Maradona told TyC Sports television that there might be a shock call-up in his next squad, but denied that striker Higuain will be it.

“There could be a surprise,” he said. “We are talking about a surprise from the midfield to the attack. However, it is not Higuain’s moment.

“I have Licha (Lisandro Lopez), (Diego) Milito, (Carlos) Tevez, (Lionel) Messi and (Sergio) Aguero. That is enough for me.”

The 1986 World Cup winner also expressed concern about Lazio goalkeeper Juan Pablo Carrizo’s inactivity.

“I am worried because Carrizo does not play. When he comes we will talk about it. A keeper who does not play for so long loses shape,” he said.

excellent.. How on current form does Higuain not rate higher than Tevez and El Kun, I don’t know. He really should get a look in… and that surprise he is referring to, watch it be Roman.

I’ll try to be less belligerant, guys. I’ve been red hot for the past couple days with all this soccer controversy. You can take the girl out of south america, but you can’t take south america out of the girl

First let me say “Che, Drogba, anda cantarle a Gardel!”.

To me, this whole Barca v EPL thing is simply a matchup problem. In every sport, there are numerous examples of awesome teams being beaten in the playoffs by lesser teams because of the matchup problems, ie. they may do some thing better than other teams which are effective against the greater team. Same thing here. Just a matchup problem. But let there be no doubt who the best team is — Barca (por si no esta clarisimo).

I am really tired of the Messi/Ronaldo comparisons. Both wonderful players — and different. But I have seen Ronaldo’s goal vs. Arsenal compared to Messi’s goal vs. France. The only similarity is that both were on a counter attack. “What a great back heel and strike by Ronaldo”. NO DEFENDER WITHIN 10 feet of Him on the back heel and a desperate defender on the strike! Messi’s goal was between 3 defenders and the keeper. No comparison–Messi wins on that count.

9.15 meters (10 yards). That’s what the rule says is the distance from the ball to the closest opponent during a free kick.
In Argentina (and many other places) the defenders don’t respect this distance and move up a step or two, sometimes even more.

About two years ago an Argy guy invented a white spray for the referee to mark the 9.15 meters on the pitch. A white line that makes it easy, even when seen on TV, to show if any player is “stealing” a couple of feet of distance.
Of course it’s made of a non-toxic substance and it disappears in a couple of minutes or so.
The inventor, Pablo Silva, showed it to Grondona who happened to like the idea, so it went all the way up to FIFA.
They liked it too, and now it’s being tested in Argentina and Brazil.

It’s interesting to note that stats on free kicks in Argentina are changing dramatically this year.
There have been 19 goals from free kicks already, in 13 weeks of Clausura ‘09.
Before the spray, the last three years there was an average of 10 goals from free kicks in 19 weeks of football.
Amazing.
This makes a difference in favor of good short distance kickers, like Beckham, Pirlo, Riquelme etc. who can curl the ball around the wall.
It definitely made the difference last Sunday for Gallardo (River).

Racing Club’s great kicker Franco Sosa explains:
“It makes a big difference because, at the right distance, I can give the ball enough top-spin to elevate over the 3rd and 4th defender and then come down either towards the 1st or the 2nd post.”

The spin on these types of kick is actually diagonal and its angle varies depending on where is the kicker aiming.
Anyway, referees say that although it means carrying more paraphernalia on the pitch, it does help by making defenders keep their distance and as a consequence it seems to be helping talented kickers get rewarded for their ability.
It might soon become a part of football all around the world.
Saludos