Argentina will start with:
ABBONDANZIERI
BURDISSO
AYALA
Gabriel MILITO
HEINZE
ZANETTI
Lucho GONZALEZ
GAGO
CAMBIASSO
SAVIOLA
CRESPO
So it´s PUPI in midfield (I suppose he´ll play on the right hand side). GAGO and CAMBIASSO will share the centre of midfield and LUCHO will play on the left.
These are just my speculations.
I want to win, of course. But my priority this time is completely different. I want to see some good football and enjoy the game.
It´s too early to push that panic button we Argentine are so keen to press at the slightest sign of things not working out the way we want them to.
Yes, we´ve lost to Brazil (3-0) in BASILE´s first friendly and then we fell again (Spain, 1-2) and now it´s World Cup finalists, France, in their own back yard and with a team that´s been working together with their manager for a long time now.
It´s not that I´m opening my umbrella before it rains. But the way I see it, things have not changed since the moment in which COCO took charge of the team again.
The team is yet to have 4 consecutive training sessions! Too little for a team to gel and for a manager to work wonders.
In any case, this friendly serves for our need to watch our national team and to see the Albiceleste facing yet another top-class team (a thing that doesn´t happen often enough, in my opinion).
For example, after a quick search on FIFA.com, I found that Argentina only face France twice in their whole history!!!
One was a friendly match and the other was for the World Cup Argentina 1978 and we´ve got a win and a loss against them.
France 2-0 Argentina
Friendly 1986 – Paris, FRANCE – 26.03.1986
Argentina 2-1 France
FIFA World Cup Argentina 1978 – Buenos Aires, ARGENTINA – 06.06.1978
This game also serves for new players to get their international debuts so we can see if they have what it takes to wear the Albiceleste.
I have little doubts about Fernando GAGO. He is such an exceptional player and he knows COCO very well. I think the only thing that could play against him having a good game tomorrow are the rival and his nerves. But I´m confident he´ll keep his cool and I hope he works well with his team-mates.
Personally, I would like to see Diego MILITO starting (or at least playing 45 minutes) as I believe he is the form striker we have right now (and he has scored EVERYWHERE he played in the past, Racing, Genoa and now Real Zaragoza).
And I´d like to see Javier “PUPI” ZANETTI to play a big game and keep his place in the team for the future.
But if any of you are interested in the result, I must say that the game is already Argentina 1 – France 0 after Gonzalo HIGUAIN has obtained his Argentine passport!
Will you be watching the game? Will you get live broadcasting in your country? I hope you do so we can comment on here and share our views after the game.
It would have been unfair. Yes. Very unfair. And yet, it was unfair. Very unfair.
How do I explain what I´ve just wrote?
Simple.
It would have been unfair for the likes of Lionel MESSI, Sergio AGÜERO, Gonzalo HIGUAIN, Fernando GAGO and a number of very talented Argentine players that I´m sure are looking forward to playing in such an important competition as the Olympic football tournament next year in Beijing.
Unfair for all the fans (like you) who follow anything that wear the Albiceleste colours regardless of the competition, sport, gender, venue…you name it.
Argentina won the all-important game against Uruguay in the dying moments. And (it hurts when I say it) IT WAS UNFAIR.
Not because Uruguay were better. Not because they deserved to win. Not because the competition format was appropriate (in fact I think it was criminal making these guys play crucial matches every 48 hours). It was unfair simply because Argentina didn´t play for the win. We did NOTHING to win it and we shouldn´t have won it.
I´m very disappointed with the team, but specially with Hugo TOCALLI, the manager.
Let me explain why.
From what I saw, Argentina were never going for the win. It looked (right until the very end) that we were OK with one point. But NO, Mr. TOCALLI, we were not OK with one point.
I must admit I was a little bit concerned everytime I read one comment from TOCALLI saying: “Our first goal is go to the Youth World Cup”. And by the looks of it, I was right to be scared.
