World

South America

Argentina

The real poet…

July 1st, 2006 | By: Noman Ansari | 219 Comments »

Forget Ronaldinho and forget Riquelme. The true poet for me has been the old king. On the football field he is a true magician, and is rightly mentioned in the same breath as Maradona and Pele as one of the greatest footballers of all time. But unlike other greats, he isn’t flamboyant off the field as he is on. Greatness typically brings arrogance to a person, but not with this humble poet.

The man I speak of is of course Zidane, and his beautiful football has helped eliminate Brazil tonight.

The reason I make this post is to comment on this dark day for South American football. There is neither Argentina nor Brazil to represent the continent in the last four. And personally I would like to offer my commiserations to our arch rivals.

When we lost in a close game to Germany, a few Brazilian fans came to mock us. What was upsetting was that they hadn’t visited us before, and only chose this time to come and rub salt in our wounds.

I urge all true Argentine fans not to follow suit. Just because a few silly people from Brazil chose to taunt us, doesn’t mean we should do the same. Most true Brazilian football fans love Argentinean football and worship a certain Carlos Tevez.

Let us hope that a South American team wins the next world cup. Be it Argentina or Brazil. For now I wish all the best to Zidane. A world cup win would be the perfect fairy tale ending for a phenomenal career.

Tags: Argentina, Brasil, Brazil, Brazil versus France, Brazil vs France., France, France versus Brazil, France vs Brazil, Ronaldinho, Zidane

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Displaying the most recent 25 comments from a total of 219 comments.

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By Grace | July 7th, 2006 at 7:25 am

Anyone but Argentina: I just saw the game Argentina-Peru, 1978. I felt I have to say this so I came back to this blog: Watch it, you will know there was no cheating, Peru was attacking even more than Argentina in many parts of the game.

Posted from United States

By Tuhin | July 7th, 2006 at 8:24 am

I agree with OMAR from france. argentina have some internal problem whcich causing us the trophy, the coach are making decisions whcich is helping opposition to kick us out of the tournament.
1990….we had only 3/4 world class player but still we went to final and faied to win the cup(THANKS TO FIFA & CODESAL and GREAT ACTING BY german player)

1994 & 2002 was unfortunate, 1998 we had all the class…but faied why?

this year we had all the player a team can hope for but still we lost why?

There are some positionwe were out played:

1. RIGHT BACK: I missed ZANETTI, if he was here we did not have to suffer that much in the Q.F match. we used 3/4 playes in that position; Burdisso, scaloni, cufre,coloccini….none of them had the THING zanetti had, the “vision”, zanetti could almost predict which player will have the ball and whom it will be crossed, if he was there we could have take out the german wings. He is also a great tackler, second to none. he is good in the arial position + he is tall.

CENTRAL BACK: AYALA..”the man in the position”.
Hinze..played good but….suffered a long injury so he had some problem. I think Walter Samuel would have been a perfect sub. for Hinze. OR HUGO IBARA.
Sorin to play in the center with Ayala. so that Samuel could take the left back.

MIDFIELD: no problem here
MAXI (10/10)
MASCHERANO(10/10)
RIQUELME(9/10)
CAMBASSIO(6/10)
GONZALEZ(5/10) BUT….Last two of them must have been replaced by AIMER.

ONE QUESTION, why we had only 6 MIDFIELDER….? to me that number should have been 7/8 with “killy gonzalez & D’lasandro”.

FORWARD :

6 strikers was too much!

messi, saviolla, crespo, tevez was more than enough. for additional we could have picked up another one(MAY BE) .

AND FORMATION….4-4-2, NOT GOOD FOR ARGENTINA……

HUNGERY in 1954 played a 3-2-3-2 OR 3-2-1-2-2 had a GREAT WORLD CUP….WE SHOULD THINK ABOUT IT TOO,

LET’s NOT forget, in the final puskas was injured & hungerian had no second puskas…BUT we have many option .

