Thursday, August 31, 2006

"I want to beat them 4-0" says COCO

Hi there, it's been incredibly busy for me during the last couple of weeks. I hope you are still visiting and standing by.

Our friendly against Brazil is around the corner now. COCO is in England and so are a lot of the players he has called up to begin his second era as Argentina manager.

For me it'll be a special occasion because when Argentina and Brazil will be playing at the Emirates Stadium in London, I'll be on "enemy's territory"!!! Yes, because of job-related issues, I'll be watching the match somewhere in the city of Rio de Janeiro!

It'll be quite an experience and I'll try to survive if we manage to win! haha!

Will let you know how it goes and will hopefully upload some pictures.

A lot is going on these days, so here are some brief news about football and basketball:

INJURIES, INJURIES AND MORE INJURIES

Poor old COCO BASILE will have some problems to field his favourite eleven, even from those players he chose for this special occasion.

Maxi RODRIGUEZ won't make the trip to London. He got injured and he is being treated by Atletico de Madrid's staff.

Juan Roman RIQUELME is also having some troubles. He sprained his ankle during training with Villarreal and he is a major doubt.

Cesar DELGADO, who plays for Cruz Azul, also missed the trip to London because of a minor injury.

That added to a complicated week Carlos TEVEZ and Javier MASCHERANO are living, it could lead to up to 4 World Cup stars out for Sunday.
However, the ex Corinthians duo are believed to have signed a contract with West Ham United and if everthing goes right they could be performing against Brazil.

COCO IS CONFIDENT

Moments before departing from Buenos Aires on his way to London, Alfio BASILE said: "I want to score 4 on them and I want to keep a clean sheet".

"It's not much you can do with such a little time to work with the players", he added. "We'll focus on the dead ball situation and I'll talk to the players about where I want them to be positioned. Not much else. But my main goal is for our team to pass the ball around".

Being asked about having many short players he replied: "I like players who know how to play. And they play brilliant football that's why I like them".

PROBABLE TEAM TO FACE BRAZIL

ABBONDANZIERI

PONZIO or ZABALETA (at right back)
Gabriel MILITO and Walter SAMUEL (as central defenders, with a chance for Fabricio FUENTES and Fabricio COLOCCINI there)
Clemente RODRIGUEZ (at left back)

Javier MASCHERANO (if he plays) or Leandro SOMOZA (at central midfield)
Lucho GONZALEZ and Federico INSUA (right and left midfield)
Juan Roman RIQUELME (playmaker behind the striking partnership). If RIQUELME sits out of the game, then INSUA will become the playmaker and Daniel BILOS will play on the left hand side of the midfield.

Lionel MESSI
Carlos TEVEZ (if he doesn't play, it'll be KUN AGÜERO's or Javier SAVIOLA's place)

TRANSFERS NEWS

Apart from the mentioned TEVEZ and MASCHERANO's move to West Ham United, there are other Argentina stars changing teams.
Leandro CUFRE has joined AC Monaco from AC Roma.

Juan Pablo SORIN will play in Germany (his sixth league in different countries). He'll have the chance to show Coco BASILE what he can give to Argentina by playing for Hamburg in both, the Bundesliga and the Champions League.

Fabricio FUENTES. One of the central defenders that will surely make his debut for Argentina on Sunday against Brazil has secured a move to Villarreal from Atlas, Mexico. He becomes the seventh argentine playing for the Yellow Submarine.

Javier SAVIOLA will finally stay at FC Barcelona. He decided that he will fight for a place in the team, despite starting out behind Eto'o, Messi, Ronaldinho, Gudjohnsen, Giuly and Esquerro in the pecking order.

Roberto AYALA is determined to leave Valencia and he could move to Real Madrid or Villarreal. That is yet to be decided.


ESPAÑA IN OUR WAY TO THE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS FINALS

Tomorrow morning (according to the Argentine timezone), the Olympic Champions will take on the impressive Spain for a place in the basketball world championships finals in Japan.

OK, history is on their side. We have a record of 2 wins and 16 defeats against in our overall head-to-head encounters. And we have defeated them for the last time 12 years ago!

Both teams are undefeated (7-0) and they know each other very well. The key for Argentina will be to impossed the rythm of the game and use the experience gained over the last four years with a second place in Indianapolis 2002 and the Olympic Gold.

Spain could fall into their typical disappointment (like they do over and over again in football) and never lived up to the expectations created. And Argentina could again raise to the occasion (like when we defeated Team USA at the Worlds and Olympic tournaments) against all odds.

VAMOS ARGENTINA!

31 comments:

Anonymous said...

The Tevez and Mascherano move to West Ham has to be the strangest thing I have heard in a long while...sounds like the Russians are involved (Abramovich particularly).
Wait Seba, you're saying half of el Coco's team is injured? Can he find replacements this late or is Argentina just not going to sub a lot?

Anonymous said...

Seba,
I am gutted... 1stly tevez and mascherano were linked with arsenal and ManU .. me being an ardent arsenal fan was seriously hoping that these duo turn up with arsenala nd Arsene wenger show us some gr8 football but what the hell !! how can these world class players join a mid table club like West Ham... had it been chelsea (the club i hate most) or even ManU i wud have still digested all these but West Ham of all places...
and well I hear Saviola is not nterested in any other club inspite of getting offers and also Barca making it clear that Saviola will only find place in the sidelines all thru the season, in fact in their 1st match saviola didnt even figure in the reserved bench, in sucb=h a situation isnt it really better for him to move to a club where he gets to show some of his class...
i dont understand the pyschology of all these players .. be it saviola, mascherano or Tevez... hah !!!

is their any inside story to all these.... that u r aware of from Argentina...

