International Friendly: Argentina @ USA

I meant ‘personal note.’

Ouch! Time 5.00 p.m.

I believe Argentina can beat over-rated Brazil at Marracana, even with Pato, Veron, Zanetti and Burdisso in the starting 11 and afterall without a true & efficient defending sytem. I must add that I’m very bad in pronostics. Lets wait and see. This game is so important for us because we’ll know if we’ll be good enough tactically to do something at WC. It seems unpredictable. Will we win 4-3 or lose 0-1? Vamos Argentina, Alfio Basile’s team.

NativeSon,
Have you compared Time warner Cable Vs direct Tv? Time warner might cheaper
If you have Time Warner, you might see the game on Telemundo. It all
depends where you are located. You should install Sopcast; it is free. It
might also broadcast that game. Did you know that Egypt, the champion
of Africa might be eleminated for WC2010. I know for sure China got eleminated for sure by Iraq.
Cheers,
Ken

Maxi,
Did you watch Holland Against France?
If you did, I hope you did not miss the roulette at la
Zidane by Van Nistroy that eventually led to the 2nd
goal.Since you like permutations, did you notice
how Holland has switched from 433 to 4321 successfully?
Cheers,
Ken

FYI

Not to pick on Golazo but….

Gimnasia y Esgrima La Plata is coached by Guillermo Sanguinetti, a Uruguayan.

Not long ago, Colombian Francisco Maturana coached Colón and then Gimnasia LP with mixed results.

Uruguayan Luis Cubilla coached Talleres de Cordoba as recently as 2003.

And Uruguayan Oscar Tabarez coached Boca Juniors in 2002.

There is a rich history of Argentine clubs signing foreign coaches but overall the result has not been fruitful.

Posted from  United States

Thanks mauro. Also all Euro2008 games are broadcast live on CCTV5 on soapcast.
Cheers to all
Ken

MaxiLopez,
We are playing Brazil in the Minerão in Belo Horizonte. I don’t think the Brazilians would ever play a big match another in the Maracaná. They are happy to take Venezuela, Bolivia or even Chile there, but never Argentina, Uruguay or Colombia since they most likely believe that stadium is cursed for the national team.

Posted from  United States

Pellegrini (Chilean) also coached Boca.
Still, Golazo is absolutely right.
La Salección will always be coached by an Argentinean.

Posted from  United States

Alfio,
We have not heard from you
for a while. What is your prediction
when we play Brazil on June 18, 2008?
Thanks in advance,
Cheers,
Ken

Albo,
You must mean River not Boca, unless the Pellegrini you were talking about is not Manuel Pellegrini. The Chilean also coached San Lorenzo.

And I agree, the national team would only ever be coached by an Argentine. Would be interesting to see a foreigner coach our boys. They might be able to get something out of them that our coaches cannot. But the assumption would be that we’d be betraying our own style of football unless said foreign coach could manage to play our game. Could be that a player like Riquelme would not have a place on a European type set up for us, a la Marcelo Bielsa who had no time for Riquelme. Just some thoughts.

Posted from  United States

Oops. Sorry, I guess I can’t get over this reality of River being the champs.

Posted from  United States

I don’t understand what the problem is with our style of play, we play great football, and we have the players to play this way, i don’t think we need a foreign coach. We just need to fit the right players into whichever system we play.

I agree day1star.
In fact , what Pekerman has done with the kids in a few years is second to none.

Posted from  United States

Mauro,

I commend you for your eloquence and
specifically for the example you
gave about Riquelme being left out
of the NT by a homegrown national coach,
Marcelo Bielsa. While you do not believe
that Argentina will ever be coach by a foreigner,
I believe it eventually happen perhaps not during
my lifetime. It will happen when Basile fails to
lift that cup, WC2010.
Sir, please keep writing. thanks
Cheers,
Ken

Ken, thanx for all your pessimism, right us off b4 we’ve even got there!

Interesting statement by Pele with regards to Maradona:
http://www.goal.com/en/Articolo.aspx?Contenutold=736655

Day1star,
I am not pessimistic but realistic. My views
are based on facts. I have analyzed the record
of all the homegrown national coaches
of Argentina since 1986. There is a preferential
treatment in fielding of players. Also AFA
dictate to the coaches who to pick and who
not to pick. These two factors alone make
it very difficult for Argentina to
succeed at the highest level. When you combine
these two factors with the fact that teams now routinely
raise their games when they play Argentina, and compare that to what
is going on in EURO 2008, you do not have to be a magician
to conclude that it is virtually impossible for us
to lift that cup.
Cheers,
Ken

Analyze all you want, but on any given day any team can beat the other.

Ken,

Yes, Thirty bucks is too much but for ARg., I’d pay twice the amount. Its worth it. I haven’t thought about Time Warner Cable but thanks for raising it.

Yes, Africa has produced a shocker this weekend.

Egypt, Angola, Ghana, Morocco and South Africa were all beaten.

Cameroon and Ivory Coast were held to draws

Thanks for those kind words, Rune. This summer is packed with football excitement indeed. I’m going to have a hard time watching tomorrow’s game. Too painful! As for the Libertadores - let’s just say that part of me is really glad that we aren’t facing Boca, and another part of me thinks that Boca was the best team by far in the tournament, and it’s a shame that they aen’t going to be able to repeat their title. Conflictive emotions all around!

The big question mark is if Riquelme will be able to hold up for Brazil. They might have to sit him out against part of the Ecuador game, but I don’t see Basile doing that.

I can’t tell you guys how excited I will be if Arg beats Brazil. Sweet justice!

Posted from  United States

NativeSon - congrats to Kenya!….You know, I might be going there was a seminar in the winter. This is totally off topic, but can I ask you some questions about the country? (of the forum off course)

I think that we have to remember that most football fans still see Argentina as the most exciting, technically dynamic team in the world. Arg has everything it takes to win the next world cup.

EVERY team has glaring, eye sore weaknesses. Right now we are watching amazing performances by Holland, but they are going to be found out. Maybe not in the Euros, with few great offensive teams, but their back is not prime time. EVERY team has weaknesses. Argentina’s weaknesses, the ones that we always talk about, are real and troubling, but they do not, I don;t think, outweigh their many undeniable strengths.

Basile strikes me as a grizzled wise old man who has been around the block so many more times than we can all collectively imagine. He knows the score. The big test will be against Brazil.

Posted from  United States

Alexa, Thanks. We’ve never been to the World Cup and I surely hope that this time we’ll qualify for this wonderful event in -of all places -Africa.

You can surely email me. You can use nativeson_2003@yahoo.com

NativeSon,
I have a question
of curiosity. Do you have many
players in the Kenya NT that play
abroad? Best of Luck.
Cheers,
Ken

There are only two guys who play for top clubs.

One plays for Auxerre in the French League ‘league one.’ He’s a striker.

The other plays for Italy’s Parma as a midfielder.

The other guys play for second tier clubs in places like Norway and the Czech REpublic while others play within Africa.

WE never feature in big tournaments and therein lies our problem.

The last time we featured in the Africa Cup of Nations was in 2004.

Our football is in chaos due to the empty policks associated with the KFF (Kenya Football Federation) leadership. These guys use it to ascend to power-parliament.

As a nation, we are more excited about the Olympics because that’s where we rock. I can’t wait for 08/08/08 and Beijing.
Cheers.