Choking Argies

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)

Copa America Final

Hiya,
Sunday's final of the Copa America will see old foes Argentina and Brazil square up to each other, after the results of the past 2 days. Argentina beat Mexico 3-0 in the semi-final last night, largely in thanks to an excellent goal by Messi (http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2ionz_argentina-2-0-mexico-messi) but Mexico squandered chances, particularly up-and-coming striker Nery Castillo hitting the bar when he could have levelled the scores.

Brazil, it the other semi on Tuesday, drew 2-2 with Uruguay and won the resulting penatly shoot out 5-4. Robinho is top scorer in the competition with 6 goals (it certainly came as a suprise to me, he's the Akinbyie of Brazil) but 3 have been penalties.

There is no doubt who is treating this more seriously, Argentina, despite reports earlier in the year of a B team being fielded in the competition, took all their stars, and thus are now under big pressure to win. Brazil left many players out from the squad that went to the World Cup last year - Kaka, Ronaldinho and Adriano the notable absentees - in favour of trying some youth - Diego, Vagner Love, Elano et al.

Argentina have been mightily impressive so far, they have scored 16 goals in 5 games, winning them all. Brazil have won 3, drew 1 and lost 1, their first match against Mexico.

So a preview of the final then?
Argenitna should be favourites - old timer Veron and Riquelme pull the strings in midfield, tevez and Messi provide great attacking threat. They are solid at the back with Heinze and Ayala. Brazil are not so impressive, Doni in goal has been dodgy (witness Heinze's goal last night : http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2ioj7_argentina-1-0-mexico-heinze), their defense isn't great, conceeding 5 goals in 5 games and I don't believe they have enough firepower up front.
I favour Argentina, despite their recent reputation as chokers...

Overall, the tournament appears low on quality - Roque Santa Cruz can score a hat-trick, and Robinho is top scorer. There have been many high scorelines so far, Brazil and Argentina have been blowing teams away, so I really don't think it is any major achievement to win the competition. It should be a good final on Sunday however, and, like all major finals, I'm hoping for goals and a few punch-ups.

Mark,
http://www.okeydokefootball.com

Latest Podcast Available

Hi,

We've just put our latest podcast online.
The format is:

Pub Talk,
Euro U21 results and players to watch,
Copa America preview,
James Joyce's quotes about footballers, in celebration of Bloomsday tomorrow (16th)
and our hatred of Thierry Henry

You can download it here by right clicking:
http://libsyn.com/media/okeydokefootball/odf15Jun07.mp3

Or subscribe to the RSS feed http://feeds.feedburner.com/okeyDokeFootball

Hope you enjoy the show,
Mark,
http://www.okeydokefootball.com/