into Uruguay with nothing to play for than beating Peru and Ecuador losing with Uruguay still in it. No way is this Argentina team capable of going into the Monumental and beating Uruguay there. And as someone pointed out, 5th gives us two more games to work out the kinks and move from completely a disjointed, out-coached, out-thought team to one that is just 80% of the above 3 attributes. won’t help a lot, but each tick in the right direction now is seemingly priceless.

Ok…after carefully looking at the goal difference, I now do think it is better for Ecuador to beat Uruguay.

This morning on Diario Ole they reported that Julio Grondona met with the entire coaching staff except Maradona. He asked all of them to get more involved and help Maradona more in selecting players and in the practices. He specifically asked Bilardo to be more involved.

The word is that Carlos Bilardo has been involved very little – was rarely seen at any of the practices. I have a feeling that if we lose the friendly……Grondona will bring Bilardo as the coach for the final 2 games. It would seem to be the easiest and quickest solution if he were to sack Diego. He is already on the coaching staff, and would be a quick band aid for the NT.

Maradona should try calling up the right European players before he says that shit.

No Higuain, Zarate, Aimar, or Di Maria. Argentina are lost with Maradona selecting the team. Lost.

The bastard won’t listen to anyone.

He’s so arrogant and full of himself, he probably thinks , no he defintelty believes everyone else is at fault. He of course is perfect.

He’s a mini-Stalin/Hitler/Pol Pot character. There is onyl one way. My way or no way.

People of Argentine demonstrate please. Go out on the streets and protest. This weekend before games bring your banners and take anti-Maradona slogans with you.

‘Hands off OUR national team’.

The two bastards M and G seem to be playing each other using the NT as a vehicle for their own ambitions and Bilardo himself is desperate to be the new AFA boss, despite it being a heriditary title to be conferred on the scions of the Grondona family in perpetuity.

Is the cunt M really trying to make us not qualify because he thinks G wll leave ? Another misjudgement because the superbastard G will use the oppurtunity to for once and for all hang M out to dry.

Its pathetic and pitiable. Two dung beetles squabbling over a turd.

Meanwhile Argentinos and the army of Albicelestes suffer.

If only someone could shoot them both or organize a gunfight at the OK Monumental.

People live on hope but on hearing these new utterances from the mouth of the footballing god, its hard to have any.

The Peruvians will be licking their lips. Perhaps G will send the Peruvian FA some large brown paper envelopes and some friendlies with Leo and Kun ina cage in Lima as part of the footballing circus he has created with Renova.

Must not lose all those free VISA Platinum acconts, and Adidas merchandising that his great nephews must enjoy.

Argentina are out guys. Maradona is a fool, and there is no sense in hoping anything will imrpove with him as manager.

Just accept it now. What’s the worst for me is that the Peru match is on my birthday. So Argentina will be out of World Cup for my birthday. That really sucks.

I bet he is on drugss again which is so very sad, but he asked for it. why would you take responsibility of something like couching a NT unless you are arrogant bastard.the more I read the more depressed I become

alluding to something that one of the posters mentioned earlier how Grondona could possibly be in line for Blatter’s throne to continue the mafia that is FIFA, given Grondona’s standing I look back on the last two matches and recall that all 50/50 decisions went our way. In fact, overall, the referee tended to side with Argentina more than with Brazil and Paraguay. If that was the case then, while I don’t expect or want Korea v Italy/Spain, at this stage, I wouldn’t mind all the help we can get.

Perhaps we can get more favourable draws in the future then Skywalker.

But we will not be in the snorefest draw on the 4th of December. It’s sad but true and Argentuban is only being truthful.

For the game against Peru we will need at least four penalties from the referee though just to make sure the great Martin Palermo, who is a natural sucessor in the line of great Argentine strikers from Stabile to Batigol ,scores one of them.

AURELIUS.. well I never said FIFA wanted us to win the WC, just wanted to qualify

yeah, I’m not sure about the Peru game either but HOAXoneder’s post is encouraging if it were really true, namely “G” getting the coaches to stamp their authority on Maradona’s tactically challenged brain. I took that into consideration as to why I expect us to beat Peru. Then again if more local based players are in the offing then we’re playing Roulette and we’re not playing with House money.

and oh, please never mention “penalties” and “Palermo” in the same sentence again.

All I have to say is we know if things have really changed or not when they make player selections.

If they pick Higuain, Gonzalo, Zarate, Aimar, Di Maria, etc….if they at least pick Higuain and Gonzalo, we know we are getting real. If not, kiss off next summer.

I am speechless. I dont even know what to say or think. I could take all the Euro based players and make two top ten in the world teams. Instead we will have Boca vs Peru minus Bocas best player Riquelme. how can you say that Messi, Mascherano, and tevez dont care? That is Pathetic!!!!! What about Higuain, Aimar, Zarate, Gonsolo, Garay, Di Maria, Insua, Samuel? Do this players not care because they are plying there trade where they can make the most money? Maradona there is a reason that these guys play in Europe. Let me help you. When you are really good at something you end up in the best and highest paying league or company. That is how it works. I might have to leave the blog for a while before I have a heart attack.

He throws in two old guys the last 15 minutes and has nothing but praise for their heart and dedication yet the guys that ran around for 90 minutes and almost half the time down a man are the guys that dont care. Someone tell me that this is a bad dream ?

Those of you who fill your mouth bitching about Palermo, should know that Palermo didn’t call himself up for our NT.
Maradona did it.
Palermo should be left out of this trash talk.
Yes, he once missed 3 penalties in one game. That was terrible.
But since we’re at it, let’s complete his stats a little bit.
The only Boca player to have scored 4 goals in 2 different games.
283 goals and counting. 10th in Argy all time history.
With Boca, he played 244 matches and scored 164 goals (0.672 goals per match)
7 argy championships.
3 Copa Libertadores, 5 Copas Sudamericanas.
I intercontinental cup (MVP of the match)
Boca’s top scorer in all of professional football history.

You guys who hate Boca don’t have to love him the way I do.
But don’t take a crap on a player who has been a model of professionalism and friendship just because he was called up by Maradona.

Lastly, Maradona didn’t call only Boca players.
Where is Banega, where is Palacio, where is Riquelme?
Think before throwing dirt where there’s no need to.
Again, Maradona should have called Higuaín and one more #9.
He called Palermo. That was wrong.
Palermo did nothing wrong though.
Leave him alone, Aurelius and company !!!
And if not, then tell it like it is.

“Diego Maradona, the coach of the Argentine national team, told the press that several of Argentina’s European-based players will not be called up to his squad for Argentina’s final two World Cup qualifiers against Peru and Uruguay in October. Maradona will give an opportunity to several players who ply their trade in Argentina.”

this is why we will not beat peru……

Players do what they can whether they are Palermo, Schiavi or Dominguez. Grondona, Maradona, Bilardo and AFA in general are the only ones to spit on, as I said many times before, and as ALBO is reminding us.
This is not a bad dream TODDUTAH. If you guys weren’t here to share your pain with me, I don’t how I would live this situation.
I think it’s becoming useless to try to understand Maradona’s logic. He’s totally out of control with his ridiculous nationalism. As we have all said, no need to call CAMBIASSO, SAMUEL, AIMAR, HIGUAIN, CAVENAGHI, INSUA, DI MARIA, RIQUELME, BANEGA, PALACIO, GONZALO RODRIGUEZ, LUCHO GONZALEZ, GARAY or MONZON. They are not considered as argentinos. Battaglia, Palermo or Schiavi are. Maradona is acting like his friend Fidel Castro with whom he probably did some drug business in the past. We will not qualify, I’m trying to realize it. I don’t see us winning 4 points because of Uruguay, even eliminated.

I forgot SAVIOLA, a fantastic player.
Maxi Rodriguez or Andujar might be ignored next time. Other than them, I don’t know at all.
Jonas, Veron, Palermo, Schiavi will be there.

This could be the team that will face Peru.

————-Romero————-
Campagnaro-Micho–Schiavi-Heinze
—Battaglia–Masche–Jonas—–
————-Veron————–
——-Messi—-Palermo———

Guys, I think there is a something else behind Maradona’s statement. He will not call European based player….lol. I think some of the European based player of high profile reacted with Mara Dona after two consecutive vital loss to Brazil and Paraguay for his worse player selection and tactics. And you know how Mara Dona will react on it. He is such an arrogant bullshit that he decided to avoid the European based player. That moron is killing himself by his own hand. He will die with tremendous humiliation and disgrace in the history of football. If any of you have the hope that Argentina will win with Peru… leave it now. If this headless bull is in charge, you can forget about WC2010. Don’t cry for me argentina…

And who else but the European based players (Messi, Aguero, Mascherano, Maxi) will react with Maradona for his worst selection and tactics? Palermo, Schiavi, …..they?
Never, they are so happy that they are now playing with the NT, whatever the result is.
Do our domestic players think that they are worse than European based players? No….
They are now very much loyal and grateful to Maradona that he called them up. That is good sign for me. Let Maradona avoid European players in one match, then you will see Messi, Masche, Maxi are opening their mouth. I am waiting for that…

Thankfully club football starts again this weekend to give our lads a bit of break from the huge pressure they are under. I think it’s justifiable pressure but it can be overwhelming non the less.

Some of the comments about Maradona I find over the top bordering on slanderous, lets tone it down a notch.

With regards to the players I let it be known that they should come under fire for their pathetic performances but Skywalkers point is well taken and I thank you pointing it out to me. England with the addition of a great manager is playing unbelievable, two years ago they failed to qualify for the Euros. For the record I thought their players should have shouldered more of the blame.

Palermo Palermo Palermo….let me just say if you miss three penalties in one game you better save 100 children from a burning school house or the PK misses is the first thing ….maybe only thing that you will be remembered for in your football career.

regards

now it is really getting dangerous and pathetic!! he is threatening to call up only local players!! this becoming sickening instead of sacking the fool, AFA is asking the coaching staff to help the fool in the selection of players, m pretty sure tha bilardo is not involved coz diego has refused to listen to his wise advise!! how can coaching staff keep on advising somebody who is not keen to listen to advise, who thinks that he knows football better than anyone!! i am wondering if in argentina there is a minister of sport or president!! i understand that minister should not interfere into AFA business !! this should be viewed as matter of national interest as somebody is endangering the national prestige and pride at will. please grondona , minister of sport , president of republic do something for argentina fans not only in argentina but all over the world. Now m going to ask God to save us and remove this clown and put him far away from the team

I will not probably watch arg vs peru game coz of my heart, i have really suffered for this team and now i better do not think about the future anymore. This man is simply canceling the considerations i have for him for the achievements on the pitch as he seems on mission to destroy my heart and of many other fans.

please tke S.Higuan on team…
————-Romero————-
Campagnaro-Micho–Schiavi-Heinze
—Battaglia–Masche–Jonas—– sub: maxi,gago,detalo
————-messi————– sub: riqualmi,veron
——-Teves—-Higuan——— sub: aguaro,l lopes

this is good
not select veron to 1st squad: veron&mascherano most defensisive players
because not selected one time there..winning for…ONLY ATTACKING PLAY

Please someone make me laugh as I dont know what else to do or say. I also read that they are going to force him to call Higuain and Riquleme but how wil that work? This is going to be more of a circus then ever. Also they say that he will have a bunch of advisors. Once again what good does that do? He will not listen. And Albo I love Boca and palermo so any things I say about Boca or him are meant as a slander to Maradona and his views on selection. Of course all of the Local guys are happy and 100% behind maradona right now . He is giving them a chance to play for the NT which is everyones dream. The sad thing is that none of the european based players can speak up right now because if they do they could sit out the WC supposing that we make it that far. If Maradona thinks a player even questions what he is doing then I gurantee that player will be considered unpatriotic.

My final point is that I am not sure how mad I am at maradona because he is who he is. He has not changed. The main bad guys are the ones that hired him. It is the same thing that Albo says about Palermo. he gets called and of course he will be excited to play. It is not his fault that he was called and he will do his best even though at the NT level it is not good enough. The same is true of Maradona. He had no experience for the job. No good track record and he is a little crazy. We all knew this it was not a surprise to any of us so why should we blame him for being who he is and always has been?

I just wish that there was a way that he could exit gracefully. Maybe we beat Peru and get slaughtered by Uruguay but still qualify. the team looks horrible and maradona quits before the games against cost rica. That is my dream right now

A brain affected through drug abuse simply
cannot make the best decision possible.
Please please do NOT tell me Messi
and Mascherano are NOT hungry for success.
Albo,eloquent writing from both you and
Aurelius. AT last both of you are speaking
straight from the heart. Unfortunately though
the GOOD Argentinean nation is way TOO passive to
protest against this lunacy that is hurting
our team, one of the best in the world. Those
of you who refuse to be provoked
so as to pressure those in charged to do
the right thing MUST now face the consequences
that Argentina will NOT
be in South Africa. This is the ultimate
price we pay as fans for not
voicing our opinion loud and clear in this time
when the world is a global village
thanks to the internet.

Maradona is like George Bush, I think.
even at the height of that nutcase’s bizarre criminal aggressions, I couldn’t bring myself to hate him. he was too stupid, too innocent (lacking in guile and cold hearted malice) to be anything other than a cheeky monkey or a playground bully… the damage that one person caused to the world is incalculable, but everybody who put him in that position shares the responsibility for his actions.

Maradona should never have been placed in such a position. he is sounding ever more over-the-edge…

I hope that he hasn’t damaged the current generation of talented players… they seem distraught and bewildered, their club managers will have a lot of work on their hands.

May be now MARADONA is delibrately acting crazy so that he gets fired and benefits (cash) from it… may be!

If you still don’t know Mundoalbiceleste, here is the address. Our friends SEBA & JOHN ae doing a great job, trying to be neutral & realistic.
http://mundoalbiceleste.blogspot.com/

I have been reporting things as I heard them and I’ve been mainly informing, rather than giving my opinion.

After yet another contradiction, I’m here to do a little exercise to remember some of the contradictory messages that MARADONA has been sending out and some of the phrases that sounded like ‘his truth’ and now are being erased by his elbow of God.

When MARADONA took over he said:

MARADONA’s quote: ‘Juan Pablo CARRIZO is my first choice as a goalkeeper. I don’t care if he is not playing for Lazio’

Outcome: Three matches later, when CARRIZO didn’t have 100% responsibility in the goals he conceded, he lost that number 1 shirt.

We all know what happened to his next choice: ANDÚJAR. And now, only a few months after he designated CARRIZO as his first-choice keeper, he is using his third in Sergio ROMERO (if you don’t count Diego POZO and Cristian CAMPESTRINI, which he used v. Panamá when players from the local league were called up).

When Martín DEMICHELIS got injured and needed surgery:

MARADONA’s quote: ‘Nicolás BURDISSO is the natural replacement for Martín DEMICHELIS’.

Outcome: BURDISSO joined the squad for Brazil and Paraguay and didn’t play a single minute (instead, he had to witness how DOMINGUEZ was outclassed and outpaced in Brazil and yet he won a second cap three days later and he also watched as a 36-year old Rolando SCHIAVI was sent in vs. Paraguay instead of him)

Just before the friendly in France:

MARADONA’s quote: ‘I think it’s time I give Lisandro LOPEZ good minutes for the national team’.

Outcome: Lisandro LOPEZ took only 30 seconds to find the back of the net against Russia (he only played in the second half). It was a friendly. Lisandro LOPEZ played exactly 0 (ZERO. A big fat ZERO) minutes in the World Cup Qualifiers.

And this next one is the quote that really kills me and disgusts me now that I read Diego is planning on calling more players from the local league and leave out some of those that are European-based.

Just before the match v. Brazil in Rosario:

Question from a journalist: ‘Diego: if today you had to come up with a list of 23 players to go to the next World Cup, do you think those players are here in this hotel with you right now?’ (NOTE: There were 28 players in that squad).

MARADONA’s quote: ‘Yes. The 23 players are here with me now’.

Outcome: Well…we don’t know what the outcome will be yet. It certainly doesn’t look like a good one. Reports EVERYWHERE are suggesting Diego will ‘punish’ most of the players that came from Europe to play against Brazil and Paraguay and he won’t be calling them up again. Even names that are (or were) close to his heart like MESSI, AGÜERO and TEVEZ are being questioned.

The media, still licking Diego’s arse (if you allow me the expression and if you don’t I apologize but I can’t find a better way of putting it), are now blaming all on MESSI of all people. They are now praising PALERMO (Boca Juniors biased anyone?) and even Rolando SCHIAVI.

This, my friends, is looking worse and worse each day.

If you ask me now (and my head replies), I’d say Argentina do not deserve to be in the next World Cup, for much as it hurts me to say it

Nico Pareja arriving in Spain: “It’s difficult for Messi these days, but he can’t be at his best all the time”. The kid must have been criticized by everyone: the press, the public, Maradona in the locker-room. Guardiola won’t play him vs Getafe. Messi is tired and DEPRESSED. He’d better recover because he is going to play 27 games in 99 months. Incredible.

we’re not out yet we should win those two games. mardona should talk with riquelme to come back to the team and dominiguez is really a disaster and messi didnt play his best and demicheles was injured.the best one who played was veron and papa doesnt know wut a football means so maradona should really concentrate on those two games because (no argentina,no world cup)

I meant 27 games in 99 days, sorry.

Can not believe what I am reading here now…So the euro based players are the ones to blame???????? So, now we’ll have Dominguez, Otamendi, Veron, Papa, Brana, Bolatti, Battaglia, Schiavi, Palermo and those guys again…I guess also Montenegro…….WOW…this circus will never end. A WC without Argentina…I never ever thought I would experience that in my lifetime. Well, we might as well get used to the idea, for real. Cause this will be a nightmare for long…cause, like most of us know, Diego will never resign…neither will Grondona. Diego has said so many ugly things about Grondona for years, and rightfully so…I find it incredibly amazing that he now kind of works together with this mafioso in a period of time that will go down in history as the black chapter of Argie football. The two most important posts in argentina football are being occupied by exactly the two persons that should be anywhere else. Two stupid men with big egos, that will do nothing but destroy us. The Grondona-Diego combination is the worst thing that could have happened to us. We are finished. I predicted a circus, but I have just come to realize that this circus may last for very long…….

Guys there is still hope of Maradona being sacked by next week.

The Argentine national team are in serious danger of missing out on the World Cup for the first time since 1970, and it has been reported that Argentine legend Diego Maradona , the coach of the side, could be out of a job as of next week.

“Maradona and the squad are distanced and this is ever increasing,” reported Buenos Aires newspaper Clarin, in reference to the possible internal conflict within the Argentine national team.

“Those who live day to day with the national team assure that next week will be a crucial week in relation to his [Maradona's] future. Important things will be decided. Diego Maradona, for the first time since he was appointed as the coach of the team, will have his power cut.”

It is unknown whether Maradona will stay on as the coach of the national team ahead of two crucial World Cup qualifiers against Peru and Uruguay next month. But what is known is that if he stays on as coach he will be given a hand by a coach with vast experience.

Maradona has had complete control up until now, however this is likely to be very different as of next week. Firstly, AFA decided that Argentina will return to playing at the Monumental stadium for future World Cup qualifiers. This will start against Peru next month.

‘El Pibe de Oro’ may not even be allowed to select his squad for Argentina’s final two qualifiers against Peru and Uruguay, and this could be decided by AFA chief Julio Grondona instead.

Maradona’s idea is to exclude several key players who ply their trade in Europe, to give preference to those players who play in Argentina’s local competition, who he feels are more “hungry” to fight for the Argentina shirt.

