Riquelme’s Penalty Miss

It was immensely disappointing, but you could tell from his face that he was nervous. It was a lot of pressure. And he did the right thing by just trying to be accurate rather than use a lot of power.

When power mixes with nerves you don’t get the ball on target.

Posted from  Pakistan

we are still with riquelme!
no doubt with a small team like villarreal reaching the last 4 was a big success for riquelme. they fought till the end bravo villarreal!, as for roman playing in a top competition (champs league), with top teams (benfica,rangers,man united,inter), the on & off pressure at every stage, with the whole worlds eyes on him for crucial ties & taking every responsibilties with confidence, i hope all these will turn riquelme into an even more dangerous player.its a plus point for argentina who in a way is depending on riquleme for the world cup. i wish during the wc’06 argentina improves after every game, be even more stronger game after game, i wish they do it this time… “inshallah” they will win the WORLD CUP.

Posted from  United Arab Emirates

Extremely dissapointing. But like all of you say, I also thought he looked very nervous. So I was pretty sure he would miss.
I don`t this will have a big effect on his confidence leading up to the world cup.
But having said that, I have to admit that I really don`t trust Riquelme 100 % if he takes the penalties in the world cup. To me, he looks like a player ho could get very nervous if he takes a decisive penalty in a match on the highest level. And remember that he has never played in the World Cup before, and now all the pressure is on him to perform this summer.
I hope he is mentally strong enough to handle all this pressure.
Maybe Crespo should take the penalties…but then again, I am not sure we could trust him either…

Posted from  Norway

First of all, yes he was nervous. But he is a professional and he should’ve done better. Excuses are fine, but would you have the same opinion - if it was a match winning penalty in the World Cup and he missed? Seriously! You know who should take penalties? Carlos Tevez. That kid is an emotional rock. He performs day in and day out.

I’m starting to have doubts about Riquelme now. He’s inconsistent. Aimar never stops fighting for the ball, but with Riquelme he doesn’t fight for the ball, unless he gets the ball. We need another attacking midfield player next to Riquelme. That should be Aimar or D’Allesandro, backed by Mascherano in a defensive role.

Pekerman CANNOT afford to let Riquelme play for 70 minutes - and in desparation bring in Aimar. That will not work. we need creativity from the get go.

What do you guys think? I don’t think I can handle ARG bowing out again this WC.

Posted from  United States

Heartbreaking is the word that comes to mind. Villareal deserved to advance and i thought guillermo franco had a tremendous game and will be one to watch in the world cup. Riquelme had a reasonable game and i dont think he was nervous taking the spot kick as he was the first one to step up. Not to worry. This game will quickly forgotten about and i can only really see barcelona winning the competition.

Posted from  United Kingdom

Riquelme should be moving to man utd this season by the way providing he keeps up his performances in the world cup. Rooney has given his seal of approval for him and fergie looks like he has got him.

While riquelme is inconsistent like most of the world star players today it would be foolish to swap him straight for another player. I can see him strutting his stuff in the group games although holland may have a plan to hold him off. It will be more than likely he will struggle as the tournament progresses. If argentina progress which they hopefully should do then they will most likely face mexico, portugal, or iran. You feel roman will have the freedom of the park against these teams but the complexion of the competition changes as the quarter finals come into as teams will deliberately use players to harness him for sure. This is where PEKERMAN comes in with his tactics. Do you give aimar a bigger input to give them a different dimension to the attack or do we continue like we have earlier in the tournament. My personal view he has got to change 1 or two players as the tournament progress and not neccessarily at the expense or riquelme. Our defence will be as lousy as ever but we will focus on attack, attack and attack! By the way what does everyone think on Barbosa?Does he deserve a place in the squad?

Posted from  United Kingdom

Riquelme’s was very nervous taking that penalty so I wasn’t suprised he missed. All the best players miss and I remember Shevshenko missing a penalty in the Champions League final last year. He should be a key player for Argentina in the World Cup and I am sure he will be man enough to take another penalty.

Posted from  United Kingdom

Barbosa looked pretty good, though he really had like one or two real saves to make. I’m still not sure whether he can deliver when it really counts, but i think he definitely has a future in the Argentine set-up

It was depressing to see Riquelme miss it though. I guess an upside is that he has more rest now, and will also be very hungry to prove himself on the world stage. Only time can tell us how he deals with that miss.