Posted from Bangladesh

By AURELIUS | July 7th, 2006 at 10:17 am

Grace you are correct about your references in that game.

As to Tuhin & Omar.Its just too easy to criticise in hindsight. I would like to see this 3-2-3-2 tried out .

The fact is we dominated that game for 70 minutes.Just 1 small error from Sorin combined with giving the ball away from the 60th minute onwards lost us the game alog with some poor substitutions & something no one couild have forseen the injury to El Pato.

As for Klinsmann the choice of the same substitutions reveals a limited depth on the bench. Sorin had Odonkor in his pocket .Hes an ordinary coach.

Heinze could be moved to left back.We still need to target 2 young centre backs & an attacking full back. I will keep my eyes on Paletta & see how he progresses at Liverpool.

I’m sure someone will turn up & grab their chance at the Copa America & the u17 championships as they have done so consistently over the last decade.

Posted from United States

By asil | July 7th, 2006 at 11:03 am

Also, keep my eyes on Zabaleta (Espanyol) & Gonzalez (Villarreal). But I’m not sure about Zabaleta’s position, is he a midfielder or fullback? Gabi Milito should improve…

Schneider has been subs by Odonkor most of the time. I guess he can’t keep up with Sorin & Riquelme on the left & he’s not young either

Posted from Malaysia

By Diego Armando | July 7th, 2006 at 11:07 am

Fatrat, you’re truly a FAT RAT. Don’t tell me you support brazil because your TV Joga NIKE commercial says so and all the hype from all over the media???
Talking about “overhype”… Brazil is the most overhyped. They look like lost and a joke in the tournament. None of them has the heart. Ronaldinho disappeared, Ronaldo only cared about his fat stomach and hot girlfriend, same as the rest. Parreira is a joker. He turned Brazil into a boring, anti-football team. Actually I thanked him for that!!! hahahaha

Argentina has the most heart. They played hard, skillful, and best teamwork. They could’ve won everything with a bit more luck. I like Italy to win, they are very passionated people, I love to see Gattuso giving all he got. Compared to fat ronaldo, getting frustrated cos he couldn’t break French defense and pushing people around like a kid. What a bitch.

“Fatrat | July 7th, 2006 at 5:54 am

Argentina Sucks!!! Get over it world..they are overhyped. The two stars they have on their jersey is a fluke of nature, never to repeat itself. They are a decent team though. Viva Brasil!!!!

Posted from United States
“

Posted from United States

By Diego Armando | July 7th, 2006 at 11:18 am

wamdiego10,

You’re French and your comment is right on the target. Good luck in final vs. Italy. Both team played the most stable football both in defense and midfield. You deserved it rather than boring and “referee favored” Germany and Brazil. Both are disgraceful to football.

OH ONE MORE THING, JUST IGNORE ALL COMMENTS FROM STUPID PEOPLE IN USA. THEY DONT KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT FOOTBALL, THEY ONLY KNOW: BRAZIL BECAUSE THE TV IS FULL OF BRAZIL CRAPPY COMMERCIALS, ESPN “BRAZIL-FAN” COMMENTATORS, ETC. THEY DON’T EVEN KNOW WHO EDDIE POPE IS.

I am posting from USA, but I am a foreigner here and I’VE BEEN A FOOTBALL FAN SINCE I WAS 7.

>>>>>>>>>>
“”"wamdiego10 | July 6th, 2006 at 4:43 pm

It is true, Argentina has been cheated by referees against Germany, you brazil has received favours from referees, from FIFA, with your 180 Million people, it is not equitable to play against you, you should have won each World Cup, but you are loosers.

Personnaly I am French but I know football, and I never bet for Brazil:
Euler: you really don’t know football.
Now France or Italy will win.
But argentina deserved it the most, Italians managed to score late int the game because, they saw the game against Argentina where everybody noticed that the referee made favors since Argentina was leading. So Italy chosed to score late in order to be not cheated by referee and germans.

