Is Diego Maradona set to surprise people?
“Maradona’s crazy! He doesn’t know what he’s doing!” is the general attitude towards Argentina’s manager since he took over 18 months ago.
The first part is undeniably correct – Maradona is crazy. He celebrated a crucial goal late on in qualifying by diving along a rain-sodden pitch, Klinsmann-style, and when Argentina finally secured qualification, he sat down in the post-match press conference in front of the gathered journalists, and immediately declared, ‘You lot take it up the a**e’. He is definitely crazy.
But perhaps, actually – he might know what he’s doing. His rant was excessive, offensive and not atypical, but in a sense he’s just doing what Sir Alex Ferguson has always done at Manchester United or what Jose Mourinho has done at Porto, Chelsea and then Inter – creating an ‘us versus them’ mentality to enhance team spirit, which is reminiscent of the last time Argentina won the World Cup, in 1986 – where Maradona inspired them to the trophy under the management of Carlos Bilardo, now acting as Argentina’s general manager.
When those two joined forces for their first World Cup, in 1986, they famously felt everyone was out to get them. “We had to leg it out of the country, even the government were asking for my head,” Bilardo would later recount. Their sense of triumph in adversity was a theme throughout that tournament, and when Fifa’s cameras captured the dressing-room celebration of a demented Diego waving his shirt in the air after the final and bellowing “we dedicate this to all of you, the f***ing whore that gave birth to you”, the clip was slotted into an otherwise classy edit of the tournament and released as a successful film, Hero.
Marcelo Mora y Araujo at Guardian.co.uk
Those Inter omissions
Then again, the feeling of incompetence is probably more inspired by his selection decisions. He has called up a ridiculous number of players during his relatively short tenure as coach, but the other side of the story is that Argentina have one of the the most settled first XIs in the tournament.
Arguments about the composition of that XI can go on for days. The omissions of Esteban Cambiasso and Javier Zanetti are both shocking and unsurprising in equal measure – shocking that two Champions League winners and two of the best players in the world in their respective positions have been left out, but unsurprising given Maradona has not shown much love to either since he took over.
But then, how many criticizing Maradona’s selection have actually seen Argentina’s games to judge the usefulness of either to the side? Zanetti was widely considered to be playing very badly when Argentina were at their worst during qualification. Building a good international side is not about selecting the 11 (or 23) players performing well at club level, and at least Maradona understands that, in his own way.
And besides, now the squad selections have been made, the players omitted are fairly irrelevant. Argentina still have one of the best squads in the tournament, and within that, a solid first XI. Whereas England are still trying to find their best shape and seemingly have no idea who to play in the fairly crucial central midfield roles, Spain have a dilemma about whether to play one or two strikers, and France appear to have stumbled upon a brand new formation days before the World Cup, Diego Maradona’s Argentina line-up has been predictable for months.
Argentina's starting XI for the World Cup
The starting XI
So let’s just say it then – Sergio Romero in goal. A back four of Nicolas Otamendi, Martin Demichelis, Walter Samuel and Gabriel Heinze. Javier Macherano sitting ahead of the defence, with Juan Veron as the deep-lying playmaker. Angel di Maria on the left, Jonas Gutierrez on the right. Lionel Messi playing in a classic No 10 role, and Gonzalo Higuain as the striker.
With the exception of Walter Samuel, those players started in Argentina’s last day 0-1 victory in Uruguay to seal qualification, and that exact XI started Argentina’s friendly away in Germany in March, also a 0-1 win. Who would have thought it, taking pre-World Cup friendlies seriously and giving your chosen eleven time to gel? It seems like a rather good idea – maybe it’ll catch on.
The pre-tournament friendly
Argentina’s final friendly before the World Cup was a rather tame affair, a 5-0 thrashing of a half-hearted Canada side, who were missing many of their best players after a predictable club v country row, it being the middle of the Canadian season.
Argentina, too, were without key players – having contested the Champions League final just two days before, central defenders Samuel and Demichelis were unavailable, although this barely mattered considering Argentina rarely needed to defend against a feeble Canadian attack. Nicolas Burdisso came in at centre-back, Otamendi shifted across from right-back next to him, Gutierrez moved back to right-back and Maxi Rodriguez came in on the right of midfield.
They were also without Messi, who had picked up a knock in training, and was replaced by Carlos Tevez. The final deviation from Maradona’s favoured XI was an appearance for Javier Pastore ahead of Juan Veron – and if anyone is to test Maradona’s conservatism, it is Pastore. A skilful, creative attacking midfielder who has been wonderful for Palermo this season, Pastore is another fairly classic Argentina No 10. Messi’s brilliance has largely kept Pastore away from the inevitable ‘New Maradona’ tag (interestingly, Pastore’s former Huracan teammate Matias de Federico has been labelled ‘The New Messi’, which seems like quite a watershed moment in football) but having been largely ignored when playing in Argentina, Pastore is now one of those players you feel might just come from (relatively) nowhere to have a big impact at the World Cup.
Full-backs who aren’t allowed past the halfway line
Despite the absences, the basic shape of the team remained clear against Canada. Firstly, this is as ‘flat’ a flat back four as you will ever find in any top-class side in the world. Maradona has repeatedly insisted that he wants his defenders to purely defend, and despite us being at a stage in football where rampaging full-backs are all the rage and are arguably the most important players in the team, Maradona does not want his to attack. “Why do they need to cross the halfway line?”, he recently asked. “That’s what my wingers are for.”
Gutierrez’s natural attacking instincts meant that he naturally got forward more than Otemandi would have at right-back, but on the opposite side Gabriel Heinze largely followed his instructions – being involved in build-up play and receiving the ball from midfield when it was on his side of the pitch (don’t think that the full-backs are literally shying away from the ball), but when the ball was in possession on Argentina’s right, Heinze stayed level with his two centre-backs.
The defensive nature of the full-backs means Argentina can afford to play only one holding midfielder, when many sides play two. Mascherano plays a role both more energetic and cultured than with Liverpool, where he is used to having Lucas alongside him. He is forced to cover a greater amount of the pitch laterally (where at Liverpool, Lucas would cover one side of the pitch) and also plays more ambitious passes – he has one fewer central midfield colleague, and of course, the full-backs are rarely an attacking outlet.
Argentina's line-up v Canada
Considered attacking style
Veron’s role in the side is near enough that of a deep-lying regista, although he does look to move forward and support the attack when the ball is wide. Against Canada, his replacement Pastore played much higher up the pitch, looking to drop back when out of possession, but generally looking for a straight, direct forward pass from Mascherano, rather than the shorter, simpler balls Veron would prefer to receive. Pastore effectively plays one pass ahead of Veron – Veron will distribute the ball to the attacking players who in turn look to play the killer pass, whilst Pastore will look for the killer pass himself.
