Well,It was a disappointment to me but unfortunately came as no surprise that Argentina bottled it in a major tournament. Again. A whole generation of Argentine footballers have gone without a major trophy, and would easily be called the new England if it weren't for the fact that they play some great football.
Various theories can be put forth as to why they had lost -
- Formation - too many central midfielders
- Speed - Riquelme & Veron make Ian Harte look fast
- Brazil's counter-attacking policy
- The loss of Crespo to injury
Alas, it seems to be the psychology of the team, as was proven it the last World Cup and the last Copa America in 2004. It is even more embarrassing for Argentina as they had all their best players in the squad, and Brazil had Baptista. How can they come back from this? Will Messi have to win them something on his own? And how bad will the slagging be if you're an Argie in Brazil?
Why do I care? Well, I care because we need to see good, attacking football and the last thing we need to see is Dunga in charge of Brazil, a man who, needless to say, loves tough defensive midfielders. So, congrats to Brazil, but here's hoping for more Brazilain flair at the next World Cup, and the trophy for Argentina.
2 last questions - how heavy will Baptista be in 2010 and what's with the Jeckyl and Hyde performances - last night (http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2jpf3_brazil-1-0-argentina-baptista) and last season (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XIFiND5oC3A) but sometimes he is both in the same match (http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/league_cup/6282147.stm)
Mark,
http://www.okeydokefootball.com
P.s. we'll have a new podcast this week (Friday morning)
5 comments:
Dead on about Baptista. There is no in between either. He either looks like the second coming of Pele or a bumbling kid with down syndrome. I am glad he is on his way out of Arsenal.
I have to admire your simile there!
I'd say the reason behind this upsurge of form is that his fat ass has to find somewhere to play next season.
He's like a good 50% of the African or South American players who turn up at the world cup trying their heart out to swindle a contract from Ged Houllier or Harry Redknapp. He'll be rubbish next year again.
as I alluded to last week, the overall quality in the tournament doesn't look the best, perhaps baptista likes a climate where he "gets time on the ball" to show off his 'skill' and doesn't have to play in the north of England, as he moaned about last season
In Baptista's case, the swindlee was Wenger who tried to sign him twice.
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