La Nacion reported that “Diego Maradona believes several players aren’t hungry enough to get out of this sticky situation, while some players feel unprotected for the lack of a clear idea and are uncomfortable because of the unclear messages Maradona sends.”

Argentine football is quite evidently in chaos, and Maradona has been blamed as the main culprit. Next week his future is likely to be decided.

Gregory Sica, Goal.com

thank you to all the people who are sharing, summarizing and translating articles. you’re a treasure to this blog

Remember VERON is out for the next game since he was red carded. He will not play against Peru and possibly wont play against Uruguay either.

Christian Riveros, mid for Paraguay and present on the pitch in Wed game had a press conference in Mexico today and said that the players did not speak to each other on the field, they seemd as in disinterested and confused. He said it seemed as no player was willing to put the team on their shoulder and carry them on or anything.

I think this has been an issue with the team that has slowly disentigrated more and more. It obviously began as Alfio Basile was coach – it came to a point that the players just seemed to not care – could have been Basile was no longer in control able to govern them.

The Maradona project began pretty good with a win against Scotland and then France – but it seems that the charm after that just slowly faded.

I think maybe some of the European players do need to get back in form and get some wins with their clubs to get their spirits up before returning to the final 2 games. It does suck that it seems that no one is getting any form of continuity with the NT and with that being said no one will ever get to know the other on the field.

Maybe Pekerman was on to something when he brought Messi off the bench guys lol. I think Messi is by far one of the better players today, but maybe he is just not ready to carry all the weight on his shoulders.
When he arrived in Spain he said nothing to the press, sat in his car and shut the window and really looked depressed and upset. He almost had the same look he had on the field.

I think if we try to get Riquelme back it may be a good thing. He can bring some sort of backbone and experience. Diego tho needs to shut his mouth and as he says do his job and listen to everyone around him especially those around him.

AFA’s homepage was hacked into today – they put a picture up of Maradona wearing the Brasil NT shirt with the title “An image is worth more than 1 million words”

As Zanetti informed us….I think Diego is gonna possibly be stripped.
The fact that Grondona met with the entire coaching staff and Diego was not present speaks volumes. Grondona also asked Bilardo to be more involved in selecting players and in tactic and decisions.

Again……I have a feeling Grondona may give the reigns to Bilardo for the final 2 games.

The NT is in chaos.

Not that this is good news…..but Pablo Guerrero, forward for Peru tore his meniscus and will miss the October match against Argentina.

Interesting– so if they do get rid of Maradona — will they try to call back Riquelme for the final two games? That might cause even more chaos.

I would think that if Maradona is taken out it does open the door for Riquelme to return since he said the reason he would not play is cos of Diego.

Does anyone else see Grondona passing the reigns over to Bilardo. With such close games coming up…..what other coach will they place there – Bianchi wont do it and they wont have time to screen others.

I thought that that was the reason to bring Bilardo on in the first place…to have at the ready in case madness ensues. Well — madness has ensued.

But Bilardo has done nothing thins whole time. I don;t know how he has been behind the scenes, but on the face of it he’s looked incredibly impotent and pretty useless.

Riquelme is looking like a genius now. He saw this coming way before any of the other players….but the truth is …my suspicion is that Riquelme seized on the opportunity to jump shop when he did becuase he deep down thought that he didn’t have another couple years in him at that intensity for the world cup.

WHo knows – maybe they will ask him back now. I doubt the players want him back, though.

I respect everyone’s opinion on this blog as we all have in hearts what’s best for our beloved NT.

However I can’t promise I won’t go on a rant if the idea of replacing Maradona with another Argy manager in lieu of a foreigner is continually discussed.

Regards,

Maradona was/is the person reponsible for selection and mode of play….Bilardo is for sake of it General Manager…but Bilardo can function only if he left alone…there should be no Diego…for the next friendly with Ghana…Bilardo should be the coach…and we shd see what he does…it is never late for new coaches…there aren’t many to take it at this time…

I’m just waiting to hear some good news soon, something like Diego gets kicked out. That’s why I’m online here in today’s blog just waiting to hear some news of this coming, so that way I can get my hopes back again, and hopefully we can get a manager who gets the European-based players along with Riquelme back. I will be back again tomorrow and the next day until I hear some news that will make all Argentina fans really happy.

I love Argentina, I cry for Argentina, I Dream of Argentina Have been since I was 10 years of age and will always do for the rest of my life. Pasarella, Cempos, Maradona, Bielsa Peckerman, Sensisni, Batistuta, Gallardo, Sorin, Messi, Ortega……………..All thos eguys have been a part of my family.
I even enjoyed Argentina when the lost, even though it broke my heart. I loved the wat rhey possessed the ball, how they gracefully moved and the beautiful painting they did on the field every time they worked their magic. I thought Brazil was it in 1982 when Paolo Esodoro, Falcoa, Eder and the like played, which was the best most beautiful Brazilian team BTW, Now I think they are physically fit, strong, tall, mechanical, rough and just all around snobs and bullies who win be sheer momentum of the past. Please, let the team that won the Olympics last summer come back. Where is Ayala, Sorin, Maxi, Mascherano, Pablo Aimar, Gago, Messi Riquelme, Cambiasso, Teves, Aguero, Heguain, Heinze, Abondenzieri. Remember that team?
Now Maradona wants to bring an aging group of players to play agaist Fabiano and Lucio??? Is he nuts? Maybe this is just a prologue so he can put himself on the team.
Here’s my two cents worth: Maradona never got over how he disappeared from the international scene in a humiliating manner, so he quit drugs with the help of a communist dictator and is now coming back to show the world. This is Maradon’s fete not Argentina’s and we are all paying for it. If Argentina had any hope of winning the cup and gloriously beating any pompous Brazilian, English, Italian, German or Mexican A$$ it was this time around. This Argentina rules, it the bestest most beautiful team to possess the ball and work their magic on the field, I love their white and blue, I love Argentina and for Argentina’s sake, for the hopes of all those wonderful young players, for the sake of the soccer world who has been waiting impatiently to watch the Albiceleste unleash their magnificent beauty onto the world of soccer, for all of our sakes’. Maradona, Please, Step aside gracefully, graciously and proudly and the whole world will applaud & thank you for it, maybe for ever. Maradona, make history once again and do the right thing once again: give us back our Argentina. *sigh*

I never heard about Bilardo’s experience as coach, can anyone give me any info on this guy if he has what it takes to get us to world cup glory? And is he different then Diego in getting in the right players?

he was maradona’s coach when they won the wc in 1986 and when they played the finals in 1990

i just hope this news is serious, that maradonna will be taking a back seat. we are so desperate right now and this thinks all local players is the answer. by the way who determines local players had more heart. if they did this so call heart does’nt transfer to speed since domiguez got smoked time and time again.

thanks munshi, but will this guy bring in our european based players that we need so badly if he is selected as our next manager?

i don’t know, but hopefully the only crazy one in that group is maradona.

Seriously do we need Heinze…??

best case scenario = maradona gets stripped of his role and a new coach takes over….we barely qualify but qualify none the less and get to see the likes of higuein and others int he world cup

worst case = maradona stay we dotn go to the world cup and he also fails us at the copa america

“Diego Maradona To Scrap European-Based Players For Argentina’s Final Two World Cup Qualifiers”

ARE YOU KIDDING ME???????????????????

Thanks Albo. may God bless you.

he is out to prove that boca can win the world cup…gooooood luck

I am not from USA… i am from Bangladesh

COKE HEAD….all he can think is how to sniff coke

Bilardo: ‘This thing has to end like it has started. If Jesus and the Virgin Mary are coming to help us, we will accept them. But we will welcome nobody else’ is what Carlos BILARDO said.

—–Ok, Diego is NOT the only crazy one in the group………
Bilardo is clearly a better coach than Diego of course, and I’ll take him any day in this situation, but in my opinion most of Bilardo’s ideas belong to the past.
I find it very hard to believe that Diego, being the stubborn man he is, will accept a degradation and to have another coach beside him with just as much to say as himself. Is that gonna happen??? Diego is impossible to co-operate with. If Grondona decides that Diego and Bilardo are “equal” coaches for the rest of the WC qual, it will just be on paper. Diego will not let this happen. And Bilardo knows how impossible Diego is to work with, so he’ll possibly stay in the backgroung anyway.

Hey everyone. Long time, no see.

I am glad all you guys are still here: Albo, Maxi, Alexa, etc. Bueno, soy Tio. Mi hermana tuvo iuna nina hermosa y esutve muy ocupado con ella.

What can I say that hasn’t already been said? I am in pain (futbolistically speaking) just like the rest of you.

The worst part is that this whole thing about Grondona insisting on someone to pick players and such for Diego is just smoke and mirrors. Let’s just say that the players and tactics are picked to perfection. Then what? The game still has to be played and any good DT must, MUST know how to read the game and the flow and give clear instructions? Will Diego be on the bench and let Bilardo or Vivas or someone else walk the line and give instructions? I highly doubt that. My father told me that there was a reporter who said that after Veron was sent off, Gago looked to the bench and asked “Donde juego ahora?” No one on the bench gave any instructions. The players were truly on their own.

It’s true, player should know alot of things, but they need to have clear instructions. There are things you cannot notice in the game. Someone outside has to point them out. Things like, say, “move back and to the right so this guy doesn’t beat you.” Or, “Hey next time you get the ball in that position look for Aguero on the left, he’s always alone”.

I truly thought that if Diego was ever going to be motivated to work hard, study, listen to voices of reason, then the Brazil game was that opportunity. How naive of me.

How can the Argentine press heap all this crap on Messi alone. Yes,he hasn’t shown everything he shows in Barca. But come on! Let’s stop trying to make him something he can’t possibly be yet. He’s 22, for fuck’s sake. Diego was kicking a Brazilian in the balls in the World Cup and being sent off at that age!

Thank God I have the NY Yankees to distract me a bit. I feel truly sorry for those fans who don’t have anything else but this beautiful sport to look forward to. Fuckin’ Grondona! He helped ruin everything. The club directors are mafiosos and mice. Families can no longer go to the stadium because barras control everything. My father told me about how people would go to see 5th division kids, then stay for 4th, 3rd, Reserva and then the main game. People knew what they were talking about. Lately, it seems people only know about their own team and vaguely about futbol concepts except the idiotic “pecho frio” crap.

Diego, andate a la mierda. Por vos perdimos un mundial ganable (el del 94) porque te metiste esa mierda. Ahora nos vas a hacer perder otro. Ojala tu trabajo fuera de mierda, porque si lo fuera, seria mejor que este mamarracho al que nos estas sometiendo. Te lo dice alguien que siempre te quiso y te defendio a muerte. Imaginate los que no te quieren o nunca te quisieron?

I am not anti-Boca .Let me state that for a start. I support whatever Argentine team play whether it be in the Sudamericana or Libertadores.

Juan Forlin should have been called ahead of the useless Seba Dominguez for instance but of course he plays in Europe now.

This griping on the selection of Palermo is not intended to slight the man himself and of course it’s not his fault there is a complete fool making the selections but he is not good enough.

I’m sure he’s a nice man but football is not about selecting those with nice personalities and those amenable to the coach. Its about getting the best eleven onto the pitch and making them work as a unit.

He is not good enough plain and simple. His record at his supposed peak in La Liga was mediocre with Alaves,Betis and Villareal and its a sad but true fact of football that a player may acheive great things but he will get remembered more for a mistake.

He has not got the quality of the Licha/Cavegol/Higuain trimvirate.

Hence the constant dragging up of him missing the three penalties, the way Veron is booed after his non show in 2002. Here in England the name Batty is synonymous with the penalty miss in 1998 ,Phil Neville conceding the penalty against Romania in Euro 2002.

Football fans have long memories and are very hard to forgive.

When I mock his callup the scorn is really being directed towards M and G who made him coach.I personally don’t blame any of the players . The phrase ‘lions being led by donkeys’ comes to mind.

I hoep youn understand where I am coming from Albo on this one.

As for the circus, no one could write a farce as dark as this one. Someone come up with a screenplay and invite that Serbian chap to make a new documentary on M entitled ‘Don’t Cry For Me Argentina’.

Saludos.

PS Anything other than M in charge would be a blessed relief. If this is forced on him though, it’s likely like a petulant child he’ll just walk away. Which of course would be no bad thing.

Wow it gets worse. Diego is axing Diego Milito, Gago and Maxi Rodriguez…..what the heck did they do? Especially Milito who has barely played?

John im sorry but at this moment I would take Bilardo over Diego. At least there will be some sort of direction and organization on the field.
Also we would not have the time to screen all prospect coaches. We have to play the final 2 games within a month.

HOAXoneder.. where did you get bit on Milito and Co?

just read on goal that Antonio Mohamed is being considered to ‘help’ Maradona. Is this true? so many rumors, it’s all getting out of hand

Well that’s three of the European contingent.

Maxi Rodriguez. Why ???? Gago is out of form completely and Milito I do not rate over three others. I’d take anyone over this buffoon. Perhaps this will be the straw that break’s the camels back and there will be a player revolt.

Do you have a link to the article HOAXneder ?

Yes RUNE, we are dead. My pain doesn’t make me realize it yet. Like HOAX said, the NT is in chaos.

ZANETTI, it’s terrible to read the article you post. The first solution they’ve taken is to play back in River! I tell you, AFA only think about money. Before, Maradona was alone. Now, he’ll be helped. Oh yes, that’s the solution of course, we’ll win WC now! Then, Grondona may call the players instead of Maradona which means it will be Renova. Poor Samuel & Cambiasso, they might finally be involved in this nightmare.

HOAX, the lack of motivation from the players is only due to Maradona/Basile. They have killed them. The boys are totally lost. They have never played eachother. This is the international & professional level, it’s not easy to adapt immediately with 10 new teamates. Regarding Messi, he’s not a team player so it’s even more difficult for him (and he’s just a kid!!). Yes, Grondona has always had, from the beginning, the possible plan to replace Maradona by Bilardo in case of negative scenario (he hates Diego). The question is: will Grondona break Maradona’s contract although it will cost a lot for a very involved in debt AFA? The other one is: will Maradona resign because he lacks power now?

ALEXA, Yes, Bilardo is responsible of all this disaster. Even more than Maradona.

FAB,
We are already in the worse case. We can’t be lower. WC begins in 8 months and look where we are.

RUNE,
Bilardo after the game against Scotland: “if we always play like we did in the first 30 minutes, we’re world champions”.

GABI MARCELO,
Nice post. The mass always criticize a player who plays badly. Lucho has been destroyed by few here, many times, despite playing totally out of position (right winger!) by Basile and then Maradona. Same goes for Maxi when he played once on the left of the “motivator’s” 4-4-2. Why was he good on the left under Pekerman, and now bad with Maradona? The mass never asks the right questions, they only see the appearance.

HOAX,
Wow. This was predictable. The journalists seem “investigating” from all over the place. Milito? The guy is a gentleman! Maradona maybe wants to make place to Palermo? Maxi is a monster and one of our few leaders! Gago is not even playing with his club! I’m sure they tried to talk to Maradona about the situation. Now they seem out, 3 of our best players. Maybe like Riquelme.
http://www.ole.clarin.com/notas/2009/09/12/seleccion/01997295.html

“Donde juego ahora?”

Yes SKYWALKER, I’ve readen that too.

They say LICHA LOPEZ and Burdisso are out too!
WE ARE DEAD! LOPEZ IS ANOTHER GENTLEMAN, A FIGHTER, A LEADER, AN ARGENTINOS WHO WOULD GIVE EVERYTHING FOR HIS TEAM!
Maradona is excluding his best players. Messi will be there only because the press would not understand this.
FORGET ABOUT WC. WE’LL NEVER GET A POINT IN URUGUAY.

Players considered for Maradona’s emergency plan: D’Alessandro, Guiñazú, Cellay, Clemente Rodríguez, Bolatti, Braña, Salvio, Blanco and Cubero…
They are patriots unlike Maxi, Gago & Milito. Maradona has killed our team.

Most of you guys are in the States and are sleeping right now. Wake up very slowly. Today is another brutal day for us argentinos.

MaxiLopez.. wow, just reading every post is like a dagger to the chest. I mean, at some point even “G” has got to step in and say enough is enough and not let this mad man run amok anymore.

I really feel that this is where having a crook like G will benefit us. Who knows how many untold millions the AFA will lose out on if we don’t qualify for the WC. The sheer prospect of losing millions and thus being unable to line more coin in his pocket, G find a way to neutralize the threat that this Diego.

Truly depressing news Maxi. Licha was not even fit. He M goes on from one low to another and the next day he finds another.

Anyone of us on this blog could do a better job of motivating and coaching this team and selecting the personell.

Let’s hope G missing his free tickets and hospitality round South Africa and all those lucrative sponsorships might do something skywalker. Even he cannot be immune to the sway of public opinion.

Fans should be demonstrating outside of the AFA headquarters demanding the buffoon be removed.

If he could get away with it I am sure he’d even have Messi replaced. Perhaps he will reach that point of madness soon.

Oh to have someone of the calibre of a Jorge Valdano at the AFA. Maradona did not single handedly win the WC in 86. There were other decent players in that side, Olarticochea veteran of 82. Giusti, Ruggieri , Brown, Burruchaga and those that were not used ie Bochini.

Someone needs to give a very hard metaphorical slap across the face and wake him to reality.

That comment about Gago asking for instructions from the bench and receiving none Gabi Marcelo says it all.

Saludos.

guys tell me if this scenario even possible:

bilardo behind this mess by encouraging maradona in his craziness. it’s his plan to undermine grondona and get him to step down. i remember reading a while back that he was running against him the last election and demanding a new direction for the afa.

forgive me if i sound crazy, but i can’t make sense of what’s going on.

I don’t think MUNSHI. They are not clever enough to do this. They are just mafiosi.

Where are the ex leaders of our teams, Sorin, Batistuta, Simeone, Ayala, and all the players that have been important for Argentina in 1986 or in the past? Why don’t they open their mouth and ask for a change? Where is Pekerman? Pressure is the key. It must never stop. It must bring Maradona & Grondona crazy. Other medias than Clarin exist in Argentina right?

I’m positive something is going to happen. What is going on is insane! Grondona will fire Maradona or it things won’t be possible. Would AFA survive if Argentina wasn’t qualified for Africa 2010?

Maxi, Milito, Gago are out of the picture? Burdisso and Licha Lopez too? Are you guys serious?????

Diego is losing it. He should be taken to see a doctor right away.
I am seriously concerned for helth. He will not survive the humiliation of being sacked. Some say the reason why he’s gaining weight again is because of anti depressants he gets because of the high pressure in his job. This could be the end of Diego Maradona.

i hope so maxi.

it is such a shame to have so many talents and not qualify because we managed the worst possible coach. a coach so bad that he demoralized people like messi and mascherano, a coach so bad that he throws 11 players on the field aimlessly and expects them to do miracles.

Maxi take Ardiles M’s colleague in 1982 for instance.

He didn’t utter one word of criticism when he was talking at halftime on Sky Sports during the Brazil game but instead was moaning about Messi as being too selfish. ??????

I’d hardly take Ardiles word for much though. He was as bad a coach as his friend defensively. Yes his teams would score three or four but let in five and seven.

So only Olguin has spoken.

The silence if DEAFENING.

Anyone who defends Maradona at this point is a fool.

This is shit and Argentina are crazy. They need to sack him now.

He won’t call up Higuain, Gonzalo, Aimar, Di Maria, Zarate, Samuel.