Angel di Maria plays on the left-hand side and provides a genuine goal threat from a wide area – against Canada he curled a beauty into the far post with the outside of his foot – whilst also covering his full-back well. On the opposite side Gutierrez plays a less flashy, more energetic role (Maxi actually did a good job of replacing him against Canada) in a not dissimilar way to Park Ji-Sung at Manchester United, almost as if he is under strict instructions to make sure he has the highest ‘distance run’ figure of the 22 players.
Messi plays a central role, in behind Gonzalo Higuain – the two playing fairly fluid roles in terms of moving to the left and then the right in turn, and it’s not unusual to see Higuain working the channels in a deep position, allowing Messi to take up a more orthodox striking position. The team is essentially depending on Messi to provide a moment of magic, something he has rarely done at international level so far.
Conclusion
The surprise is basically that Maradona has not gone crazy with attacking players. Carlos Tevez, Sergio Aguero and Diego Milito will be substitutes, and rather than Maradona playing a 4-2-3-1 and trying to cram all his flair players into the same side, he’s actually constructed a defensive-minded team based around two banks of four, with only one player, Messi, given anything approaching a free role.
With many sides playing on the counter-attack, Maradona’s tactic of keeping five defensive players in strict positions at all times might just make life difficult for opponents. The centre-backs at full-backs might create a new challenge for opposing wingers. Maradona will possess the most talented bench in the tournament with the aforementioned players should Argentina need to change things, and amongst all this is Lionel Messi, the best footballer of his generation.
Argentina should progress past the group stage – but predicting what will happen after that is impossible. But again, it’s a Latin American side doing something different defensively which is more than welcome, and whatever happens, with Maradona, it won’t be dull.
Is Diego Maradona set to surprise people?
I like this article a lot. For all the chaos, there seems to be a plan and also, a clear plan B. I think that Pastore will have a key role, as he is kind of Argentina’s only true enganche in the squad so depending on what the score is in the last 30 minutes, his introduction will be a key. He could also help Messi a lot in being some kind of an Iniesta for him.
I saw Argentina in Munich and I was impressed by Veron. He could only play for 70 minutes and after that was out of gas, but for those 70 minutes, he was the best midfielder on the field, making incredible passes, telling players where and how to run and orchestrating from deep.
No one will have a bench as deep as Argentina at the tournament when it comes to attacking options. No one is as much out to prove something as they are. And no one has a draw as fairly easy as they got either.
to add further, if Pastore had been picked earlier, a 4-2-3-1 involving Mascherano and Veron in midfield and Di Maria-Pastore-Messi in attack behind either Milito or Higuain would have been very interesting, but then the team would have needed an attacking rightback too, which could have been Jonas. Anyway, overall, Maradona’s line-up might be old fashioned but whatever works.
Right,
another thing which heaps pressure on Messi; he is expected to provide too much and in too many roles all at once.
He is both second-striker and enganche, and has only one other forward to play off (unless Di Maria is pushed up) and that is Higuain, who is a player built for the counter-attack; hardly a target man, nor a pivot to play one-twos off. If Argentina’s midfield were just a litte bit more creative, Messi would benefit.
In the second half, Maxi had to go off injured, but Maradona replaced him with Veron, not another wide player. So Tevez played right-ish, Pastore moved to a No 10 role, and Veron played alongside Mascherano. So Mahdi, that’s essentially the same as what you say (with Tevez Messi’s replacement) – so the 4-2-3-1 with those players looks like being plan b.
Unfortunately, I didn’t see the Canada game but if that’s plan B, it’s great. The key for Messi to work is to put him close to a finishing position and not too deep. Against Germany, he really had to pick the ball deep from midfield at times and only when Di Maria was around him, he could really do something, because as Roberticus says, for all the goals Higuain scored and scores, essentially he is built for the counter attack and not a target man or pivot.
If a 4-2-3-1 is Argentina’s plan B, then I do not understand why Cambiasso was left out from the squad since he is more than capable to play in such system and would give Argentina even more tactical options. Besides, I’m not sure if Higuain is the right type to play the lone striker role.
You may have convinced me that Argentina might actually do something in S. Africa. Your argument on chemistry over testing many possible lineups makes sense.
Regardless, the left side of that backline does not inspire confidence, whether they advance over the halfway line or not. Otamendi on the right hand side is an unknown quantity to me as well.
ZM, what do you see as the cause of some of Messi’s less dynamic displays in the WC qualifying? How do you think Maradona can set up his tactics to break him out?
Frankly, I’m really not sure about Messi. His role was less defined than his role at Barcelona and he played in numerous different positions – but then, as I pointed out in the Barca end-of-season report, Messi plays well whatever position he’s played in.
Perhaps it is more that if you stop Messi, you stop Argentina. I think that’s the worry here – with Barca you can’t focus too much on Messi, or Iniesta, Xavi, Henry/Pedro, Ibra/Eto’o will kill you – but sometimes Argentina were too functional and lacked different options in qualifying.
I think substitutes will be very very important for Argentina, I think sometimes people underestimate their value. I have no factual basis for this, but sometimes I think a forward playing the final 30-35 minutes will have more chance to influence the game than a player who plays the first 55-60 minutes, as the game becomes more open. Argentina of course have a wonderfully strong bench – and the nature of their side (ie quite defensive, can imagine some low-scoring, tight games) means that they might need to look to the subs to make things happen.
Your second paragraph is essentially the reason. It seems to be forgotten somewhat now but Messi (especially given his younger age) was more or less fine under Pekerman (when played) and Basile until late in the latter’s tenure when Argentina began their struggle in qualifying.
Under both managers, Argentina generally played something closer to what Barca do, so first of all Messi had an easier time adjusting. Secondly, whether you like him or not, Riquelme’s presence helped Messi. He attracted a lot of the opposition’s attention and as much as they may not have seen eye-to-eye, there seemed to be something going for an on-field partnership with Messi providing the movement and agility and Riquelme the direction. I’m not saying Riquelme simply should have been recalled/handled better by Maradona because it’s far more complicated than that and Riquelme didn’t do his own case many favours, but it should be noted how much his absence was a factor behind Messi’s struggles. Basile’s last game (Chile v. Argentina in Oct. 2008), the first for which Riquelme was unavailable for in WCQ (suspension), was very similar to the away-from-home struggles Maradona experienced in 2009 with the side badly struggling in general and Messi unable to do anything.
