No Consolation…

Alexa Riquelme was very good in this WC.But he has more in his locker of skills which we never saw.

And I think he was tired perhaps not physically but mentally.

Remember he took Villareal almost single handedly to the CL semis & CL place for next season.

Vic I disagree about Crespo.The guy converts the chances he gets. He is a born sniper he finds space in the box & usually puts the chances away.

Someone any team needs to win a match.

And omar theres nothing wrong with mixing it up long & short passes but as long as the aim is acheived as in Cambiassos goal with 24 short passes delivered at speed & with accuracy this style is fine.

I dont think other teams can play this style because they lack the technically skilled players to pull it off.If they tried they would lose the ball very quickly.

Jason post the link again for those who might have missed it. I think we should all head over for it if this blog is closed which might well be the case sadly.

In any case lets all meet up in 2010 & this time round see an Albiceleste triumph. And dont forget to rally behind the Pumas for the Rugby WC in France next year.

Seeing some of the WC highlights makes me feel rather wistful of what might have been.

Posted from  United States

The blog will continue alive and another one will be opened. This is explained in the world cup blog home. The post is “A million thanks and a look ahead”.

Posted from  Spain

Best/Worst Moments of the World Cup

Best —
Jose Peckerman bringing Arg futbol back to its roots, its beautiful south american style.

Arg/Serbia match, espceially the 2nd goal, which was a gift to anyone who loves futbol

Ecuador’s great play in the group stage, I heart tin and tenorio, I heart reasco and espinosa

Maxi Rodriguez’s wonder goal against Mexico. Did you hear the gasp of the crowd? I’ll never forget that.

Mexico’s never say die attitude against Argentina. They NEVER quit. They’re so proud. It’s impressive.

Germany’s flashy form, pre-Argentina.

Spain’s young guys. They have a fantastic future as well.

Ghana and Ivory Coast. Great, physical, exciting teams. African teams have so much of a future, it’s mind boggling.

Riquelme

The impish/excited smile between Zidane and Ronaldo before the quarterfinal.

Carlos Tevez’s absolute passion for playing and scoring. He was so HUNGRY. He looked like he would eat his young for a goal!

Riquelme.

The level of gorgeous play that Argentina showed throughout. I think that had they gotten through Germany, they would have peaked again, ala the Serbia game

Ayala’s fantastic play against Germany

Zidane’s wonderful skills

Worst -

The way the Holland defender’s purposely and succesfully tried to get C. Ronaldo out of the game.

De Rossi’s elbow to McBride

The US teams absolute lack of mental preparedness or ganas or huevos, or whatever it was.

The ridiclous English fans scapegoating C Ronaldo for the Portugal loss.

The farcical penalty call in the Australia Italy game.

The overly defensive play.

The all european semi finals

Brazil’s pathetic performance. I feel so cheated. Pareira should be tarred and feathered.

Zidane’s homer simpson moment. I feel for the guy though. He’s still tops in my book. I just wouldn’t want to be around him when he gets mad, sheesh.

And the worst…….

Arg/Ger—–Jose Peckerman’s substitutions at the 35th minute. Which will go down in infamy as the single most ridiculous act of coaching sabatoge in WC history.

Posted from  United States

Seriously…i creied 4 2 consecutive days after argentina lost-tsk..tsk..
Ya i’d rather have all argentina plyrs on the field.
4 me argentina is the most gifted team scoring 2 most beautiful goal in the World Cup.
THE BEST TEAM DON’T ALWAYS WIN THE CUP!!!
AGREE dat euro 2008 was nothing 4 me.Waiting 4 COPa America..
Again.argentina have proves us that football is a beautiful game!!
GOOO ARGENTINA-u’ll win it in 2010!!

Posted from  Singapore

don’t get me wrong, i’m not saying crespo mustn’t play anymore, i just don’t like how he plays. there are some center forwards that can score as easy as him and also help the team in playmaking
during the games i just waited him to do his goal, give him a couple of minutes more and then get him out to take in messi, tevez, saviola or whoever was in the bench
palermo is even uglier than crespo, but he had his lucky strike and f*king brilliant sense to smell goals whenever he had the ball
he has a record in argentina of more than 20 goals in 19 matches, don’t remember exactly how many (the good thing is that he wasn’t the only one who scored in boca)

vamos boquita carajo q hacemos historia!!!

Posted from  Argentina

Hola todos!

Hey Vic what part of Argentina are you from??? My dad is from Baires, which i am very proud of!

Anyways i’m very glad we will be able to gather here right up to next COPA AMERICA in Venezuela… plus the UNDER-20 FIFA WORLD CUP is also next summer and it will be held here in MY COUNTRY: CANADA!!!!! Finally! ahhahhaha can’t wait!

Anyways, nos vemos!