Hackers attack AFA site

http://www.goal.com/en/news/1863/world-cup-2010/2009/09/12/1495776/afa-website-hacked-into-by-angry-argentina-fans-report

regards

http://sports.in.msn.com/football/article.aspx?cp-documentid=3221124

they are very happy …. i believe that once we come out of this misery and qualify we will be very strong .. inshallah!

inshallah

We are not going to qualify with Maradona. Accept it and move on.

Hopefully people realize he is shit at that point.

SO the news that Maradona should be sacked next week came from some hackers?

Damn it, I was so happy to see Maradona leave, but now it seems he will stay and bring shame to the whole country?

AFA /Grondona has to make a decision now, either they loose money as per the contract of Diego
OR loose the money that they will get from the FIFA related money generating routes if Argentina qualifies.

Surely the money in WC is far more compared to Diego’s contract.
If Grondona do not make AFA qualify all the people behind curtains will backout meaning he wont be that important for Blatter, so eventually he will
either come down to low level visible mafiosa works and eventually will be hunted down by authorities or he will have to eventually prepare the football factories again so that he can survive.
So only way our interests are fulfilled is by us not qualifying to WC this time.
BTW if we do not qualify eventually the man to gain most of the situation is Bilardo, exactly after that calamity he will step up in the light .

Well I smell deep down shitty politics going on in the footballing matters of AFA , G, B and M are all neck deep in shit so dont expect them to do anything …anything for the NT …its all for self none for other policy… the che tatoo is just a fashion statement.

If Maradona continues with his madness coaching this team, I ain’t even going to watch the games against Peru or Uruguay, because it’s no use seeing your heart break while watching your team lose. So, my attention will just turn away from the game and look forward to 2014, wow so depressing it is. The only saving grace would be Diego’s final exit and replaced into the stands where he belongs as a cheerleader. My God, tears of anger subside because I can’t believe what is going on here, latez.

It seems like everyday there is more madness coming out from Diego and AFA.

Reading an article on Clarin, Grondona wants to cut the power that Maradona has, which I think is good. They will tell him that the game against Peru HAS and WILL be played en el Monumental (River Plate), and are going to have decisions in some of the players that will be called to play. Here are some of the names being mentioned to be given a chance in the games against Peru and Uruguay: Gonzalo Higuain, Ezequiel Garay, Federico Fazio, D’Alesandro and Pablo Guiñazú. Im kinda glad to see these names the one’s that are being considered for the next games. I still want to see names like Aimar, Cambiasso, Lucho Gonzalez and Lisandro on there.

Now the madness is that these are the names being considered to not be called by Diego again because they are either mad at not being played or playing little: Nicolás Burdisso, Fabricio Coloccini, Maxi Rodríguez, Lisandro López, Fernando Gago Diego Milito. AFA wants to add to that list: Gabriela Heinze and Javier Zanetti.

Grondona was tough on Mancuso and Lemme asking them to bring Carlos Bilardo into every single detail of the next upcoming games – he wants Bilardo involved in everything.

Now I said it before….but it seems to me that Grondona is trying to oust Diego and make him leave instead of firing him. Taking power away from Diego is like slicing his wrists cos we all know Diego hates being told what to do. Now he will either quit or they will eventually sack him if he continues with his madness. I feel Bilardo will be running the show in the final 2 games. I actually prefer that over what Maradona has shown….NOTHING!

Sorry forgot to post the link.

Here it is:
http://www.clarin.com/diario/2009/09/12/deportes/d-01997358.htm

It’s a very small consolation. Guinazu ahead say of the Lazian Ledesma ? d’Alessandro ahead of Aimar ?

But who’s running the show ? If M refuses to bring Maxi onboard or Licha surely the AFA can force him to do so. And why would they now want to oust Zanetti and Heinze ?

One man has to be given the decision to select the players. Not by committee. When it’s done like that sucess rarely emerges.

It’s becoming surreal and my guess is no one really knows what is going on behind closed doors.

One thing is for sure M will throw his toys out of the pram if he is told what to do and I’m sure he will walk away after a ‘dramatic’ oration. Which of course is no bad thing as I’ve mentioned. Anything is better than him being in charge for the next two games as he seems to be intent on wrecking any chance of qualification.

Thanks for the link HOAXoneder.

Certainly someone will write a best selling book on this fiasco a few years down the loine when the participants might be willing to speak their minds.

Saludos.

Rumors are saying that an announcement will be done tomorrow from AFA. Grondona probably wants Maradona to resign, like you said HOAX.
In general, my father sends me the Argentina qualifying games by CDs. I’ve always managed to avoid the results from the medias. But this time, it will be mission impossible. I won’t see the last 2 games, I know it. And it’s maybe better like this.

All these new players have nothing to do in the NT (except maybe D’Alessandro). Heinze must stay, he’s the spirit of this team.

Hail to the Hackers!

G’s ass must be on fire! Can’t wait for the good news tomorrow, Maxi!

Yup Maxi…I think Diego will get sacked and Bilardo will be the interim coach until the end of the qualifiers. I would at least see a small gleem of hope of that is the case. With Diego at the helm right now there is no hope whatsoever, he seems to just make the most irrational decisions and all mainly based on his emotions.

On another note….Messi came off the bench and scored the 2nd goal for Barcelona…..WOW!!! Again I say WOW!!!! And we don’t even know how to use him on the NT.

Also….I am content that my Rosario Central is finally winning again!!! HAHA Suit them up against Peru lol

it’s going to be a very interesting next couple of days. some glimmer of hope there for us yet that G will come up with a plan tomorrow to dispose of Maradona.

Look at the irony….messi scored against getafe…utsari was their keeper…

Messi had another chance that he should have buried. in two matches, aside from free kicks and that one chance early on vs Brazil, Messi didn’t have a sniff on goal for Argentina. Neither did pretty much anyone but that’s another issue. And then, in 30 mins had a couple of opportunities playing at half speed for Barca… just like Basile before him, Maradona and Co have done the impossible which is neutralize Messi.

As the old saying used to go to Barry Sanders in the NFL: You can’t stop him, you can only hope to contain him. That applies to Messi as well. Except if Basile/Maradona are coaching him, it becomes: You can’t stop him, but don’t worry, his coach will stop him for you.

Too true skywalker. You can apply tha to Evgeni Malkin in the NHL as well.

Well I hope it’s not a fudge from G. He has to be decisive. None of this well M will do this part and Bilardo will do that.

Otherwise it will all go tits up.

Quelle surprise. Messi returns to Barca and scores. He must be relieved to have a reasonably decent coach to work under again. With M in charge, I’m sure turning out for Argentina has become a onerous task in a sense.

I don’t think any thing(good) can happen. Our hopes will shatter against Peru cos players like Palermo and Coach like Diego. More local players? This is not nationalism

You gotta hand it to old Gorondona. Maradona gets demoted and bilardo takes the reign, deigo won’t be that upset of being replaced by an “outsider” not to mention nothing happens to maradona’s ego becuase he was replaced by his coach and close freind.

About Bilardo,

Water tight defense and counter offensive tactics that is the hallmark of bilardo. And if Argentina ends up in the world cup, with Gorondona fixing some matches behind scenes lol, I am very positive that Argentina will end up in Word cup final with Bilardo as coach. Bilardo will not have the luxery of Oscar Rugeri or Jose Brown but he will find some way to get Argentina defence man up. The SOB(with respect) will get things done.

May be argentina are better suited to Bilardo’s proven tactics, tight defence and counter offensive. It would be great to watch Bilardo vs Dung(teacher vs. student going at it)

Go Bilardo,

Some of the comments from the Brazilian press and fans are actually quite mild. If the situation was reversed can you imagine what we and our press would be saying?

regards

I’m watching Juve – Lazio and I must say Cruz is looking pretty competent.

Regards

i’m a brasilian, and as much as it delighted me to have the seleção overcome argentina in an away game, it would be terrible not to have that spectacular rivalry at the actual cup next summer. hope you guys can win a spot there and that we meet in some big matches!

The press and such say they want us too suffer, but most that I know want us at the Cup.

Most Brazilians (people from Brazil) that are Brazil fans are pretty classy, at least that I know.

They just hate Maradona. I’m with them on that one.

A good counterattacking team initially can be pretty to set up. And once you score first goal, you eat the other team alive, because they have to press.

Thanks Patrick. Hopefully we will but the way things look….it’s kinda bleak.

Brigado!

Yes, thanks to all the positive remarks from Brazil fans. Wish most of our fans had that much class. And they wonder why people hate us – as a whole, we act like such jackasses when we win. Sore winners and sore losers. That’ quite frankly, is why so many are relishing our predicament.

Is it true … Diego intending to cut Euro player??

Tuhin yes it is very true. Those that we have mentioned that will be cut is reported from Newspaper Clarin and Sport Mag Diario Ole from Argentina.

Argentuban you are quite right. Sadly there are many bad apples. But hey, there are many just like us that have class and sane. We give cred where it’s due.

If we qualify or not, hand of gios or not ………….most of the world know we are pretty good football power…and rats something diego can never took away….vamos

regards

Looking at this gem (http://momento24.com):

Lionel Messi’s father, referred to his son’s relation with the coach of Argentina’s national team: “He really doesn’t know what position he must play,” and “my son isn’t happy. Maradona doesn’t talk to him, it’s the first time in his career that he receives no instructions from the couch. He really doesn’t know what position he has to play.”

Jorge Messi, Lionel’s father, had a telephone conversation with Luis Segura, secretary of the National Teams of the Argentine Football Association, AFA, to inform the situation experienced by his son in the Argentine team over the last two dates of the World Cup qualifiers.

Maradona’s spokesmen let know that “Diego is upset because he understands that the players, including Messi, don’t speak their minds about the defeat.”

Oh yeah, M’s upset that the players don’t speak up vs him and his useless tactics. Oh that will go down well

Oh…great….Yap…..we are cursing to SA WC 2010….Hell yah….there is no team that can stop us from being world champion 2010…..get the party going…NEXT STOP 2014.

in 1990..i wished i could kill codesal….now i have a new name Diego Maradona. Really…he thinks he can win against peru and uruguya with all local players… well what i have seen with players like otamendi, pelarmo, schiavi, dominguez…..Yeah…right…. DREAM ON .

With the formation Diego playing not even Brazil has a chance in a long shot.
Mark my word….Diego is upto some deep shit….like ruining the career of Messi….

Bilardo….hmm…i do not give a damn about his tactics….all i know this guy took argentina to the final in 1990 with a team as good as dead….i am sure he will do same with this talented team…and may be more.

I too have suggested Maradona wants Messi to fail. Now I know he does.

I hope and pray they get rid of the jackass soon.

I know goal.com stretches, but let’s hope….

http://www.goal.com/en/news/1863/world-cup-2010/2009/09/11/1495572/argentina-coach-diego-maradona-could-face-the-sack-next-week

yep i share the same view with argetuban, diego wants leo to fail at national stage. there is absolutely no coach on this earth who will not know how to play messi even the most foolish of coach. messi was supposed to be an weapon, extra weapon for us and the foolish over there is turning him to be a weapon against us. well i would say that diego is a genius, a tactical genius!! The formula he found to play messi so badly is absolutely out of this world, he deserves a nobel prize! one week before the paraguay game , a fan of paraguay told me this ” paraguay will not beat argentina!! maradonna will beat argentina for us !! after the game i realized how right was that guy!!

grondonna please do not let down argentina like that make a courageous decision, sack this clown.

It is really nice reading everyone’s comments. I may not leave comments here but I have been a regular visitor of this blog since world cup 06. I am hoping we will make in to 2010. I am also hoping Maradona will be fired hopefully pretty soon. I am hoping when I check this blog by tomorrow Maradona’s hand of Devil has been cut from our beloved NT forever.

Thanks for your nice words Patrick. Though I am a fierce supporter of the Albicelestes Brazl have of course proffered their own technical innovations ie the 4-4-2 and those 82/86 teams deserved to win a World Cup.

Socrates,Falcao,Junior ,Eder and Zico were magnificent.

I have some hope returning if at last M is removed. Then we have a chance. We will have none of these idiotic ideas.

What Jorge Messi confirms is that there is absolutely no coaching going on. M expects the players to just play off the cuff and win. While that may work down the local park it does not stand up in international football.

If Leo was not such a mild character his words alone would be enough to depose M. Let’s hope the AFA clotheads take notice of Jorge’s words and do the right thing ASAP.

It’s not great for one player to have such power regarding a coach but in this instance it would be a blessed relief.

di Santo still not fit for Blackburn. Insua solid game for Liverpool albeit against Burnley. Does not stand off his opponent as much now. Great surging run down the middle to set up Benayoun. Good vision.

http://www.goal.com/en/news/1863/world-cup-2010/2009/09/11/1495617/argentina-cannot-exclude-lionel-messi-general-manager-carlos

My dream starting 11

Higuain/Crespo with Tevez/Aguero up front
Maxi/Riquelme/Messi in midfield
Mascherano behind midfield
Zanetti as captain
Heinze/Samuel/Demichellis on defense

All these players besides Riquelme are European-based players playing in the best leagues of the world, I can’t understand Maradona’s logic in this.
Thanks Argentuban for the news, and hope Monday that justice will prevail for the better of our team. I’m tired of politics of soccer, ridiculous, the monstrosity of decisions that have gotten us in this mess finally needs to be uprooted, and pray and hope that there is just enough time to turn this around. The world cup without Argentina is truly colorless, I don’t think I could tune in. But now I have more hope after hearing this news, so thanks.

Oops, I forgot Ustari as goalkeeper, my bad.

the longer this wait takes the more worried i am. the feeling of maradona saying coach keeps getting stronger and stronger with every passing minute.

Takes time to decide. Nothing he does now affects anything until selection.

Monday there going to have a meeting in AFA to determine wither Maradona should stay or go.

Gregory Sica is a very respectable writer not only does he write for goal.com he writes for espn.

Bilardo pretty much said only if jesus came maradona will stay

The fact that Jirge Messi is speaking up on behalf of his son is huge. In saying that his son is not sure what position he is to play and what he is supposed to do just goes to show Diego has no clue what to do as a coach. I guess he just expects his players to go out and play like it was a game at the park on a sat afternoon. Also the fact that Messi is not happy is VERY VERY HUGE. That could mean that he may not even want to play under Maradona anymore……so again I say…..Diego will be sacked as head coach this week, possibly as soon as tomorrow.

With such little time left I am almost sure Bilardo will be given the title of interim coach. I know he wanted to coach a again, he mentioned it in a interview about 2 yrs ago…he wanted to coach the NT team again.
El Narigon can take us to the WC…or at least give us a better shot than Diego has.

It’s evident now – Diego is not coach material. Why would Grondona give him a shot with the NT. Why did he not get another coach and place Diego as a helper to learn? Why jeopordize qualifying to the WC?

Too many politics man!

Im all for Bilardo and I hope he takes over as interim – it’s too close to the dates to start looking for other coaches and interviewing them.

im sorry boys i have been away for a little while

can someone summarize whats going on…will diego get sacked? finally!??!

Grondona named Basile, it failed. He then named Maradona, it failed. How many failures can he afford himself? This hijo de putana has lost 3 years to our NT and its world class players. Grondona is eternal and will always make us lose.

If Bilardo was named coach, things wouldn’t change a lot. He would work on our defence only, with this stupid 4-4-1-Messi, with Jonas & Maxi on the flanks. He knows nothing about creative futbol. With Bilardo, the victories would only be 1-0. Our players are creative and can’t be asked to defend like Italy. You can’t ask a player like Gago or Lucho to defend like a Gattuso during 95 minutes. They know how to do that (remember Germany 06?). Bilardo doesn’t suit at all with our players. But the NT is in hell right now and needs change for sure.

In my opinion, Bilardo = Maradona.

I hope that Maradona leaves tomorrow. I don’t think it will be the case tough. One thing is sure, Grondona is with his friend Blatter, one of the biggest bastard the futbol has ever known.

FAB,
Maradona has excluded several players for the NT. Next time, he’ll call almost only players playing in Argentina. Grondona and Bilardo have told that they will give him assistants and call players themselves (there are many rumors!). Tomorrow’s AFA meeting will decide if Maradona accepts or not. If he refuses, Bilardo will probably be in charge of the NT.

Giving Bilardo a chance is the only choice…I don’t think anybody knows better than Bilardo…He has success as a coach than other…We have tried all options…why not try this last option…i am sure Bianchi,Menotti or anybody is ready or suitable for a situation like this..unless Grondona himself wants to coach…

Grondona senior may be a bastardo but it was his son who wanted M in and cerated the rapprochement over the Beijing Games.

The senior G still had the wit to keep Bilardo onboard but fo course esp. in the selections and defensive play Bilardo has not had any input.

Let’s pray that M throws one of his tantrums tomorrow and walks out. Bilardo is better than no one and at least a solid defence will allow just four creative players upfront to wreak havoc say Messi.di Maria, Aimar and Higuain.

I’m sure Bilardo would ask the opinions of one of his trusty playing lieutenants during 86 Valdano for his opinions on the Liga based players ie Fazio and Higuain and at last we will have a team assembled fully reflective of the real depth of Argentine football and playing in a cohesive system.

Let’s all think positive and at last M is removed from the reins. With that done I start to have some hope we might actually be able to reach South Africa and another coach is thrown in say Cappa plus Cuper we still have a chance of glory.

One step at a time of course though.

Saludos.

Maxi I would not compare Bilardo to M in a million years. First of all he is an educated man a medical doctor and secondly in his time on the playing staff of Estudiantes he learnt a lot about tactics from Zubeldia.

He does know football and even though you may think he is out of touch with ‘modern’ football its stillthe same game .His recent stint at Estudiantes with the young players was quite sucessful so we;’d not worry too much,

Anyone would be an improvement over M. I could have done indeed any of us on this blog, could have done a better job.

It seems Sevila’s Perotti had a good game against Zaragoza.
I havent seen any matches since our spectacle against paraguay, but Goal.com ratings says he had a fantastic game while Higuain had an average game.

AURELIUS,
I didn’t express myself well, sorry. By “M=B”, I meant that they have the same responsibility regarding this big fiasco.
Out of topic: Del Potro is destroying Nadal.

Really great goal by Diego Perotti yesterday!
Nice one from Milito today.

Antoine:
I have seen some minutes of Bordoux’s last two games, but I haven’t seen Cavegol. Is he injured? I know he started the first games this season without scoring…

Diego will not be sacked, forget it!

RUNE,
Laurent Blanc wants to bring some competition and Cavenaghi still hasn’t scored a gol in september. He gave him 15 minutes and probably rested him before the game against Juventus. Don’t forget that in France, playing physical is the priority and sometimes, Cavegol pays the price (which is ridiculous). Juventus was very very close to sign him when he was at River. Italians rate him very high.

RUNE,
Grondona is trying to make Maradona resign by giving him less power. He will never fire him for sure, it would cost too much to AFA. AFA are too short term minded to think about the financial consequences of Argentina not qualifying for Africa.

DEL POTRO outclassed Nadal

Ok, Antoine. Tahnks for the info. I just remember that last season Blanc always used Cavenaghi as a sub in the CL. Would be cool to see him do some real damage to Juve.
I know the fat Mafioso is trying to force Diego to resign. I will be very surprised if that happens. If Diego sees what G is tryin to do, he will stay put….just for spite, just to annoy him.

Well here I am in front of my TV…..All day I have been looking forward to seing Camagnaro, Datolo and Lavezzi against Crespo and Palacio…….ONLY Campagnaro starting the game……Datolo is still in Argentina.

Campagnaro sent off…..

Saviola’s solo goal as Belenenses(0) is beaten by Benfica (4)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_0AQBjxNGlY

Havent seen the match but reviews are good for Argentines.

