Argentina's Gaping Holes (Part 2/2)

In this second part about Argentina's visible gaping holes in their squad, it will now be about Javier Zanetti's possible impacts on the team had he been included in Maradona's 23 man squad alongside Esteban Cambiasso, whose analysis on his possible impacts have been explained in part 1. To be frank, no matter how well argued arguments such as the one written by yours truly in part 1 about the justifications for Cambiasso's inclusion in the squad, many would be able to still argue against it in a relatively effortless manner. However, for Javier Zanetti's inclusion, in which he would have been occupying the right back berth in the squad, there can be a much stronger case for his inclusion considering how that right back position has been a continuously persistent problem in Maradona's squad. Also, we have to bear in mind that all four goals that Germany scored against Argentina in that embarrassing 4-0 thrashing of Argentina came from the Germans' left flank (in other words, Argentina's right). Besides that, Javier Zanetti's inclusion will certainly add a plethora of dimension to the Argentine squad and will no doubt massively strengthening it as a whole, and all of these will be outline in the following paragraphs.

The first and main effect of J. Zanetti's inclusion in the Argentina World Cup 2010 squad is certainly to put a lid on Argentina's chronic and totally unnecessary as well as preventable right back conundrum. Throughout the tournament, Maradona has been struggling to put someone suitable for the right back position and throughout the tournament, he fielded players whose positions are anything but the rigght back position. At the beginning of the tournament, Maradona fielded Jonas Gutierrez, and his natural position is as a left winger. Even two victories out of two against Nigeria and South Korea could not save him from being criticized as “uncomfortable and unstable” playing as a right back, and thus for the last Group Stage game against Greece, the right back position was occupied by Nicolas Burdisso, a center back. Again, Argentina marched to a 2-0 victory. In their 3-1 victory against Mexico in the last 16, Maradona fielded Nicolas Otamendi, a center back by trade just like Burdisso, and after the victory Maradona finally settled for Otamendi, fielded him again for that fateful match against Germany in the quarter finals, and the rest, as they say, is history. As mentioned, that deficiency on the right back position was ruthlessly exposed by the efficient Germans and their goals were all from there. Also, Otamendi looked like Argentina's answer for Michel Bastos, as if they were competing just like how the Soviet Union and the USA competed for space technologies during the Cold War. Even in the midst of the thrashing, Otamendi was substituted deep into the second half, and was replaced by Javier Pastore, an attacking midfielder who did not even take that right back position and thus for the last 30 minutes, it was occupied by thin air, again I am sure thin air was “uncomfortable and unstable” as a right back. Jokes aside, all of those chronic problems involving the right back position would not be so problematic had Javier Zanetti was there.

I know I have been preaching a lot about how a player's club performance can never be used as a yardstick for their international performance and names such as Leo Messi, Wayne Rooney, and of course Cristiano Ronaldo will be thrown into the argument. However, let's just think rationally and look at it this way. Which one would you choose? Players who are not right backs at all, or an evergreen, age-defying, world class right back who is at 36 years old is still ready at anytime to give 110% for his team, be it Inter, the club he served with distinction for so long, or his beloved country? I believe most if not all would definitely choose the latter, and rightly so. We have seen from his 15 years in Inter, he has amassed a whopping 700 appearances for the Nerazzuri, and also 136 cps for Argentina. This proves his longevity and level of fitness in which he rarely gets injured or miss a match or two. I know it's futile to do an inquest or asking “what if” questions by now, but just think about it, considering how he has performed so admirably for Inter and Argentina in all of his 700 and 136 appearances for both teams respectively, one might wonder if no less than four goals would have been shipped in by Argentina all from their opponents' left flank (which is Argentina's right) had Javier Zanetti was the one playing for the Albiceleste as their right back... Think about it.

Secondly, besides the obvious fact that Javier Zanetti is a right back and should have played as a right back for Argentina, especially considering the very fact that Argentina did not have a right back at all throughout the tournament, Javier Zanetti's inclusion in the squad will surely add yet another leadership quality in the squad, which I must admit was sorely lacking in the squad. Argentina's staunch backers will ask “how about Veron? He's the one who's supposed to be what you call the team's “pseudo-manager”” Yes, Veron is a senior player, and the oldest member of the squad, but still, I can't remember Veron as a player with plenty of leadership qualities if there's any, and I know I will start yet another of those “Leaders are born vs bred” kind of debates, but I won't go there, but one thing I know for sure, Javier Zanetti will be one of the names that would be cited in the “leaders are born” side of the debate. I am perfectly aware that Maradona, the manager who is in charge of motivation, team talks, and those kind of things in this squad. However, a manager can only do so much, and more specifically, they can only (literally and figuratively) can be present up to the boundaries between the dugout and the pitch. How about the leaders on the pitch? The “pseudo-manager” who is in charge of organizing and keeping the team together on the pitch, during the two halves (or more) of the game especially when things get tough? Maradona couldn't just don an Argentina jersey and go out to the field with the captain's armband, as much as he would love to do oh so much, and thus it will be left to players like Zanetti.