FWIW, I’ve thought for awhile that Argentina will do well in South Africa (no worse than getting to the semi-finals for the first time in 20 years) and Maradona’s system will work well enough. But from a neutral viewpoint I find the whole thing kind of depressing. This was a side that (a European title aside) was basically what Spain was to world football in the few years before Spain really started to consistently hit their stride in Euro 2008. Now the Maradona sideshow has made the general fan and media more interested in him than the aesthetical decline in Argentina’s football, and that will be even moreso the case if Argentina do really well in South Africa. But that’s just me as a neutral fan and I realise they’re not playing for such people.
It’s funny though – Argentina have had plenty of great-to-watch, expansive, possession-orientated sides to watch since 1990 yet the conditions of WC 2010 might be easier to play such expansive football than the previous four tournaments – in particular, Argentina were picked off on the break by Romania in the heat of Pasadena in ‘94 and suffered badly from player-burn out in ‘02.
Spot on!!!
“Pastore effectively plays one pass ahead of Veron.”
Lovely stuff mate.
I don’t see them going past the Quarter-finals.
The Argentina side looks good on paper, but Veron as one of the 2 in a 3 on 2 battle against certain central midfields will be a disaster. Leaving out Banega and Cambiasso was a massive error.
Otamendi or Heinze will be forced into becoming the team’s mainplaymaker and SPOILER ALERT, no offence will be created.
Argentina should be easy to coach. Mascherano and Cambiasso keeping things solid, Banega distributing and giving them numerical superiority in midfield and then Messi and whichever 2 offensive players he gels with best, whether that be Di Maria, Aguero, Milito, Higuain or Tevez up front.
You can’t tell me this isn’t a stronger, more fluid team:
—-Higuain—–
———–Messi
DiMaria———
—–Banega——
-Mascherano-Cambiasso
Heinze———Zanetti
–Samuel–Demichelis
——Romero———
I know it’s not about what is on paper. Maradona has a consistent XI with a coherent strategy, but it’s the wrong one.
if you play Mascherano, Cambiasso and Banega, you essentially play 3 players with very similar characteristics.
Argentina in midfield should ideally be about playing a 5, an 8 and an enganche one way or other.
But your post kind of shows that maybe lining up a team isn’t that easy. further, their quarterfinals should be against the team that finishes 2nd in the England group or the one finishing first in Germany group. Surely, except for England, no real team that will trouble them too much, don’t you think?
I disagree about Mascherano, Cambiasso and Banega being similar. Mascherano is allowed to chase and harass, Cambiasso can hold and Banega can distribute in front of them or move to one side if they want to play 3 across.
I could see dropping one of them for a truer #10 like Pastore, but if given time on the ball, Banega will create offense. Also, if the front 3 is Di Maria, Messi and Higuain, creating offense shouldn’t be a huge worry.
A midfield of Mascherano, Cambiasso and Banega would probably however, require more pace at fullback than Otamendi and Heinze possess.
While Argentina’s group might seem weak, Korea and Greece are definitely good enough to get a result against Diego’s boys if they play well. So, the game against Nigeria to start will be crucial. Fail to get 3 points there and suddenly an inability to handle either Korea’s movement or Greece’s sturdiness would see them in massive trouble.
Cambiasso is a parking bus. He’s faith had been sealed (especially by Mourinho) to play the deeper defensive midfielder who puts his head to block opponents from shooting directly towards goal. Not so good at taking the ball forward
Sorry mate, what is done is done. There is no point now talking about how it would have been if Cambiasso/Banega/Zanetti was there.
Lets move on.
I too am surprised at his selections. But then again, I’ve never won a World Cup…
But you don’t need to win a World Cup to pontificate, and so here it goes: I think Maradona had the chance to build an excellent team if he had taken Zanetti and Cambiasso and believed that full-backs can advance forward. He could then play a more conventional 4-3-3 that capitalizes on the incredible attacking talent of the team:
Romero
Zanetti Samuel DiMichelis Otamendi/Gutierrez
Mascherano Cambiasso
Di Maria
Messi Aguerro/Tevez
Higuain/Milito
With Mascherano and Cambiasso as holding midfielders, the full-backs could advance into space upfront. Tevez, Aguerro and Messi all seem to excel most in a position right behind the center-forward, and this formation allows them that. Milito has excelled this season playing as the center of a three-man attack similar to this one.
But who knows, it wouldn’t be the first time Maradona would have made people eat their words if this works. But then again, he’s never really made anyone eat any words as a coach.
Brilliant. This (and the Mexico one) has to be one of the best articles to come out of this website.
Interesting to see the method in Maradona’s madness, but I still feel as if the team could be greatly improved with the inclusions of Cambiasso and Zanetti! I also find it strange that a team with the best forwards in the tournament(along with Spain) have set out to play a fairly defensive game!
It almost seems like Maradona is trying to set the stage for this to be Messi’s ‘86 as it were, by focusing the team around him and giving him the free role.
I’m not sure exactly how Argentina will do at the WC, but at least with Diego at the helm we can be sure that it won’t be dull!
this is interesting – is diego trying to re-live his achievements of 86 through messi? in such a defensive line-up, i’m not sure messi has the same personality that diego had to win a tournament on his own
I think it’s interesting to look at the back four and note that they are all central defenders, Heinze has played at full back before but is essentially a central player and Otamendi plays as a central defender in Argentina.
My point is that, given this fact, do you think that both full backs will be sucked into the middle given their natural defending mentality? This will surely leave the Argentines open to attack from wingers and full backs with so much space down the flanks?
Also I must agree with Daniels point regarding Veron in a 2 v 3 midfield battle, although he’s a gifted player technically he will lack the legs when confronted by a fast paced midfield such as Spain.
Great post!
No argument that the Argentine squad is among the best at the tournament, the issue and cause of much of the criticism is that it could be even better. If Mascherano gets injured, his replacement is Bolatti. A fine player in that same Huracan team alongside Pastore and DeFederico but someone who hasn’t been amazing in either of his spells in Europe (for Porto and currently Fiorentina). He’s more of an organiser than Mascherano and not as effective a destroyer – Cambiasso would have been better, whatever form he’s displayed for his National team in the past. The suspicion is that Maradona has rewarded Bolatti for a crucial goal in qualifying, just as he has done with Martin Palermo. If he was set against picking Cambiasso, then Ever Banega, Fernando Gago and Lucho Gonzalez can all play in that position too. Banega, in particular has had a brilliant season for Valencia, while either he or Lucho could cover for Veron or Pastore.
Maradonas tactics have been interesting – the way he used Veron against Brazil in an effort to exploit the space behind the full-backs was nicely analyzed by Tim Vickery on his BBC blog – but the team he has settled on, the team that played in the last qualifier, has never really performed well in a competitive game. In friendlies they look good but don’t appear to react well to pressure.
