Argentina – World Cup 2010 Preview #5 (Group B)

Argentina

Nickname: La Albiceleste (Light blue and whites)

Appearances at World Cup finals: 1930, 1934, 1958, 1962, 1966, 1974, 1978, 1982, 1986, 1990, 1994, 1998, 2002, 2006, 2010. Regulars.

Best ever performances: Winners in 1978 & 1986. Runners up in 1930 & 1990.

Famous moment in World Cup history: 22^nd June 1986. In the quarter final against England, Diego Maradona scored the most controversial goal in World Cup history “The Hand of God”. Maradona rose high to meet a cross and punched the ball past the stunned Peter Shilton and into the empty goal.

Just minutes later Maradona scored again, this time with arguably the greatest goal in World Cup history. The diminutive genius picked the ball up on the half way line and proceeded to dribble past four England players and round Shilton before finding the net from a narrow angle. Argentina won the match and would eventually win the World Cup.

The lowdown: You could be forgiven for thinking that Argentina will be favourites to win this summer’s World Cup. After all they can boast five strikers that have 108 league goals this season between them, five players in the Champions League final and the current FIFA World Player of the Year in Lionel Messi. They have also had relatively few injury worries. However, all of that is before you factor in the manager. Giovanni Trappatoni once said that “a good coach can make a team 5% better. A bad one can make a team 30% worse”. Maradona seems to have created a team that is significantly weaker than the sum of its parts.

The manager has struggled to find his best XI and has consistently altered formations. He has tried 3-4-3, 3-5-2 and 4-3-3 but his current preferred formation is a 4-4-2. This formation worked in the final qualifier against Uruguay and in the friendly win over Germany. Maradona has settled on a back four without attacking full-backs. Heinze plays at left back with Otamendi played out of position at right back. This arrangement has worked well but Argentina still have a weakness at defending set-pieces, which Brazil took advantage of in their 3-1 win in Rosario.

One of Maradona’s biggest issues is the problem of getting the best out of Messi. Former Argentina boss Cesar Menotti believes the problem is that “strategy in Barcelona is in the hands of Xavi & Iniesta. Messi is the one who completes the move, yet with Argentina he has to do everything”. A priority for Maradona is in getting Veron to play in the “Xavi role” as playmaker and create the chances for Messi.

A possible solution would be for Maradona to replicate the Barcelona formation that works so well for Messi. They could play 4-3-3 with Messi on the right of attack, Higuain through the middle and Veron pulling the strings from midfield. However, Maradona has yet to try this formation and is highly unlikely to do so before the start of the World Cup.

Argentina have been drawn in a favourable group, alongside Nigeria, South Korea and Greece. They should win group B comfortably. However, the opening match against Nigeria will be crucial. If they win that match then they qualify easily, anything other than a win could see Argentina implode. If they win the group then they will play the runners up of group A, likely to be one of Mexico, Uruguay or South Africa. This should give Argentina a fairly comfortable passage to the quarter final, but from then on … who knows? Spain are deserving favourites but Argentina may not be far off winning the World Cup if Maradona can find a settled team and tactics that get the best out of Messi.

Qualification: Qualification for the 2010 World Cup was no formality for the Albiceleste, far from it. Argentina started the South American qualifying campaign under the guidance of Alfio Basile, winning their first three matches. Things quickly went downhill as they won only one of the next seven matches and Basile was sacked.

His replacement was Diego Maradona and he started well, winning 4-0 at home to Venezuela. Maradona’s second match in charge was a disaster; the humiliating 6-1 defeat to Bolivia in La Paz was Argentina’s joint worst defeat in their history. Results did not improve, including an embarrassing 3-1 defeat at home to rivals Brazil and with two matches remaining Argentina were in 5^th place and in real danger of missing out of a place at the World Cup.

The unthinkable was close to becoming a reality as they struggled in their penultimate match against bottom side Peru, until Martin Palermo scored a stoppage time winner. They won the final match in Uruguay to finish the group in fourth place and qualify for the World Cup.

Top scorers in qualifying: Sergio Aguero & Lionel Messi with four goals each.

All time World Cup finals top goalscorer: Gabriel Batistuta – 10 goals including hat tricks in two different World Cup tournaments, the only player in history to do so.

The manager: The greatest player of all time is the worst manager of all time. A little harsh maybe, but it’s fair to say that management does not come as easily for Diego Maradona as playing did. His appointment was controversial, 70% of the Argentine public disagreed with the decision to appoint Maradona. There was also his infamous rant at the press after Argentina had sealed qualification. Maradona used foul and abusive language at the post-match conference and was banned by FIFA for two months.

Key Player: Lionel Messi – Who else could it possibly be? The upcoming World Cup is Messi’s opportunity to prove that he is not only the best player in the world currently but possibly even the greatest player of all time.

One to watch: Gonzalo Higuain – The Real Madrid striker has been in phenomenal goalscoring form this season and could be a contender for the Golden Boot, if he can make the starting XI that is.

On the move: Nicolas Otamendi – The 22 year old plays in Argentina for Velez Sarsfield but a good World Cup could see him move to a major Spanish or Italian side.

Missing out: Juan Roman Riquelme – Riquelme had been one of Maradona’s most important players. However, he took offence to comments from Maradona in a television interview where Maradona suggested that Riquelme should play further up the pitch for Boca Juniors and is currently in self-imposed international exile.

Argentina, Group B, Maradona, Previews, World Cup 2010