Bye GERMANY,
Bye Brazil
Vamos ARGENTINA

ARGENTINA CAMPEON IN 2010
Messi tevez aguero mascheranno gago aimar maxi Rodriguez Ustari, all those will be the best players at their position within a few years.

Posted from France

Posted from United States

By wamdiego10 | July 7th, 2006 at 12:18 pm

Cambiasso is a very good player,
tevez played well, but it is true we should have seen Aimar and Messi in order to keep the ball. I agree that Riquelme is a joke, the team is built around him ans he is not able to play the all game and he’s not as good as he should be.
Riquelme is the weak point, and perkerman too. We played an great football, but that’s because we have great players who want to play the same way, pekermann as been right for that, but not for the decisions.
Pekerman should be the assistant coach of Bilardo.

I repeat : Riquelme is spectacular, sometimes unstoppable, but the most of the time he’s average, you can’t build a team around this player with poor stamina and poor speed.

Posted from France

By omar | July 7th, 2006 at 5:52 pm

GK:
German Lux (River Plate, Argentina)
Oscar Ustari (Independiente, Argentina)

DF:
Walter Samuel (Inter Milan, Italy)
Javier Zanetti (Inter Milan, Italy)
Fabricio Coloccini (Deportivo La Coruna, Spain)
Nicolas Burdisso (Inter Milan, Italy)
Gabriel Heinze (Manchester United, England)
Gabriel Milito (Real Saragossa, Spain)
Roberto Ayala (Valencia, Spain)- more 2 years

MF:
Javier Mascherano (Corinthians, Brazil)
Martin Demichelis (Bayern Munich, Germany)
Pedro Duscher (Deportivo La Coruna, Spain)
Fernando Gago (Boca Juniors, Argentina)
Mario Santana (Palermo, Italy)
Luis Gonzalez (Porto, Portugal)
Pablo Aimar (Valencia, Spain)
Maximiliano Rodriguez (Atletico Madrid, Spain)

FW:
Sergio Agüero (Independiente, Argentina),
Diego Milito (Real Saragossa, Spain)
Carlos Tevez (Corinthians, Brazil),
Lionel Messi (FC Barcelona, Spain)
______________________

lineup
GK:
Ustari, or Lux

DF
Zanetti-Ayala (?)- Samuel- Heniz
MF:
————Mascherano———–
Martin Demichelis-Aimar- MaxiR
Messi——————–
FW:
D. Millito

—————-

do u know any other good players ? a good forwad fast like Cangiggia, tall like Van Basten ??

Posted from France

By omar | July 7th, 2006 at 5:55 pm

the fact is that if you win, you are a good team, if you qualified to the semi final you are a good team as well, your players are also good,
you see FIFA will select the best player in the WC among 10 players from the 4 teams playing in the semi fainl
FootBall is Goals, who win he is the best ,
by the way, from my point view Cambiasso is the weaknest point along with Requilmé ( even he passed 2 or 3 goals , but we should replamce him by some one who can do better,( don’t make him like Maradona , he is very ordinary player),Tevez and Crispo,
but i may keep Tevez for some time untill he learns how to play againts big teams, to change his style from 1930 to 2006 football style.
my new list for the 2010 from the 2006 wc list:

1) the coach is already OUT , first thing.
2) Requilme > out
3) Cambiasso > Out
4) the bull shit ( scaloni, palacio, cufré ) > out all of them
5) sorry for Ayala, his age can’t allow him to play in the WC 2010 but we can keep him for more 2 years we should Target of a new center defener
06) Pato > Out for the age also

07) Saviola > Out , he played enough
08) Crispo > Out age and he is not for big competitions like the WC out please,
09) Cruz > out age and skills
10) Franco > out no need for him

11) sorry for Ayala, his age can’t allow him to play in the WC 2010 but we can keep him for more 2 years we should Target of a new center defener
12) Sorin > should be out he is 30 now, we should Target on a new one replacing him

—————————
maybe used :
1) Tevez
2) colocini
3) Burdisso
4) G.Millito
4) L.Gonzalez
——————————–
who should be there
1) Ustari
2) Messi
3) Maxi R
4) Mascherano
5) Aimar
6) Heniz

the New coach,
1) Ricado de la Valop
2) Hector cooper
3) Carlos Bianchi

i’m sure Bilardo won’t accepte to be the coach again
Oscar Roggieri wants to be the coach, but i don’t trust his experince !