Looking at the players on the pitch against Germany, the only player who is the closest to that “pseudo-manager” that I have been talking about since before the World Cup (mostly about Ballack which I have been proven totally wrong on that, but yeah) was the one wearing the captain armband, Javier Mascherano. He became the captain of the Argentina team when Maradona stripped the armband from Javier Zanetti, and although he continued to field the Inter player for the qualifying campaign, he excluded Zanetti altogether from the World Cup squad, a decision which baffled many, and many more right now including yours truly. Back to Mascherano, I don't think he is suitable to be the captain, not that I could see another alternative from this squad though, except for Veron (who did not feature in the game). Alright, even if Mascherano was still the one wearing the armband, Zanetti's presence will undoubtedly make him the “true” captain of the team and will certainly augment the squad with his leadership qualities and aura. Even if with his presence, Germany managed to score that early against Argentina, there will be Zanetti who will exercise his “pseudo-manager” role in the squad and calm the team down, gather all of them together, and direct them to regroup and not to panic, especially for the defenders and their goalkeeper, Sergio Romero. Thus, they would not leak in more goals and even start to break the Germans down. Even if the effect is only psychological, it would still be significant, just like what I have mentioned and explained in detail in the first part of this on Esteban Cambiasso, in which the mere presence of Zanetti will also psychologically strengthen the squad especially the backline. Besides that, Zanetti will also be very calm under pressure and even possible provocations from the opponents, and he won't have conceded so many unnecessary fouls like Otamendi and even concede that free kick which resulted in the Germans' first goal which set the ball rolling for the embarrassing destruction of Argentina.

The last and another effect, and again similar to what Cambiasso would offer is the fact that Zanetti will help the attack significantly as well. However, while Cambiasso would help the attack with his pinpoint through passes, Zanetti will help the attack as they would be having an extra man forward and he will certainly be able to cross the ball well to aim for Higuain for him to finish it off. In that match, the source of crosses from deep were from the forward running Gabriel Heinze on the left flank, and since he is not the best crosser in the world, his crosses tended to balloon away from Higuain rather than really approaching Higuain properly. In any case, it was such a waste that Argentina bowed down from the competition with Germany exposing their flaws and deficiencies so ruthlessly and perhaps cruelly in front of literally the whole world. The German match really justified the Interista's arguments about the exclusion of both Javier Zanetti and Esteban Cambiasso by ten folds if not more.

In any case, what is done, is done. There's no point in looking backwards. No matter the reason, whether Maradona miscalculated or simply excluding both players on the same grounds as how Marcelo Lippi stubbornly excluded Antonio Cassano and Fabrizio Miccoli, only Maradona himself knows for sure. But the fact remains that both players were not included in the squad, and although the effects were masked as Argentina simply notched victory after victory against teams who are to be frank, not contenders at all and are happy to go as far as they could, and when they really meet the real contenders, the big boys, the team that genuinely and realistically aim for the World Cup Trophy, they simply collapsed and the consequences from the exclusion of Cambiasso and Zanetti, especially Zanetti by manyfolds were ruthlessly shown and exposed, it showed that the Interistas might have been right after all.

Although all of these remain on paper and thus mere theories, and that things might even be not any better had they been included, but still, the way Germany won 4-0, all pointed to those two players and there's simply no room to hide for those who are still trying to justify the exclusion of the two Internazionale players.

Argentina's Gaping Holes (Part 1/2)

Argentina's and of course their manager Diego Maradona's dreams to join Franz Beckenbauer to have won the World Cup both as his country's captain and manager ended unceremoniously as they were utterly obliterated and generally capitulated ironically against an extra terrestrial Germany that is sure to be on a different time frame (faster) than their hapless opponents and simply thrash them one by one like pathetic mosquitoes facing the electric mosquito racket. As many people within the footballing universe have now grown accustomed to, even prior to this World Cup campaign, fans around the world, mainly Interistas and people who suddenly become Interistas after their marvelous Treble winning campaign have been constantly voicing out their utter discontent over Maradona's decision to exclude both the defensive midfielder Esteban Cambiasso and right back Javier Zanetti. At first I was baffled with this persistent complaints from the Interistas as I am not one of them, and I simply dismissed their complaints about Cambiasso and Zanetti as a simple example of a case of sour grapes towards Maradona as two of their key players in their aforementioned Treble winning season are not selected. This was even more so when Argentina blitzed through the Group Stages with three wins out of three even though they were against Nigeria, South Korea, and Greece.

Their 3-1 win against Mexico who looked like contenders just because France played like a pub team simply carried me away up up in the sky and further laughed the Interistas' complaints off. However, things went terribly wrong against Germany in the quarter finals, and amazingly, their destruction all stemmed from both defensive midfield and right back position, especially the latter. This played straight into the Interistas and will undoubtedly be the main source of ammunition against Maradona not only from them, but by most if not all pundits in their attempts to make an inquest against Maradona's World Cup campaign. Even I am starting to believe those Interistas after looking at how Germany systematically took apart Argentina on their way to a massive 4-0 victory that sent their Chancellor Angela Merkel dancing wildly in the stands. The Germans totally exposed their weaknesses and those weaknesses happened to be the positions occupied by Cambiasso and Zanetti, and I have also found the reasons on why the Intersitas were right after all. I will divide this into two, and I will start with my personal assessment on what Cambiasso's inclusion might have done to the Argentine team.