Bolatti is a very strange choice, really.
He and Palermo got in the list thanks to their goals.
A team with 4 uncompromising defenders who don’t go forward therefore severly reducing the chance of being caught on the counter attack, with a midifield comprising of one of the best defensive midfield players in the world and given a unrestrictive all action role in which he could thrive. 2 wingers with great pace, one who is a match winner and 1 who has the energy to run all day for his team. A experienced pass master in midfielder or 1 of the most exciting young play makers in the world. A choice of 4 of the best strikers in the world, followed by the best player in the world who can win any game by himself, and has a big point to prove to the Argentinian fans who forever question his commitment and form. Not to mention the motivational skills of their manager whose passion and legendary status are unrivalled. Personally it seems like a team who can go all all the way. People talk england needing Rooney to perform for them acheive anything in the world cup. Imagine what will happen if the best player in the world performs in a better team. If it wasn’t for Spain I’d have my money on them to win it. Whatever happens it should make for great viewing although I’m very disapointed to not see zanetti, cambiasso or banega.
Without any offensive support from the full-backs, Argentinian attacks rely heavily on individual class of the attacking players. This is kind of a gamble since the team really depends on strong individual performances.
Good article. I was thinking exactly same, Maradona with all his eccentrics is taking the attention away from the team, helping them to concentrate on what they have to. Who knows, even if they reach semis – I wish so – he will be praised for the four centre back decision.
I think substituting Higuain and Veron towards 55 or 60 minutes with Tevez and Pastore would make Argentina very very dangerous. Their passion would then be more than enough to help Messi to run through the tiring defences. An attack of De Maria, Pastore, Tevez, Messi should be more than enough for them to create couple of goals in the last 25 minutes.
I also have a feeling that Maradona might use Messi more to attract more than a couple of defenders towards him, making Higuain and De Maria free.
I am also wondering how Maxi will be used. His experience would be very handy for the team. On the Albiceleste shirts he is much much better than with his club.
I think Maradona is not as smart as Ferguson or Mourinho to think this way -thinking he will do such plan simply too far. In my personal opinion, you can’t compare the inexperienced Maradona to the dyed-on-the-wool tacticians and mind-games masters like Ferguson or Mourinho.
By the way, can you do the analysis on Netherland, dear Mr. Accurate? Robben, Sneijder, Van Der Vaart, Van Persie -all looked to reach their peak during this world cup. I wonder what their formation and line-ups will look like, and what kind of attack variations they will offer during this world cup. Please, we beg you!
Speaking with Inter fan bias, Milito sitting on the bench would be as disappointing as Zanetti and Cambiasso being excluded from the squad. I just hope he gets his chance in this tournament.
Even not from an Inter bias, it is disappointing to see Milito sitting on the bench. He’s an absoloute beast and frankly I think he would make a much better spearhead than Higuain.
I am not sure about Argentina.. I mean they have the best attacking players of all teams.. But Maradona does not use this to hes advantage.. I mean playing a backline without attacking fullbacks is like watching a finnish team..
Veron is an awesome player.. But he is too old.. Thats a fact. He gets tired and he cannot defend.. So against a team with a decent midfield Argentina will have a hard time keeping posession.
Great article. I’ve been thinking the boy had just lost his mind, but at least after reading this I can see there is a rationale behind what he’s doing.
I can forsee one very obvious problem though; Mascherano can be very undisciplined in terms of his tackling and his interactions with referees. He’ll probably get sent off a least once. When he does, Argentine will almost certainly get gubbed.
Also, Mahdi: I think Germany will trouble them hugely if they play them, regardless of that last friendly result.
Maradona’s formation, with its four centre-backs, resembles somewhat a European side from the 1970s, when the full-backs barely crossed the halfway line, or at the very most only one of them would do so.
And if we consider Demichelis to be a ‘libero’, then it really resembles those formations which evolved from the Central European school (the Swiss, Dutch and Germans) who played 1-3-3-3 and 1-3-3-1-2 and the likes without ever really adopting the back four until the late 1980s.
Yes, I agree. The question is whether he is allowed to step forward as a libero. If he does, it opens that left side up to a break against a very slow Heinze and Samuel (who would have to cover).
Right, but they would still have Otamendi tucking in to form a back three, plus the cover of Mascherano in front.
are you going to be doing something about this new french formation?
I call for a Spain analysis! midfield gallore!
Requesting Spain is like going to a concert and shouting at the band to play the song everyone knows is going to be saved for the end of the show
.
Will try and get through all 32 teams, but there’s no set order
I’m doing something on France next week, so if you could hold fire on Domenech and co for the time being it would be much appreciated!
The method to Maradonna’s madness is becoming a little clearer. Look at Inter, they packed it in and with great discipline, coaching, and individual talent stymied just about every great side in the world. This seems to be what Maradonna is trying to do. Stack the back and get the ball to Veron who can begin a counter. I hear people say Messi has no support here but I look at it the other way. Now Messi has a lot space to work with. Whereas in Barcelona he was involved in the intricate build up and he helped to cerebrally dismantle defenses here he is given space and time to bomb forward on the counter which is, let’s face it, the most dangerous attacking time in football (aside from perhaps set pieces). Mourinho understands this. He understands that a minute of countering a team that is hapless in transition is more dangerous than 10 minutes of possession against an organized defensive team. That is how Inter won the Champions League. Is it what Maradonna is trying to do as well, or is he just mad?
P.S. Milito is a much better choice in this type of tactic than Higuain and I predict by the end of the tournament he will be Diego’s first choice.
Who in that back line can play a ball cleanly into midfield, or into a forward?
This is the problem with Argentina, not Messi, not Veron. The problem is the lack of quality with the ball in the back, a backline that cannot move the ball forward effectively, which causes the entire team, from Veron all the way to Higuain, to move 10-15 yards closer to their own goal. That’s why I don’t agree with the 4 center backs idea. This team is screaming for a left back that can provide a link between the back and midfield. The way this is setting up now, Di Maria will be forced to drop nearly in line with Mascherano to bring the ball out of the back, totally erasing the effectiveness of his play.
The advantage that Messi has in FCB is that Pep has convinced him that his domain is closer to the opponents goal. He’s convinced him not to come so deep to get the ball, that it is the job of the back line to bring the ball forward and to deliver it to him cleanly, quickly and with purpose. I don’t see how this happens in the Argentina team and that is bound to hurt Messi’s performance.
Demichelis is in my opinion one of the best passing center backs in the world. And as for Messi having to come to deep in this formation, you are missing the main point which is that this Argentina side (should) will play mainly on the counter, while Barcelona possesses you to death.