Chauuuu

riquelme is damn good in midfield and hes a magician in midfield
thats why hes the best playmaker in the world cup and have the highest votes from singaporeans-vote from singapore newspaper

Posted from  Singapore

OMar, I really disagree with you, Tevez made a GREAT game against Germany, he does not lose the ball, he gets foul, even if it is true he is sometimes too long to pass the ball. Crespo has never been “afraid” how can you say he was afraid ? Crespo scored 2 goals in the decisive qualifying game against Brazil and in champions league 2005 final, so he is just great in decisive games.
You are really talking shit, cambiasso is not weak.
The only thing who is true is that Riquelme is really too slow for this level of play, Heinze and Sorin are a little weak for the headers, thanks for the goal against germany. That’s why Samuel should have played, he would not have let Klose score.
So in fact the weakest is perkerman, he is a loser I really don’t understand why everybody ’s defending him, he made too much mistakes.

Posted from  France

OK ok. Pekerman made huge mistakes against IC and the same against Germany. But the problem for fans is that they saw a fantastic way of playing. People do not want to have a tactical coach like Scolari. They want happiness. Today i feel less sad than before and i do not know what to think. Could Pekerman do the same mistakes in 2010? Maybe. Don’t forget he could have got out of the competition because he put Scaloni in the squad!

The problems didn’t come from Crespo, Tevez or others. This is bullshit. Our players were absolutely fantastic. Riquelme is amazing. I love this guy. 100 passes per match. This is what i want. If some of you wants dribbling and individual playing, go supporting Portugal or Brazil. Riquelme is born from traditional schools of Argentina. I hope he will be there in 2010. He deserves it.

Posted from  France

In total agreement with your post, maxi.

I do hope that Pekerman learns from his mistakes, or goes to counseling or something.

Sometimes I think that these coaches overcomplicate everything. Peckerman had some good arguments for the subs he made, but if he looked at the bigger, more simple picture, he would have seen that – you know – having your best players on the bench during a quarterfinal would probably backfire. Or taking out your compass (riquelme) would probably cause the other players to lose their rhythm, sense of directions.

These coaches seem so stubborn. And most don’t seem to want to learn from their mistakes.

But I love Peckerman for what he did for the team. And he seems to be a great person – smart, humble, and a true lover of futbol.

Posted from  United States

Yes i like him too, even if he eliminated us and even if he didn’t take Placente, D’Alessandro, Aguero or Zanetti.

Posted from  France

Do you guys know if Bilardo and Bianchi play offensive football?

Posted from  France

Cambiasso plays with a lot of heart but the hard fact is that he is not all that talented…true, not every player in a team has equal talent, but I’ve seen Cambiasso from his Real Madrid days, and his game often appears dicey….He is no Fernando Redondo I am afraid.

But, Wamdiego, Samuel is not that great a player either. He is overly agressive, and a real liability in the penalty area. Klose scored with a header that Samuel would not have been able to stop without fouling him. Tu ne racontes que de la merde mon vieux…

Let’s keep our fingers crossed for the Copa America. Vamos Argentina!!!

Posted from  Australia

Copa America next year is going to be fierce. Both Brazil and Argentina are going to be on a mission to prove something, and we all can just sit back and enjoy the spectacle. I can’t wait.

Can someone tell me the reason that Samuel and Zanneti were not picked for the national team? I never really understood the logic behind it. Were they too slow?

Posted from  United States

There’s some logic behind Riquelme’s subs, I guess. I think Odonkor made a mess out of Pekerman’s head. Odonkor kept attacking at Sorin’s side & that’s the area where Riquelme occupied. Pekerman got scared & put Cambiasso to strengthen that area…

…And then, Odonkor created gaps between Sorin (Sorin’s covering Odonkor) & Heinze, and that’s where Klose was…

I guess, Pekerman was right about the defensive concern at that area, at that moment. And his action also could be questionable. But my point is, if the we NEED to make defensive stop, the players MUST make defensive stop. Historically, we didn’t do that, and COPA America was one of them

Posted from  Malaysia

True – in a way Argentina is cursed with their early goal scoring. They have had a hard time defending their lead. Odonkor was tearing things up with speed, but Riquelme could have slowed things down. I just remember the game getting out of hand and hairy only AFTER Peckerman took out Riquelme. And, to put in a defensive midfielder instead of Aimar, read to the German’s as fear. Backing up.

Posted from  United States

Horrible. I remind all this. Odonkor is so bad. No technique. He only knows running. I don’t understand why Pekerman was frightened and nervous. With Pablito and Leo, we would have killed Germany…

Posted from  France

wamdiego10, look
this is your opinion,, you know? Tevez’s style is very old, I’m always telling that, i’m not talking about skills, his way is not useful for the team, he doesn’t play collective football, he saves the ball in his feet to make dribbling, he wants to make dribbling each time he gets the ball, he doesn’t look forward to go ahead forward the goal to score, ,he never think to passe a fast ball to the next , or the best position team matt, so many fouls is a fucking shit football, we need some one who can score ,not to take fouls, understand ?
tell me! how many passes he did in the match in the area? by the way he played 120mins , right ? how many shots ? only useless dribbling, are these the skills you need in playing football within a team ? i don’t like this kind of play. that’s why he is 20 mins player! even i know he played much better than Crespo, Cambiasso, but this is not what we supposing to see,
again Crespo is very very bad, yes he is afraid in Germany match, yes i’m sure about that, i played football my dear, i can recognize from the first look, look are Frank riberry in his 22 years old or the German Bodosky in his 20 years old, Cristiano Ronalod 21 years old , look at them how they playing , Crespo failing down without any reason, just because his legs are moving fast before touch the ball ! ! ! ! i know my friend
Cabmiasso is very weak i can’t change my opinion about him , i don’t like so much left leg players, he can’t defender to cut the attack, he can’t attack , what is his job in the team ? he is not intelligent enough to make goals, he can’t take the ball from the GK to build an attacks, he is useless believe me
Requielme is very slow, we don’t need him any more, if he is good enough he could be in his 20 years old in 98WC or in 24 in 2002WC, only with perkerman ! ! ! !! !strange non ? franckly i don’t like to see him in the team any more, i’m sure in ARG there should be much better players than him, he doesn’t have stamina to finish the match ! he is looking very tried with a very sad face , no we need motivated players ,not sad players

