Thank God this is not a radio show, because my voice has gone completely.

I don’t remember shouting and screaming like crazy as I did when MAXI scored that sensational goal in extra-time. Oh man! What a moment!

I don’t want to hear a word about Mexico. I’ll shake a leaf next time I see a green shirt near me. What an effort by them! What a performance! What a way to suffer for 120 minutes (and all those minutes in-between, they’re even worst than those minutes in which the ball is rolling!).

Let me be the first to say it: WE PLAYED TERRIBLY! HORRIBLE FOOTBALL AT TIMES!

I remember reading one of your e-mails, and it pointed out a thing: ‘What will happen if Argentina are behind in the score? Will they have what it takes to comeback and win it?’

I think that one of the things we did have was LUCK! It’s not as simple as that. We didn’t win because of luck, I’ll be a fool to think we did. But we did have that brief moment of everything going our way and MAXI sent us to the quarter finals!

We’ve won and that’s something to celebrate. The way we’ve won, could serve us to build up some momentum again and to give our players the belief needed to go far in the World Cup.

I’m not happy with the way we played and I hope against Germany we don’t repeat any of the mistakes we made.

And before I finish, I want to have a word with you Mr. MAXI RODRIGUEZ:

If against Germany you want to repeat any of the things you did today, please, make yourself at home and be my guest!

GRACIAS MAXI!

Argentina vs. Mexico

It’s raining heavily in Buenos Aires as I write these lines a couple of hours before Argentina face Mexico for a place in the quarter finals to play against Germany.

The first images live from the Leipzig stadium are coming through every TV channel in Argentina and up there is warm and sunny.

Which side of the coin will our team show to the world today?
The chaos of the last 20-25 minutes against Ivory Coast? The brilliant passing game that captured the attention of everybody while we defeated Serbia & Montenegro 6-0? The inability to find the back of the net we showed against Holland? Or the incredible goal-rate of the first two matches with 13 shots on goal and 8 of those going in?

This game is different than the previous three. It’s bigger, more important and much more difficult. And one of the reasons is the rival itself: Mexico.
They might not be playing as good as they can. They might have escaped the group stage by defeating only Iran (and doing it in the last 15 minutes of the game thanks to an incredible mistake by defender REZAEI). They might have been unable to score against humble Angola and they might have played a horrible first half against Portugal. But they are really dangerous for Argentina.

I’m confident in our team once again. I’m confident after seeing our players singing inside the bus that took them to the stadium. Letting all the adrenaline go. Losing it. Enjoying the moment as they prepare to play the most important football match of their lives.

They look focused. They don’t look like they are underestimating anybody (like they seemed to do in 2002!) and that’s the spirit I want to see coming from them.

The last time we won a knock out match in a World Cup was 16 years ago! Even though we advanced to the quarter finals in France ’98, we did so by beating England in a penalty shoot-out, after drawing 2-2.
In USA ’94 we lost against Romania in the second round and in Korea-Japan 2002 we went home in the first round. So if you’re looking for our last victory in a game like the one we have today, you’ve got to go all the way to Turin in Italy ’90 when we defeated Brazil thanks to a wonderful assist by MARADONA for CANIGGIA to score after rounding TAFFAREL.

These group of players have the chance to make a little history by winning today and to get the better out of a tough rival that kept us at bay in the last Confederations Cup’s semifinal when we had to go all the way to the penalty shoot-out.

They’ve got an Argentinean manager (Ricardo LAVOLPE) and a striker who was also born in our country (Guillermo FRANCO). They know us to the very last detail and they know how to play against us.

But today, we’ve got to birthday boys! Juan Roman RIQUELME is celebrating his 28th birthday today and he’ll try everything to have plenty of things to remember in the future.

And talking about the future, Lionel MESSI is also blowing the candles today. 19 years old for the best young player in the world, who will again start the match sitting on the bench, waiting for the second half to come, to have another chance to shine.

Our line-up for today sends me good vibes. I like our starting 11 and here they are for you to have it before the match begins:

1. ABBONDANZIERI
2. AYALA
3. SORIN (captain)
6. HEINZE
13. SCALONI (thank you PEKERMAN for not using COLOCCINI today!)
5. CAMBIASSO
8. MASCHERANO
18. Maxi RODRIGUEZ
10. RIQUELME
7. SAVIOLA
9. CRESPO

So a back line of SCALONI-AYALA-HEINZE-SORIN (with SORIN going forward everytime Mexico allow him to and SCALONI allways staying back, like BURDISSO did in our first three matches before he got injured).
The same midfield that started against Ivory Coast and Holland and the striking partnership of the first two matches.

The key to this game for Argentina?

Pass the ball around. Don’t get into Mexico’s rhythm and try to give RIQUELME the ball. Win the midfield battle through CAMBIASSO and MASCHERANO and use MAXI’s runs from the right and SORIN’s from the left to surprise Mexico if they are on the attack.

