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“I want to beat them 4-0” says COCO

Roy Nemer
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Hi there, it’s been incredibly busy for me during the last couple of weeks. I hope you are still visiting and standing by.

Our friendly against Brazil is around the corner now. COCO is in England and so are a lot of the players he has called up to begin his second era as Argentina manager.

For me it’ll be a special occasion because when Argentina and Brazil will be playing at the Emirates Stadium in London, I’ll be on “enemy’s territory”!!! Yes, because of job-related issues, I’ll be watching the match somewhere in the city of Rio de Janeiro!

It’ll be quite an experience and I’ll try to survive if we manage to win! haha!

Will let you know how it goes and will hopefully upload some pictures.

A lot is going on these days, so here are some brief news about football and basketball:

INJURIES, INJURIES AND MORE INJURIES

Poor old COCO BASILE will have some problems to field his favourite eleven, even from those players he chose for this special occasion.

Maxi RODRIGUEZ won’t make the trip to London. He got injured and he is being treated by Atletico de Madrid’s staff.

Juan Roman RIQUELME is also having some troubles. He sprained his ankle during training with Villarreal and he is a major doubt.

Cesar DELGADO, who plays for Cruz Azul, also missed the trip to London because of a minor injury.

That added to a complicated week Carlos TEVEZ and Javier MASCHERANO are living, it could lead to up to 4 World Cup stars out for Sunday.
However, the ex Corinthians duo are believed to have signed a contract with West Ham United and if everthing goes right they could be performing against Brazil.

COCO IS CONFIDENT

Moments before departing from Buenos Aires on his way to London, Alfio BASILE said: “I want to score 4 on them and I want to keep a clean sheet”.

“It’s not much you can do with such a little time to work with the players”, he added. “We’ll focus on the dead ball situation and I’ll talk to the players about where I want them to be positioned. Not much else. But my main goal is for our team to pass the ball around”.

Being asked about having many short players he replied: “I like players who know how to play. And they play brilliant football that’s why I like them”.

PROBABLE TEAM TO FACE BRAZIL

ABBONDANZIERI

PONZIO or ZABALETA (at right back)
Gabriel MILITO and Walter SAMUEL (as central defenders, with a chance for Fabricio FUENTES and Fabricio COLOCCINI there)
Clemente RODRIGUEZ (at left back)

Javier MASCHERANO (if he plays) or Leandro SOMOZA (at central midfield)
Lucho GONZALEZ and Federico INSUA (right and left midfield)
Juan Roman RIQUELME (playmaker behind the striking partnership). If RIQUELME sits out of the game, then INSUA will become the playmaker and Daniel BILOS will play on the left hand side of the midfield.

Lionel MESSI
Carlos TEVEZ (if he doesn’t play, it’ll be KUN AGÜERO’s or Javier SAVIOLA’s place)

TRANSFERS NEWS

Apart from the mentioned TEVEZ and MASCHERANO’s move to West Ham United, there are other Argentina stars changing teams.
Leandro CUFRE has joined AC Monaco from AC Roma.

Juan Pablo SORIN will play in Germany (his sixth league in different countries). He’ll have the chance to show Coco BASILE what he can give to Argentina by playing for Hamburg in both, the Bundesliga and the Champions League.

Fabricio FUENTES. One of the central defenders that will surely make his debut for Argentina on Sunday against Brazil has secured a move to Villarreal from Atlas, Mexico. He becomes the seventh argentine playing for the Yellow Submarine.

Javier SAVIOLA will finally stay at FC Barcelona. He decided that he will fight for a place in the team, despite starting out behind Eto’o, Messi, Ronaldinho, Gudjohnsen, Giuly and Esquerro in the pecking order.

Roberto AYALA is determined to leave Valencia and he could move to Real Madrid or Villarreal. That is yet to be decided.

ESPAÑA IN OUR WAY TO THE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS FINALS

Tomorrow morning (according to the Argentine timezone), the Olympic Champions will take on the impressive Spain for a place in the basketball world championships finals in Japan.

OK, history is on their side. We have a record of 2 wins and 16 defeats against in our overall head-to-head encounters. And we have defeated them for the last time 12 years ago!