If this team is to play on the counter, what is the purpose of Veron who no longer has the rhythm to keep up with a team that plans to counter attack?
I’m not sure they do intend to play on the counter.
The surprise is basically that Maradona has not gone crazy with attacking players… and rather than Maradona playing a 4-2-3-1 and trying to cram all his flair players into the same side, he’s actually constructed a defensive-minded team based around two banks of four, with only one player, Messi, given anything approaching a free role.
Eccentricities aside, it seems that Maradona has been greatly influenced by Bilardo and the way his own Argentinian side won in ‘86. It’s been one of the most fascinating and surprising stories leading into the World Cup.
Maradona, arguably the greatest individual talent in the history of the sport, doesn’t look to la nuestra and it’s traditions in Argentina – he doesn’t even look to ‘78 and Moratti. Maradona implicitly rejects that entire project and instead chooses to align himself with the counter-tradition of defensively oriented, systems driven football started by Zubeldia at Estudiantes and then passed through from Zubeldia to Bilardo and the ‘86 Cup team. And he does so despite the presence of one of the great generations of attacking players any country has had over the past 30 years. If there was ever a generations of Argentinians who could reinterpret and reinvent la nuestra – this one is it. But that’s not Maradona’s project.
Maradona doesn’t appear to be mimicking the tactics or the innovation of Bilardo – he’s unlikely to introduce something like a 3-5-2 and isn’t using that formation per se. The alignment with that counter-tradition is more strategic than it is tactical. It’s the defensive orientation and the general adoption of the notion that a team should have roughly seven defensively oriented outfield player and only three attacker and those outfield player should maintain strict defensive discipline. Depending on how Di Maria and Veron are used, Maradona looks to have recreated that same strategy – 7 outfield players in strict tactical, defensive oriented support roles and three attackers (this assumes DiMaria joins the attack which I believe he will).
Even the lead up pre-world cub between this Argentinian side and the ‘86 side has striking parallels. There was chaos with that Bilardo team – the lost a raft of matches in qualification, were performing very poorly going into the tournament and didn’t inspire much confidence at all either internationally or domestically. They appeared to be a mess and Bilardo was nearly fired. I’ve often wondered if that past experience is some of why Maradona has seemed so unconcerned about how things were going in terms of controversy and performance in qualification now. He’d seen this before.
But despite that uneven performance, Bilardo had a system that he believed in and he had the national side adhere to it and play it for over a year solid prior to the Cup. Despite the histrionics off the field, Maradona has done something very similar here. He’s adopted a system and players to play in it and had them continue to play it for an extended period of time regardless of the criticism. He seems to have taken Bilardo’s example and advice to heart.
Finally, some have suggested that Maradona may be trying to dull Messi’s star so that Messi can’t eclipse his legend. That Maradona is in some ways trying to make life difficult for Messi by giving him such a defensive minded team to play in front of and such limited support. It seems to me Maradona’s doing the exact opposite. It seems that Maradona is attempting to give Messi a similar opportunity to the one Maradona himself had in ‘86 – the chance to be completely self-expressive because he is playing in front of a defensive platform with great solidity.
What’s striking about Maradona’s strategy and tactics is their nostalgia.
And in a sense, the real competition for Argentina will that of the past vs. the present. In some ways, Maradona seems to be assuming that the game is largely unchanged from ‘86 or at least assuming that great individual talent can overcome those innovations. But Messi’s is a player who grew up in the era where systems and tactics extend across the pitch – not just to the defensive half but to the attack as well. What does it mean to depend so heavily on isolated individual self-expressivity and creativity in the multidimensional modern game? It’ll be very interesting to see how Maradona’s bet with the past plays out and the impact it has on Messi and his career.
Great post. I also seem to recall Maradona making comments in a press conference about playing true to “our values and traditions” or something along those lines. It is as if Maradona is trying to recreate history with this team.
“some have suggested that Maradona may be trying to dull Messi’s star so that Messi can’t eclipse his legend”
I find it hard to comprehend anyone who can think this. It’s just perverse.
Great post.
Good post. In that sense, do you think Messi will be used in a more play maker kind of role or at least to give killer passes to the front two – Tevez/Milito/Higuain, whoever it may be- and he has this ability to give defence splitting passes, hes only behind Xavi in La Liga in assists. Doing this Messi can also be protected a little more from reck less tackling which is awaiting this boy.
“he doesn’t even look to ‘78 and Moratti”
but he might look at ‘78 and find Menotti
I was also at the Germany friendly in Munich, and was surprised at some of the subtelties of this system.
Veron plays both as a deep lying playmaker, but also joins the attack as a more traditional 10 when Argentina have possession for longer periods of time. The problem is that at 35 years old he can get caught out high up the pitch, leaving Mascherano to cover a lot of space behind him.
Argentina overcame this problem in two ways. At times Gutierrez and di Maria played a little more centrally and deeper (like carilleros). Alternately if Gutierrez and di Maria were stretching play high up the pitch Demichelis stepped up into midfield, while Heinze and Otamendi tucked in a bit. So in a way Argentina played a hybrid between a 4-3-1-2, which has always been a very popular formation in Argentina, and the typical Bilardo formation of 3-5-2. So perhaps there is some thought going into the selection of 4 centre backs and Veron, or perhaps Maradona is just crazy.
First of all I disagree with the formation you set on this post. I see Maxi Rodriguez playing instead of Gutierrez and becomming as winger as Di María.
What happens is that both Di María and Maxi play between Verón and Mascherano but have plenty of license to go forward to join the attack as wing forwards when possesing. Jonas Gutierrez is not confortable going forward, that’s why it seemed to you he played deeper than Di María who is totally confortable.
What make people think Verón plays a deeper mid is that he loves to come deeper to collect the ball and make the team work throughout him. He is one the very best players I have even seen playing and he won Libertadores last year greatly, but none should count on him to mark too much in the midfield. Can you imagine Zidane helping the holding mid marking? Well, Verón is much like Zidane. To prove that, you just have to watch some Verón’s games at Indpendiente and see how deep he comes to collect the ball and how bad he marks. When Pastore started you could see how that role is an attacking mid role because he isn’t so used to come and collect the ball.
I also think that Maradona chose to play holding full backs only because he already has 5 players attacking and marking so poorly and he needs more men on the back. I think the holding full backs and poor performing should explain why Zannetti won’t go to South Africa(in Maradona´s head) and the reason he plays only one holding mid, therefore won’t be needing more than 2 in their squad, and he had to take both Bollatti, who simply scored the most important goal of all 18 months Maradona is there, and Mascherano, his captain since the beginning, explains why Cambiasso isn’t there either(again, in Maradona’s head)
Just to conclude, I don’t think this is a defensive-minded side since they attack with 5 men and I think their games will have lots of goal as they play like the teams used to play in the 50’s.