Of course Argentina will go to the World Cup. However as long as Maradona is the coach they will not make it. Bring on Bilardo. Also this arrant nonsense about the Brazil 82/ 86 teams they did not win anything. So why the admiration of these guy. As Dunga refer to them as a bunch of losers. He is right

Great game. Palacio played the second half, and he was trememdous. He set up Crespo for his goal, and also won a penalty. And a very nice finish by Crespo…a player who score those type of goals is something we miss in our NT.

it was a great game

Genoa 4 Napoli 1

Crespo looks great
Lavezzi looks…well lets just say the less said the better.

regards

several of our players have found the back of the net for the their clubs over the weekend. crespo, milito and messi just to name a few. so why on earth can’t anyone score for the national team. there are more and more rumours going around that diego is not instructing these guys just letting them play. does he even wacth european club games at all. then comes up with this ridiculous idea that more local players can win these last 2 crucial games. this guy needs to be fired now, i can’t wait until tomrrow to get more news on his status with the nt.

Nice to see all the old regulars back.

All the arg’s in the know seem to be saying that there isn’t a chance that maradona will be fired. There are so many political machinations behind the scenes in play right now, and the national team seems to be the vitctim stuck in the middle.

Milito, Messi, Crespo, Perotti (sp?) , Saviola, Colocinni (!) all scored this weekend. Did you guys see Milito’s goal? It was gorgeous.

Did you see how beautifully Ayala played for Zaragoza?

These guys play so cleanly, with such amazing technical precision with their own teams.

Did you see how relieved Messi looked to be playing with Barcelona? With a team that has a calmness and a structure?

Did you see how amazingly strong and in-step, and in-tune, Zanetti looked for inter?

It’s hard to mess up players of this quality, but the AFA and Maradona have done an excellent job if it.

AIMAR10,
Maradona is like Basile, he doesn’t watch European football, otherwise he would know the position of Lucho Gonzalez.

RUNE,
I didn’t watch Genoa but Palacio is a diamond.

do you guys think if, and that’s a big if, we lose to peru maradona will sacked or do we have to not qualify all together for that to happen.

If Argentina doesn’t qualify, I’m sure there is going to be a riot of some kind trying to get at Grondona’s throat. So, he better make the right decision before the pitchforks and torches descend his way.

I use to be a Maradona fan, but I think that he doesn’t have a clue about coaching and he is an arrogant idiot. How can the national side not have Argentina’s playmaker, Riquelme, in the side. I say out with Diego and in with Bilardo. Roman Argentina needs you, without him Messi, who is a great player, is lost. MARADONA STAY AWAY!!!

dude…riquelme is past his prime

http://goal.com/en/news/1863/world-cup-2010/2009/09/14/1499709/european-based-players-cut-from-argentina-squad-by-diego

“Apparently Maradona will travel to Madrid to specifically talk to Real Madrid’s Gonzalo Higuain. Maradona is likely to give the player his first official national team call-up.”

This is the only good news out of that article posted above. I also find it interesting that Maradona intends on speaking with Aguero, Mascherano, and Messi as to why they don’t play for the NT like they do for their clubs, isn’t it obvious? They don’t play the same because they’re mostly out of position and the they don’t have the right situation (players/formation) around them to do their best. Veron/Gago I think put unfair pressure on Mascherano making him always the defensive mid so that the formation is always 4-1-X based. Messi hasn’t had a midfield that helps, nor the strikers in front of him that that allows him to be in position. It’s so obvious, and my headahce that I’ve had all week has just gotten bigger.

my nigthmare is not likely to end any sooner!! i am at time wondering if there is no authority above this foolish !!! so sad to know that now i am really starting hating the man i really loved once upon time!! now i am really getting angry with authorities in argentina, it seems that there are no authorities there, how can they let all these happen. there is a vast plot over there to upset the people apparently.

Simply the fact that Maradona took off without telling anyone is his way of telling G and the rest of his training staff that he’s boss. I really hope this infuriates G and he fires Diego for his act of petulance (one can dream right).

Anyway, that list, I cannot believe I’m saying this, but if guys like Sebadom, Otamendi and other slow Arg based defenders are going to be picked, then I actually will regret seeing the end of Gabby Heinze. And I feel he’s going to be missed b/c Maradona is not going to call up Gonzalo, Garay, Fazio, Forlin, Angeleri. So yes, I will miss Heinze. what is this world coming to.

Licha is the big name here. Milito, I dunno, yes he’s been clincial for Inter/ in Italy but when he was given a chance at the Copa, he failed and I dunno, for some reason (a lot has to do with the dearth of supply) he has failed for the NT. But Licha I feel is going to be missed. And what the hell did he do? Did he not tickle Maradona’s ass the right way. How is his dropping justified?

Yup I just read the article about Diego zooming off to Spain/Italy for some arthriscopic surgery and that he will speak with Masche and Messi as to why they do not play well on the NT and as Diario Ole put it “Comerles la cabeza”. He will also speak face to face with Heinze, Zanetti, Gago, Lisandro Lopez, Maxi Rodriguez and Diego Milito to inform them that they will not be called again to the NT. I think they need to do BRAIN SURGERY on Diego instead of his knee…..Dude is losing it completely.

In all I think he will piss many players off (Messi) and they will not want to play any longer on the NT.

I truly hope Grondona sacks him tomorrow. I think they were trying to get him to resign by cutting his power….but now they will have to cut him completely.

lisandro lopez, zanetti.. WTF? lopez didn’t even get a chance and Zanetti is one of the greatest right backs in history.. maradona is insane

ArgentineFan.. hard to say this but Zanetti has lost a step. I know he’s playing well for Inter but Mourinho uses him as a right mid not wingback. He doesn’t have the legs to burst up the field and track back like Maicon, Johnson, Alves, etc… That’s why you see very few runs by Zanetti upfield anymore for the NT. But as a RM, esp since we lack a true wide men, he should be in the NT, but then again, Deigo will never utilize him like that

Fab, Riquelme might be past his prime, but Veron lost it when he was at United. I still believe Riquelme gives inspiration to younger players like Messi and Gago. Watching Ayala this week as well, shows that there is nothing like experience. Ask the Brazilians which Argentian player they fear the most, why would Corinthians want a player past his prime? Think before you comment dude!!!

The news is becoming more and more unreliable , I dont think Diego Maradona will tell anyone what reason he is going to europe(or where is he going) and do not tell it to AFA (they will know any ways). The news media is making up stories to sell.
I am expecting no change whatsoever in the player selection as well as game tactics(I mean no tactics or system) or changes to our coaching staff(men and way to work both).
The football of argentine national team is leased to Maradona who is now on a self satisfying ego trip

Palacio is making a strong case for call up.

Ayala should be recalled on a temporary basis instead of Schiavi.

Perotti provides yet another little gem in the making down the left to add to di Maria.

Gonzalo has a solid game again for Villareal.

But there is no point in looking at these performances until G has the decency to do tbhe right thing and sack M.

Do it now and show who is boss as the petulant child runs off to Europe to avoid having to face the music.

Sorry Javier,Maxi,Licha you will not be called to the NT. Hey ? The man is a disgrace and is not fit to lace Il Capitano’s boots. The players need to revolt ,contact the AFA and say they will not answer call ups with it in charge.

Maxi I see what you meant now. Apologies. I expect CB tried to put some input into the idiot , but the idiot won’t listen to anyone.

Sack the fool now and make him come back to Argentina with his tail between his legs. If it’s money the AFA are concerned about then they will lose a whole lot more by not going to South Africa in 2010 and sponsorship deals thereafter than sacking the buffoon.

Josi. Brazil 70 over 94 I know who I’d choose. Why not go the whole hog and try to score from goalkicks ? No one admires the way Greece went on to win the Euro championships say over Spain.

Great game from del Potro ,though Nadal looks frail physically which was a major part of his game. del Potro will need to be very wily and clever to beat Federer and his lack of experience may tell.

Great news for the Pumas. They are now to be provisionally included in the 2012 Tri-Nations making it a Four Nations tournament and another great impetus to rugby union hich is growing rapidly.

Saludos.

AFA might have to pay nearly 2 million dollars if sacking him. This is why Maradona is trying to stay and G is trying to cut M’s power so that he will resign.

Heinze, Zanetti, Gago, Maxi, Lopez, Milito, Burdisso. These players must be the ones who didn’t want to work with Basile at the end. They are our leaders. They probably want Maradona out, they said it to him and now, they’re out of la seleccion and will probably not be in Africa 2010, even if we qualify. This is unreal.

If Higuain is being called, then it is far too late. The guy will change absolutely nothing, even he has the motivation of a tiger (he won’t do a better job than Tevez because he’ll be alone). Just look at Real Madrid right now, 11 individualities. Pellegrini needs 1 year to build up his team and he has started for weeks. We’re in the same case. The difference is that we don’t have a coach and that we aren’t competitive because we prepare nothing.

SKYWALKER,
Regarding Zanetti, he doesn’t have the confidence to attack as our right back. Each time he goes upper on the field, no one covers him other than Mascherano (who has been defending our midfield totally alone since 2006) and we get counter attacked. Zabaleta should have been included in the team since 2007, as a sub or not.

I don’t know How FAB comments like that “Roman lost his prime”. Roman was superb last days with Boca. May be u dude don’t like him, bust don’t comment wrong like this please.

Diego ya viajó para hacer la revolución. Here he goes, the Fidel Castro or our futbol.
http://www.ole.clarin.com/notas/2009/09/14/seleccion/01998611.html

From MundoAlbiceleste:

BILARDO said on Friday: ‘We will be having a meeting with MARADONA and the rest of the coaching staff on Monday’. GRONDONA was also supposed to attend to that meeting.

Instead, MARADONA flew to Madrid, where he plans on starting a series of one-on-one meeting with some of the players he’s been calling since he took over as national team manager. GRONDONA only found out when Diego was already airborne.

I know you can’t wait to know the names of the players he would axe. Without further introduction, here they are (according to reports on Olé, the only Argentine sports newspaper):

Gabriel HEINZE (I still can’t believe it and I need to see the list in two weeks. If he is out of the team, I think this is great news for Argentina and I’m sure many of you -if not all of you- will agree with me)

Fernando GAGO (with the exclusion of these two (if it happens), the inclusion of Gonzalo HIGUAIN becomes at least a possibility. It’s all I can say. Of course, you never know with MARADONA, but the chances are there).

Javier ZANETTI (I still think he can do the job if the team play as a team).

Maxi RODRIGUEZ (He’s been horribly out of form and I’d understand if he’s cut out).

Lisandro LOPEZ (30 seconds in and he scores against Russia. Played ZERO minutes in the World Cup Qualifiers and yet he’s punished. Is it rocket science to understand his exclusion would be linked to something that happened off the pitch? We would be missing out on a great striker who can adapt to several roles and positions up front and who also happens to the on form. But he is not family and he never played for Boca Juniors -so the media won’t pressure MARADONA if Licha is left out-)

Diego MILITO (Scores in every match he plays for Inter, like he did with Genoa, Zaragoza and to some extent Racing Club before that. Played an average of 26 minutes and was ignored against Paraguay in favour of a 36-year-old striker from Boca Juniors. Same as with Lisandro, no pressure from the media will come if he is excluded. In fact, all the mediocre journalist in Argentina seem to go with the same script and they say: ‘MILITO never performed with Argentina and he had many opportunities’. It makes me sick to my stomach, but I heard that time after time. Poor MILITO -and poor fans, as we have our goal-scoring machine getting ignored incomprehensibly-).

The report on Olé says you can’t tell for sure with MARADONA and that the conversation the manager will have with each of the players above may give them another opportunity.

AGÜERO? He’ll continue to be considered (did any of you had any doubt of this?)

MESSI and MASCHERANO? Diego says he is due to have a conversation with them and ask them why don’t they perform for Argentina as they do for Barcelona and Liverpool. Great! Perhaps they can explain they can’t perform if there is no gameplan or tactical awareness or work during the week the players are (supposed to be) training in Ezeiza. Will MARADONA listen to them? Hmmm…

By the way…those who were dreaming of a meeting on Monday with consequences for MARADONA, can keep on dreaming. But they better prepare for the worse kind of nightmares because Diego will stay in charge.

And while he is at it in Europe, Olé reported that Diego will have an arthroscopy in one of his knees and will also undergo a treatment to lose weight.

Maradona didn’t go to today’s AFA meeting that was supposed to solve many problems. What did he do? Refuse to see his power cut and take a plane! Here comes another reason to sack him. He’s uncontrolable. Will Grondona accept this?

DIEGO86,
I thought AFA would have to pay much more than 2 M$ in order to fire Maradona?

i think maybe people have to accept that the argentine first division is not as high level as Europe

thats what maradona ios proving…so i stand by that roman is past his prime sorry roman fans

i liked the dude too i thought he was awesome at copa 07…but he is older now and not at his best

i think maradona wants to get sacked…after all he is in heavy debt in italy

so we have a situation where…he wants to get sacked and grondona wants him to resign…its like a bad episode of seinfeld…all the while we are getting our asses owned

but dont get me wrong guys id prefer roman to veron any day of the weeek

Argentina’s results are not dependant upon Riquelme. They depend upon setting up a good team strategy, covering for weaknesses (defensive organisation) and, as far as reasonable, shaping the team to the strengths of its best individuals (Messi, Aimar, Saviola… pace and mobility being the dominant theme in their game).

Riquelme has, noticably, become worse as the years have worn on. In 2006, at his absolute peak (national team wise) he was at best sporadic but, the team managed to cover for his periods of drift. the kind of movement and organisation that Pekerman drilled into the team, went a long way to mitigating the effects of carrying Riquelme in those matches.

under Basile, the erosion of order and shape began. Riquelme was still the focal point but, without others covering for him and, more importanly, without a plan B of any sort, Argentina were found wanting. and duly obliterated by a fast, physical and counter-attacking Brazil.

even in 2006, Argentina were not good enough to break down teams that play disciplined football. yet most of the “Riquelme is the savior” squad don’t seem to get the fact that Argentina – with Riquelme – struggled against just the type of teams that they struggle against now.
organised, fast, disciplined counter-attacking teams. teams that give no space up front, that harry the AM area… Riquelme cannot help Argentina there, something else is needed.

Any chance Spain will extradite Morondona to Italy for the tax evasion?

I can only hope.

Call up both Gonzalos and we solve half of our problems on the team if you start them. Add Samuel for Heinze. Then go to Portugal call up Aimar and Di Maria and we are set.

But it’s a pipe dream….

——–?————–

–zenetti—–gonzolo—samuel—

————-masche————–

—–lucho—–aimar——di maria

—————messi—————

——–higuein———-aguero—–

i like that lineup that fab has posted. i prefer mariano andujar in goal. romero is to unexperienced while carrizo still hasnt proved anything on the club level

>>>i think maybe people have to accept that the argentine first division is not as high level as Europe>>>

So Palacio is good now that he’s in Europe?
Sand is not good enough because he plays in Argentina?
Buonanotte, Damián, Bergessio are mediocre players?
Guillermo Barros Schelotto was never good because he never played in Europe?
What about Bochinni Marzolini, Diaz, Pinino Mas… anyway.
Europe !!!! La creme de la creme…right?

I guess I better go back to my chair amd shut my face. : )

There are 814 Argy players playing abroad.
About 25 of them are very good.
The rest are just average.
Same thing happens to Brazil.
Let’s not make an issue out of the obvious.

Sorry Albo but the way finances are the best players will end up going to Europe .

If they perform in the Argentine domestic structure ,there are numerous scouts from European clubs keeping tabs onf kids all the way down the age of eleven.

Yes there are plenty of middling players who go to Europe. One because they still can earn far more and because a fair few clubs see them as a cheaper option to getting technically capable players to fulfil a job.

No one is saying Palacio was poor while he was with Boca. He had the quality anyway. Where he played was irrelevant and he is showing that quality at Genoa.

As for those past examples Marzolini is a favourite player of mine and he’d have been a superstar in Europe.Same for that master technician Bochini.

But mass player emigration is a recent thing and unless FIFA steps in at least on the part of the young plyaers leaving it wll not stop .

Buonnanotte is an excellent player but no one has yet taken a punt on him on account of his very small physique though he excelled in the Toulon tourney against bigger players. Mouche is an excellent player and being eyed up.

Others like Bergessio failed to adapt first time round but will probably get their chance soon.

However the toughest football is being played in Europe therefore it makes sense to pick those who have excelled at the top level in Europe ie Gonzalo over someone like Seba Dominguez. Otamendi for instance is entirely different has he much time to improve his reading of the game versus his one on one defending.

The Argentine top division is better than most of the European leagues though (there is plenty of dross football in Europe)and certainly one of the most attractive to watch after La Liga.

Like the Russian hckey league which had the enormous financial pull of the NHL acting on them resulting in the most talented kids being cherry picked, leaving behind raw kids, journeymen and returning experienced players to constitute teams (less so now with the oligarch funded KHL) the Argentine and Brazilian situation will come to or is starting to reflect this status.

One thing that could be learnt is from the numerous failures among the sucesses of talented Russian kids arriving in North America in this case Europe and how it would be better for the best to stay on in Argentina for a couple of seasons.

All I want to hear at present is that M has been removed.

Saludos amigos

Call up Crespo!!! get crespo and saviola in the front with messi right behind them.. get that chemistry from 06 back!!

lissandro Lopez being cut from the squad is a shame. he did not even get a chance. this guy has been playing very well… and such a well rounded player. I dont get it.

Is this not a crazy soap opera? Maradona took off to Spain without notifying his employers, without discussing with his team?
If AFA fire him then they will be paying out his 2 million contract plus additional fees for cutting the contract early. This is why they only want to cut some of his “powers” within the team. But maradona will not allow this. He does not want to face the music at all… this is why he snuck off and this is why he is having surgeries and procedures… he is stalling.
These are the proposed conclusions:

1. Maradona really does suck at being a coach, his brain is too fried to strategize and he is now realizing that he fucked up… so he is trying to clean up house as quickly as possible and try to save the team without the embarrassment of stepping down and having someone else step in and save the team.
2.maradona really does not want Argentina to succeed. He feels that if he was to be overshadowed by a player like messi… then his legend is left to 2nd place of all time.
3.Maradona has had this scheme in mind all along to make money and pay off debts around the world..

I am leaning towards the first conclusion. Maradona really believes that he has got what it takes to coach a team, deal with unique personalities, create formations based off of the skill available, and mentally prepare his squad to win. But he does not have this skill. He seems to never be prepared. the afa seems to be the laughing stock of professional sports let alone pro futbol.

http://mundoalbiceleste.blogspot.com/2009/09/i-have-19-names-for-you-ready-to-see.html

does someone have an update on Matias DiFrederico in the Brazilian league?
how is he doing there? any clips or links for him?

great article rune. hopefully its true

Maradona won a worldcup for Argentina. And he singlehandedly lost another. So now he is even (aka, his value is equivalent to trash). This arrogant slum trashbag now needs to be put in his place. Enough already!

Great to see Tronco Colocinni back.

No Gonzalo still ? No Fazio ? No Zarate ? No Aimar etc etc. No Batistuta ???

Forget these lists. Just get rid of M first. It would be typical if he played Papa and Insua on contrary wings, and Higuain ended up with no service at all because the midfield is non existent.

Calling up the Hig wont solve anything when the defence is staffed by second raters and quality ball is not getting through upfront.

Some of these players would justified in turning round and slapping the fool in the face when he comes round with the temerity to ask them ‘ why do you not perform for the national team as you do at club level ?’.

Only a buffoon could answer such questions and expect a fool’s answer.