First things first, we know that Maradona played a rather attacking 4-4-2 diamond formation in World Cup 2010 to simply try and overwhelm their opponents and for their strong area (their attack) to be expressed. But Maradona should have played two defensive midfielders at the same time to screen and protect their fragile backline, an inherently weak area of a South American team, let alone Argentina. Their captain, Javier Mascherano can be one of the two defensive midfielders. But how about his partner? It is either Maxi Rodriguez or Juan Sebastian Veron who can partner him in that position in the current team. Both Maxi and Veron are all attacking oriented players and were certainly playing out of position and looked comfortable, despite many that might argue that since Maxi and Veron are ageing players, they have evolved and adapt to their advancing age by playing in a more withdrawn/defensive position but still, both players are still playing in an attacking role in their respective clubs and still, they are not comfortable playing as a defensive midfielder. Even if one might argue that Maradona could have fielded Mario Bollatti as Mascherano's partner, he still won't provide the same benefits that Cambiasso might have dished out for the team, and this will be argued and explained more and more as this goes on.

Since Mario Bollatti has come to the picture and he indeed could have partnered Mascherano had Maradona opted for two defensive midfielders to be played n his formation. But we just take a look at these two players. Bollatti is not really an experienced player on the international stage, as he only has 4 Argentina caps to his name, and he is so famous just because of his solitary and winning goal against Uruguay to clinch their place in the World Cup finals while consigning Uruguay to a tough and controversial playoff against Costa Rica. On the other hand, Cambiasso is a world class players with plenty of experience on the international set-up with 11 times the caps that Bollatti have amassed so far at 44 caps for his country. This would mean that had Bollatti partnered Mascherano, he would be a liability instead of becoming a useful helping hand to Mascherano. His inexperience will still be exploited ruthlessly by the mean machine, efficient, and even extra terrestrial Germans and Mascherano will be left covering for Bollatti and saving him for problems, and all this while he still needs to perform his own duty well to thwart the Germans. Also, there's no guarantee that the Germans won't do what Arjen Robben did to Michel Bastos and Felipe Melo, especially the latter. This will only mean that Mascherano will still be a one man defensive midfielder in the team, the team will be deprived of one attacking player which would inhibit their attacking flair (their strong point as mentioned) to be expressed properly, and also, carrying a potential liability and a time bomb. Cambiasso is experienced enough to avoid any dirty provocations like what Felipe Melo experienced and to slot into the formation perfectly and simply facilitating his partner Mascherano and to further augment the Argentine defense. In any case, for the German game especially, I still think that Argentina should have gone for a formation with two defensive midfielders as Walter Samuel, the only rock solid defender in the Argentina squad was absent with injury. When your team's defensive spine consists of Nicolas Burdisso and Martin Demichelis as your best options, and Sergio Romero as your very last line in defense, you really need to consider putting some kind of solid barricade in front of them.

In light of the previous explanation, the second effect of Cambiasso's presence in the squad will certainly still revolve around augmenting Argentina's rather porous defense. The presence of both Cambiasso and Mascherano, two world's premier defensive midfielders in front of the defenders and goalkeeper will certainly give them some kind of protective aura from which they could draw confidence and security in strutting their stuff on the pitch. The reason why Burdisso looks uncomfortable, Demichelis committing grave errors one after another, and Sergio Romero looks like an invisible man at times in goal is simply because they are continually called into action and ruthlessly exposed. Even seasoned central defenders and goalkeepers with nerves of steel will crumble and erroneous when chronically and consistently exposed against the brute of opponents' attacks. Thus, when the Argentine backline is screened with two world class defensive midfielders patrolling in front of them, chances of them being totally exposed by the opponents' attackers are considerably slimmer, and even if they are able to get past Cambiasso and Mascherano it's probably after a mountain of effort and even with s stroke of luck, and Burdisso and Demichelis can confidently and coolly and perhaps easily dispossess the shaken attacker and/or boot the ball away or pass it to another player to launch a fresh wave of attack. The psychological edge of having the aforementioned feeling and aura of security cannot be underestimated. Even placebo effects are so amazing, in which if one believes that a glass of ordinary plain water is a holy water taken from a particularly holy spring able to cure any diseases, the drinker will certainly feel so much better right after drinking the water. Thus, I strongly believe that the trio of Demichelis, Burdisso and Sergio Romero will certainly perform so much better had there been a proper screening and cover in front of them.

At this point of time, Argentina's fans will certainly think, “Hey, are you asking our proud national team to do a Dunga and even a step further by abandoning our proud attacking culture to Mourinho's Park-the-bus-in-goal tactics?” Definitely not, as it would certainly be such a waste of Argentina's array of massive attacking talents at Maradona's disposal in this tournament, and that parking a bus without doors and windows is never a good idea to prevent someone form slipping through easily through the bus and to the other side. Thus, the third and penultimate role that Cambiasso would have played had Argentina really fielded Mascherano and Cambiasso as two defensive midfielders, besides augmenting the defense, it would also be to bridge the defense and attack properly with his penchant of sending beautiful through balls whether on the ground or a long through ball in the air. Before I go further, I would say that the kind of formation that Maradona should have set-up would be a 4-2-3-1 formation widely used in this tournament. The “3” attacking midfielders would be Angel di Maria on the left flank, Maxi Rodriguez or even Javier Pastore as the right winger, and Messi as the “trequarista” with free role just behind the lone targetman Gonzalo Higuain who is a target striker in the mold of Ruud van Nistelrooy and Filippo Inzaghi.