Maradona is just a bad coach not because of the tactics but you can’t expect players such experience and history in football as Zanetti, to play well for a coach who says he will run naked around the Obelisco if their teams wins it.
And what if a player of his team gets caught because of the use of cocain? What face can he make?
PS: Di María, who will play for Mourinho’s Real Madrid next season will be one the greatest players of the tournament!
Maradona has said that he likes to use Jonas at right-midfield because he “gives me a lot there” – but the crucial thing is not so much Jonas’s box to box running – he also tucks in laterally, helping Mascherano and Veron at times at defensive tasks.
it’s going to be fascinating to see how maradona’s argentina approach this tournament.
the comment about full-backs is particularly intriguing. is this part of a well-planned revolutionary tactic that will see argentina through to the final? or has diego not watched any football in the last 20 years and has no idea how modern full-backs play?
or, is he setting out to imitate tony pulis at stoke?
I generally think it’s the latter option there…
But it’ll create a new challenge. Someone (can’t remember, might have been Jonathan Wilson) said that Greece won Euro 2004 because they reintroduced strict man-marking, which opponents had effectively forgotten how to solve. OK, it was implemented strictly and brilliantly by Rehhagel – but this could turn out to be something similar…
I’m pretty sure that was in Inverting the Pyramid. Also, glad this site has as big a man crush on Jonathan Wilson as I do.
“Carlos Tevez, Sergio Aguero and Diego Milito will be substitutes”
FIFA should have allowed Argentina to field a B-team as well to see these players more. A brilliant bench.
As usual with this site, another excellent entry. I’m writing from Argentina, where there is not as much excitement about this team at the moment, largely due to the rather conservative attitude the team is likely to have, but mostly because everyone is so fed up with the neverending string of petty squabbles inside Argentina’s football administration. For months there has not been a week that some sort of scandal has broken out between Maradona, Grondona, Bilardo, and just about everyone connected with any of them. Curiously enough, there has been very little talk about the players, or football itself! So pretty much we are resigned, rather than excited, about a team that will go, defend very aggressively, and count on moments of individual brilliance to settle dour, low-scoring games.
As this article suggest, Maradona’s plan is certainly valid, and looks like it could make life hard for opponents if Argentina scores first. If the opposite happens, we’re in trouble. Furthermore, the lack of a feasible Plan B is ominous for a team that depends largely on Mascherano and Verón’s form, two players that WILL be unable to complete all games, one because of suspensions, the other fatigue. There is no obvious substitute for either of them.
The last thing we heard is that Maradona is trying alternatives playing three at the back and one more striker, perhaps with the group matches in mind. But who knows what the man thinks? Considering how anxious, confused, and volatile he is, probably the best thing that could happen to us is that he sticks to his simple Plan A, as killjoy as it may be.
By the way, there is one factor no one mentions about playing a flat four, and that is height/size. For some reason, Argentina’s players seem to have gotten smaller over the last decade while just about every other nation is bulking up -Brazil is the most obvious example. This was a serious problem for us in qualifiers, both with set pieces and getting steamrolled by more physically powerful teams in the last 20 minutes. So rather than four central defenders at the back think four good-on-the-air, imposing blokes. And Jonás Rodríguez is there for similar reasons. That may go some way accounting for Zanetti and Cambiasso’s absence -which, however, I still think is crazy not to bring as substitutes.
excellent article. i really believe argentina can do very well in this years competition with there only threat to the semi finals being germany in the quarters. i think maradona’s done something very brave and clever by being defense minded. he is covering the weakness and trusting his attack and he has picked a cohesive team and not 11 star players. it seems very similar to what capello is doing with england. choosing heskey because he helps the team more than his high scoring more dynamic possible replacements. he seems to be doing the argentinian version of realising lampard and gerrard don’t work and not trying to force it to work but finding something that does. however this is in no way advocating the ludicrous omissions of cambiasso and zanetti.
also this is an excellent site that has quickly rose to one of my regular visited sites but i think the one thing that would greatly benefit this site is a forum, everyone on here seems very knowledgeable and tactically astute and i think it would be great to have a forum for everyone to talk and debate.
I had the same thoughts about a forum here. Should be done if possible.
Whole-heartedly agree with this notion!
The discourse on this site is the best on the internet in terms of the discussion of tactics in my opinion.
It would be great to have a forum and get even more of that discussion going.
This Argentina starting line up looks promising. No other teams possess such rich array of talents up front. However, the odd squad selection will surely haunt Maradona when the depth in bench is tested. Without Cambiasso and Zanetti, the defence may get found out against a top quality team. The back line does not look very reliable to me, but that seems to be a common problem among top teams nowadays *cough*Germany*cough*Netherlands*cough*
Maradona is being ostracized the in a similar way Dunga was, and still is to this day. Dunga started out similarly but the results came after a while and look at how he forged Brazil since. Maradona may not have the tactical acumen of Dunga but to believe the criticisms and labels he has been tagged with is to severely underestimate him and his side.
I think the “system” he has set out has the potential to be extremely successful this summer. The quality in attack allows him to form a more defensive oriented platform, not many other sides have that ability because they lack the personnel. In that sense, he found a good balance between defense and attack, compromising neither.
This Argentina could’ve done well with a good coach who picks the right players/formation. Unfortunately, this isn’t the case with Maradona. Choosing 4 center-backs in the back is probably the worst innovation in this year. If you’re going with wingers, your full-backs must attack to overlap, otherwise you’ll make your wingers life more difficult. Any person who actually watches modern football will know that in the last decade every successful team had at least one attacking fullback. Had he called Cambiasso, and started with both Cambiasso and Mascherano, he could’ve gave the full-backs a chance to attack.
Another important factor Maradona should look at is that Higuain wasn’t that good for Real in the most important games, whereas Milito scored in the most important games for Inter. If I were in Maradona’s shoes, I’d start Milito since he’s better than Higuain in about every aspect of the game.
This article was quite nice. It made me wonder whether his antics will actually succeed.
One thing that strikes me when reading this is that this is a team that, in theory, would work well as a counter attacking side. There is little to no pace at the back, but you could imagine them setting up a line 30 yards from their own goal, pressing in the middle third, and then using the passing of Veron/Pastore and Mascherano to get the ball wide or to Messi to attack at pace.