Come on Leo. Tell Grondona it’s my way or the highway. We’ll know what G will choose.

Get rid, right now.

If we put Higuain and Crespo at front with Messi behind them it would be so different than the 3 short men up front we’ve been doing, and it is kinda funny to think about it. Completely different way of mobilizing the forwards. Even having Higuain and Tevez upfront would be more effective I feel.

It’s a zoo.

Maradona may call Di Maria, Gonzalo Rodriguez, Samuel, Palacio, Crespo, Insua if he wants. There is no point to call them if Maxi Rodriguez, Gago, Zanetti, Heinze, Lopez are not here. This is pathetic… and unreal.

We are Monday. Still no reaction from AFA.

AURELIUS – agree with you on this “Come on Leo. Tell Grondona it’s my way or the highway. We’ll know what G will choose.”

But knowing Leo, he’ll probably shy away from confrontation unless its on the field. What upsets me more – is the audacity Maradona has, to come out and blame these kids aged 21 and 22. Egotistical maniac.

I think the problem is more deep rooted than just Maradona. Argentina’s favorite son will be destroyed by the same people who gave him that ridiculous stature in the first place.

Nice to see you back on the blog AJ.

In the press, they say that the purpose of the meeting was only to ask Maradona to “listen more” Bilardo. Nothing more. We are dead. We will never qualify. Uruguay are going to eat us, whether they are qualified or not.

Lsandro Lopez has been elected best player of the month in France.

Tevez shouldn’t start..in my opinion…

yeah, it is surreal how DM disposes of players and publicly raises doubts about their commitment to La Selección”.
He’s pulling the same number he pulled on Riquelme.
And he’s running out of supporters.

Holding my breath that Maradona will be gone today?

Sorry for digressing a bit but is anyone watching tennis (US open)?

It’s the final between Juan Martin Del Potro vs. Roger Federer. They are playing great tennis.

I cannot believe the AFA site is still down. LOL

Argentina must fire Maradona.

Costa Rica have fired their coach.
Del Potro is creating a miracle…

Gonzalo Rodriguez, Walter Samuel, Fazio, etc. are all in Europe and are better than any Argentine defenders at home.

How’s that for the obvious?

I wouldnt hold my breath. Its stupid when AFA is involved.

Del Potro just won the US Open.. congrats to all my Argentine brothers.. wish we had a hero like him in the AFA now, and what exactly is M trying to do by flying off to Europe ?.. is it his strategy to avoid the meeting with G so that they fire him and he gets the large payout?.. just pondering..

krish i dont care im english but my soul and heart belong to the smbol of all hope THE ARGENTINA FOOTBALL SIDE AND EVERYTHING IT STANDS FOR who cares about some golfer LOL

wow, its just reported on goal.com that diego will be calling higuain to the next qualifiers. and that the reason that he didn’t call him before is because he didn’t get along with heinze and gago. first of all this is the first i have heard of that it seems like another sorin and veron. garay, crespo and palacio were on that list as well. what i don’t understand is why grown men can’t come together despite their diferences and play football. its just childish to hear this player can’t play with that player.

It also says Garay is being called up. If he just calls up Rodriguez in defense, dammit…..regardless, Garay is better than Dominguez and Otamendi.

I hope he calls up Aimar. For one, he is an energetic character and demonstrated that he shows up even when Argentina suck (remember 2002). For another, he has established considerable chemistry with Di Maria at Benfica, and that is what the team needs. Aimar, Di Maria, Messi, Mascherano in midfield, with Higuain and Zarate up front. And hopefully Gonzalo, Samuel/Garay in defense with some decent outside backs.

Yes

Best players play for the most money

Europe pays the most

To wit best players play in Europe….sort of as complicated as 1 + 1 = 2

regards

One reason why I’m not optimistic about any change is because people are still mentioning Riquelme and the NT in the sentence, paragraph, booklet, novel.

Regards

How it all went downhill for maradona. The two key pieces that were pulled out.

Di Maria and Requelme would have established the NT and would have allowed Maradona an easy transition to learn the ropes. In this respect he was unlucky to unwittingly disrupt the continuity of the Olympic dream team. ANY NEW COACH WOULD HAVE DIED FOR KEEPING THE CHEMISTRY OF THAT TEAM.

Instead Deigo takes Roman’s contribution lightly. Unluckily Di Maria gets injured before Scotland game for jones to creep into the maradona’s line up exagerating his worth in defense. Di Maria sits the bench for jones against Venezuala, Lucho against bolivia. He is subbed in the second half against bolivia, takes his frustration on the field and gets four game suspension.

Maradona is right on one thing though:

The display of Messi Mascherano and Aguero in the five game losing streak has no excuse. This also solidifies Maradona status as the greatest player to ever walked on the field. No matter how poor deigo team may have been Maradona would always leave his heart in the feild. This is why Maradona has my respect today more than he did a year ago. He had that mental toughness to go on and on and on. More than Jordan he was the heart of big and small games.

Love to the legend.

Oh well, seems like Higuain is the only real good news of the day, but undermined by his crazy decision to rid the team of the other european-based players that we need. When will this nightmare come to an end? I like to be optimistic, but I have a gut feeling that something is not right with Diego and his lunacy.

I just wanted to congradulate all my fellow Argentine blogger on the victory of Del Potro today… what a match…I am so very happy..I wish the same for my beloved football NT… BTW is Maradona still our couch?!!! there is not a single day I check this blog hoping that Maradona s been fired and kicked out of Argentina forever… Maybe it is time to write a letter to Maradona’s Fidel, beg him to take Maradona in…

I just wanted to congradulate all my fellow Argentine blogger on the victory of Del Potro today… what a match…I am so very happy..I wish the same for my beloved football NT… BTW is Maradona still our couch?!!! there is not a single day I check this blog hoping that Maradona s been fired and kicked out of Argentina forever… Maybe it is time to write a letter to Maradona’s Fidel, beg him to take Maradona in…

Napolifan,
I kinda agree to some extent. Maradona’s faith on football is all based on passion and talent. He doesn’t think of himself as a manager/coach in traditional sense. Instead he treated the players as friends and considered himself just a facilitator. He expected the players to tell frankly tell whats working and whats not working.

After every loss, he has asked Messi, Aguero and Mascherano what went wrong with him, and how he could fix it. The players chose to either remain deviously silent or they don’t know themselves what isnt working.

While Maradona doesn’t have the credentials to coach one of the top teams in the world, however
for the very reason that the players didn’t bother to find their own best game, I would put at least 50% of the blame to the players.

As of Diario Ole, Grondona has left Bilardo in charge of everything since Maradona has left. Not saying here that Diego was sacked….but Grondona has temp places Bilardo in charge of all things pertaining to the NT.
Maybe when Maradona returns he will be given his power as coach back.

Napolifan I agree, on the pitch Diego gave and left everything he had. He would have played even with his legs broken if needed. That I will not argue at all. But that was yrs ago and right now Diego is not making the best decisions for this team.

I just can’t see every single player not doing well because they have no heart….if that was the case then why would Messi have gone through all that fiasco to make it to the Olympics in Beijing…remember Barcelona did not want to let him go? Even against Nigeria in the final Messi played, ran and fought till the end. Kinda brought up memories of Diego. So I trully feel that either these kids are not getting proper coaching by Diego….. Or maybe Diego is not clear on what he wants and Maybe, even maybe his brain is so high IQ in terms of Football that they dont get or cannot do what he wants.

congrats to DEL POTRO

VAmos Argentina..I always with you…..

This new selection of players wont help in anyway, it will only stamp the label of ‘unsuccessfull’ to this new group of players and destroy the psyche of them.

Maradona has never been a good / clear communicator he used to be always an emotional motivator or emotional expressor of words , never takes into account the people to whom he is communicating to in correct way.

So we cannot judge if he has nothing usefull in his mind or nothing usefull coming out of his mouth…but we can surely say that his methods (if there are any) are NOT working and do not have any signs of working in future.

AFA should find a way to make him do mistakes that is not allowed as per the contract that will allow them to sack him without compensation…
BTW as per Diego’s logic Del Potro should be called to the NT since he has the hunger to win , he is a winner , may be he will be a good CB

What about this for a reason of all the troubles..
http://tilcarallajta.blogspot.com/2006/05/la-virgen-del-abra-de-punta-corral-es.html

If you hear some people, the reason why we are failing is because of Mascherano, Messi, Maxi & Aguero. People say they don’t have the hunger of Maradona. Well, let me tell you someting. Maradona had a HUGE hunger in a team. ALL our present players have a HUGE hunger in a circus. That is the difference. This argument has been brought by Maradona to hide his poor tactical skills.

On the other side, there are others that strongly believe that if Riquelme comes back, then all our problems will be solved and that we will play like in 2006 under Pekerman. A lot even think that Higauin in the team may have positive consequences. This is rubbish.

Wake up. There is no chemistry. Players are ALWAYS different. There is no idea, direction. There are no tactics. The ONLY reason why Argentina is failing and will fail is MARADONA.

The result of yesterday’s meeting: NOTHING. People are just a bit worried…
http://www.ole.clarin.com/notas/2009/09/15/seleccion/01999022.html

It’s like the people on the Titanic pushing round deckchairs whilst waiting their inevitable fate .

He has to be removed simple as that .Pay up the ridiculous contract for s start and be rid of him permanently from Argentine football.

M is the greatest player to walk on the pitch , he was hacked at fouled constantly and yet put his soul into each game. No one disputes this but it is completely clear he cannot coach even a local park’s side.

Emotion does not win you matches .Perhaps being the player he was he expects others to do as eh did and work out things on the pitch themselves.

To blame Messi, Masche amd Kun as he did with Roman as Albo mentions is pathetic and disgraceful.

Masche cannot cope having to deal with 2 or more attackers to mark because of the inepitude of the defence and midfield alongside him. Kun plainly needs a nine to work off to attack from deep facing the goal where his vision can also be employed to create chances and Leo well I’ve already explained.

And I repeat hiow dare he treat loyal NT servants like Zanetti and Maxi Rodriguez in this fashion. Who the hell does he think he is ?

Costa Rica have sacked their coach Rodrigo Kenton for losing three straight games why cannot the AFA do the same ?

We may call up these players but unless they are briefed,coached and cajoled before the matches coming up we can expect to see the same bedraggled ,aimless football we have been unfortunate to witness over the last four qualifiers.

del Potro at least provided some spark.Congratulations to him and let it be the first of many Slam’s. At 6′6″ he’d probably do a better job than Sebadom at the least or Crapa.

i am afraid of we need really to give perue a wheat !!!

with Maradona we are mabe unable to win even perue !!

Off to Buenos Aires
Chau : )

English version

http://goal.com/en/news/1863/world-cup-2010/2009/09/15/1502630/im-very-worried-about-argentina-general-manager-carlos

i am worried too; no idea what is going on

MARADONA must be fired!

That’s nice to read. Let’s carry on as before.

A little bit worried. Nothing to worry about except the fact that Argentina may not even make the playoff spot and with the idiot in charge that’s highly likely.

What clowns are allowing this to continue ? Staggering complacency or immense sang froid ,you judge. Personally it’s the former.

Even nations like the Costa Ricans are intolerant of failure despite their small resources and yet here we carry on blithely down the path to doom.

Like a coward, it has run off to Europe to avoid some of the press. There should be reporters haranguing it at every turn.

Sickening.

AURELIUS,

Sickening. This is the word. Seeing Maxi Rodriguez, one of our BEST player, being excluded of the team just because he criticized with some of his teamates, the “god” Maradona. He has never been as loyal towards Argentina as today. Maxi Rodriguez is a diamond. He can attack, defend, sacrifice himself for the team, MOVE without the ball. With an enganche on his side and the solutions he can offer, he can bring a whole nation of futbol completely crazy (Serbia). Maxi is one of our very few leaders, a captain. People like him are required to win a WC.

Same goes for Gabi Heinze. He’s the spirit of our team. Who was the only player to be efficient in last 2 games: him! Maradona is completely out of his mind. The best on the field, the one who honors his country by giving all his energy & heart and who is more loyal to Argentina than anyone else, gets excluded.

Then, there is Lisandro Lopez. The guy is praised by everyone (Porto, Lyon, ALL his teamates) including Lucho Gonzalez. A leader and a friend. A pure monster these days (he’ll probably kill la Fio tomorrow). Yesterday, he was praised by Leo Messi on French TV: “This year will be different for Lyon because they have Lisandro. He can make them go through the CL 8th & quarter finals”.

Gago is pure class. These times are difficult for him because of the competition at Real but Pellegrini said he will give a chance to everyone. Excluded because not loyal to Diego.

Burdisso is a team player and has experience at his young age. CL games, 2006 WC games, etc. He has always been a good sub. Excluded because not loyal to Diego.

The list is only starting. If Sorin was here, he would have been excluded for a long time.

These 5 players just wanted to tell Diego they didn’t know what to do on the field. Maradona’s management reminds me of a dictatory. He’s acting like his friend Fidel Castro the “revolutionary” refusing a revolution in his country. Maybe he has called him for some pieces of advice.

Maradona must have taken too much drugs in the past. He has killed the spirit of this team. It’s the end.

And while all this is happening, Olé Clarin is only talking about Del Potro. In silence, everyone knows that in the shadow, Maradona has destroyed THE nation of futbol. He’s finishing the job now.

Besile, the previous head coach also criticized the same players for poor attitude. He accused them of caring more about their club than the NT.
All in all, Messi, Mascherano, and the rest are as guilty as the new coach.

Personally I think Argentina will not make world cup. So the best situation for Argentina fans is to be graceful and make the best out of complicated situation. the blame game is no use. Maradona experiment should be tolerated even if argentina is out of the world cup.

Well that’s a lot of rubbish.

If Masche was so uncaring I doubt he’d be in tears after the Brazil game. Or Messi demanding that he be released for the Olympics or asking permission to skip this seasons first Liga game.

There is a fault and it’s the voach for dispiriting not inspiring the players and giving them no system to play and saddled with ill equpped baggage.

The Maradona experiment which should never have been initiated should have been terminated after the 6-1 horror show in Bolivia.

What a croc. If they didn’t care, they wouldn’t push to be on the NT and make the trip from Europe, let alone push to be released from their club for the Olympics, etc.

Maradona is a farce and an ass as a coach, and he chooses horrendous defenders, a bad midfield, and worse tactics.

If he stopped calling up Napoli garbage over people like Zarate, Higuain, and Aimar we’d have that much of a better team. He’s blinded by his ties to the club.

Lavezzi is in bad form and didn’t even start last match. Datolo as well. But they can do no wrong because they are from Napoli and kiss his ass.

NapoliFan – “Maradona experiment should be tolerated even if argentina is out of the world cup.” Are you fuckin’ serious? Are you a PR person for Maradona? There is no excuse, and it will not be tolerated. Get your head out of your ass and think.

HEINZE just scored a beautiful header for Marseille.
I agree Maxi, Heinze has been one of the few players if not the only that has been doing well for the NT. He has been one of my favorites over the years, but unfortunately for his part, he is constantly criticized.
I hope Lucho does something well this game, and Maradona sees it at the exact same time of snorting a line of coke. Lucho has always been a favorite of mine.

—————Romero—————-
Zannetti — Samuel– Garayy — Heinze
———–Mascheranno—————
———————–Cambiasso—–
———Lucho———————–
—————–Messi—————
———–Crespo——-Higuain——

Heinze scored for Marsielle.. 1-1 vs AC Milan in Champs League

Bad News….apparently Maradona health is suffering due to the pressure of the NT.

I know we all wish him a speedy recovery…just not as NT Manager.

regards

ps MILAN crushed Marsielle today

Milan were so luckly. They’ll get crushed, and won’t make it out of the groups stages, just how they crashed out of the UEFA cup last season. Wait – thats right, the UEFA cup, haha I forgot they didn’t even make the Champions League last season. Pathetic Milan. Didn’t Milan get destroyed by Inter a few weeks ago? Pathetic losers.

Yes, someone explain why Costa Rica ahs fired their coach at this point yet we continue with ours.

FOOLS!

Heinze is back to his best now that he left the Madrid circus.

maradona is an ego maniac…watch carefully.everything he does revolves around HIM

the players he selects are from his favorite teams, he always talks about himself at inteviews..and he even has to have training in the afternoon because he does not wake up in the morning

Maradona let bilardo take over the NT.He know what to do.

Even the founder of Maradona’s “Church” is criticizing his coaching….

Heinze played really good today, seems the Madrid pressure is off him and he can play like he use to or maybe France is the country that suits him. remember he played his best football for PSG!!

So what are everyone’s plans to fill in the void this summer when we don’t qualify?

Hey guys, i havent been active on this blog as I would like, but its great to see all of you still keeping it going. you guys are awesome.

great to see you back albo.

i Was pretty disapointed that i spent $34.99each ordering those two game for us to lose the way we did. I was actually more sad with our loss to paraguay.

All of us have stated our frustration with maradona and his tactical and player selection errors… I was also thinking of another area we have greatly lacked for the last few years. LEADERSHIP from the players. Or leadership on the field.

When i think of our team in the past specially our team under pekerman… we had so many great leaders on our squad.

Ayala leader at valencia
Sorin – captain of villareal
Milito – captain of Zaragoza
Crespo – He is Hernan Crespo
Tevez – captain of corinthians
Lucho – captain of Porto
Cambiasso – the heart of the inter midfield
Heinze – he was a tiger at manchester. i still remember the feud he had with ferguson when he decided to come back months earlier than expected so that he could play.

It seemed like we had great leaders on that squad, and they were so fluid with the head coach. they excuted everything pekerman wanted.

i look at our squad now… i dont see players like ayala and sorin. I love mascherano, but i just dont think he is that vocal of a leader to lable him as our captain. i remember when he said he didnt want to be the captain.

I really really wish Roberto Ayala was still on this team.

I have said it so many times, but I miss AIMAR. I Miss Pekerman. I MISS OUR TEAM.

nice to see you back, messay–

you’re spot on, and bring something up that i’ve been wondering…

What’s the matter with Mascherano. He doesn’t even seem to be playing well with Liverpool right now. Does anyone know what’s up with the guy?

Well for one at Liverpool they are missing Alonso, big time. Lucas sucks eggs.

On the NT, he is often playing alone in front of terrible defense. If We had some good center backs and Di Maria and Aimar in midfield with him he’d be fine.

He also should not bear the burden of the captaincy, in my opinion. If they brought Aimar onto the team or gave it to Zanetti or Crespo or someone like that it would be better.

But if he played along side Cambiasso, as he should, that would be best choice for Captain.

Anyone see Higuain’s goal for Real Madrid today? Was it impressive?

Damn.. just saw it.. pretty damn good. He also set up Raul’s 2nd goal. Here is the link to the highlights of Real Madrid vs. Zurich.

http://www.footytube.com/video/fc-zurich-real-madrid-sep15-22808

It’s actually not complete, but it has the first 3 RM goals.

it didnt seem that anyone here noticed but Higuain scored today and made an assist. I am happy he is now finally being considered and class players such as crespo are being mentioned again…
but we had class players called up to the prior defeats in qualifiers. MD did call up alot of bogus players and I believe played messi out of position, but with the talent we had against paraguay should have been more than enough to win point blank… there sseems to be no chemistry. I cant imagine how team talks go in the locker room with el diaz. but is it just maradona? Calling up otamendi, dominguez, veron,palermo are all unbelievable child like mistakes. with the coach mixing up a bloopers soap opera and our players not executing it may be too late to qualify even with our new NT call ups.