so against Germany we lost because of :
1) perkerman tactics and substitutions,
2) Crespo,
3) Cambiasso,
4) Requielme,
5) Cruz
6) Tevez

the other players were doing their job perfectly,
Tevez can do better just to find a new coach who should advice him to play within a team, not letting him doing what he wants
there is a fact in football, there are some player who play with their national teams much better than playing in their club, so times it doesn’t mean any thing if you score 30 goals with your club, who scores 10 maybe better, i’ll give you an example, Canggia never scored more than 10-12 goals in the calico , crespo 24 / 25 goals some thing around, who is better in the world cup ?
Juan Antonio pezzi , he scored 31 goals in one season with his club Tenerife in Spain, but he didn’t play for Argentina, because he is not a wc player , that’s it!
i was wondering about Crespo, why young players playing very well without any complexity and he can’t even fix his legs of moving because of afraid, ! ! !
Frankly I don’t like to see most of this WC players playing for ARG any more, if they want to win they have to change, and to select a good coach.

Posted from  France

Well, with some time’s distance I’d say you will never learn.
You will remain puerile – or pubescent – forever.

It is so exhilarating to watch you hispano-latino-or-whatever guys babbling along. Puerile bragging, little brain.

Great exception: B r a z i l : They make their mistakes, but they always blame themselves – right or wrong. They show grace – even in defeat – YOU DO NOT.

It will probably tahe you another few decades to learn the true significance of
H u m i l i t y .

ARGENTINANS ARE INCAPABLE OF SHOWING GRACE AND / OR SPORTSMANSGHIP.

They will remain – occasional match results notwithstanding -
South America’s little soccer brothers.

Y O U guys just keep on bragging … That makes you -while all the world keeps grinning – immature kids – forever. Talented – highly talented, to be sure, forever. But forever talented only – not really great.

Well, if you can’t enjoy your football succeeding – enjoy your succulent steaks.

Posted from  Germany

crush-u — a lot of people who post here are not argentina, but lovers of argentine futbol. I would say that most people are placing the blame on arg. loss on Pekerman, and not scapegoating (a la the english fans).

I am not Argentine. I would be saying the same things I’ve said about Arg for any other team that deserves such praise. The 2002 world cup, to me, was just. Because even though there were serius ref. mistakes, at the end of the day, the best team won. Brazil was the best team. Good for them.

In this world cup, I will always feel like the best team didn’t win. It’s futbol – the best team doesn’t always win. Arg. should have beaten Germany. They were clearly better. It’s just my opinion. I would never go on a germany futbol site to say this.

Why go on an argy futbol site only to insult? Do you know how pathetic that sounds?

Posted from  United States

Nice post Alexa, except that referees were fools in 2002.

Posted from  France

DEAR ALEXA,

Stop wasteing your breath by talking sense out of those moronic argentine hater, all these guys can do ..bla..bla..bla, WHY? ‘cus their beloved team SUCKS the popularity as ours

Posted from  Bangladesh

Dear Friends: I want to share something with you all.
Maradona play in ‘82 and did not do anything Argentina lose 2 x 1 to Italy, 3 x 1 to Brazil and out.
In ‘85 was a different story. He played as the ones who knows their game. But make a goal with his hand is not for a “crack” but for a cheater.
In ‘90 we were not champions we came in second and second no one cares…
In ‘90, Maradona lose to Camerun 1 x 0 later a tie with Rumania 1 x 1 , later another tie with Rumania 0 x 0 (but win by penalties) and with Italy 1 x 1 and again won by penalties. At the endo we lose to Germany. Like you all can see it was not a great wins but very poor when you think…”the best player of all times” was in our team….
In ‘94 we cried.
Conclusion…Maradona was at 4 World Cup and only won 1 ummmm not very good “for the best player of all the time…”
In the other hand…Pele was in 4 World Cup and won 3…ummmmmmm you all tell me who was the best plater of all?

I don’t care no matter argentina win or lose . b’coz if argentina lose i’m still support argentina and never change no matter what happen . i really hope that argentina can win for WCUP 2010 . I hope the coach maradona or carlos bilardo . Vamos argentina , argentina puede campeon 2010 . Te amo mucho argentina .

Posted from  Malaysia

Array

Posted from  Ukraine