SA Blog Number 5: The Wonderful World Of CONMEBOL Qualifying
16th September 2009
It’s been another captivating couple of weeks in South America, with CONMEBOL World Cup Qualifying rapidly reaching what is all set to be an enthralling climax. As usual, we had two sets of fixtures jammed into five days, kicking off with the one everybody was waiting for – Argentina vs Brazil. This one was a little different than the usual Clasico, with all the pressure was firmly on the shoulders of Maradona’s misfits. It wasn’t the typical battle for bragging rights made all the more nugatory by the fact that both will qualify anyway – but a chance for Brazil to show their overwhelming superiority, to torment and shame their great rivals. For anyone in the know, the result was never in doubt, not for a second.
The entire campaign has been one of misery and embarrassment for Argentina. Previous coach Alfio Basile “left” in October, I use the term “left” lightly as Julio Grondona, President of the AFA for 30 years, boasts the proud record of never having sacked a national coach - a mere technicality really, ‘Uncle July’ can be very persuasive. Basile´s final match was a 1-0 defeat to Chile in Santiago, it was the culmination of a dismal start to qualifying that saw Argentina pick up just four points in seven games. It couldn’t possibly get any worse, could it? Yes, yes it could – enter Diego Armando Maradona.
Since Maradona’s arrival, Argentina have been a total shambles. Despite a flattering 2-0 friendly victory in Paris against France and a 4-0 home victory against a feeble Venezuela who rolled over before even stepping foot on the pitch, Los Albiceleste have lost four out of their last five qualifiers. Maradona, one time national hero is quickly becoming a national hate figure, with opinion polls showing around 90% of the public want him sacked. Upon taking the reigns, he quickly made headlines by falling out with Riquelme - Argentina’s talisman, and continually leaves fans and journalists alike completely perplexed with his bizarre comments and peculiar team selections.
He has called up no less than 62 players during the ten fixtures he has been in charge. For the last match against Brazil, among the 29 players selected, Diego saw fit to call up a 35-year-old Martin Palermo who hadn’t played for the national team in nearly a decade, a 30-year-old uncapped midfield journeyman in Rodrigo Brana, and best of all – a 36-year-old uncapped Rolando Schiavi. Schiavi –who you may recognize as the 6’3” shaggy haired Boca defender from Lukes blog posting- actually thought it was a joke, “Diego called me in the afternoon and I asked him if it was a prank for Tinelli [a popular Argentine television program]. He said no, that tomorrow at four I will have to present myself at Ezeiza. I still can´t believe it." Schiavi wasn’t the only one who couldn’t believe it.
The Argentina side that actually took the field against Brazil featured a debutant in Sebastián Domínguez at centre-back playing alongside his 21-year-old teammate Nicolas Otamendi. Against the most proficient attack in International football, Diego thought it best to select the centre back partnership that won Velez a Clausura title last season, not surprisingly, it failed! He also persisted with woefully out of form Carlos Tevez, who actually has more red cards than he does goals in this qualifying campaign and has scored found the net just eight times in 51 caps his country. As if the defeat in Rosario wasn’t bad enough, what followed in Paraguay was even worse. Hopefully a brief stint in a weight-loss clinic will give El Diego time to think about what he has done.
In total contrast to Argentina, are Brazil. The current Brazil side isn’t one renowned, like many before them, for their flamboyant samba style - but for their ruthless efficiency. They’re a big, strong, quick, well oiled modern day football machine. They pack the midfield, sit back, soak up pressure, and press the ball before springing brutal counter-attacks of phenomenal pace and precision. After comfortably dispatching Argentina, Brazil marched on to defeat Chile 4-2 a few days later. Despite missing a number of first team players, Brazil strolled to victory, with Villarreal striker Nilmar replacing Luis Fabiano and duly completing a hat-track. You’ll be please to know The Emperor returned to action in that match and is apparently ready to return to Europe. So, Brazil have booked their place in South Africa and will probably go in as favourites. After a tentative start, Dunga has found a winning continuity, he selects the same 17-18 players in every squad, everybody has a specific role to play and the whole team are well aware of what is expected of them individually. Dunga, somehow, seems to have successfully introduced pragmatism to a Brazilian national team.
Paraguay will join Brazil at the World Cup, thanks to early qualification achieved with the victory over Argentina, which took Gerardo Martino’s men to 30 points from the 16 games, just three less than Dunga’s Brazil. Paraguay started qualifying like house on fire, winning 5 of their first eight games, which included a 2-0 victory over Brazil, but things slowed down a little after that as they seemed to run out of steam. Overall, has been a hugely successful campaign for Guaraníes who are quickly establishing themselves as one of the top teams in the continent; this is the fourth consecutive World Cup they have qualified for.
Chile currently occupy 3rd position and need just one point from their remaining two fixtures to guarantee themselves qualification. Former Agentina coach Marcelo Bielsa has been a revelation since his appointment. He not only has his side playing a wonderfully free-flowing style of attacking football, but has Chile on course to achieve qualification for their first World Cup since 1998. It was Bielsa’s attacking philosophy that first attracted the Chilean FA and since convincing him to take the job, they haven’t looked back. “The manner in which he achieves his objectives is what interested us”, said Harold Mayne-Nichols, CFF President, “The results were far better than we imagined. Marcelo has become a true idol among the people”.