Both teams are undefeated (7-0) and they know each other very well. The key for Argentina will be to impossed the rythm of the game and use the experience gained over the last four years with a second place in Indianapolis 2002 and the Olympic Gold.

Spain could fall into their typical disappointment (like they do over and over again in football) and never lived up to the expectations created. And Argentina could again raise to the occasion (like when we defeated Team USA at the Worlds and Olympic tournaments) against all odds.

VAMOS ARGENTINA!

BASILE names squad to face Brazil

Roy Nemer
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After a lot of speculation and minutes after his Boca Juniors team defeated Independiente 1-0, Alfio BASILE has finally delivered his first list of players for Argentina’s next Saturday’s friendly match against Brazil in London.

Goalkeepers:
Roberto ABBONDANZIERI,
Leo FRANCO

Defense:
Fabricio COLOCCINI
Pablo ZABALETA
Gabriel MILITO
Walter SAMUEL
Clemente RODRÍGUEZ
Fabricio FUENTES
Hugo IBARRA

Midfield:
Maxi RODRÍGUEZ
Javier MASCHERANO
Juan Román RIQUELME
Leandro SOMOZA
Lucho GONZÁLEZ
Federico INSÚA
Daniel BILOS

Offense:
Cesar DELGADO
Carlos TEVEZ
Lionel MESSI
Sergio AGÜERO

Very few surprises, some comebacks and only one player competing in Argentina (Hugo IBARRA).

Javier ZANETTI is ignored once again and his future with the Albiceleste looks complicated (to say the least). COCO preferred to take IBARRA to play right back (he is an impressive player, I must say) and with this sign I can’t see ZANETTI coming back to our national team if IBARRA does well.

One ray of hope for Javier would be the fact that there is only one player competing in Italy on this list (Walter SAMUEL) and fitness is a worry for COCO because the Italian league is far from the starting point.

Juan Pablo SORIN is another of those historic players being ignored by COCO. In his case, the fact that he is yet to find a club to play for this season might have an influence on BASILE’s decision. Same thing happens with SAVIOLA. I’m sure both players could be on COCO’s plans in the future if they get a good first team run anywhere.

Walter SAMUEL makes a surprising return after being ignored by PEKERMAN before and during the World Cup.

Another couple of comeback kids are Clemente RODRIGUEZ (used to play with BIELSA) and Federico INSUA (has a couple of caps in the past).

Juan Roman RIQUELME gets the call and he will again become the play-maker. I don’t think, however, that he is going to be untouchable as he was for PEKERMAN.

Surprise, Surprise!

Fabricio FUENTES used to play for Velez Sarsfield and now he does it for Atlas, Mexico. He is a tough central defender with good heading skills and leadership. He only played one friendly when BIELSA was Argentina’s manager.

Knowing BASILE this next player is hardly a surprise. He had him last couple of seasons with Boca and was one of his key players. Now he plays for Saint Ettiene in France and will join Argentina only because he refused to play for Croatia before the last World Cup when he was tempted by their manager because he holds a Croatian passport. We are talking about Daniel BILOS. A former very tall centre forward who now plays in midfield. Is good on the ball and very fast.

Dream debut

If he sees some action, it’ll represent his absolute international debut. We are talking about Leandro SOMOZA (25 years old). Recent signing for Villarreal, he is a fighting midfielder who plays with a lot of heart and commitment. He runs behind MASCHERANO and GAGO in the fight for the center midfielder role, but apparentely and judging by the looks of this list, he is before Martin DEMICHELIS in the pecking order.

The future is bright!

And the future is here! Lionel MESSI, Carlos TEVEZ and Sergio AGÜERO will be the main attractions in Argentina for years to come. BASILE has decided to used them from the start and that’s the reason why I think this national team can be a joy to watch.

There are also votes of confidence for Javier MASCHERANO

A good core to surround the stars

And in some cases, these core players can also be called stars.

Having Maxi RODRIGUEZ is a luxury for any team in the World. Lucho GONZALEZ and Gabriel MILITO are also very important footballers and it is a good thing to see them staying put with a change of manager.

Starting eleven?