In my opinion Diego is the one to blame for all the mess and he is to blame for us not having a game plan at all at the moment. But having said that I do actually think that Lionel Messi, who is the best player on this planet, should have done better in many games with our NT and he should have done better against Paraguay. Regardless of who the coach is. I am not all all saying he doesn’t care about the NT, cause he clearly does, but he should perform better….even with Britney Spears in charge of our NT. I really mean this.

VERON speaks:

http://www.google.com/hostednews/canadianpress/article/ALeqM5j3ZaeCTPPwTiuv0h11FJ3EtSrTWg

Wel Veron is off the team now too for criticizing. Hey, what he said was true too. LOL

Our strategy is to just sit around and wait for Messi to weave between 5 players and score a goal.

It’s too bad the NT will die because of two people – Grondona and Maradona are shit.

Anyone wonder if a back deal has been worked for Argentina to be out of the Cup to guarantee Grondona’s place at the top of FIFA? Who knows. With a scumbag like him, all questions are begged.

With simple words, by saying what every common fan believes, Veron has earned my respect. Veron, veteran, 36, is the only one who has opened a bit his mouth to the press. What have done the others?

Some of the others have mentioned the absence of tactical plan to Maradona. Now they are out. MESSAY, you’ve forgotten 2 leaders in your list: Maxi Rodriguez & Fabrico Coloccini (whether people like it or not).

I will ask you guys a question: what is the point to call Crespo, Higuain, Palacio, Saviola, Di Maria, Insua… IF Maxi, Gago, Lopez, Zanetti, Heinze, Burdisso are NOT here anymore? Please tell me? It shouldn’t be better if we had built the team with all these guys?

Please, someone, I want this black episode with Maradona finished. This is a “futbol nightmare”!

Regarding Heinze,
All the great center defenders that have been at Real Madrid in the last 5 or 6 years have always been terribly exposed. I haven’t forgotten that Samuel, the best defender in the world at that time with Roma, got transfered there and never recovered his level. Defending at Real Madrid is a nightmare. Ask this to Fabio Cannavaro or even Fernando Hierro. They seemed like clowns because only 6 players defend in this team. It’s a circus.

Ayala speaks too: http://www.ole.clarin.com/notas/2009/09/16/seleccion/01999853.html

Veron speaks the truth. Ayala too regarding the likes of Mascherano and Heinze’s commitment to the seleccion.

Why not recall Ayala instead of Schiavi ?????

The only people unable to see the truth are the likes of M and G. Argentines should not stand for this sort of garbage from supposed leaders.

No Garay in the RM lineup. How does Pepe get ahead of him . Drenthe has to be one of the worst left backs in the world. Nearly as bad as Crapa.

no firings yet but BILARDO takes over the team

http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/285784,bilardo-takes-over-argentina-squad-while-maradona-attends-spa.html

so we will have BILARDO’s argentina (BILARDO’s selection) against ghana

messi and veron both speak out

http://www.clarin.com/diario/2009/09/16/deportes/d-01999775.htm

messi left some hints…but i think the players are not happy with maradona

its in spanish

Man, Ayala and Gonzalo and Demichelis and Samuel – with those guys you COULD play a 3-5-2 and have depth.

Anyone care to translate what Messi and Veron have said?

wish they would have spoken up earlier, but must be hard to do so, when the coach is also an idol to the players and a “god” to a huge amount of Argentines.

o/t
Higuain was great yesterday, loved the way he and Raul alternated coming deep (playing as targetman). Higuain’s first-touch is much improved, though he still looks a little in elegant, when receiving the ball [then again, Batistuta would look like a pub-footballer for most of the game, only to come alive and bang in a hatrick from out of nowhere!].

Gago still doesn’t convince, though Real didn’t have much of a midfield to work with, yesterday. Kaka was poor (imo), but his reputation saves him from flack. Ronaldo was really good, looking positive for him, lots of good touches, movement, intent and two great free-kicks (though soft goals as a result of poor keeping by Zurich).

’scuse the poor spelling. of course I meant, *inelegant and there should have been an “and” between the opening bracket and the word “playing”, in the first sentence.

blame it on fasting. too hungry and tired to really pay close scrutiny to my gibberings.

here’s teh translation –

While Diego Maradona was given to the performer’s hands of diets and slimming treatments for vips characters, some voices in the selection start to make noise. Lionel Messi said in Barcelona: “It would be horrible not to go to the World Cup.” Added Juan Sebastián Verón, from La Plata: “With the selection, anything can happen.” Clearly, until the coach returns from the Italian spa, next week, and begin to define issues, the selection will live in a state of permanent tension. Argentina is facing two key matches against Peru and Uruguay, 10 and 14 October to see if going to the World Cup directly, play the repechage or looks on TV.

Maradona is admitted to the luxurious Palace, wellness Henri Chenot, in northern Italy, to lose weight from 5 to 7 kilos. “We need him healthy, whole and strong to deliver that 25 list,” said Ernest Cherquis Bialo, spokesman for the AFA, the DPA. Almost simultaneously, Messi broke the silence after the two defeats against Brazil and Paraguay, and the fifth in the playoffs. “We in the World Cup would be horrible otherwise,” said Leo, one of the most questioned, told the magazine France Football. And would not compare the selection of tactical systems and Barcelona because it represented the “other partners”. Although La Pulga sent a message to anyone who’ll listen: “I love Barca system, I am accustomed. We play the attack, we are truly offensive and I like that.” And left-to-order personal self-criticism: “I must improve tactically.”

Miles away, Veron-one referee of this selection, nor was silent. He admitted that the team can stay out of the World and demanded a strong self-criticism to the players and coaching staff led by Maradona. “Clearly, the DT is not the team. We ourselves are not hard to understand how we function as a team, threw the radio La Red Brujita

Veron said that “no commitment” of selected, but also revealed that “there are players who are not working as they do on their computers. Over there, on their computers feel more support than in the selection. He said something that is obvious: “Messi has a structure in Barcelona that the selection has not. Because in Barcelona play differently. It happens people fast and fast download. In the selection, we expect there eludes five rivals target the goal. But you can not bear all responsibility to him. ” Finally, Veron gave the recipe that tells you his vast experience in football: “We must do a lot of criticism, the players and coaching staff. Because we are at a tipping point. The situation is not the best. Although it depends on us.” w

Well blow me down with a feather. Make Seba the coach perhaps as player/manager.

And we need him fit to make a list? How heavy is that list ? What’s it made of ? Baryons from a neutron star ?

Look if they need a list I can send the AFA a couple.

First list ,what to do. Get rid of M now.

Second list call these players now and get Bilardo working with them ASAP.
GK Romero/ Carizzo/ Ustari
DF Gonzalo Rodriguez/ Fazio/ Garay/ Ansaldi/ Zanetti/ Forlin/ Insua/ Ayala Demichelis & (if fit) Angeleri would be in but for injury.
MF Mascherano/ Banega/ Aimar/ di Maria/ Perotti/ Maxi Rodriguez/ Messi/ Ledesma
FW Higuain/ Lisandro/ Aguero/ Tevez/ Crespo

Took me a minute to compose that list. Bloody hard job it was too. No wonder we need M fit.

Saludos.

Glad to see Messi start speaking up, I think it shows he is maturing and growing into the role expected of a player of his caliber.

I was equally impressed that he knows he must perform at a much higher standard than he has been for the NT team.

Bravo Messi

regards

could anyone tell me a website where i can watch the barcelona vs inter game. im in class during the game so i wanna be able to watch the game =) thankss

this up coming 25 list will be very interesting espicially if bilardo will take charge of this one. if i could be coach for a day my list will be as follows:

GK: andujar, carrizo, romero
DF: zannetti, di’mechelis, samuel, heinze, zabaleta, gonzalo, garay, papa
MF: maxi, mache, aimar, di’maria, lucho, gago, jonas, bolatti
FW: messi, milito, higuain, aguero, tevez, lopez,

How about this from the guardian – live match commentary for Inter Vs barca:

Floundering manager who should pay more attention: Diego Armando Maradona. Somehow he has failed to notice that Samuel and Cambiasso are better than the players he is selecting ahead of them for Argentina. And this could be an opportunity for Milito to miss three penalties in a single game and also break his leg while celebrating a goal – maybe then Diego will plump for him rather than Martin Palermo.

After Bolivia game and with maradona’s player selection I suggested that AFA was better off in cutting the legend loose. I still beleive that Bilardo or Sergio batista’s take over would be the prudent thing to do.

What I meant by maradona experiment to be tolerated is to be civil and graceful about it. The legend had his shot to improve things and it did not work. Even if the reality dawns on many fans that Argentina won’t make the World Cup it is important that argentina fans not fall to the English media trap and to bitch about it the next four years.

Young vs smart fans

Smart fans would look the big picture and would treat the result of the experement with sense of general balance where the kids with selfish emotions and UK Media would see this as another opportunity to get back at the legend.

I am not saying nothing, I am just telling. lol

“Lionel Messi said in Barcelona: “It would be horrible not to go to the World Cup.”

Messi had four great oportunities to play like a guy who needed to be in South Africa. I don’t think he will be in South Africa next year.

Saying something and acting on it are two different thing.

any websites to watch the barcelona game?

guys take it easy on Lionel Messi, it is not his fualt but the coach does not have a proper plan to utilize Messi’s power within NT. If no Argentina no Salt to World Cup 2010 in Africa (imagine a dinner with no salt how would it taste?) If Argentina did not qualify to World Cup 2010 then All Argentinians must punish Maradona by dragging him in the streets and spit on him. Argentina has the highest quality of players in the world but plays like shit!!!

Anyone with the name Napolifan who talks out one side of their mouth to give Maradona more time when he’s shown no tactics and poor player selection time and time again, including, mind you, picking crap Napoli players, and then the other about Messi being crap is full of crap themselves.

But I’m not saying nothing (sic), I’m just telling. LOL

Samuel was a PURE MONSTER tonight! Like Gabi Heinze, he’s back to his best level! Do you even care Maradona?

Maxi Lopez

I totally agree with you, Samuel outshone every defender I saw playing today in the Champions League. Fantastic performance but its a shame that Lucio his compatriot can represent Brazil and Samuel doesnt get a sniff!!
Gabi and Samuel seem to have regained their lost form.

Well inter and Barca was a bust….whith all that talent playing nothing …absolutely nada. How about the managers employing some tactics for a change dio buon, or possibly a player displaying some brilliance.

Disappoitnig to say the least.

regards

lol argentuban.. napolifan is full of crap

It’s ironic that Criticizing our old “God” of football Maradona while once verboten has now become perfectly acceptable and a national pastime.

While if one dares mention Messi aka our new “God” of football playing less than stellar or heaven forbid poorly then they are immediately shouted down.

Anyone else noticing this? I find it somewhat shameful.

regards

There are some among us who are pointing fingers at Messi…. I am surprised!! Truly…People wake up do not be blind as bat…at least use your ear (or at least some brain)…. the game plan i watched produced by teh great Diego…well that SUCKS…no doubt.

I am telling you guys that Diego is about to ruin Messi’s life….How ??
Well let me just give u a hint. The position Messi is playing at present…tells him to speed away against opponent with foot dribbling. That my friends, gives the rival defenders a chance to kick and stumped him think…a 22 yrs kid…5′-7″ pushed by 3or 4, 6′ defender…so how on earth he is supposed to play and score goal.

I think Diego wants him to recreate the goals of ‘86 (England & Belgium) in each and every game. And Guys….Messi is dribbling alone…there was no one to back him up…in front or side… So just becasue Diego had two great gaols in his prime…doesnot mean Messi have to recreate….There are so many things have changed 2009-1986 = 23 yrs…..Football and tactics have evolved.

AMEN Turin well said .You mean to tell me this man gone Europe to a weight loss clinic like if Argentina not important stupes.I heard he’s picking Garay,Some defender again from Sevilla ,Higuain and Crespo 2 well we just have to wait and see yes

Claiming Inter sucks and that Milan “demolished” Marseille is shameful.

Pointing out that Messi is not at fault for the lack of tactics, defense, or consistent midfield play on the national team is realistic.

No one is criticizing Maradona’s playing. Just his coaching – or lack thereof, and deservedly so. And I’m sorry, outside of his playing, there is absolutely nothing admirable about Maradona. He is the example of what not to do in your personal life.

Messi missed an easy one today. He can’t let those go, but all players do now and then, and he certainly wasn’t the only one. But other than that, he made JC work for his saves.

A real back line, a non-midget forward, and midfielders that aren’t lost (Veron, Gago) all are welcome changes to the NT.

lol Argentuban. Used to be a member of forum where people would eat you alive vitually lol, so this “full of crap” comment is just pillow talk for me” loool. Most people here would be virtually devoured. I am just telling man.

Another thing, be honest, did Messi put on a praiseworthy performance for the four games he lost. the answer is no.

John,

Thank you for noticing how selfish the young generation is when it comes to satisfying their emotions. It seems that they have no sense of balance. Maradona occupies a higher place for soccer fans even though he is not a good coach. Yes he is a bad coach and he needs to step down but all the negative terrorism that is going on in here is not helpful. lol

I am not saying nothing here I am just telling like it is.

To Messi bashers, (I am not a fan of Messi) if he is played as #9 he needs ball reaching him, the way Maradona played him, in that position Maradona himself will be sucking big time.

We are getting excited about calls to Higuain, but does it help the NT qualification if all the tactics remain the same, if he remains in the bench or played on the wings , if he is told not to move without ball to have space.

How can we keep Samuel out of the team? He was amazing yesterday. And he’s not only the strong guy who stops everything. He is clever, nice vision. He anticipated some nice passes from Iniesta/Xavi. Even if he’s not that elegant, the job is done. I saw him many times taking the ball behind Ibra & Messi. If Inter didn’t conceed a gol against the best club in the world they can thank Samuel & Lucio.

ZANETTI,
Yes. People always spit on very exposed defenders: Heinze & Samuel are great examples. The ones who criticized Samuel at Real without thinking a single second why he wasn’t performing well, will now praise him. Same goes for Samuel. What do you think about the exclusion of Zanetti from the seleccion? Zanetti had a huge game yesterday too. Maradona can only take 20% of him with the national team. He know suddenly wanna call Higuain, Crespo, Palermo. The big problem with Maradona is that he has now called 70 players. Each time, the team is totally new and players will never have the minimum 6 months together to clinch. As Veron says: “Maradona hasn’t found his team”.

I think Maradona has taken too much drugs in his life. These are only some of the consequences. Maradona is a guy who has a child that he hasn’t recognized, he’s a friend of Fidel Castro the dictator, has probably made drugs business with him. The world is laughing about Argentina. Our image is terrible. Good job Grondona.

Btw, Inter 4-0 Milan.

WATCH10,
Bilardo wants Messi to be used like that.

Some presidents of our league want Guardiola to replace Maradona after 2010. They also are pressurizing Grondona to sack Diego.

Great game by Samuel!! He is so strong and a true fighter, the type of defender that strikers hate to be up against. But I guess Diego couldn’t care less……He did call up Samuel for a friendly, but he only made the bench.

Samuel definitely belongs on the squad before any of the domestic defenders he has called up.

I never said Messi played his best in those matches – I, like most people, simply recognize that he is not playing defense or midfield, and thus cannot be held accountable for all of the team’s poor performances. He didn’t get the red card against Paraguay or Colombia back when, he didn’t hit the own goal like Heinze early on in the campaign, etc. It is very much a team sport, and with the defensive schemes and athleticism in the game today, teamwork and good tactics are very critical.

Veron, Gago, and Datolo are hardly the best offensive midfielders we have for Argentina. Playing them as starters is a sin. Never mind the jokes we have had at center back in the past few matches.

The first part is Off topic everyone but I believe it needs to be addressed.

Argentuban…I have never said inter sucks, that doesn’t have enough flare for me. I think they are a sham of a team and and organization who will once again do nothing in Europe.

Would you expect anything less from any Milanista? It’s my duty to constantly berate inter and point out they are in minnow of team when their record is put up against MILAN.

I am sure I have read other posters who just rave about their team whether it be Barca or Boca and no-one says boo to them.

Napolifan criticizes Messi and he jumped all over, proving my point that to some on this blog Messi is sacred and is beyond reproach. I do not defend Maradona but it would be nice if these great players look in the mirror at how they performed for the NT.

We are not were we are solely because of Maradona. Is that not a fair statement?

regards

Watch out Kurt Godel is about alias John.

YAWN…………………

People are never beyond reproach.

Samuel certainly on the basis of last night’s game which was a treat for fans of football and those with an eye for the game ,deserves a call up.

But what is the point unless…..

Saludos.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2009/soccer/09/17/maradona.report/index.html

I mean this is so sad it is comical. Are you kidding me we are on the cusp of not quialifying and we have a freindly that we could use to get ready for it and the coach will be at the fat farm ? This is unreal.

Asking for Guardiola seems a move redolent of panic not foresight.

There are plenty of coaches in Argentina who could equally do a good job such as Cappa whose pass and move football would suit Messi right down tot the ground.

It’s not rocket science to see why he or indeed the other players are struggling.

As for M not being at the friendly all the better. Let Bilardo take over and let M look to his own health. Agree a severance package and let’s get this whole sorry episode over and done with and fight to get to South Africa.

Saludos.

I agree with you logic AURELIUS, as always.

When you constantly kiss Rear End your breath start to smell like Merde.

regards

Just a saying….not directed exactly at anyone.

regards

Inter 4-0 Milan. Pazza Inter ama la.

Man why doesn’t the idiot call up Zarate.. the guy is pure class.

Our starting roster should be:

—————–Romero——————-
Zanetti——-Demi—–Samuel—–Heinze
——-Cambiasso——–Mascherano——-
————-Riquelme/Aimar————–
Messi———-Higuain————Zarate

This team will prolly win the WC

Bochini speaks!http://www.ole.clarin.com/notas/2009/09/18/seleccion/02001306.html
“I don’t know what is his “idea”"
“Maradona must change players”
“Local players can win in Peru. But they won’t be able to win in Uruguay against European based opponents”
“Argentina might play these 2 games like in 86″
“The problem isn’t Messi”

One thing is sure and I didn’t really realize it: Grondona doesn’t give a s#it about our team. Not qualifying for WC would only be a bad surprise for him. He expects us to qualify with Maradona.

@Brigie: thanks for the hint man….i heope to see Fazio (sevilla)…this kid played some good game for sevilla…. and he is 6′5″…along with Samuel and Zanetti and Insua…may be our defense will hold……

ANd for Maradona & his Spain visit….GREAT news for us…. AFA can not kick Diego out of NT…and as long as he is in Argentina Billardo won/t have teh power to select and train….So exit diego (just few weeks)Enter Billardo.

I truly want this madman as our coach..he did miracles in 1986 and 1990….with all the superstars 2010….it can be another Mexicao for us.

Vamos….

Bilardo or Maradona both are trying to put on a system of 4-4-2 that will not go well with our players since their style of play is not for that apart from that it creates a forced roles for the sake of it , out of position play for most of the players, lots of other things.
As of now we cannot play 4-4-2 with the most talented players that we have, so I dont see any change in game with change of coach… unless we get someone who knows game , the tactics , the players well and players trust him . I dont see anyone apart from Jose Pekerman .

All the rest of the news of him taking weightloss programs , meetings etc etc is all selling news… it wont benefit our NT in anyway.

I am too tired to keep on waiting for some sensible step to be taken by AFA …so will just watch the next game as and when it happens…
We will be in SA that is a strong belief.

WATCH,
Stop waiting for news that will never come, you’ll get disappointed. Bilardo & Maradona have the same ideas (or maybe one has these 4-4-2 ideas, and the other thinks about nothing except Fidel Castro).

