While a similar implosion of what happened on the road to USA ‘94 is unlikely (but given that we’ve built a team around one player AGAIN, Riquelme, we might be one really hard tackle or a ruptured ligament away from being fucked) still, it says something about the Basile’s inability to think on his feet and to have a plan B.

He’s the type of coach that likes to be able to roll his teams off his tongue but Basile has yet to find that team from our pool of VERY talented players. He is also very faithful to his formation on the pitch almost to a fault. But given these set backs, he’s very adept at reading the game and knowing when things are going wrong, I’m just not sure he’s able to turn the tide in his favor, which he should easily be able to do given the fantastic players that he could put on the bench to come on and change a game.

My comments are all based on the overview of Basile’s prior stint with the national team and his current progress so far. I’m not saying that we should change coaches at this juncture since that would be unreasonable for the incoming coach and a major blow to our current qualifying campaign, but I think we should realize Basile’s shortcomings or at very least realize that there is a problem and it is most likely the coach.

Basically, we’ve got a great pool of players to choose ONE extremely competitive starting 11 and a coach who may or may not be up to the challenge. Thoughts?

We should have Olympics twice a year. Wooo, the honeymoon isn’t over…

Okay time for me to calm down.

First of all I’m still trying figure out what did went wrong during the game. Which player is the culprit? Was it the coach’s tactics? Was the pressure of playing our first home since capturing gold in Beijing?

In the end, I have to summarize that it was the whole team that let us down. Of course, Tevez’s sending off only made things worst but that’s no excuse.

On paper, man to man we are way better then our opponent even if we had to play 10 men.

C’mon Argentina!!! Let’s go to Lima and do things they way it should be. Win!!! Win!!! Win!!!

I think we played a great game considering we were 0-1 and a man down. An own goal is even worse. All these events early in the game can really get the morale down. We kept fighting. It was a very tough use case for us and we did well. I am happy at the end of the day.

Now, we would have won the game if we had a player like Ruud Van Nistelrooy type of #9. We need to try out few options. And they need to come thick and fast. Someone from Cavenaghi/Lisandro/Denis needs to settle down quickly.

Pato, getting injured is surely the best thing that happened in a game. I agree with Albo, that I do not want anyone to get injured. But I support Maxi Lopez and others. This was the only way we could have seen Carrizo. I always felt both Pato and Ustari are crap. So its a blessing in disguise.

Heinze is a man of past. Slow and like an animal. He is not much of technique. He is more of passion. But he is an old horse now. Patrick Evra so easily replaced him.

Overall, to me, even though a home 1-1 against Paraguay is not the best, there were many hidden positives. Hope we can go ahead with those.

“An own goal that leaves us with some serious questions.

Gabriel Heinze and Roberto Abbondanzieri committed the worst possible blooper last night in their match against Paraguay for a qualifying round of WC10.
Pato got hurt during the same play, and just like in Germany 2006, had to leave the pitch in the hottest moment of the match.

Years ago, Gabriel Heinze had had his golden time, back when Bielsa was in charge, and “el gringo” played some awesome full back.
But his level went down under Pekerman, and now, under Basile he’s at a low.

Is it time to make some changes in la selección?
Juan Pablo Carrizo has shown he’s got what it takes to be at WC10. And Romero could be a nice sub.

Same with the left side defender.
Last night, with Cata Diaz on the right, Demichelis as Líbero and Collocini on the left, the team already got a lot better.
And let’s not forget the kids, Ezequiel Garay and Nicolás Pareja who are also ready for the big team.

This “own goal” cost us 2 points, and is the type of mistake we can’t make during a World Cup. Meanwhile, South Africa is getting awful close.

Next match against Perú in Lima, Carrizo will have another chance to show his game, like last night when he stopped a vicious header from Haedo in the second half and saved the draw.
Agustín Orión got called up to be at the bench for Abbondanzieri.
Basile must also decide on the defending line.

We all hope Basile accepts that there are cycles that come to an end, and it’s time for some serious changes.”

Paraguay pressed the marks throughout the whole field as expected from a Bielsa school coach.
But as usual, nobody could do it for all 90 minutes. That’s when Riquelme and Messi could connect a few nice passes.