Two weeks ago Diego Maradona was talking about shake up and revolution within the Argentine national team ranks. He talked about going to Europe and going "face to face" with players to tell them that they were no longer on the national team. He talked about having a domestic side that was going to be fielded as they were "hungrier" than the foreign-based players.
Wow what a difference six pounds (mostly lost after Italian authorities took away his diamond studs as payment for back taxes he owes there) make in El Diego. Well, maybe I should say that in his case, the more things change, the more they stay the same.
The first player that was completely erased from the national team was Fernando Gago after the exchange of words that he had with the national team coach. Another player that was shown the backdoor quite disgracefully was Javier Zanetti. The eternal Inter backliner was given his walking papers for the sake of youth. My question is this, get rid of Zanetti before Heinze? Wow, the Marseille man must be a master of extortion as he survives shakeup after shakeup without proving his worth on the pitch.
What ever happened to "Carrizo is my keeper"? Well that is just yet another empty phrase that he threw out there. Carrizo is no longer in the picture.
He also used Lisandro López as an excuse to not call up Gonzalo Higuaín. What a copout. He also gave Napoli man Jesús Dátolo a brotherly hug after he scored against Russia and was one of the few bright spots against Brazil in Rosario. Now, the Napoli man is not even the fourth or fifth option for him. What an ass.
Some of the positives
For one I really do like the addition of Aimar. The sensational Benfica player has been underused by national team coaches for the past three years. I was one of the few that
begged for Aimar to go for Riquelme against Germany in the World Cup quarters in 2006 as he would have caused some problems to the Germans due to his pace.
Higuaín will also be the other positive. The problem with him is whether or not he will get playing time. If he doesn't people will consider this a move by Maradona to not see the former River Plate man to head to France as Raymond Domenech tried to woo him to no avail.
The most ironic part of this is they will be facing the same team that knocked them out of the World Cup back in 1970. Ok, Peru is nowhere close to the team that had Cubillas, former Barcelona man Hugo Sotil, Héctor Chumpitaz, and Alberto Gallardo; but Argentina is no where close to the team they could be.
Goalkeepers: Sergio Romero (AZ Alkmaar-Ned), Mariano Andujar (Catania-Ita)
Defenders: Emiliano Insúa (Liverpool- Eng), Gabriel Heinze (Marseille-Fra), Fabricio Coloccini (Newcastle- Eng), Nicolás Pareja (Espanyol-Esp), Pablo Zabaleta (Manchester City-Eng),
Midfielders: Javier Mascherano (Liverpool- Eng), Pablo Aimar (Benfica- Por), Angel Di Maria (Benfica- Por), Jonás Gutierrez (Newcastle-Eng), Luis González (Marseille-Fra)
Forwards: Lionel Messi (Barcelona-Esp), Sergio Agüero (Atlético Madrid-Esp), Carlos Tevez (Manchester City-Eng), Ezequiel Lavezzi (Napoli-Ita), Gonzalo Higuaín (Real Madrid-Esp), Diego Milito (Inter-Ita),
The complete list should include domestic players like Nicolás Otamendi (Vélez Sarsfield), Rolando Schiavi (Newell's Old Boys), Emiliano Papa (Vélez Sarsfield), Juan Sebastián Verón (Estudiantes), Rodrigo Braña (Estudiantes), and Martín Palermo (Boca Juniors). Verón will be called up despite having to serve a one-match suspension after being sent off against Paraguay.
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El Octagono
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