We know that during the German game, Argentina's attacks were never successful and each time, they were thwarted properly in a scarily efficient manner. It seemed that they kept on running into an unbreakable invisible wall. (I won't say out the name of Germany's capital city as many Germans are still angry when one mentioned the word “Wall” after their capital city's name). Thus, the perfect solution would resemble Brazil's goal in their sad 2-1 loss against Holland in which Felipe Melo sent a through pass to bypass the entire Dutch midfield and defense to send Robinho clear on the goal one on one with the goalkeeper and duly scored from there. Thus, Cambiasso's penchant of sending precise, incisive through passes will be called into action here. Again, I am sorry I can't help but to refer to World War II to better illustrate what Cambiasso would do to augment the attack. Berlin was totally cordoned off and no food could be transported into the city (I won't go through the vivid details as it would mean I am out of point and I am diagnosed with ADHD), thus the Allies' solution was to send food and other necessities through the small air route that the Soviets had opened for air transports to and from Berlin, which was known as “The Berlin Airlift”. It is the same thing for Argentina. They had no way to go through the packed and efficient defense, and they kept on getting thwarted. Whenever di Maria and Messi tried to weave their magic, they can go past one or two Germans, but three or four more are waiting behind them and simply dispossess them. What to do? Even Messi can't do anything. Enter Cambiasso. He could have sent a incisive long ball which would bypass the entire midfield and defense of Germany (unless one of them is Superman's real identity and simply jumped up to head the ball away, I can't say anything) and to the path of Higuain who is certainly in the penalty area waiting for the ball as usual and he would just head the ball or send a deceptively simple tap-in into the net. I know it is not that easy as even in that match, he had one of his tap-ins ruled offside. Besides that, Cambiasso could also send a through pass to Messi, di Maria, or Maxi/Pastore and simply send them to be in a better position to dribble around and send that final ball to Higuain from a closer distance.

In any case, Esteban Cambiasso is a world class player with plenty of experience in the club scene as well as the national set-up of Argentina and will certainly add plenty of steel in defense while adding plenty of ammunition especially with his laser guided passes as mentioned above to further facilitate the attack, either directly to the targetman (Higuain) or via the creative players such as Messi, Pastore, and di Maria. What's done is done, and just like any inquest from any pundits in any medium, this is as futile as it could be, and still a theoretical framework which might not work well in practice when it is really implemented on the pitch. Detractors will still remind us to the 2006 version of the Argentina vs Germany match but it was the case of tactical mistake by the then manager and when utilized properly, Cambiasso will certainly add a lot of dimension and massively strengthen the Argentine team. The next part will be about Javier Zanetti, another player whose exclusion is lamented by Interistas worldwide, and which I also think they have a case as well, just like for Cambiasso.

Argentina 0-4 Germany World Cup 2010 Quarter Finals

Just after the Group Stage matches have been concluded in World Cup 2010, South American countries were so dominating with every single countries qualified to the last 16 in a so scintillating manner beating everything in their path and playing beautiful football yearned so much by fans to boot. Argentina, Paraguay, Chile, Brazil, and Uruguay all qualified in a convincing manner into the last 16 of the competition. At this point of time, I even read a long-winded and detailed assessment on the various reasons for the dominance of the South American countries, and of course laced with superlatives. But, something went terribly wrong from there onwards as the South American countries fell out one by one from the competition. Argentina were dumped unceremoniously last night against Germany in which it was really supposed to be a tightly contested match between two giants in the game, but Germany were so extraterrestrial that it did not happen. Germany totally and thoroughly obliterated Maradona's boys, and to think that Thomas Muller, the one Maradona “mistook” as a ballboy in a press conference dishing out the most damage, I shudder to think what Maradona would be feeling right now.

Actually, what Germany did was very simple, they took apart Argentina ruthlessly by taking a leaf out of their arch-rivals Holland's book in which they exploited a weak link in Argentina's squad just like how Holland exploited the weak link of Brazil in their match. It was Michel Bastos for Brazil on the left flank, but for Argentina, it was their right flank and the hapless Nicolas Otamendi which was truly overwhelmed and exposed by the Germans. In fact, all of the four goals conceded by Argentina were all from blitzkrieg (literally, as the speed of each attack is out of this world) piercing attacks from the left flank (thus Argentina's right). Two German facts. First, Saucer shaped flying vehicles were reportedly invented in Germany as blueprints or even prototypes of them were reportedly retrieved from Germany upon the Third Reich's defeat. The second fact is that, whenever we hear the world “Germany” or “Germans”, one thing comes to mind, “efficiency”. First up, the Germans really moved and passed the ball like how UFOs maneuver, just like how they thrashed England badly in the last 16 match, and just like the efficiency of the UFOs shape and mechanism, they do their moves in an efficient manner. Despite the wicked twists and turns all over the field, they really wasted little energy if not at all and no single move was wasted. They also totally exposed Argentina's general weakness which is their back-line especially the right back position but they also efficiently and ruthlessly prevented Argentina from showing their strong points, which is their supposedly overwhelming attacks with an array of world class attackers at Maradona's disposal in this tournament. Also, to Germany's full credit and/or to an off day for the Argentine attackers, Germany foiled each attempts on goal very very easily in which Argentina were only restricted to futile long shots and even Messi was powerless against the German defense. Even if they got behind the German defense, such as how Higuain managed to “score” in the 36th minute, he was caught offside. Besides stopping Argentine attacks right on its tracks, they immediately launched their extra terrestrial counter led by Ozil and Muller which was truly devastating each time for the shaky Argentina's defenders.