Provided they are all travelling to London with their respective clubs permissions, I think the most probable starting eleven is the following:

Roberto ABBONDANZIERI

Hugo IBARRA (right back)
Gabriel MILITO (central defender)
Walter SAMUEL (central defender)
Clemente RODRIGUEZ (left back)

Javier MASCHERANO (central midfielder
Maxi RODRIGUEZ (right hand side midfielder)
Federico INSUA (left hand side midfielder)
Juan Román RIQUELME (just behind the 2 strikers as a play-maker)

Lionel MESSI
Carlos TEVEZ

Let’s discuss about this list and see what happens in the week before that exciting friendly against Brazil.

Argentina 80 – France 70

Roy Nemer
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A solid team effort with moments of brilliance and some struggle during the third period, Argentina started off their World Championships campaign with a 80-70 win against a Tony PARKER-less France.

Manu GINOBILI, the top scorer with 25, was clinical from the start and helped out a lot also on defense.

Great game by Ruben WOLKOWYSKI and Andres NOCIONI (18 pts).

Next opponent will be the Lebanon who defeated Venezuela 82-75.

In the first major surprise of the tournament, Nigeria defeated Serbia and Montenegro 82-75 (same result as Lebanon vs. Venezuela). This result make Argentina the heavy favourite to win Group A and if Team USA does the same thing in their group, both teams can only meet in the final game (provided they both get there).

Other scores (at the time of writing):

USA 111 – 100 Puerto Rico
Brazil 77 – 83 Australia
Germany 81 – 70 Japan
Angola 83 – 70 Panama
Spain 86 – 70 New Zealand
Greece 84 – 64 Qatar
Slovenia 96- 79 Senegal

The other World Cup

Roy Nemer
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The basketball World Championships in Japan are a reality now!

There will be plenty of action in the first day with the following fixtures:

Germany vs. Japan
Venezuela vs. Lebanon
Brazil vs. Australia
USA vs. Puerto Rico
Serbia and Montenegro vs. Nigeria
Angola vs. Panama
Greece vs. Qatar
Slovenia vs. Senegal
Spain vs. New Zealand
China vs. Italy
Turkey vs. Lithuania

But the main course for us is the very early encounter between Argentina and France (7 AM on Saturday -Buenos Aires time-).

The expectation is huge in Argentina. Just like it was 4 years ago when the football team was tragically eliminated from the World Cup and the sports fans in this country started to watch the basketball World Championships in Indianapolis and that heroic silver medal after defeating Team USA for the first time in history since they compete with a team formed by NBA stars.

The biggest piece of news before this game is Tony PARKER’s injury and absence from the tournament. He broke a finger and was ruled out just hours before the match.

Manu GINOBILI knows the French point guard very well as they have won 2 NBA rings together with San Antonio Spurs and the Argentine star said it’s is a tragic loss for the tournament and also a problem for Argentina because “we’ve been preparing a lot to play against Tony and now we’ve got to change our plans”.

I’m sure France are the team who will have to adjust more after losing their best player.

Argentina is at full strenght and the players have a great belief in themselves. They want to leave the horrible defeats against Spain and Serbia in the past as they were part of the preparation. They know that when the business is serious and victory matters they will make themselves hear.

Just like I did a few months ago with MESSI, TEVEZ and RIQUELME instead of Manu GINOBILI, NOCIONI and SCOLA, I want to shout a big VAMOS ARGENTINA!

See you all here, commenting during and after the match.

BASILE making some long distance calls

Roy Nemer
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With less than 2 weeks for his debut against Brazil, Alfio BASILE is one of the busiest men in the World of Football right now.

He has a crucial game against Independiente on Saturday (his Boca Juniors side and Independiente are both leading the league with 6 points after the first two weeks of the season) and hours before that match, he has to name the full list of players he will call up for an attractive international friendly against DUNGA’s Brazil.

He is not publicly speaking about it, but sources from both sides (the AFA and the players) are spreading rumours that help us to make an initial approach on the names that will be on that list. It is a known fact that, not being a FIFA date, teams from South America and Mexico are not forced to let their international players to join Argentina.

In this particular scenario, Carlos TEVEZ and Javier MASCHERANO could both miss this friendly as they are vital for Corinthians, Brazil in their fight against relegation. Both of these players are in BASILE’s mind.