And if we manage to score first, don’t forget what we love to see the most: ATTACK, ATTACK, ATTACK, ATTACK, ATTACK and most importantly: KEEP ON ATTACKING!

VAMOS ARGENTINA!

Argentina 0 – Holland 0

Last Friday, after Argentina produced the best performance of this World Cup, my question was: How can I keep the cool? The match against Holland provided me with the perfect answer.

In a way, I’m happy with that. Somehow, I was feeling notoriously uncomfortable being in that position. I hated to hear everybody talking about Argentina being the new main candidate to win the World Cup, taking the pressure out of Brazil and, like my colleague Rodrigo FRESTON said in his blog at Soccernet, we were helping the World Champions by encouraging them to play more relaxed and giving them the right motivation to face every match.

But before I keep on talking about Brazil and who is favourite and who is not, there was an intense football match last night and I would like to share my thoughts with you.

Respect was present all over the field. Two teams with a great rivalry and a rich footballing history. Defeat would have been hard to take. Qualification to the second round was already in the bag. There were a lot of factors indicating that a 0-0 draw was a ‘happy’ result for both Argentina and Holland.

It’s hard to make an in-depth analysis with both teams playing with a lot of substitutes. Key players like CRESPO, SAVIOLA, SORIN and HEINZE (ARG) and ROBBEN, VAN BRONCKHORST, HEITINGA, MATHIJSEN and VAN BOMMEL (NED) were all missing, so if both teams advance and meet up again in the final (it could happen) I don’t think the match we will see will be similar and will serve as a valid precedent. It’ll be a whole different movie, with plenty of other actors taking part.

PEKERMAN played with the idea of replacing CRESPO with CRUZ and SAVIOLA with TEVEZ. But in the end, and just minutes before the match, he decided it was a good opportunity to give Lionel MESSI the first of the many World Cup starts he will have in his career.

It looked like a good idea, but for it to be a brilliant idea, we would have needed a goal coming in the first half. That would’ve been the key to open up the Dutch defense, because if they were behind in the score, they would have come forward a little bit more, letting MESSI and TEVEZ to play their best game, with lots of spaces to go forward.

The first 20 minutes were dominated by Holland. The Oranje had more possession and they controlled the flow of the game, but they were not creating chances. Argentina never felt the pressure and when we did, ABBONDANZIERI showed the security people were questioning him about before the World Cup.

After those initial moments, RIQUELME started putting the ball underneath his right shoe and we saw a couple of flashing appearances by MESSI while TEVEZ was always dangerous but ‘messy’ (oh…yeah…the irony!), and that was not enough to beat Edwin VAN DER SAR.

The most dangerous action of that first half almost ended in an own goal by Holland’s number 3, Khalid BOULAHROUZ, after a free kick by RIQUELME when TEVEZ was charging towards the near post.

Maxi RODRIGUEZ had an effort that went just wide and little else.

To tell you the truth, I think the most important thing that happened in the first half (if not in the whole match) was Nicolas BURDISSO’s injury. He has a sprain in his right knee and he is out of the Mexico match.

During the second half it was more of the same. None of the teams showed a real ambition to win it.

TEVEZ showed a lot of movement going forward, but sometimes he was a little bit selfish and, in my opinion, he and MESSI were sometimes isolated against the Dutch defense.

I thought, at that point, the best thing would have been to start with Julio CRUZ along with TEVEZ, to give the team a legit big striker who could keep the orange defense busy. And then replace him with MESSI midway through the second half.

Then again, if we scored in the first half, MESSI and TEVEZ on the field would have been lethal in counter attacks and with plenty of room to run, so it was a worthy bet by PEKERMAN. Besides, to give MESSI and TEVEZ the chance to play 90 minutes and show what they can do, while give SAVIOLA and CRESPO the chance to rest and forget about the yellow card they saw in the first round.

MESSI started to lose his explosion and his breath so he was replaced and we didn’t have the chance to see him playing alongside Pablo AIMAR.
It was good to see him taking on the field, but he had little time to show his ability.

I’m glad the Group C was left behind. After crashing dramatically in another version of the Group of Death in 2002, it’s a fantastic feeling to advance in the World Cup and to have no suspensions and only two injured players (sensible injuries, but none of them irreplaceable and both can comeback before the final –if we reach it, please, let’s reach it!-).

Right now, I’m keeping the cool and that’s superb, because it was too much pressure piling up inside me and I think amongst our players too.
Now their confidence remains intact, they are still undefeated, they will be respected but they are not the favourites to win it all. Let’s leave that privilege to our brilliant neighbours. But we know, deep inside, we know that in any given day, we are capable of coming up with another perfect performance.