As for Argentina, it still baffles me as how Maradona managed to leave a gaping hole to be exploited ruthlessly by the efficient German UFOs. Nicolas Otamendi looked shaky throughout the match and Jonas would have been a much better choice. This is also in light of the fact that the Argentine defense was already very porous due to the absence of Walter Samuel, who earned the nickname “The Wall” certainly not for nothing. Tough luck for Argentina as the Inter defender was absent when Argentina needed him the most in this tournament. When Otamendi received a yellow card early in the match, I was sure that he was Argentina's answer to Michel Bastos, or even worse to Felipe Melo, and when I saw several Argentina substitutes warming up early on I was relieved as I believed Maradona was about to make a very early change to alter the game's proceedings especially as Argentina's plans were failing as they conceded very early in the match and were in danger to concede more (which they did in the second half). I expected Jonas to replace the hapless Otamendi as he would be much more sturdy and solid in thwarting the German Blitzkrieg attacks from their left flank. But, Otamendi stayed on.

In the second half, Maradona did not make any changes and it duly got worse and worse and worse for Argentina as they conceded one more goal in the 67th minute. After this, Otamendi was finally brought off, but even if it was for Jonas, it was too late. But it wasn't for Jonas, but for the attacking midfield Javier Pastore! Instead of plugging the leak, it only caused the already porous Argentine defense to be even more porous. At this time, with their attack totally shackled, Higuain caught in the efficient German offside traps plenty of times (as his style is in the mold of Inzaghi and van Nistelrooy) while Messi was closed down by 4-5 Germans when he tries to weave his magic, and their defense was totally shambolic and totally in chaos at this point of time as they conceded one more goal through Arne Friedrich, a defender scoring his first ever goal for the national team in the 73rd minute, a substantiation and a stamp of approval that Germany played close to their rivals' Total Football and/or Argentina's defense preferring the final whistle to be blown there and then. In the 75th minute, Sergio Aguero was brought on by Maradona to try to change the game, but at 3-0 down, it was futile, even if other two Messi-s were brought on at that time, it would have been futile. With Argentina all but given up, and Maradona's face expression showed it all, as he ditched his usual animated and enthusiastic antics on the touchline and for the first time in this tournament he stood there in a stoic manner and was pale-faced from then on. At the 88th minute, Klose scored one more goal to make it 4-0 and also took his personal tally in the World Cup tied with Gerd Muller with 14 goals and just 2 more goals away to overtake Ronaldo Luiz Nazario de Lima (so that people, especially younger ones won't be confused with the Portuguese version).

As for Maradona, it would be inevitable from here on that the pundits and the media in general will be licking their lips with plenty of ammunition to be dished out to the coach. Once again, every section of the media and most if not all pundits will again be condemning the man which they have just started to praise and acknowledge as a good manager. However, the most potent and plentiful ammunition will be from the Interistas, in which they will undoubtedly re-ignite the debate about the exclusion of Javier Zanetti and Esteban Cambiasso from the Argentina squad, a debate which has been silent for a while prior to his horrendous defeat. In any case, looking at how weak and exploited Argentine's right back position was, even I am starting to be carried off by those Interistas in which had Javier Zanetti occupied that right back position, all four Germany goals might have been prevented as all four goals came from the Germany's left flank as mentioned in detail above. Javier Zanetti is certainly more solid and capable than Otamendi and even Jonas, whose natural position is as a left winger.

It was a bad day for South American football, just when pundits around the world started to embrace Maradona as a world class coach, with one journalist from a top newspaper even go as far as writing a long winded formal apology to Maradona, and another explaining in detail full of superlatives to South American football and the reasons for their dominance in great detail, South American teams fall down one by one, and after Argentina was knocked out in the match above, Paraguay was also knocked out by a somewhat fortunate Spain side once again having to thank David Villa as their messiah. Just two rounds from the seemingly imminent conversion of World Cup 2010 to Copa America 2010, with only Uruguay as the only remaining South American representative, many pundits and fans are already predicting a final which is the rematch of 1974 World Cup final between rivals Germany and Holland. In other words, instead of Copa America 2010, now it is becoming Euro 2010.