Even Platini said that Maradona wasn’t a good coach, on French TV, talking about the future of this sport: “In fact, you, me, us don’t really care about the news, who is the best player in the world, if Maradona doesn’t know how to coach, etc… what counts is that our children play futbol”.

Others have Van Basten, Beckenbauer, Cruyff, Platini, clever gentlemen. We have Maradona and we are dead.

Waiting for 2014. Without Aimar, Maxi and the Pekerboys.

Maradona must pay 36 ME to the Italian authorities. Never paid his taxes.
http://www.ole.clarin.com/notas/2009/09/16/futbollocal/02001572.html
Diego Maradona is our NT coach and the world is laughing about us for so many reasons. Thanks to Grondona.

Yeah, I just pray that the italian authorities put him in jail, so that he is locked away for some months….that way Grondona will have a problem. LOL.

ROME (Reuters) – Italian tax authorities seized earrings worth 4,000 euros from visiting soccer legend Diego Maradona on Friday to help pay off his back taxes, they said in a statement.

Tax collection agency Equitalia said finance police had seized the earrings at the clinic in northern Italy where Maradona checked in recently in a bid to lose weight.

It was not Maradona’s first run-in with Italian tax authorities, who say he owes the country 31 million euros in back taxes from the time he played for top league club Napoli.

Maradona, who played for Napoli from 1984-1991 and is now the coach of Argentina’s national team, says the club should have paid the taxes.

Three years ago, tax police took two Rolex watches from him when he was in Italy for a benefit match. In 2005 they seized his payout for participating in a TV dancing show and in 2001 he was met by 20 police officers as he got off a plane in Rome.

Poor Diego…….the “tax police” took his earings, is nothing sacred?

Lavezzi has to get himself out of Napoli.

He has just been fined for being late and his relationship with Donadoni seems to be headed in the same direction as the one he has with the owner…..which is not good.

A player with such promise is for whatever reason is wasting away.

regards

Musing…………

What would Mr. Capello achieve with our NT and the abundance of talent available at his disposal to do with what he pleases?

Ah what a pleasant …………thought……..so relaxing.

regards

i heard that they will wait for maradona to get better before they call up the players…so he will call them up yet again (fail)

I wish to fast-forward to the next world cup, this is a very loong year for me with Argentina’s b/s coach making life very uneasy for all Argentine fans

Woke up,switched on the news and head ‘Diego Maradona has been forced to…..’ at this point I thought yes at last been forced to resign .Sadly not.

Been forced to hand over a pair of earrings…..

CB refuses to pick the players so it’s M stupid list with Hig et al but minus the likes of Il Capitano and Maxi Rod.

Sod Capello. When the chavbags that supposedly represent England come up against a half decent side ie not Croatia they will struggle as they did against Spain who passed them to death.

Napoli tied Udinese today. Lavezzi I thought had a good game though Napoli were fortunate to escape with a point.

Also

The remarks about Mr. Capello and the English team are beautifully self discrediting and I hope everyone reads them and remembers who wrote them.

Regards,

Barca game today should be a cracker.

Argentina will not qualify for the World Cup and do not deserve to. The team and its fans are so arrogant. They have won nothing but age grade competitions for almost 20 years, yet there is non stop bragging and self promotion. This is a team that dropped 4 points against Ecuador, Paraguay and Brasil. The only team Argentina have beaten home and away is Venezuela. So much for the so called superpower. Even if Argentina do get a play off place they better pray that they do not face Mexico or the USA.

Argentina may have players who look good when playing for their clubs. So what if these players lose 6-1 against Bolivia and get beaten by every half decent team. The WC will not miss you or your arrogance.

hahaha says who England?? whens the last time England won anything in 1966

before they invented color TV’s hahahhaha

Wow!!

DId anyone see Messi’s assist (to Keita) against Atletico Madrid?

It was sublime.

It is an abomination that this great man might not grace us with his presence at the WC in SA. What a shame!

Anthony Taylor

HAHAHA morons like you need to get a reality check before commenting on Argentina. Ofcourse England have won everything since 1966 which even they were wrongfully awarded as the ball didnt even cross the line and the penalty they won was a blatant dive!! Not to forget they even won the Euro 2008 lol.

Lucho was excellent tonight. 1 gol + 1 magnificent assist.

Heinze made an incredible tackle. Good positioning. This is another Heinze this year. So good and full of passion & energy.

Bergessio played very well and scored.

Cavenaghi had some brilliant touches (lobs!) but doesn’t score these days. he’s lost his confidence but will find it soon. He’s a gol killer and will always be. Placente played 90 minutes too.

There is a very good argentinos playing at Montpellier. His name is Alberto Costa.

JOHN, KEN,
Inter 4-0 Milan. Va cagare testa di catso. I suppose you don’t understand Italian. Hopefully you will have the time to translate it as you have nothing to do in life.

ANTHONY TAYLOR is like many people who thinks that Argentina’s face is Maradona’s arrogance. They know nothing about futbol. Nothing. Vamos Argentina carajo.

Maxi,
I am NOT John. There is no
need for me to be him
or anybody else. You should re-think
your perceptions. I can’t wait for Argentina
to play those last two games.

2 goals and 1 assist by Messi.
1 goal and 1 assist by Lucho.
Nice!

this blog is a joke

Actually 2 assist by Lucho if we count his pass before Niang’s solo goal.
Nice one from Bergessio, and a nice finish from Agüero.

Obviously a couple of ignorami have chosen to disrupt the blog yet again.

Arrogance ? The redtops are already anticipating glory after wins over a mediocre Croatia plus their Brazilian, and other great footballing superpowers such as Belarus.

Spain taught them a real lesson and will no doubt do so again even a second string Germany at Wembley. I’m not afraid to put that forward whereas the cockroaches crawl out of the woodwork only when the results are in.

Genuine football fans of whatever persuasion are disappointed by Argentina’s plight and all lay the fault at one man’s door.

We know what Argentina are capable of as we saw at the last World Cup and we do not need certain so called football afficianado’s to tell us .

@ ALL ARGENTINE HATRES (Golazo, Anthony Taylor & ……the list is on)….hey MORONS….. get a life and (if possible) a girlfriend and then stop ease dropping in our blog. this is only for Argentine fans…not some looser from other team….Than you for drooping by and wish you could have fun with your NT.

How many times this madman will make us laughing stock for the whole world….drugs, tax fraud and other things…. AFA needs to take things serious. …see what others telling…like they have all the best talent in the world…..Even they trying to believe the USA or Mexico or even the Belarus…LOL….yeah right Dream on Mr. taylor & Co.

tough guys talk shit on the internet hahahahaha im out nerds

i heard pep will replace maradona after his mess of a reign is over

Milito is on fire today.

His dribbling and runs have been sublime and it’s only a matter of time for him to find the back of the net today.

Tevez is the man in the derby.

regards

How will that work though ? Hiw can the AFA afford to pay him the requisite salary ?

And how will Laporta react ? And how will Pep be able to do both jobs at the same time ?

Barca are a huge club and this is a move born of desperation. Pep has had one good season but is not yet the ‘proven’ article where he has had to build a team say like a Pellegrini.

Granted he did a good job with the youth players there and bedding them into the system ie Pedro and likely players like Jeffren, dos Santos etc etc but it’s not as if he is the only coach on the planet who could get the best out of Messi.

Tocalli could come back in and a combo of Cuper/Cappa would be fine and longer term Pellegrini.

Messi was superb yesterday but he has mobile creative mids behind him and thinking players upfront who drag wide to create more space ie Ibra/Henry if the FBs have not pushed on. The last goal with Iniesta’s running off the ball and quick one two with Alves and Leo dropping into the space created for example.

Juan Forlin scored as well for Espanyol. Beautiful cushion header but culpable for Deportivo’s second with a missed block/tackle.

Pep cannot take over Argentina as coach of Barcelona. It’s a pipe dream. If it were true, we’d be set. But it’s about as likely as a UFO swooping down and abducting Maradona from Italy.

And as for Forlin’s performance – that is just an example of what’s wrong with most Argentine defenders. Focused on offense, not defense.

So Milito has a brace today in Serie A but we’re going to go with Palermo. What a crock.

Typical Tevez, made a goal for Barry with his great workrate…but missed his big scoring chance to make it 2-1 right befor half time. That pretty much sums Tevez up for me. And of course Alex Ferguson who pulls the strings in Premier Legue gets 6 minutes(2 mins more than the ref originally decided) of extra time so that his team can score the winner. A fuckin’ disgrace!!!!!!!!!!!

It is a pipe dream Argentuban. No way would Pep consider it. And I would not be surprised to see Palermo started ahead of Higuain if he is called up just so El Gordo can thumb his nose at him ……

If someone could nobble Forlan in La Liga it would be useful.

And another thing, who the f#@% are English fans to talk about being overrated and not accomplishing anything?

You sorry mugs have never made a Euro final, even as HOSTS!!!!! And you haven’t made a World Cup final since ‘66 – the only time you’ve won. Talk about overrated, England this and Premier League that, yet only 1 World Cup and no Euros in all history, and a domestic league where all but 3 or 4 of the best players all come from abroad (admittedly strong league, but NOT because of English players).

AMEN Argentuban

ya one thing is having a bad spell like Argentina is having now…but England’s whole history is a bad spell

I love to watch Gago. Pellegrini is giving a chance to everyone at Real and to Garay too. Higain is not being associated to Benzema and it’s too bad (Raul has a huge influence in the locker-room).

Milito +2
Bergessio +1
Lucho +1

Is Maradona still our NT coach or does my futbol nighmare continue?

England are my WC 2010 big favorites. Capello has had results wherever he coached, all his career. With their tactical & physical football (negative?), I see no one beating them. I’m maybe wrong.

Why should Maradona hate on the European-based players when he himself played in Europe?

Saviola +1

Maxi,
how can you love beautiful football
and also believe England would
win wc2010? Spain is the country to be
beaten. They are great in all departments.
Also most people with common sense
would agree that the Spain league
outclass the premier league at this
time. The two world class players Messi
and Ronaldo play in Spain. Best player in CL was Messi, that is also from spain. Also Barca won the
champion league.

Just because he admires the beautiful game doesn’t mean he doesn’t recognize the ugly game wins more often than not. Barcelona were the exception to this.

Spain is certainly a favorite, but to suggest that Capello hasn’t worked wonders with a physically imposing England is failing to see reality. Capello is one of the best manager’s in the world.

Last I checked, we played pretty ugly in 90 and made the final.

Yeah, Saviola has been paying well, Rune. But knowing Morondona’s logic he’ll say “yes, but they gave up a goal so I can’t use him” – the guy is an idiot. He needs to stay in Italy and let someone with half a brain coach the team out of this mess.

Gonzalo Rodriguez and Ezequiel Garay as CBs would be a welcome change – if only it happens.

Argentuban,
England will have an improved rank in wc2010 thanks to Capello. But to
state that England is a CONTENDER is simply ludicrous. In 1990 I thought
Germany is the one that played the ugliest!

Maxi,
I fully agree with you about England. i have been saying that England will win this cup for about two years now. Now that they have everything together for them it even adds more meat to my theory.
You guys have to understand that England will have HOME FIELD ADVANTAGE this world cup. FIFA does not care about Africa. Trust me, I haave lived in two different countries in Africa,
South Africa is a colony of England. Many english people go on “holiday” to south africa as if they havnt raped the land enough. And already England has the most tickets purchased to south africa even before they officialy qualified.
Now they have a great coach. Rooney is looking to be the best striker in the EPL this year. Terry and Ferdinand are amongst the best defenders in the world today. And lampard, Gerrard duo in the midfield is dangerous. All they have to do is put the right combination of players around this back bone they have implanted over the qualifying campaign.
Which brings me to another point….Argentina does not even have nearly half our squad determinded and set. The only definites for Maradona and the “Barnum and Baily Circus Company of Coke” is Messi, and Mascherano. Every other position seems to change every other game especially now that diego will not be calling as many euro players. We now need to qualify and put together a squad over the next 9 months to begin creating chemistry. We either need to call Riqulme, Aimar, or Lucho. One of these three players are monumental to the future success of argentina. Heinze must be called again. he is brilliant. He only looked bad because of Real Madrid, and we all know about real madrids defense over the years. Zannetti can be rplaced but is a sturdy call up. Lisandro Lopez or as they are beginning to call him “liluuu” over here should be called. Milito and Higuain are also easy choices to call up to the next matches.
last player I want to mention is cambiasso…is he still hurt? when will he be active again? He is one of the best mid fielders in the world and should not even be a question when determining our first team.

Cambiasso played today. He should be fully fit by October 10th, but nimrod won’t call him up so what’s the point?

He and Mascherano should play together in defensive midfield, with Messi, Aimar, Di Maria, and Higuain in attack. Put Gonzalo and De, if healthy, as CBs, or Garay if not. Then I guess we are stuck with Zanetti and Heinze on the back wings.

Gago is not that good, folks. I’m sorry. He gives the ball away way too much. He is not starting material for the NT.

Maradona must produce a miracle. I like the defense line-up that Argentuban outlined.I think Veron should take a break as well. A world cup without Argentina is predictable.

Predictable in the sense that without Argentina, it is very easy to say which team will reach the finals.

http://www.goal.com/en/news/89/africa/2009/09/19/1510664/ghana-to-play-argentina-friendly

Now we’ll also play a friendly against Ghana with domestic players that will accomplish….nothing at all because it won’t use our real team.

I agree SORIN, on everything. I suppose England will try to imitate Greece 2004, a team that our friend AURELIUS likes a lot (ironic!). I agree ARGENTUBAN with all these players you mentioned, they should be potential starters (except Higain, but don’t get me wrong, I prefer him to any other 36 years old forward).

But there is a difference between calling the best players and use them with a decent coach & doing the same but with Maradona.

Maradona doesn’t know how to use our best elements. Just look at the Lucho case: when his coach brings him confidence, he becomes a monster. Maradona used him out of position the few times he called him. Basile used him as Gutierrez’s sub (!). Same goes for so many players like Messi of course (who needs a collective around him in order to be efficient, unlike an enganche like Aimar who would create it) or any kind of enganche who would be asked to do creative futbol with static players around him. Other example: the side midfielders like Maxi are either asked by Maradona to ONLY defend, or don’t have the confidence in the defence to move around Veron.

At that point, because of Maradona who is not a coach able to make his team move like a unit, with or without the ball, when attacking or when defending, I prefer to see our best & collective players at home (Lucho, Saviola, Aimar, Lopez, Palacio, Crespo…). Players like Tevez are more suited to Maradona’s demands.

I’m totally lost. This is unreal.

Please can everyone who finds an article that is about the NT publish it here. Any story anything a player might say or not say and so on.

I watched the Benfica match yesterday, saw the glimpses of the Aimar who would make the Argentina NT a dangerous outfit, but surely not alone.
He has got back his will power, slowly if he stays fit, he will be back.
He still lacks power in his shots, but intelligence is in abundance.
DiMaria is the same category of Messi,Aguero, Lavezzi,Zarate interms of ball possession, they want to keep the ball to long and only release the ball when they think , but cannot identify a perfect moment when it should have been released.(Messi has improved in that sense).
Saviola as usual is a fox in the box as well as a very good holding player, if he had a height in favour of him then he would be a perfect #9 also.
looking forward for them to get better with each coming game.

Aguero is in bad situation his NT coach do not understand what is it like to be a head coach, and his club coach is learning the trade at expense of such a nice players(well the club itself is in a moment of crisis)

Messi’s been very good at picking a pass, for the last 2 seasons. that’s one criticism I never understood, with regards to his game.

what he previously had problems with (back in ‘06-07) was that Barca’s midfield didn’t move in time with him, instead playing more to Ronaldinho’s game. that changed over the last couple of years (dramatically, obviously, once Ronnie was sold), resulting in a highly mobile and incisive attacking unit.

it’s no coincidence that Eto’o scored so many goals last year, given that Messi would regularly run defenders out of position, giving the slower midfielders time to run into space and cause further disarray, which inevitably meant that Eto’o had a wider range of dangerous runs he could make.

Messi can and does pass intelligently. Di Maria is coming up, the guy’s more of a Ronaldo than a Messi… he’s cocky, he relies on his athleticism, wants to (and sometimes deserves to) be centre-stage and only passes when he sees his opportunity for the elaborate gone.

that said, who wouldn’t want a Ronaldo-type player on the team? be fun to watch and be effective in a tight-spot (where a more team orientated player would be affected by the general malaise brought about by stubborn – and disciplined – opposition).

I really hope the Benfica trio get grafted onto the Argentine national team… they, along with Messi, would guarantee a WC Semi-final place, at the very least (provided Maradona doesn’t screw up the remaining WCQs).

Guys -

England hasn’t beaten a truly good team yet, — Spain dispensed with them quite easily. And you can never underestimate the effect that foreign lands have on European teams. They tend to fall apart. Look at italy and spain in the confed cup. It happens ALL THE TIME. It never DOESN’t happen.

The one team that never seems to be affected by circumstance and geography is Brazil. They play the way they play in every situation. I think that their only undoing would be a home world cup – too much pressure.

Also, the English are not the country population to have bought the most tickets to games to this WC. The country that has bought the most tickets has been the US.

not having a go but, why are we talking about (and bashing) England?
capello’s doing a good job with Endland (being a brit myself, I can see a lot of improvement in the side) but, isn’t this place about Argentina?

Brazil has the advantage of being the favourite team of the neutrals (most neutrals, may be 80% or more of them).
That gives them a massive home like advantage, not to mention the added confidence along with a bit of fear(some like to call it ‘too much respect’ ) from opponents.

Regarding a small bit of criticism towards the best player of the planet,
I think he needs improvents at some parts of the game, he should be criticised for things he lack,
and I am hopefull he has people around him who criticize him for things he lacks and needs improvement so that by the age of 25-28 he will be at his best instead of ‘past it’ stage.
Did you guys notice how many times Xavi, Henry tells him to remind him about some positions when the ball is somewhere in the defensive line, he needs to improve tactically, he needs to think where the ball might end up, to read the game while keeping his position most effective.

Messi has acknowledged that he needs to both improve tactically and improve his free kicks/corners. He isn’t going to improve tactics with the current manager of the NT.

We are havign a go about England because some England trolls have come on saying Argentina haven’t done anything and are overrated. I responded with facts, pointing out England has never won a Euro, has not won a World Cup since ‘66, and that the English league is strong because of foreigners.

But I have also pointed out England are a favourite thanks to Capello.

Milito is training again for Barcelona.

Thanks WATCH_10 for the Benfica feedback. I wish I could watch their games.

With regards to all this England talk, I had just mentioned that I was musing the thought of Mr. Capello as our NT Manager and how well we would be doing under stewardship.

He is one on my favourite managers…… no-nonsense, tactically brilliant and quite simply a winner.

Regards

They are definitely in, just need to win thats all…

Less than 3 weeks from D-day….

Boy, I hope they call up some decent defenders for a change.

The team needs someone who can fire them up….a leader who is not only confident and can analyse the game but also a manager or coach who knows A-Z of all national players….down to the last details of what they eat before they sleep

Yes Procrastinator i like Di Maria’s style. He’s fast and looks hungry for the ball.

And we need a play maker like Riquelme

Lucho is the playmaker we need.

ARGENTUBAN,
Lucho isn’t an enganche. He can play that role if needed and is a versatile player, but he is a #8. I believe his potential is far above Gago’s or Cambiasso’s. But under Maradona, Gago & Cambiasso would be more efficient. It’s funny, we’re talking about players that Maradona will never call anymore.