Posted from  Trinidad And Tobago

I just read that Lehmann was studying Riquelmes penaly kicks for a copuple of days prior to the game. He assumed that if a penalty would be given, that Roman would take it and that he would go to the left because of his usuall body movement…

I don’t know how he figured that out, but he got it right…right? SuperLehmann he is.

He is a professional player and he should have forgotten about the missed PK right after it happened. You miss some and you make some, but you forget them all right afterward. As far as I’m concerned Carlitos Tevez needs to take the PKs in the WC, no doubt about it. The kid is legit. Riquelme will continue to be on the roster and contribute but in my opinion he will never be one of the GREAT ones, the ones we remember 20 or 30 years later. I hope he proves me wrong in Germany this year though! Vamos Argentina!

Posted from  United States

I didnt want to start a new thread for this since it really has nothing to do with Argentina. Did you see Milan - Barcelona?? Another FIX in my opinion. Shevchenko did absolutely nothing besides score passed Valdes and the ref calls a foul. Are you out of your mind? And ronaldinho is great you think he needs the refs help if someone puts one finger on him the ref is blowing the whistle. They should just let Ronaldinho have his own whistle since he can grab the ball with his hands before the ref even calls foul hahahaha. The guy is a master of the dribble i do not think he needs the overwhelming protection of the refs. Hopefully all these coincidences end before world cup time and we will see straight up futbol. Thanks to another “coincidental” mistake another team is out and “Joga Bonito” moves on. I think im going to start watching Boxing

Posted from  United States

Of all the big games in the past few days…Corinthians - River is proving to be the most exciting. (although you have to wonder what the f__k are the River homies thinking decking Tevez and Masch time & again).Tevez scored a goal that gave me an inkling that he really might be THE WC ‘06 revelation. The kid doesn’t lose either: Boca, Arg Olympics, Corinthians - the WC would be his grand slam. I agree with Ajay above on Aimar. I’d take Barbosa all day long over Abbondanzieri…..

Posted from  Argentina

River were only focused on HACKING Tevez and Mascherano. What a disgrace. Tevez is a beast. Mascherano was a bit off today.

I would take Ustari over Barbosa considering that he is getting more times. In few more years he will be our main GK.

Posted from  Canada

the game of Corinthians - River is exciting indeed, i watched this game this morning,Tevez is essential to argentina at WC, but Mascherano was sent off the field ,maybe he was not in his in good condition.

Posted from  China

This was extremely dissapointing. Hadn’t felt like this since Argentina lost to England in the friendly, or when they got knocked out in 2002. I could imagine in my head, Riquelme scoring, everyone cheering, and then a comeback that took them to the Finals. It really ennoys me!! Anyway, luck was not on their side, and Arsenal should have had 1 player sent off (Gilberto) and given Villareal a penalty earlier on, when there was less pressure for sure. I hope the players learn from this. I think Abbondanzieri sucks, Argentina have never had outstanding goalkeepers and that is a big problem. I think Barbosa is alot better though, I hope he plays for the WC. Argentina have to regroup and just boost their moral, confidence and ambition, and we will win this World Cup for sure, we have all the right players and our forwards are the best in the world!

Posted from  United Kingdom

I think we should use Messi and Riquelme as the attacking midfielders. Crespo and Tevez up front.
By the way; I heard that Messi felt some pain again yesterday.
They say it is not serious and that he will continue his recovery tomorrow.
Isn`t that what we also heard a month ago?
The day after we got to know that he was out for one more month….
So afraid that this will happen again. Guess I`m just being paranoid.

Posted from  Norway

Barcelona forward Lionel Messi, still recovering from an injury to his right thigh, pulled up during a training session in his native Argentina on Wednesday, media reports said.

Messi pulled up during a sprint and kicked a cone in frustration but Argentina national team sources said it was not serious, they said.

It was not immediately clear whether the problem was with the same leg or the same injury.

The 18-year-old has been out of action since early March when he tore a thigh muscle in his right leg during the second leg of Barcelona’s 3-2 aggregate victory over Chelsea in the first knockout round of the UEFA Champions League.