The only problem, in qualifying at least, is that they had rather a lot of the possession, and often struggled immensely to break teams down. Messi is more of a “modern” (mobile) number 10 than say, Riquelme, who would fit perfectly into this system. The difference being Messi’s pace, movement and dribbling ability are all intricate in his ability to break sides down, whereas with Riquelme it’s ghosting into space and playing defense splitting passes. Without the ability to consistently break teams down, sides will inevitably sit deep against Argentina and look to hit them on the counter. Brazil did this brilliantly in September where they turned a 2 v. 4 into a goal (admittedly, Brazil are one of the two best counter attacking sides in the world).
Maradona isn’t quite as dumb as many give him credit for (as Moria y Arrajo pointed out leading up to and after his appointment), but part of setting up a team is both playing to it’s strengths and attempting to nullify it’s weaknesses as much as possible. Surely sitting deeper would accomplish both, helping to nullify the slowness of the back line while creating more space for Messi, Di Maria and Jonas to run at defenders in. It would also create more space in behind opponents’ defenses for Higuain to run in behind.
Just a comment on Cambiasso…for all those saying he should be included clearly havent seen any of his games for Argentina prior to when we was left out. He was not nearly as good as he is for Inter and that is the exact reason why he isn’t on the plane. Zanetti however fell out with Maradona therefore that is the reason for his exclusion.
Cambiasso actually played very well as a box to box midfielder back in the last World Cup. Surely he should be chosen over Bolatti?
in my mind argentina are playing essentially a flat 442. interestingly i still think the lack of attacking fullbacks might come back to haunt them because sometimes the only way too break down a team is too pack the middle and wait for an overlap from a fullback and hope for a scrappy goal from a cross.
also argetina does have a plan b, if they need to attack more they can take off otamendi, replace him with gutirezz and messi slots back into his natural role. throw in another midfielder like pastore or a striker and you have a more attacking 442 or a 4231.
Part of the observation made by ZM is that the system is heavily dependent on Messi. But if you look at the formation Messi will be operating in a zone that is covered by the opposition DM. To be effective in this position he needs the trequarista to play higher up the field and give the DMs more than one player to cover. A player moving up on the right flank for a bail-out pass would also help him but I am assuming Maxi or Jonas can do that.
Di Maria is likely to be isolated on the left flank with no support. He would have to go quite far back just to retain possession causing Argentina to lose all the position they have gained.
They need at least one fullback to provide attacking support. More than that, the backline is one which is prone to massive goof-ups. Madrid fans were practically willing to pay clubs to take Heinze of their hands. Demichelis often moves up the pitch and fails to win the ball. Not just Samuel but Otamendi will be forced to cover for the duo and consequentially I cant see Argentina, inspite of the flat back 4 holding a reliable offside trap.
As for the lone forward, I think Milito would be a far better option than Higuain since he has the ability to occupy 2 defenders, make divergent runs and still remain in a goal-scoring position.
Harking back to the 2002 team, I recall Veron distributing unopposed to the flank but thereafter the ball went down a blind alley. Inspite of there being 2 players on each flank it took far too long to bring the ball back into the centre and once in the centre, Veron never made use of the space ahead of him instead chosing to redistribute to the opposite flank. I think how deep Veron plays poses a serious problem once opposition defenses decide to channel the Argie attacks down the flank and cover the resulting crosses. There are also no free players beside Messi to support the attack on either flank or to add numbers into the box. In 2002 the greatest potential for a goal seemed to come from Sorin’s runs into the penalty area to meet crosses.
Thanks to ZM and to all the contributors.
This is the highest standard of tactical analysis and consequent discussion I’ve yet found and essential to preparing for the imminent festival of insomnia [as it is here in Australia].
Great article and definitely worth reding.
I understand Diego`s gameplan but I would certainly prefer the Argentinia XI playing like this:
————-Romero—————-
-Otamendi-Samuel-Demichelis-Zanetti
————Mascherano————-
————Cambiasso————–
—Jonas——Messi——di Maria–
————-Milito—————-
could work quite well…
Diego is indeed crazy…but in a lovely way. Can’t imagine hating this guy!
As for Zanetti & Cambiasso, i don’t think the team needs them. Both have been consistent for a long time, but nothing out of the ordinary. Cambiasoo is 7/10 in everything, but he doesn’t stand out. His only decisive attribute is his ball wining ability. Mascherano has that AND more. Zanetti is reliable, but he undermines Diego on the pitch. Can’t have that sort of influence in a team, especially in the world cup!! The only player i feel Argentina miss is Roman! Looking back at how easily, fluently & effortlessly he combined with Messi, I can imagine the havoc they will unleash if allowed that chance one more time. Add Veron, and the creativity is endless, but the middfield will be too old!
I don’t understand some of the criticism Diego gets because of his playing style. Attacking fullbacks are apparently “modern”, but Nilton Santos has been there, and done that so long ago, way before the likes of Cafu and Roberto Carlos even remotely thought of Europe. Maybe strictly defensive fullbacks will be the new thing. Also, the doulbe pivote is getting old. The only playr i recall being so able to play in that role alone was Redondo, but he’s one of a kind. Football needs this “crazyness” to evole, grow and change. I’m both very impressed & angered at what Diego & Dunga are doing at Argentina & Brazil, repectively. On one hand they’re mad, on the other I can’t wait to see how their teams will play
ZM, keep up the awesome work!!
Re: Zanetti and the very conservative backline, it’s interesting. I recognise that Zanetti under Maradona wasn’t the Zanetti of Inter without the excellent protection he gets at Inter, although for mine he was better than very bad – he nullified Robinho well in Sep. 2009, and his worst game came in the 6-1 loss away to Bolivia which is, well, a rather unique away trip to say the least. And when Argentina were going a lot better in qualifying earlier on, Zanetti was good value. Even when Inter weren’t playing really defensively this season and he didn’t have so much protection, say in Serie A when they themselves were against defensive outfits, Zanetti couldn’t be faulted. I’m starting to think the long mid-season trips to and within South America for a 36-year-old was a factor for Zanetti, and South Africa would’ve been easier for him.
Maradona has decided that essentially four centre-backs is the solution for his backline. With such a dearth of full-backs and more centre-backs to choose from, wing-backs would seem to me to be the way to go (and Zanetti would find it easier in such a role I think, and the likes of Gutierrez and Zabaleta wouldn’t have so many defensive responsibilities) but when he did play three at the back in qualifying, Maradona had some funny choices in the ostensible wing-back positions – Gago and M. Rodriguez, and Zanetti once started as one of the three central defenders! The only time Zanetti played as a wing-back in qualifying under Maradona IIRC was in the second half against Colombia in June 2009.