Argentina 4-1 South Korea World Cup 2010 Group B

Vamos! Argentina have just become the first country to go through from the Group Stage of the World Cup 2010 thanks to the impressive victory against the unsurprisingly resolute and hard working South Koreans! This victory was down to the sheer genius of Diego Maradona, the Argentina manager who initiated a match defining, masterstroke substitution to kill off any remaining challenge from the South Koreans! To be fair to the South Koreans, they were resolute and looked like equalizing or even overturning the Argentine until the aforementioned genius masterstroke decision from the legend himself! Maradona is also the first manager who deviated from the cowardice 4-5-1 formation to play the brave and attacking 4-4-2 Diamond formation, which is my personal favorite formation of all. Despite this crushing defeat, the South Koreans is pretty much in he competition and likely to join Argentina to go through from Group B. But how hard it would be depends on the match between Nigeria and Greece very soon from the time of writing.

The first half was utterly dominated by Argentina with plenty of pace from Angel di Maria, Gonzalo Higuain, Jonas Gutierrez, the free role Leo Messi, as well as the hard-working machine like Carlos Tevez who chased for practically for every ball no matter what. Argentina started the match all the way to the highest gear and they really dominated the match, playing the fabled Barcelonaesque football with plenty of pacey and swift dazzling passes on the pitch. Argentina, with their brave formation and attacking style were rewarded soon at the 16th minute when a Messi cross was turned to his own goal by South Korean striker Park Chu-Young. It was a perfect strike from the AS Monaco man, but he scored to the wrong goal. 1-0 to Argentina. At the 20th minute, Walter Samuel needed to be replaced with N. Burdisso, reminiscence to how Philippe Senderos of Suisse needed to be substituted early in the match against Spain. The extent of his injury is not known yet. Argentina domination continued when Higuain scored with a very nice header, the first of many for the night. However, Argentina was totally stunned when a terrible mistake by Martin Demichelis allowed Lee Chung Yong to pull one back right before half time. 2-1.

In the second half, the complexion of the match changed and Argentina were pinned back by South Koreans and the Koreans looked like scoring at anytime as Argentina stuttered, frustrated and started collecting yellow cards for silly reasons. This is despite the commentator stating in the first half that there will be no way back for S. Korea if Argentina is 2-0 up. It was bad as Jonas will also miss the potentially crucial next match against Greece due to a second yellow card in the tournament (if the Koreans managed to hold or defeat Argentina which at that time was a huge possibility). South Korea's goalkeeper Jung Sung Ryong also looked like he won't concede another goal.

However, Maradona showed the world why he's a genius manager when he decided at the 74th minute to replace the out of steam and larely anonymous Tevez in the second half for Sergio Aguero. This is what separates an ordinary manager with a genius manager. An ordinary manager would have brought on Diego Milito in desperation based on his exploits for his club. But, club and country football are two very different things and the fact that Aguero didn't have a good season with Atletico Madrid is irrelevant. One minute later, Aguero made a great run and was greatly involved in the attacking move involving Messi as well with Higuain tapping in after Messi had hit the post. 3-1 for Argentina. At the 80th minute, Aguero was at it again when he assisted Higuain to complete his marvelous hat-trick and utterly destroyed South Korea 4-1. With this, Argentina dominated again and at right after the goal, Higuain came off to be replaced by M. Bolatti the hero against Uruguay in the qualifiers which secured Argentina's qualification into the World Cup for Higuain's well deserved standing ovation. Aguero even managed to almost obtained a well deserved Argentina's 5th goal at the very last minute.

Amazing victory for Argentina, and they have qualified to the last 16 and are on course to even go all the way in the tournament. Now, the aforementioned ban of Jonas Gutierrez is no longer relevant and it is just like he's rested for the now dead rubber match against the Greeks in which Maradona is likely to experiment with his second team with the likes of Martin Palermo for example. For South Korea, this defeat doesn't mean that they won't go through as from their performance between the 45-74th minute, they are more than capable of beating Nigeria and join Argentina to the last 16. Again, how easy it would be for South Korea to go through depends on the upcoming match between Nigeria and Greece. Enjoy!

Argentina 1-0 Nigeria World Cup 2010 Group B

The second opening game for World Cup 2010 Group B was the match between Argentina and Nigeria. The match ended 1-0 to Argentina's favor, but in truth, it was a surprisingly very tight and well-balanced match in which I believe Nigeria was rather unfortunate on not being able to at least equalize. Prior to the match, both teams have had their respective plans laid out. Argentina started with the attacking trident of Higuain, Messi (who was given a free role), and Tevez. While Nigeria started out with Yakubu as their sole attacking lone spear but reinforced as the match wears on especially in the second half. Another interesting point is Juan Sebastian Veron's role in the Argentina squad as well as some players form both sides that attracted attention in the match. Since it is of no secrets by now that I am tipping Argentina to win this year's World Cup, the points which I will be making below are mostly about Argentina, but I will try my best to include things that caught my eyes from the Nigerian team in the match as well.

The match started as a high octane extreme attacking match with both teams attacking liberally, especially Argentina with the aforementioned attacking trident. After just 5 minutes, Argentina immediately scored through a really nice move. A corner kick resulting from Messi's stinging shot which was saved (the first of so many more in the game) was dispatched by Veron and then Gabriel Heinze appeared so suddenly and abruptly into the penalty area such that he was free to head the ball and he did just that to score the first and only goal in the match which turned out to be the winning goal for Argentina. However, unlike Greece in the previous Group B match, Nigeria wasn't really shocked with the early goal and maintained their high-gear approach of the game.