Messi has been one of Barcelona’s most exciting players this season and is expected to stand out for Argentina at the FIFA World Cup™ in Germany.

He was initially expected to be ready in time for the first leg of the Champions League semi-final against AC Milan last week but experienced problems with the injured leg while training.

He returned to Argentina last week to continue his recovery with the approval of Barcelona coach Frank Rijkaard, who said that Messi might benefit from a change of scenery.

Posted from  United States

nothing serious. Messi is a kid whose entire life is football. I think he needs to be slow down and get some rest. No need to hurry. There is nothing to hurry for, the league is over and the CL final is few weeks away.

Posted from  Canada

nerver mind, its a good thing to be dropped out for the game, if he went into the finals with barcerona, the energy of requileme would be slipped away, as to say, it is hard to say that requilme would keep enough energy to WC 06 with argentina, by the way, he would have deserved this winning game wiht virareal, he played good but lacking of luck, although he lost the penalty but there were lots of chance to goal for virareal during the match, the point is that the player surrounding requileme is not good as argentina. could you say that digeo Forlan is as good as TEVEZ or Creaspo? Messi or Saviola is absolutely better quicker smarter than Frango etc, heartbreaking for this match virareal lost, but we will get warm with argentina winning the forthcoming WC 06.

Posted from  United Kingdom

CHECK OUT WHAT LOTHAR MATTHUS HAS TO SAY ABOUT ARGENTINA IN THE CUP
View As Web Page
http://fifaworldcup.yahoo.com/06/en/060426/6/6ma8.html

Posted from  United States

Don’t base Riquelme’s future on one penalty man, come on, everyone saw that he was the don and he knows that himself by now. Anyone can miss a penalty, remember Ronaldinho’s penalty miss against Benfica in Camp Nou just a coupla weeks ago ? Happens to everyone sooner or later, it’s like gambling.

I doubt it’ll affect his morale in the World Cup. You know, when the World Cup begins, even the mighty Champions League is forgotten. All the favourites (i.e. Argentina) then have their eyes on the trophy.

Posted from  Switzerland

I completely agree with Matthaus there. Argentina are in the group of death, but if they emerge on top, unlike in the last world cup, they should be tipped for glory. Brazil, defensively aren’t world-class. Their defenders seem to offensive for their own good.

But who on earth wrote the yahoo article ?? The 1986 final result was 3-2, not 1-0. Yahoo should get some proper experts. I wasn’t even born back then and now I’m correcting that fool.

Posted from  Switzerland

You have to say one thing regardless of the shenanigans that happened. Riquelme has been re-born again and playing almost at the same level as he did back in Boca. So credit must be given to Pellegrini and Pekerman.

Secondly, I agree with most that posted about even the best missing crucial penalties. It happens, but I think you can’t let that outwiegh the type of contribution Riquelme has given to not only Villarreal but also for Argentina. I mean just like Carlos Valderrama he likes to play his football at walking pace. Now although, Ronaldinho has the pace. Riquelme is just as hard to stop with the ball at his feet.

But, I think the good thing is Argentina will have the depth with Messi,Crespo,Tevez and others to capitalise on Riquelme’s play and although Pekerman has been critcised for using so-called “lesser known” players. I think team spirit and harmony will be important if Argentina are to have any chance hopefully they can replicate the type of performance Villarreal produced this year in the Champs league.

Posted from  Australia

why didnt riquelme take the pen v madrid and put miss behind him! it couldnt have been any worse then missing that pen v arsenal! gutless son!!

Posted from  Pakistan

No i doubt i like riq, but i luv to have aimar playing the first 60-70 min before riq subbing him. This would mean that riq can play aggresively for the last 20 min. moreover aimar fights for the ball and is more aggressive than riq on any given day, and i think he is a class abt riq. I mean come on guys aimar is gr8 and he gives all he got for whatever teams he plays(be it river or arg) but the poor guy gets underrated everytime.
Mark my word pek is going to use more of riq than aimar who is going to create chances and hope it doesnt ruin the args wc run.
I am from india, where they dont telecast arg league matches, so i want to watch the matches ….so where can i dl matches like the Corinthians - River etc.
vamos argentina

Posted from  India