Posted from France

By Tuhin | July 8th, 2006 at 12:31 pm

it’s good to see so many argentinos thinking for their beloved team.

To OMAR:
1.sorry to inform you Zanetti is 36 & has no chance to make it in the team.(HE was a great right back)
2.Samuel has a little chance if he remains fit to play in 2010.
3.THOUGH. i wold like to see these playes in action in DEFENCE position, they are young, tough and tall and they won 2005 youth cup:
I.Gustavo CABRAL
II.David ABRAHAM
III.GARAY Ezequiel
IV.ROMERO Mauricio(2003)

in the midfield:
I.Gago Fernando
II.PALETTA Gabriel
III.ARMENTEROS Emiliano
IV.ZABALETA Pablo

forward position:Tevez, Messi,
AGUERO Sergio, saviolla

Posted from Bangladesh

By omar | July 8th, 2006 at 4:23 pm

Tuhin,
yes i know, but maybe for more 1 or 2 years, anyway maybe it’s over for them ( ayala, zanetti and samuel) as you said, i also said that
maybe used :
1) Tevez
2) colocini
3) Burdisso
4) G.Millito
4) L.Gonzalez
——————————–
who should be there
1) Ustari
2) Messi
3) Maxi R
4) Mascherano
5) Aimar
6) Heniz

i didn’t name G. Palletta L.Figura and some others, i don’t know thier level , and defenitivly there sould be some others good players, depends on the new coach, let’s see

Posted from France

By tuhin | July 8th, 2006 at 5:33 pm

i forgot to mention “Luciano Figueroa”..he is a good stiker, can be a good replacement of “BATI-GOAL”. he will be 29 in 2010…a more mature striker.
Crespo….lost his magic.

D’lasandro will be another choice in midfield.

Posted from Bangladesh

By tuhin | July 8th, 2006 at 5:39 pm

Gabriel Paletta can be a great REPLACEMNET for AYALA….He had a great 2005 youth cup….beside he is 6′2″….A tall center back that will be great for us. he will play for liverpool starting this season

Posted from Bangladesh

By meeky | July 9th, 2006 at 3:03 pm

why are people calling Argentina cheaters? they played awesome football this world cup and will continue to do so in the future. They have the potential to win the next world cup and many cups after that .. they just need to work on their formation. Seeing other people from Australia calling Argentina cheaters makes me feel hurt and ASHAMED of australia. whatever happend to being an accepting and indiscrimitive nation? hmm.
As for Maradona being the next coach.. i have mixed feelings over that. I think he would make an excellent coach in the offence side of things but may not be as good in the defence side of the game. Maradona is a true champion and i believe that he has the potential to be a champion coach as well if he is given the chance. Pekerman is also an excellent coach. True, he made some mistakes .. and nobody is perfect.
Really it is just a game. And i know a lot of people will get mad at me for saying that, even i wonder why im saying it. But people shouldnt get so worked up about winning. You should be proud that your country made it into the world cup. That makes them champions. Remember all the teams that didnt make it in .. out of all nations a top 32 was chosen .. and if ur country is in that you should be damn proud! So whatever happens from there on .. no matter when your world cup campaign ends you r all still winners.. think of all the teams you beat in the process.
ok enough about that.
I have complete and utter respect for Argentina’s side. They play the most entertaining football ive ever seen. The game against Serbia and Montenegro was genious. I admire their teamwork! they obviously all get along and respect eachother. thats what makes a team good. They are lovers of the game. You can tell. You can also tell who is only there for the money. Many players are.
I dont think it matters where you come in FIFA.. getting past the group stage is an excellent achievement.. making the quarterfinals is also a great achievement .. and the semi’s .. the final .. wherever. And i am proud of Argentina. They played mighty fine football … better football than all of the other nations in the cup. They showed grace and style that cant be topped. They didnt leave without a fight. Thats how it should be done. They are in no way ‘weak’ because they didnt make the semi finals..they did their country proud and showed that they are a strong football nation. their departure was simply a case of bad luck.