Another point to take note is Jonas Gutierrez. Although a lot of pundits criticized Maradona's decision to bring Jonas on board in favor of other who are supposedly more high profile such as Javier Zanetti and Esteban Cambiasso. The fact that he played in England's lower division with Newcastle in the recently concluded club season doesn't mean that he's not a great player. He was brimming with energy and passion in the game and since he played as a right back, he reminds me of Brazil's Maicon. He was practically everywhere on the pitch. When the team attacks, he's right in front ready to receive the ball and when he has the ball, he could be seen crossing to the strikers, but when the opponents launch a swift counterattack, Jonas is suddenly at the back again defending and trying to win back possession. The amazing thing is that he does that while completing the whole 90 minutes without any sign of tiring down and thus needing to be substituted or rested.

Another interesting point, as mentioned in the first paragraph is Veron's role in the squad. This is again the substantiation of the “pseudo-manager” effect which I have explained so many times by now and another bad sign for Germany since they have lost Michael Ballack, the player which has this role in the squad. Veron was the pseudo-manager in the squad, and thus might just be another of Maradona's concealed genius masterstrokes. In the match, whenever possible, it could be seen that Maradona was conveying instructions to Veron, and then in the match itself, Veron could be seen waving his arms, shouting commands to the players and the players seem to react according to the instructions, such as slowing or quickening the tempo of the match. Despite how much Maradona moved around the touchline barking instructions, a pseudo-manager such as Veron is still needed.

The second half started where the first one had left off with both teams continuing to operate on high gears. Argentina continued to dominate possession and the match with Tevez as the embodiment of the team's high octane approach. However, since Argentina failed to score that second and killer goal, Nigeria started to realize this and they immediately made two attacking substitutions with Peter Odemwingie and Obafemi Martins entering the fray. Nigeria's attack turned from a one tipped spear to become a trident with Martins, Yakubu and Odemwingie.

Exchanges of entertaining and heart-stopping counter-attacks ensued between the two teams with Nigeria's Taye Taiwo nearly equalized before injuring himself. Bad sign for Nigeria. But he was substituted with Kalu Uche, another striker, and by this time, about 10-15 minutes from the end of the game, Nigeria operated with four strikers on the pitch now in their quest to find the equalizer, and by now, Argentina started to get pinned back as they continued to fail to get another goal and Nigeria acquiring more and more belief as time passed. Perhaps it was due to the match ball, but Argentina's efforts continued to go over the bar (also observable in other matches). In any case, Nigeria crept closer and closer to scoring a goal.

Maradona seemed to realize the 4 engined Nigerian bombardment as well as his team's failure to score the second goal prompted him to make a defensive substitution after two attacking ones prior to this when he sent Nicolas Burdisso into the fray. Argentina continued to become shakier and shakier but they did manage to get to the Nigerian goal as Higuain was denied a penalty. In the dying minutes of the game, Nigeria continued their resilience and as many as six Nigerian players were committed to the attack at that time.

However, it wasn't enough as Argentina managed to hold on to their slender lead and start the World Cup campaign with a victory. For Nigeria, they have to snatch a victory and a draw at the very least against South Korea and Greece.

Meanwhile, for Argentina, they only have to draw or preferably defeat South Korea and/or Greece to ensure their qualification to the knockout stages. This is a great start for Argentina, and a preferable one as well in my humble opinion. This is so as Argentina managed to get off to a good start by winning their first match, but they don't peak too early just like themselves in 2006 and Spain traditionally in the World Cup.

Is it fair to label Maradona crazy?

After witnessing scintillating ends to the top European leagues such as the Barclays Premier League, Spanish La Liga, and Italian Serie A, the attention is now diverted to the southern hemisphere in anticipation to the long awaited start to the 2010 edition of the FIFA World Cup. 32 teams will be, technically at least, be competing fiercely for the biggest prize of them all, the grandaddy of the footballing universe. It is no secret that I personally am tipping Diego Maradona's Argentina to win this World Cup, although one could see a plethora of journalists and pundits alike dismissing Argentina's chances to win the World Cup. However, it is not the time to debate about Argentina's chances per se, this is about their much derided manager Maradona, who has infamously utilized no less than 100 different players in their shaky and precarious qualification campaign and also infamously snubbing stars such as Juan Roman Riquelme and Diego Milito in favor of players such as Martin Palermo and Ariel Ortega. The question to be asked here is that, is it really fair and correct to label Maradona as crazy and incompetent, echoing the aforementioned journalists and pundits? Or is Maradona's bizarre tactics and selections so far is a fruit of his genius footballing brain?

It is actually not really correct to label Maradona as crazy simply because of Argentina's precarious qualification campaign which really gave them huge scare of not qualifying as well as the aforementioned “questionable” team selections. Firstly, Diego Maradona is perhaps simply trying to bring out unknown variables into the equation. We have to realize that if Maradona is to follow the so called mainstream and “correct” way of doing things by selecting only top European based players who are playing in the top clubs and the top leagues of this world, Argentina will become some sort of predictable unit, at least on individual level. This is simply because of the very fact that all of us, let alone the complicated and advanced network of scouts around the world know players such as Carlos Tevez, Leo Messi, and Diego Milito inside out largely thanks to the global coverage of the top European leagues in which those players are plying their trades in. If Argentina is to become such a predictable unit, the opposing defending players, who are themselves top players playing against the aforementioned Argentine players week in week out will not have any problems identifying one best way to stop them as what they have been doing at club level.