Let’s do it against Mexico now and don’t think of who will come next. That’s a mistake I’m making everyday. You’re welcome to do it with me, I won’t mind, even if I have a lot of company…yeah…you know…almost 38 million people!

The winner will face Mexico. Lose and you’ll play against Portugal. A draw and it’ll be Tango vs. Tequila.

Unlike the previous two matches, Jose PEKERMAN is playing hide and seek and a couple of hours before the game, our lineup was yet to be confirmed.
But now we’re ready to go with these eleven men:

ABBONDANZIERI,
BURDISSO, AYALA, MILITO, CUFRE (a surprising move by PEKERMAN, leaving SORIN out of the team)
MAXI RODRIGUEZ, MASCHERANO, CAMBIASSO, RIQUELME.
And up front, the People’s favourite: TEVEZ and MESSI.

A great mix and some surprises, but no doubt PEKERMAN wants to win the group and the ‘Atomic Flea’ Lionel MESSI is making his first start in a World Cup. Here’s hoping for him to have a great romance with this tournament like the great Diego, who will be cheering him from the stands as our number one supporter!

I’ll be watching it, of course, but if you want, you can join me here and we can comment on the match as things happen.

VAMOS ARGENTINA!

Argentina vs. Holland

When they jump to the field this Wednesday, probably John HEITINGA will be sitting on the bench, and with him the mythical ‘oranje’ number 14 that once belonged to the great Johan CRUYFF.

For the Albiceleste, ‘El Matador’ KEMPES won’t be terrorising the Dutch defense like he did in 1978. Instead, his number 10 (which now belongs forever to a certain Diego Armando MARADONA) will be on RIQUELME’s back.

In short, Argentina and Holland will play another episode of a great World Cup rivalry that saw them play three times in history.

Holland have won 2 of those 3 matches, but Argentina have won the most important for sure.

Like this Wednesday, the first time the ‘Albiceleste’ and the ‘Oranje’ played against each other in a World Cup was in Germany, but 24 years ago.

Those were the days of the ‘Clockwork Orange’ (known to all of us in Argentina as: La Naranja Mecánica, of course!). Rinus MICHELS and his concept of Total Football were setting the world alight. They won Group 3 with 2 wins (Uruguay 2-0; Bulgaria 4-1) and 1 draw (Sweden 0-0) and advanced to play against Brazil, East Germany and Argentina in the second group stage.

Gelsenkirchen saw Argentina playing the top of their game last Friday against Serbia & Montenegro, but 24 years ago, we suffered a total humiliation by CRUYFF and his mates. It was 4-0 to Holland with Johan scoring a brace and Ruud KROL and Jonny REP also in the scoreboard.

Then Holland advanced to the final and they lost to Germany on their way to become the greatest team ever to fail to win the World Cup.

Four years later the World Cup was hosted by Argentina (with our country living its darkest hour under a terrible military government guilty of killing –or disappearing- 30.000 people). Johan CRUYFF didn’t attend to that World Cup and it was believed he refused to join his team because he was against the military government. Later on there was another version saying he didn’t come to Argentina for the World Cup because he choose to stay with his wife.

In any case, his absence might have prove to be crucial as Argentina defeated Holland in the final match after 90 minutes with a 1-1 score (Mario KEMPES (ARG) and Dick NANNINGA (NED)).

NANNINGA, who scored for Holland had an incredible chance to win it near the end, but his effort hit the post and the match went to extra time.

Then Mario KEMPES and Daniel BERTONI had the final saying and Argentina won the World Cup for the first time. Denying an impressive Dutch team which was runner-up twice in a row.

20 years after that memorable day in Buenos Aires, Holland and Argentina were to play again in a World Cup. This time it was a knock-out stage: Quarter finals, France ’98.

Argentina defeated England on penalties in the second round, while Holland, through an Edgar DAVIDS’ 92nd-minute strike advanced against Yugoslavia (2-1).

Patrick KLUIVERT drew first blood for Holland, while Claudio LOPEZ equalised for Argentina.

Gabriel BATISTUTA hit the post in which would have been the winner for Argentina but the match was going to extra time again, only 20 years later. But one minute before the final whistle, a long pass towards the Argentina box, a mistake by CHAMOT and a lethal Dennis BERGKAMP, dribbling past Roberto AYALA, were just enough to beat goalkeeper Carlos ROA and the Dutch advanced to face Brazil in the semis.

With nothing at stake, compared to the previous encounters between these two footballing powers, this match in Frankfurt still have some magic about it and everybody in Holland and Argentina wants to win this one, because maybe, just maybe, we could meet again in Berlin, for the biggest match in the history of this rich rivalry.

What’s your all-time favourite memory about Argentina vs. Holland in the World Cups? Is it KEMPES’ brace in 1978? Is it CRUYFF’s magic in 1974? Maybe ORTEGA heading VAN DER SAR’s chin? Have a prediction to make?