Argentina should look forward to 2010’s world cup.. prepare early.. victory is on its way.

GO ARGENTINA FOREVER!!

Posted from Australia

By meeky | July 9th, 2006 at 3:05 pm

i hope France wins this world cup.
I am also a fan of Australia and am mad at the penalty decision from the referee.

France deserves to win more than italy

their performance against Brazil was devine! beautiful! they should be proud!

Posted from Australia

By tuhin | July 9th, 2006 at 3:31 pm

i wonder…! what is the news of abbondanzieri?

Posted from Bangladesh

By Pugnate | July 9th, 2006 at 11:33 pm

Materazzi doesn’t deserve to be called human. Remember his elbow on Sorin against Villareal?

Posted from Pakistan

By Rain | July 10th, 2006 at 1:15 am

What a shame that the real poet could not end this game with the class we wanted to see from him in his last game.

Posted from Spain

By Bati | July 10th, 2006 at 3:50 am

WHAT THE FUCK!! This stupid guy just ruined all his reputation in the last match of his career!! How somebody can become so stupid when he is actually retiring from his “PROFESSIONAL” career!!!!!! I couldn’t even believe my eyes when I saw him doing that to Italian player, so amateur! Anything that Italian guy had told him doesn’t give a good reason for him to do just what he did!

I was supporting Italy. They sucked! I always had great respect for Zidan, he single handedly bring a fucked up team that should be out in group round without him to final but now I wish that they had lost in some earlier stages so he could go out with some dignity and respect, not like that in front of billions of football lovers!

Man you just ruined yourself and France! So sorry for you!

Viva ARGENTINA for LIFE!

Posted from Malaysia

By Argentina Fan | July 10th, 2006 at 8:40 am

Looks like “the real poet” turned out to be a real disgrace. Comparing him to Maradona and Pele?? Please…

Posted from United States

By meeky | July 10th, 2006 at 9:05 am

yea … wat did happen 2 abbondanzieri .. like i know he hurt his ribs .. but r they cracked or wat? .. gosh i hope hes ok .. hes the best goalie out!

Posted from Australia

By Jason | July 10th, 2006 at 9:32 pm

I don’t want this huge blog to end…I would like to continue the great arguements and discussions we enjoy here so I am extending an invitation to a new blog I have made. I am very open to anyone helping out so just shoot an email to the blog or post a comment. Hope most of you tag along because I have really enjoyed this BLOG…Lets get started on Copa America 2007 in Venezuela, new coaching possibilities, and more… I think I might have to go Copa America since we should be having a revamped team with alot of young talent. Talk soon……….
http://argentinosenfutbol.blogspot.com/

Posted from United States

By pradeep krishnan | July 22nd, 2006 at 6:16 pm

ARGENTINES R REAL MASTERS OF FOOTBALL.THE HEART OF ARGENTINA AS EVERY ONE CAN SAY IT IS JUAN ROMAN RIQUELME.HE IS FANTASTIC WITH HIS OWN STYLE

Posted from India

By Gordman | June 25th, 2007 at 4:15 am

I wonder haw can a footballer ever think to become a drug addict. There are huge risks at stake: ruin his career and his financial state. I don’t think any drug treatment center can fix that.

Posted from Romania