But the worst thing is that we could have even lost by 3 goals and still be in the Youth World Cup and with Paraguay beating Chile earlier, we were going to both tournaments with only a 1-0 win. So there is nothing in the World that can justify such a strategy even though TOCALLI got the result because everybody, even Mr. TOCALLI, know that we got away with that without even trying to get it.
I have to say that this was the worst U20 national team I have ever seen and I think we are very fortunate to have qualified for both tournaments.
And I have to say that I´m very very very pleased that despite those facts, we will have a team to defend the gold medal in Beijing 2008. I hope to see MANY changes and I would like to make the most of this opportunity to ask everybody who should be the 3 over-aged players (older than 23) that should go with the youngsters to the Olympics.
After a quiet time with virtually no activity around our national team suddenly we´ve got plenty to talk about in this Copa America year.
We´ve got a new squad to analise, hot newcomers like Fernando GAGO and an “old” symbol, like Javier ZANETTI, recalled after being ignored by PEKERMAN.
But the hottest news, in my opinion, have to be the choice Gonzalo HIGUAIN have just made.
I must confess that I didn´t think of him as a great prospect for the future when I first saw him playing. Let alone a reality of a world class striker he is becoming now, before he even turned 20, plying his trade in Real Madrid and now with less competition as RONALDO is heading for AC Milan.
Tonight we have a crucial game that somehow is really linked with HIGUAIN. Our U20 Albiceleste will be facing Colombia and we need to win to keep alive our chances of qualifying for Beijing 2008. A tournament that could mean the first important competition in which PIPITA could show the World (and the Argentina supporter in particular) what he could bring to the table.
So we´ll be following closely our match against Colombia and in three days the all-important game against Uruguay.
If we win both, we´ve got every chance of ending as one of the best two teams in the tournament and hence qualify for the Olympics.
The situation got a little worrying after we drew with Chile as we are now tied in 5 points with them and Brazil, trailing the leader Uruguay (7 pts). But both Chile and Brazil have a better goal difference and so we need to end the tournament with more points than them or else we could suffer big time.
Good news is that Uruguay and Chile are facing each other tonight so one of them will lose points (maybe both if they draw).
And the fact that we still have to play Uruguay is also encouraging.
Brazil look as favourite now as they have to face Paraguay (lost 2, won 1) and Colombia (lost 3) in their final two matches.
Another thing that worry our national team are the suspension of captain Matias CAHAIS and the injury picked up by star midfielder Ever BANEGA (already being tipped to be Fernando GAGO´s successor in Boca).
We´ll talk more about the senior team and the friendly against France in February in the coming days but right now I think the most important thing is to guarantee our ticket to Beijing 2008 so we can see MESSI, KUN, PIPITA and many more (plus the 3 over-aged players that COCO will be able to pick) to try and get our second Olympic gold medal in a row. And keep Brazil from winning the only major competition they are missing (because we´ve got every one of them and they hate that!).
Just when you started to forget about it, Argentina´s first friendly match of 2007 is just around the corner.
We are just two weeks away from the attractive clash between France and the Albiceleste at the Stade de France in Saint Denis (Paris).
While we wait for COCO´s squad to be announced by the manager himself later today, there is strong speculation around one big name that could be making his return to the national team.
It’s not under the happiest situation but he might be recalled due to a number of injuries in players that cover his position.
I’m talking about Javier ZANETTI. We have to wait and see but knowing that BASILE likes to play with classic and traditional defensive backs, PUPI has every chance of earning yet another cap and prove PEKERMAN wrong after the former manager didn´t give him a ticket to the Germany World Cup.
I think that this is a great chance for ZANETTI to prove he is still an elite player.
As for the rest of the squad, I´m hoping to see Diego MILITO getting the call and I would like to see Sergio AGUERO in action too.
MESSI, TEVEZ, Leo FRANCO, SORIN, Fabricio FUENTES and Pablo ZABALETA are all out with injuries so I expect at least a couple of surprising names to be pulled out of the hat by COCO.
Don´t know if I´ll be online when COCO announces the list so I trust any of the readers of this blog will post it in a comment below.