Speedy winger Cesar DELGADO is in the same situation but his club -Cruz Azul, Mexico- could let him make the trip to London.

COCO is also taking note of the amount of minutes the top Argentine stars have in their legs. Spain and Italy are yet to kick-off their leagues, while England will do it this coming weekend. That’s another obstacle for him to define his list.

So far, this is the probable starting eleven (according to different sources and rumours):

Roberto ABBONDANZIERI (Getafe) on goal. BASILE knows him very well when they both were at Boca.

It’s a known fact that BASILE likes to play with 4 at the back, with two traditional full-backs and two central defenders. So the return of one of the most capped players in the history of Argentina is a huge possibility: Javier ZANETTI (Internazionale) will fight for a place at right back with up and coming star Pablo ZABALETA (Espanyol).

Leandro PONZIO (Zaragoza) is running a little bit behind these two, but Hugo IBARRA (Boca Juniors) is COCO’s favourite and looks like he is going to be our future regular right back.

Gabriel MILITO (Zaragoza) will play in central defense with one from Gonzalo RODRIGUEZ (Villarreal) or Nicolas BURDISSO (Internazionale).

Gabriel HEINZE and Roberto AYALA will remain on the manager’s mind but he will pass on them for this one because he thinks they need more time to get fit (HEINZE is coming back from a World Cup played before reaching a 100% level of fitness and his season with Manchester United will be just started at the time of the match against Brazil. AYALA is fighting a long fight against the Valencia’s staff and his future is uncertain). Gabriel PALETTA could be a surprising call for COCO.

PEKERMAN’s skipper, Juan Pablo SORIN, is still waiting for his mobile phone to ring. But BASILE is very unlikely to dial his number. He is another player with his future on hold (unwanted by Villarreal and yet to secure a move elsewhere) and COCO is not a fan of him. The left-back position will be covered by Clemente RODRIGUEZ (Spartak Moscow).

If MASCHERANO is not allowed by Corinthians to play on this game, then we’ll see the full international debut for Leandro SOMOZA (Villarreal). The former Velez Sarsfield player will step up and play in a central midfielder position. However, for the big picture in the future, MASCHERANO and Fernando GAGO (Boca Juniors) will be the two men fighting for that position.

And now is when things get really interesting:

Maxi RODRIGUEZ (Atletico Madrid) will give the team his usual 90-minutes-non-stop-running and will be helping the team on defense and offense. I like the idea of Maxi becoming a key player for Argentina.

Juan Roman RIQUELME (Villarreal) will again be our playmaker. Up until this point there are no major surprises, but the thing I welcome with joy is the fact that Federico INSUA (Borussia Moenchengladbach) will also feature in the starting eleven. That means we’ll have 2 playmakers instead of just one. INSUA is faster and helps out a little bit more on defense and I think they will play well together. For those who never saw INSUA playing, I can tell you he has an incredible touch with his left foot and he is a player of great finesse. This midfield looks impressive!

Up front?

Lionel MESSI will start!!!! FINALLY! The FC Barcelona star is one of BASILE’s favourite and there are no doubts he will become our icon from now on!

But the Atomic Flea needs a partner. Who will he be this time?

Carlos TEVEZ! He is another of BASILE’s soft spots and just the thought of having Carlitos and Messi together looks like a dream for him. BUT, if Corinthians want TEVEZ to stay, we’ll use one of our luxuries: a substitute like Sergio ‘KUN’ AGÜERO!

The Atletico Madrid’s star is on fire this pre-season and will become another vital player in our quest to become the next World Champions.

I think BASILE is sending out a message. He will ‘gamble’ with the little fellows. Forget about having a player like Julio CRUZ only because he is tall. I don’t have anything against CRUZ, I’m just giving an example. I don’t want to listen to a manager that gives height more importance than technique or first touch. If there is a tall player with flair, then I’ll welcome him. If not, then give me a ‘midget’ with magic feet and I’ll be a happy man.

And just to point out, I’ve used the word ‘gamble’ when referring to the use of the likes of MESSI, TEVEZ and AGÜERO. I apologise for using that word. With players like those, it’s not called ‘gamble’ it’s simply called ‘strategy’.

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