VANUARGENTINA,
All we need is a coach.
Yes, we need leaders. Maxi, Zanetti, Heinze, Lopez, Gago were our leaders but they are out now. Now, we only have Mascherano (?) and De Michelis (the one that could “save” us).
Welcome to the website btw.

ARGENTUBAN,
I think Aimar is the enganche we need. He deserves a chance for a decade now. Lucho/D’Alessandro being his replacement. Please, I don’t want to launch another Aimar debate.

Interview with Saviola.
http://www.ole.clarin.com/notas/2009/09/22/futbolinternacional/02003457.html

He hasn’t seen or heard from Maradona since 2006. Maradona is not doing his hob, he’s pathetic. Really.

i am a huge Aimar fan, but they won’t call him.

Interesting article: http://goal.com/en-us/news/82/south-america/2009/09/10/1493397/where-in-the-world-is-andres-dalessandro

ARGENTUBAN,
Check this website if you want to see Benfica highlights (video section). Aimar has made some nice FK assists. He serves Saviola well too.

MESSI,
This article isn’t interesting, in my opinion. This Abdullah Shams Al-Deen starts to explain us that Aimar is just like Solari, he never really succeeded. Well, Aimar has won everything with River and brought little Valencia to the top against Bayern in a CL final at San Siro, and won liga titles and UEFA cup (!). He left Valencia only because of bastard Pellegrino that has disappeared right now. Football is being more physical. Clubs ask for robots now, like Ronaldo. “Enganches” are not wanted anymore neither. Aimar has been very very unlucky with all these injuries too and that’s why Pablito’s career has been a bit on hold. Well, he’s back now. Our friend Abdullah says nothing new about D’Ale, knows nothing about futbol, and is like all these “journalists” who judge people instead of trying to understand the beautiful game. They only care about results.

No link, Maxi. But I love Aimar. He is my favorite player aside from Messi.

I think the chemistry he has with Di Maria would help the team, but expect no call-up.

http://www.planetbenfica.co.uk/news.php
Forgot the link, sorry. I expect nothing from Maradona except the worse days for Argentina’s futbol.

When Argentina will cry next month because the albiceleste won’t be in Africa 2010, one man will have no regret because his fun would have been endless. Maradona is just playing a game and not seeing the consequences.
http://www.ole.clarin.com/notas/2009/09/22/seleccion/02003892.html

Check it out guys. Higuain is expected to be included in the squad!

http://goal.com/en/news/1863/world-cup-2010/2009/09/22/1516881/diego-maradona-returns-to-argentina-after-attending-weight

What is going to do Higuain with 9 static players around him? Calling him is almost useless, he won’t do miracles, especially on the bench watching Palermo play. Calling Palacio or Saviola, specialists of movement without the ball, would be more “clever”. But anyway, I am writing this but just look what Maradona has done with Maxi Rodriguez the electron…

I dont think Maxi’s decline is all due to Maradona, Basile has a major role in it along with the present Atletico coach.
Related to team selection , he can atleast try a simple rule on which Aragones of spain made the foundation of present team,
select a pair of players from the same club who function with a good understanding and coach has to initially work only on the link between these separate pairs/combinations.
Take Aguero-Maxi, DiMaria-Aimar-Saviola, Zarate-Ledesma, Milito-Cambiasso, Macherano-Insua, i am just giving the names as an example (surely we will include the players like Messi ).

Argentina needs a renewal and watching teams like West-Ham playing under an Italian coach it just makes me wonder if an Italian coach might be what we need. The AFA missed the ball, we missed the chance to renew and renewing requires an experienced coach like Pekerman and not a cinderella like Maradona. Clearly Maradona is being emotional about it and he probably understands that his previous achievements will be soiled by his failure with the albiceleste and that is the reason why he doesn’t see what is obvious to the rest of us: He is not qualified to be the coach, he should quit. Brazil’s Dunga was an underachiever and that forged a different character as contrasted with Maradona who thought he could manage by emotionalism and inspiration. If Maradona had taken a hint or two from Dunga he would’ve realized that discipline is crucial specially when a team comes through a renewal process. We have great young players in the pipeline but they will not develop under the guidance of Maradona, we need a new approach, break the mold, an italian coach might just be the medicine the team badly needs.

That guy who wrote ‘perhaps he should focus less on weight loss and moe on gaining intelligence ‘.

What is the purpose of drafting The Hig in ,when there is no midfield to provide the ball. Or perhaops he meant Federico …….

We need goal line technology. Godoy still won I guess.

Come on Pablito. Friendly against Ghana a useful test against African opposition to be squandered . Quelle surprise.

Roll on doomsday. Sing along everybody. Let’s all do the hokey cokey. You pour one player in you take another out and shake it all about.

http://rapidshare.com/files/283524009/Hinchada.mp3

Come on fatso. You can do it………….. Perhaps we ought to get him as a starter. That for sure would help him lose weight, and because he is not on the touchline we can get a real coach to coach from the sidelines.

Step forward Angel Cappa.

Saludos amigos. Vamos Argentina.

I also forgot to say please give Rolando Schiavi the Nobel Prize for Mathamatics and the Sherlock Holmes medal too.

‘We need to beat Peru ?’ doth spoke Schiavi. Really ? I was not aware of this fact until you told me senor.

Make sure you tell Diego though.

How about a bet Diego subs Messi with himself when we are behind ?

Saludos amigos. Por siempre un albiceleste.

Unfortunately, Maradona doesn’t think like you WATCH10. What you are proposing is a logical solution to make the players clinch together as fast as possible. But Maradona has other things to do. Instead of watching Barca tonight, where Xavi and Alves and their clever collective movements are offering space to Messi, he’s taking another bath in Italy. With these movements without the ball, Barca are destroying Santander. Maradona doesn’t care.

AURELIUS,
I believe very dark days are coming for Argentina. I feel it. Things should be so easy for us with all the talent we have. All we needed was a coach that knew how to move the players all together & bring an efficient defensive system. Against Uruguay, the only guy who can save us is De Michelis. With him we can win 1 point and finish 5th.

Messi: +1 gol +1 assist. Who cares?

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/259446-the-curious-case-of-lionel-messi-is-inconsistency-really-his-problem

Messi: +1.

At this point I’ll take Bruce Arena as coach. I mean really…..

I think Argentina should just have a lottery to see who gets to be the next coach. They’ll likely be even be better……

Higuain – Milito – Messi

Aimar – Mascherano – Di Maria

Heinze – Gonzalo – Demichelis – Zanetti

or….

Higuain Zarate

Di Maria Messi

Cambiasso – Mascherano

Heinze – Gonzalo – Demichelis – Zanetti

If the unthinkable happens and Argentina do not qualify for the world cup which team(s) which you cheer for?

Spain……………..Nope
Venezuela………..Ya Right
Germany………….To Efficient
Holland…………..Nah
Italy………………They Just won
Brazil……………..Five is enough
England…………….My Choice…..I Like em
USA………………..My Choice…..USA AOK
Ghana……………….I don’t think so

Other

None of the Above.

regards

Guyz,

Cheer up . . . v r back on track and will reach World cup 2010 for sure by God’s Grace and Mercy . . . and will win the world cup 2010 for sure aswell . . . God will Bless us for sure . . . it was all now ‘humility before victory’ . . . Await the Grandeur . . . God Bless Argentina

Anyone catch Messi’s 2 goals and assist today against Racing? The guy is a legend.. how the hell does maradona find a way to fuk up a team with the best player on it? i mean if i was coach.. i wouldn’t be able to lose with the talent that argentina has even if i tried.. fire this scumbag already

Messi: “Working with Maradona is enjoyable because of the way he treats the players”. “The important thing is to qualify, be calm, and then prepare ourselves well for the World Cup. It takes time and hard work”. Messi is just a kid who hasn’t the honesty of Heinze, Gago, Lopez, Maxi Rodriguez, Burdisso, Zanetti.

zanetti—garay—-samuel—–heinze

mascherano—–cambiasso

veron

messi—zarate

higuain

messi does not really get involved in useless controversy, this is what i like best about him..and other athletes like him int hat sense

there is no need to publicly get involved in any shit..there is no benefit to him

I apologies for my previous post about picking another team if Argy doesn’t qualify. We shouldn’t be thinking of anything else but qualifying at this time, which we will and must do.

I marvel at the ability of some to read the minds of others.

I tend to take people at their word since I do not posses the ability of some on this blog to know what’s in others hearts and minds.

Let’s respect Messi and others enough to take them at their word and that they are not such intellectual morons that they don’t mean what they say.

Big Game for Napoli and Lavezzi today……Vamos Lavezzi FFS and bury a couple today!

regards

I love Messi !! If he were on the Spain National team they would be one of the greatest teams in the history of futbol. Instead he chose his birth country and should be applauded for this not critisized for playing bad for the country. Messi is not the problem and i still feel that maradona only needs to build a team around him and his talents. Guys like Di maria, Aimar, Cambiasso, must be called up for the Peru game.

Did anyone see Barcelona dismantle Racing yesterday? Messi was superb. 2 goals and 1 assist in 63 minutes, before he was subbed. No player in the world could pull that off, the goals he scored yesterday were pure magic.

Enough said. I feel truly lucky to able to watch him play every week.

Maybe Messi should be captain?

Lionel Messi has hit out at critics in Argentina who have stated that he has fallen out with Diego Maradona and is under-performing at international level.

The Barcelona star has been infuriated with all the accusations, which he claims are false. Furthermore, has called on everyone involved in the national setup to pull together in order to qualify for the World Cup finals.

After two defeats this month, Argentina slipped to fifth in the South American qualifying table, and reports surfaced that Messi and Maradona are not talking any more.

“It is not true that he does not speak to me,” Messi told Argentine radio.

“Our relationship is fantastic and he is great with all the players.”

Cynics have accused Messi of not producing his club form when he plays for Argentina, but the player points out that lack of practice hinders the team.

“You cannot compare because at Barcelona we train together every day and with he national team it is difficult to all come together for two games and play very well,” he continued.

“It is true that at Barcelona I have great players next to me, but there are also great players in the national team who can play like we do at Barcelona.

“But I cannot win a game on my own, far from it. It is the responsibility of the whole team and we have to go out to win every match.”

Accusations that Argentina’s European-based players are only motivated by money and are letting the national team down have also angered Messi.

“To say that is horrendous. We all feel the shirt and nobody likes to lose, even less so with the national team,” he stated.

“Saying it has to do with money is wrong. If we did not feel the shirt then we would not make the effort to play for Argentina and travel to Australia or wherever the team is playing.

“If it was an economic thing then every player would stay at home. The players in Europe all travel to play.

“Sadly the results are not going well and we are not playing well, but that will change.

“We cannot continue to talk all this rubbish. We have to remain calm. This is a country that loves football and we have to stick together.”

Lucas Brown, Goal.com

Leo is a little saint.

u20 WC ongoing at present. Where are we ? Could be the same for the big show too.

Perotti turned in another super show last night .A constant threat to Mallorca capped by a goal.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hj259_5lIHg

Masche hit an opponent last night. Something is weighing on his mind. I think we all know what that is.

Saludos.

Leo is a little saint indeed, AURELIUS. Not putting in trouble the NT via the medias is a good thing. Asking his father to call AFA and complain about Maradona is another one.

Messi is not responsible of the NT fiasco, not at all. What are writing the medias, which are influenced by Maradona, is only cr#p. What he needs is a collective that would bring space with movements off the ball, something that Maradona doesn’t seem to know how to train (not easy to teach it when you select 99 players per year).

Maxi Rodriguez, Zanetti, Heinze, Gago, Lopez, Burdisso were the leaders of this team. They could have all been captain. They can sleep the night, their honor is safe. They did what they could.

Messi as a captain would be the best way to kill our little diamond, TODDUTAH. His #10 on his shirt and the pressure from Maradona are already enough.

Regarding Mascherano, AURELIUS, maybe he feels guilty to see some of his Pekerfriends leaving the NT?

To those who are enthusiastic about Gonzalo Higuain being called, don’t jump to much, calling him will be useless. He’ll probably sit on the bench & watch Palermo like Lopez & Milito have done before him.

If even Messi can’t shine in a team composed of only static players, then no one can. Higuain has been called only to calm down the medias a bit. They seem happy on Olé.

Milito has scored for Inter. They’re up 2 – 0 against Napoli. What a prolific striker Milito is. Doesn’t matter what league or team (except the NT), he scores left and right.

Maradona is an idiot.. he stated that Juve will win Serie A over Inter.. he also said that Napoli would do really well this season and theyre already down 2-0 vs inter within 5 min.. i think he back on coke

He only did coke up one nostril then because Juve is ahead of inter in points and is without question a contender to win it all.

God forbid Levezzi buries a few for Napoli today.

regards

God forbid Fatty (Ronaldinho) from AC Milan buries a couple today. AC Milan are pathetic. They’re currently losing to Udinese. Enjoy the game john/ken/troll.

Diego Milito has never got the opportunity in terms of playing time. He has always been a fringe player of the NT, no coach has showed complete faith in him to give him start or play him 90 mins. he always comes in for 20-30 mins with the pressure to score or will never get another shot. In such scenarios players try to do a lot and just lose ficus and they never play their natural composed game.
In fact all the no. 9’s being tried after Copa debacle were not able to seal their place is bacause nobody actually got the chance. Milito, Licha, higuain or any other player being tried would start scoring and seal their place, if atleast they get 3-4 games in the starting line up with the full back up of coach.

Milito is world class, one of the best no. 9 in the world probably will never get his due in NT.

So, it’s a complete hogwash if anyone says Milito cannot perform for NT as he does for his club.

Speaking on a #9 not getting the adequate run of games in the NT – reminds of Batista during the Olympics. He kept faith in Aguero and started him every game even though he didn’t do much for 3 games straight. And then BAM! 2 goals against Brazil. The point is, someone needs to be given the #9 shirt and the confidence to lead the line. He should have the coach’s full backing. Well now its too late. I’ll take scrappy wins, whatever it takes.

ajNYHC ..very well said and I agree “God forbid Fatty (Ronaldinho) from AC Milan buries a couple today”

and as I said God forbid Lavezzi….you know the rest.

regards,

MILAN suffered yet another defeat today. They are dismal to say the least. Feeble and weak, MILAN will most likely falter time and again this season. Truly pitiable.

regards

I’ve just watched Inter playing against Napoli.

Samuel and Lucio were rocks behind. Samuel IS the man to partner De Michelis in our team.

Zanetti was like always, distant from the ball when defending, but never lost the possession with perfect protection.

Cambiasso was good, played simply like he has always done.

Milito is one of the best #9, it’s true AMIT. He lost ONLY 1 ball in 80 minutes! Give me a name of a forward who does better?! He protects the ball perfectly even in difficult situations, plays in a simple & efficient matter. Too bad his NT career is over (according to Olé) with the names I mentionned above.

ARGENTINEFAN,
Source of the info? If what Olé wrote last day is true (7 European based cracks out of the NT), Zanetti, Burdisso, Milito are out of the NT. All of them are Inter players (Burdisso got transfered to Roma but is Maradona aware?). In addition, Samuel & Cambiasso never get called. Finally, Maradona’s pronostic is seeing Juve ahead of Inter. Well, seems that Inter and its players are evil, according to Diego. Maradona should go in his bath and stay under the water for a while…

KEN, JOHN, whatever you are called,
Sei una testa di catso. Milan 0-4 Inter.

Milito +1.
Bergessio +1.
Lavezzi +1.

Bergessio +1. Another one

Zarate +1.
Burdisso +1.

Piatti +2.

ajNYHC …………..I couldn’t have put it better myself.

Are you a writer or do you write professionally? If not consider it.

It’s weird how Milan and Argentina are both having a bad year. Frustrating for me to say the least

Saludos

Maxilopez aka “bad breathe”,

Keep the language clean. That’s why my old friend albo had to leave this blog. As a newbie to this post you don’t want to start out this way.

Thank You

regards

Right now I feel Cambiasso is in better form than Mascherano.

I also feel Samuel is solid.

I really wish Maradona wasn’t coach.

http://www.goal.com/en/news/585/argentina/2009/09/23/1519509/martin-palermo-misses-three-penalties-in-boca-juniors

So Palermo misses 3 again. Maradona will surely not only call him up, but start him now. LOL

guys it really doesn’t matter who is on the team. we can pick the best players all we want and no matter what combination we use it will fail. because, you know who, doesn’t know how use them. hell just throw them on the pitch and expects miracles to happen. he’s so stupid, if that all it took anyone will be able to coach. can’t he see that. i think we need to shift the discussion to what can he do with the players than who should play. because there’s no changing his puny little mind. i bet any good coach will get much better results with the worst players HE picked that he did with the best.

I agree to a point, but only to a point. If we had two decent center backs in the lineup and Di Maria in place of Datolo against Paraguay we would have probably drawn in the very least, even under Morondona.

Definitely it would make a bigger difference to send DM packing than to change call-ups, though.

MUNSHI,
There is a team that almost won a WC without being coached. The players were just thrown on the pitch like you said. France 2006. Their leaders managed to do the coaching staff’s job. They almost did it.
Leaders is what Argentina needs. Unfortunately, they have been all sacked by Maradona, according to Olé, which makes it even more difficult. Cambiasso would have been the best captain for us. De Michelis, Maxi, Cambiasso, Mascherano, Zanetti, Heinze, Samuel, Crespo, Lopez, all these people are winners on/out the field.

ARGENTUBAN,
Mascherano is our most important player. Without him, we’re dead.
Regarding Palermo, I like him (even being a River fan), even if he has nothing to do in the NT. I love all our argentinos but not Maradona.

Thats much better.

I guess th big game today is Juve v Genoa. It should be a very good game.

Maradona has left the spa in Italy looking trimmer and healthier…thank goodness. Hopefully he has had a chance to relax and reflect in preparation for our big games coming up.

regards

I think domenech is a bad coach, but anyway he is a coach, and so even france had a bad coach to achieve 2006 WC performance. Maradona is worst of all times, he ’s NOT a coach. Moreover, though domenech is bad, he selects the best players from the country, that’s an enormous difference.

Mascherano is very important indeed, but no one is ireplaceable.
That said, it is obvious that the 2 best midfielders argentina (whole world?) possess for a while are CAMBIASSO and MASCHERANO. No question, but maradona is so small. It is also obvious that when he’s in a great shape Samuel is the best argentine defender, but since four years I read this blog and follow argentina closely, NO COACH selected the best players. Even PEKERMAN who DID NOT selcet zanetti and Samuel in 2006. I tell you argentine coaches are the worst of ALL TIMES. Get away every argentine coach you suck, you don’t even deserve to train argentine players.
Until we have a coach, I don’t expect us to win the WC. But if we had had one recently we had won titles.

———-USTARI
ZANETTI-DEMICHELIS-SAMUEL-HEINZE
-LUCHO–MASCHERANO–CAMBIASSO
MESSI————–AGUERO(HIGUAIN)
——-HIGUAIN(MILITO)

This team is world champion class

Ardiles wants the national coaches position after M is sacked.

God help us if he is appointed………

Saludos.

I agree Maxi but Maradona has put too much weight on him. I am speaking in short term.

unfortunately Maradona will pick players from boca and napoli..both the clubs are not doing great..

Maradona Principles:

All players should know what they should do on the ground instead of me telling..unfortunately our players don’t work like that…Either the players or maradona should change…Julio Grondona doesn’t have time for these things..

As per Goal.com Ortega is included in the squad for Ghana friendly,
I think Cannigia and Batistuta are next to be called.

The friendlies are taken literally as a friendly between nations .
What a waste …

Not out .
Toys

We still have hope