I think it will prove to be effective, but I do think the ultra-conservative backline points to Maradona’s inability to form a secure defence with normal (in today’s age) reasonably attacking full-backs or wing-backs. In fairness I think his struggles with full-backs has a lot to do with the options he’s had – the error-prone Heinze (who might be better playing more conservatively), young Papa and Insua, Zanetti not as strong a full-back as he is for Inter for whatever reason. But I think he’s missed a trick when it’s come to wing-backs. Every time he played with wing-backs, a three-man strike force was present which says me he only played with wing-backs for the sake of other areas (still wanting four midfielders, so it was one of the four defenders that had to go).
Great observation!
Hi.A big fan of this website.I live in India so we dont get much intelligent coverage on football here either on Tv or newspapers so this is a blessing.
I just wish to ask a few for opinions here on
The zanneti issue.The article believes he is the best player in his position.surely the likes of Abidal/Cole do a much better job.Also i beg to differ on the general feeling of playing attacking fullbacks all the time.We have seen time and again goals being conceded by these wing backs who are positionally unaware.(In Epl Bale/Clichy.In UCL Maxwell/evra)Surely play with better defenders until you fall behind?
the article like so many including comments here have messi roll all wrong ,the article states almost a free roll for messi thats total BS he has a totally free roll,others calling him the playmaker etc he is simply playing this roll and that is it THE DUMMY ROLL AS DIEGO DID IN 1986,he is free and he is the dummy to sucker in the competition as he is marked dimaria and higuain find space it is as simply as that messi must have the ball diego screams,messi must be the center of everything,messi is the playmaker,messi is this messi is that…..maradona is sucking people in with mind games messi is the DUMMY and nothing more if the competition focus on him then the other attackers find space it is that simple he is using fear of the messi myth against them, dimaria higuain tevez veron pastore all important but get everyone scared of messi its simple yet its genius BILARDO did the same thing in 1986 ,if messi has space then yes do play thru him but if not let him pull the defence left right and deep and allow dimaria jonas veron higuain space to explode ,maradona played behind 1 striker in 1986 and another player was considered playmaker deeper in midfield veron is doing that roll this time around , ithink messi behind 2 can be a plan b just take of a cb theres 4 of them on the team go 3-4-1-2 a simple switch from solid 4-4-2
“the article states almost a free roll for messi thats total BS he has a totally free roll”
Apologies for that disastrous oversight…
If Messi has too many free rolls then he certainly will become like diego, a person of great stature in the game.
in the germany game you can see how messi is running free if he pulls there back 4 deep veron passes to dimaria a lightning fast winger,if messi gets the ball he ether runs or switches it wide the idea is 9+1 goal keeper and messi is the extra man,maradona has hinted enougfh at this already,vs germany after the game when messi was questioned by the media diego defended him with he was very important for the win WHY because germany was so focused on him they didnt stop higuain its so obvious what he is saying meesi will playmake and dribble etc im not disputing that,im saying tacticly his roll is the dummy the fool guy the trickster ,its like a pick pocket gang in victorian london whilst one kid steals a apple and the market guy gives chase the other 9 street kids steal the market guys goods or you could say messi is the kid that runs away with the hotdog in the movie sleepers as his friends steal the hot dog cart veron is orcestrator not messi
KA-PISH
Just RE: the following quote: Maradona does not want his to attack. “Why do they need to cross the halfway line?”, he recently asked. “That’s what my wingers are for.”
I’d like to refer Diego to Bayern Munich, where Robben is afforded twice as much space when Lahm’s decoy run removes a double-marking defender.
get zonal marking a hanky to blow there nose and wipe there eyes THERE ALKL FUCKED UP OVER AUDIES GENIUS PITTY THEM THERE I RUN A WEB SITE EGO HAS BEEN DAMAGED
I CANNOT HELP GOD MADE ME SMARTER THAN YOU SO ETHER LIVE WITH IT OR HANG YA SELF
MESSI= DUMMY I UNDERSTAND THE TACTIC YOU DONT
LETS WIPE ARE MOUTHS AND MOVE ON WITH ARE LIVES !!!!SERIOUSLY”"”"
This one was let past the moderation queue because it was so bizarre, but future ones won’t be.
it looks like mexico 86 argentina. messi plays the role of maradona himself, and the rest of the team is a difensive-minded side, with a couple of solo players to join messi, if nedded..
good article and its very possible they’ll win world cup. but i dont agree, what maradona is crazy just because he’s yelling at journalists. this is very arrogant journalists created idea, wich makes people sick to be honest. its propably 95% of all world population dont trust media and journalists in general, so why you try to say that maradona is rude and excessive?? everybody would propably done the same if they were constantly critcised by bunch of arrogant journalists.
It’s quite rude and excessive to make the comments he did!
yes i know, but considering that barage of criticism (often unfair) its understandable. people get fed up with media time and time again, it like a angry little dog down your leg trying to cut your pants:) you know that i mean – its anoiyng
Maradona’s National Team
Called up Not Called up
Palermo – - – - – - – - – - – Lisandro Lopez
Gutierrez – - – - – - – - – - J.Zanneti
– - – - – - – - – - Gago
Bollati – - – - – - – - – - – Cambiasso
Veron – - – - – - – - – - – - Lucho Gonzalez
– - – - – - – - – - – - Pablo Aimar
Burdisso – - – - – - – - – - – G. Milito
Need I say more????
Great article.
> being the middle of the Canadian season.
There is no canadian season. Canada is a football banana republic and has no league of its own. Their championship is a sham to qualif a team in a champions league tournament. 40 million people and they cant manage a league when norway and denmark and tiny iceland have leagues of their own.
It is by far the biggest failure on the world football stage.
Climate is not an excuse and neither is popularity where soccer overtook hockey in registration about two decades ago and is now about 30% more than hockey.
As for Maradona, he will be remembered as the greatest on the field, success or failure as a coach will never tarnish that. His self control and mental state is the biggest issue, I think we can all agree that no one who writes for a living will ever know more than he knows.
I dont think he is a good coach by any means but as a lightning rod and to help clean out the vipers nest that was the locker room under Basile with cliques, jealousies and prima donnas demands and threats. He wasnt brought in to X and O this team, he was brought in to get the cancer out of the team and in cheap sports terminology have them think of the team ahead of their own personal needs.
Magic Johnson and Wayne Gretzky were the best at what they did but we can agree that like many, many great players they werent great coaches.
Maradona’s value will be not as a coach but as deflector for his players, helping take the pressures off them. Who knows better than maradona how important that is?
Who knows? It might make a difference.
Besides, we have been told for the past 4 years that any total idiot can lead a team to the Final because all weve heard about Domenech for 4 years was what a joke he is. If you are a buffoon but took your team to PKs of the final game of the world cup, then maybe its not that hard to get there.
But you can not have it both ways.
article missing argentina tag
Maradona’s crazy! He doesn’t know what he’s doing!