The last two rounds of fixtures, scheduled to be played on October 10th and 14th, will decide who will join Paraguay and Brazil in South Africa. There are no less than six teams battling it out for two automatic qualification places and one play-off place against a team from the CONCACAF region (likely to be Costa Rica). With Chile all but qualified, it looks as if Argentina will battle it out with Ecuador, Venezuela, Colombia and arch-rivals Uruguay. Argentina face Peru at home next month in a match that if they fail win, then quite frankly, they don’t deserve to be anywhere near a World Cup. Uruguay will travel to Ecuador, Colombia host Chile and Venezuela face Paraguay. There are a number of permutations as to who has to do what to achieve qualification now, but one possibility to really wet your appetite is the prospect of Argentina travelling to Montevideo on the last day of qualifying with the possibility of being knocked out by their eternal nemesis Uruguay.
Elsewhere in CONMEBOL, we waved goodbye to Nobby Solano’s Peru. They are one of two sides who definitely won’t be going to South Africa next summer, despite earning a well deserved 1-0 win over Uruguay in Lima on Saturday, a 3-1 defeat in Venezuela meant their dream was over. With two games left to play, 36-year-old Solano has had enough for now, “At this moment I would prefer to continue to participate with my team in the championship," he said. Bolivia are the other team who have been eliminated from qualifying, successive defeats to Paraguay and Ecuador means the best they can mange is third from bottom. Bolivia’s poor campaign has left good old Evo wondering if nationalisation is the way to go, although that’s unlikely as FIFA tend not to be to enthusiastic about politicians getting involved in football.
CONMEBOL World Cup Qualifying Table
Rupert Fryer
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Nev
:::2009-09-17 15:04:54
Another top blog on South American football and a comprehensive round up. Keep them coming.
Why is Higuain being overlooked as an alternative striking option? I heard someone mention that he had fallen out with Gago but surely that can´t be the only reason.
Wind
:::2009-09-17 15:12:08
While El Diego´s team selection and tactics are wayward to say the least can anyone actually give a reasoned analysis behind his decision making?
Good article btw
Rupert_SAF
:::2009-09-17 15:17:44
Nev, there are a couple of theories as to why ‘The Hig’ hasn´t been called up yet.
The first being that Maradona doesn´t consider him "Argentinian enough". Higuain was born in France, to Argentinian parenthood, and moved to Argentina before his 1st birthday. It is rumoured that he considered playing for France before declaring Argentina as the nation he wants to represent. For someone as patriotic as Maradona, that really didn’t sit well.
The other theory is that he simply doesn’t get on with Fernando Gago or Gabriel Heinze. Apparently, there is a lot of tension there, with Gago and Gab having taken a real disliking to him. Although, they seem to have spent enough time in the same Real Madrid team for it not to be that much of an issue. Reports in Argentina claim that Maradona, on his travels to Europe, after he checks out of the weight-loss clinic, will visit both Heinze and Gago to tell them they are being dropped. He will then visit The Hig and let him know he is finally being called upon.
So, we may see Higuain in an Argentina shirt come next months crunch clash at home to Uruguay.
Soapy
:::2009-09-17 15:21:28
Another good read.
I cant get my head around some of the decisions Diego has made.
We should be touting Argentina as possible winners next year, not wondering if they will even qualify!
Dave Flower
:::2009-09-17 15:26:48
It´s such a shame that Maradona has turned out to be as mental as a coach as he was as a player.
It makes you wonder if giving jobs in very senior and highly stressful roles to people with a track record of struggling under intense pressure (without drink or drugs) even makes sense!
Honestly though, what did Argentina expect when they gave this job to Diego? Simply read "El Diego" and you can see that he is someone is clearly mental!
Rupert_SAF
:::2009-09-17 19:24:48
Dave Flower,
Following Basile´s exit, the AFA found themselves with a severe lack of candidates. Between them, the AFA and the Argentine sports writers had contrived to piss off pretty much every coach in the country. Maradona was one of the very few to come out and say he wanted it. He had also held down a steady job (on national TV) for over a year without any controversy, and that was enough to convince the nation he was changed man.
In terms of the reasoning behind the actual appointment, there was a view shared by many that the national team pretty much picked itself, and that the problems were all down to a lack of morale and inspiration. Who could inspire this bunch of world class millionaires??? God himself! And believe me, Diego is/was seen as a god amongst men in Argentina.
So, they appointed a muse! The backup plan was to fill the AFA payroll with enough coaches and figures of authority to compensate for Diego´s lack of tactical dexterity and general mental behavior. They installed the ultimate pragmatist Carlos Bilardo as General Manager to whip Diego into shape. Bilardo formed a strong bond with Maradona during their triumphant 1986 World Cup campaign and was one of the few people Diego actually listened to.
While reckless, and a huge leap of faith, it wasn´t that insane when you break it down - or so we tried to tell ourselves at the time.
McHugh
:::2009-09-18 20:40:44
Higuain, Samuel and Militio, three people baffled by Maradona. Having been to Argentina and witnessing the love in for Maradona, for me it goes beyond Maradona. The man clearly is not and never will be a manager/coach. The blame lies with the people in the AFA who appointed him in the first place.
He is clearly not cut out for this kind of appointment, shown by chucking on a centreback to win a game. An appointment to appease the fans has only made the situation worse and ruined the mans reputation in Argentina.
The man i most feel sorry for is Messi, how can he not be at the world cup?! Madness
Doll
:::2009-09-19 12:57:54
top post!
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