By choosing players from the Argentine League, it is from a division which has less coverage, and definitely has less information available for the oppositions in comparison to the top European leagues. They would be needing a totally different set of strategies to stop those players and also not mentioning how those players are not used to playing these players on a regular basis. Even if they have played against each other before, it is likely to be a one off match such as during the now defunct Intercontinental Cup or the Club World Cup. Even for players who have starred in Europe before such as Riquelme, Juan Veron, and Ariel Ortega, they have been out of the European game for so long and the players who used to rub shoulders with them have either retired from the international scene or retired altogether. Thus, we might want to start thinking how the “craziness” of Maradona is in fact a shrewd and smart thinking. And yes, we haven't start talking about how choosing players from the Argentine league will only do the domestic league a world of good!

Secondly, by choosing a whopping 100 different players in the qualification campaign, Maradona keeps everyone in the entire universe to keep guessing. Too many variables are involved, and there's no definite set up in Maradona's plans. Even if he chooses players from the Argentine league, people will start to study the way they play, the tempo that suits them, and a whole lot of factors needed to beat the team. But that's only for a team constantly playing together for every single match throughout the qualification campaign. But 100 different players? Those scouts or even the managers themselves might attend the Argentina matches, but each match brings a totally different dimension, and there's no set pattern. The variable changes for every single match. There's no chance at all to really study the Argentine team thoroughly as 100 players would mean that it is not one team, but around 10 different starting line ups! There's no way to study 10 different teams, and even if they succeed in doing that, they still have to guess which 23 players out of those will be chosen to go to South Africa (which is already done at the time of writing) and the oppositions would not have been successfully studied those 23 players thoroughly as those 23 might not be a team in the qualifications. Maybe each player comes from each different “team” sent by Maradona to each match? Totally no room at all to be studied and spied. Masterpiece from Maradona, although I am appalled at how those top class pundits and journalists fail to see this...

People will now point at the extreme scare of Maradona's qualification campaign which nearly knocked any hopes of Argentina qualifying, which they point out with their so called expert analysis that it would be a disaster if that had happened. That's true, but in the end Maradona kept to his words and qualified. At least Argentina secured their qualifications in a legitimate way. Even the fact that France secured their qualification through Thierry Henry's blatant, low class, and shameful cheating antic, they are in the World Cup, no matter how the Irish want to cry until the cow comes home. So who's to say that Maradona's Argentina who qualified legitimately do not deserve a plane to South Africa? Also, people may call me crazy, but I would love to think that besides trying to confuse oppositions as mentioned, he also used the qualification campaign as a form of mind games, so that he and his team are underestimated. He allows people all over the world to ridicule him as a madman, idiotic coach, and other appalling insults as a small sacrifice so that everyone will write them off and underestimate them, only to see them surge all the way to the World Cup Glory, and to add Maradona to a list of legends who has won the World Cup both as a player and as a manager. It is such a noble sacrifice for his country. Besides, in superstitious terms, we have seen too many times in too many World Cups that the teams who surge through all the way through the qualification campaigns (Spain and England as usual, be warned) always end up relatively early. As for Spain and England, maybe last 16 or the Quarter Finals are what they could dream of.

However, despite how Maradona's tactics might have been used to enhance Argentina's chances to win the World Cup, it is nevertheless pertinent to point out that Maradona's tactics were too risky for such a high stakes campaign. I mean, we can't dismiss those people who point out how Maradona had carried Argentina down so much that they were on the verge of failing to qualify to the World Cup barring Martin Palermo's last minute goal against Peru as indeed it was too precarious to be comfortable. I mean, if I am a manager, or a citizen of a country, I would rather be like Spain and England, qualify so comfortably through the qualification campaign and being knocked out early rather than not qualifying at all. It was indeed a high risk move by Maradona. But nevertheless, he has made it, Argentina is now ready to add one more star onto their shirts, and Maradona is ready to hug the famous Jules Rimet trophy one more time as a manager now.

Thus, it is utterly invalid to dismiss Maradona's tactics and team selections as simply idiotic moves as what have been mentioned above, Maradona might just be that one genius manager who thinks outside of the box and beats any other managers in the competition who religiously adhere to the so called “right way” or mainstream way of doing things. Remember, sometimes it is the unorthodox who triumph over the religiously orthodox exponents in a martial arts for example. Also, we have to remember that despite all of his private problems in the past, Maradona is still someone who is rational, and above all, someone who has a genius footballing brain. While it is again true that great players do not make great managers, we have to say that Maradona is one of them who are good in both worlds and the fact that he's still in charge until now speaks volume of how the AFA trust him for the job. They are rational people as well, and thus let's just sit back, and watch how Maradona's team surge through the competition all the way just like how the man himself waltzed through England's defence in 1986 on his way to scoring the goal of the century!