Anonymous said...

also do u hv any idea of who is broadcasting the match, i doubt i will be able to catch the match live here in India where Ten sports and ESPN r the main sports channels...

Anonymous said...

Seba,

Great to hear from you after such a long time.

Firstly is of course the transfer window that has just ended. I'm not getting a very great impression about our players these days. Remember that about 4 years ago D'Alensandro was the hottest property in Argentine football. In the end of all places he ended up in Wolfsburg, Portsmouth and now at Real Zaragoza. Like him Tevez and Mascherano are both part of the Olympic gold medalist team, and look what has happen again. Its West Ham Utd!!! I'm really taken by surprise from all of this. Gone are the days when Argentine footballer dominates the world of football playing for big clubs. Anyhow both players are still young and I do really hope that they put up a spectacular performance on the debut season in the EPL and perhaps that will secure them a deal with either Arsenal or Man Utd once this loan deal is over.

And second of course is our basketball team. Looks like our path to glory this time is going to be very tough. Spain like us have won all seven games so far and despite playing against the like Germany, Serbia & Montenegro and Lithunia, they were never look threatened. And should we beat them and enter the final, we could meet either USA or Greece who both also has a perfect record of 7-0 win so far.

I really do hope for a double celebration this coming weekend. That could probably make my whole year.

VAMOS ARGENTINA!!!

John
Malaysia

Anonymous said...

Seba,

Great to hear from you after such a long time.

Firstly is of course the transfer window that has just ended. I'm not getting a very great impression about our players these days. Remember that about 4 years ago D'Alensandro was the hottest property in Argentine football. In the end of all places he ended up in Wolfsburg, Portsmouth and now at Real Zaragoza. Like him Tevez and Mascherano are both part of the Olympic gold medalist team, and look what has happen again. Its West Ham Utd!!! I'm really taken by surprise from all of this. Gone are the days when Argentine footballer dominates the world of football playing for big clubs. Anyhow both players are still young and I do really hope that they put up a spectacular performance on the debut season in the EPL and perhaps that will secure them a deal with either Arsenal or Man Utd once this loan deal is over.

And second of course is our basketball team. Looks like our path to glory this time is going to be very tough. Spain like us have won all seven games so far and despite playing against the like Germany, Serbia & Montenegro and Lithunia, they were never look threatened. And should we beat them and enter the final, we could meet either USA or Greece who both also has a perfect record of 7-0 win so far.

I really do hope for a double celebration this coming weekend. That could probably make my whole year.

VAMOS ARGENTINA!!!

John
Malaysia

Seba said...

Subh, what I can tell you is that I'm delighted with TEVEZ and MASCHERANO going to West Ham instead all of the other English clubs that were mentioned.

Why?

Simple. At West Ham they will have the room to play. Not a ridiculous amount of pressure and a smaller competition for places.

They'll be based in London which is easier to adapt to for someone used to live in big cities such as Buenos Aires or Sao Paulo.

Of course I'm also happy because I hate Chelsea and Manchester United (sorry, I know there are a few readers of this blog who support Man Utd). And I prefer West Ham over Arsenal.

Plus...at Arsenal they would have found it more difficult to play in the first team right away. With FABREGAS playing central midfield (and GILBERTO SILVA) it would have been difficult for MASCHERANO and up front HENRY gets all the attention, with VAN PERSIE and WALCOTT already in the mix. I do believe TEVEZ is better than VAN PERSIE and WALCOTT but he would have had the disadvantage of having to adapt himself to a new league, a new country a new culture.

I think West Ham suits them just perfectly!

TEVEZ is better than ZAMORA and HAREWOOD put together.

BOWYER, BENAYOUN??? None of them should be on MASCHERANO's way in becoming the boss of midfield at Upton Park.

I'm thrilled, just thrilled with them joining West Ham.

Think of them going to Chelsea or Man Utd? It'll be a tremendous competition for places with the likes of SHEVCHENKO, DROGBA, KALOU, MAKELELE, ESSIEN or ROONEY, SAHA, SCHOLES etc.

As for SAVIOLA, I think he has an strategy. Try and fight for a place in the team during this season in which he doesn't need to play regularely like last season (before a World Cup).

Now he will take it easy and try to climb up the pecking order and eventually play some time.

But I believe he is in the last year of his contract and will have his freedom at the end of next season and will then leave Barcelona for free and will eventually take all the money for himself. I don't know if that comes as a punishment for Barcelona or if it is a real challenge SAVIOLA wants to face and prove RIJKAARD wrong.

Seba said...

I understand what you are saying and I see that you want to see the best Argentine footballers playing for the big guns in Europe, but you can read my points in the message above and you'll see that I see things differently. I take this move from Brazilian league to West Ham as the greatest thing that could ever happen to these two incredibly talented footballers. Hopefully they will help balance the strenght in that league and make life a little bit complicated for the English powerhouses.

And yes it'll be tough as hell against Spain.

There is great expectation in Argentina and kids will watch the game at school (tip off at 7:30 AM!) while some grown ups are planning to call their work telling their bosses they are sick!

"Orange fever" I would say!

There were talks this week saying this basketball team is the best Argentina national team in the last 20 years in any sport!

And I've got to agree with that!

World Cup final 2002
Olympic Gold 2004
World Cup semifinal (so far) 2006.

No other national team from Argentina has achieved this in other sports over the last few years.

Yes, we've got the Olympic gold in football in 2004 but unfortunatelly we haven't achieved anything else in the last 13 years! (Copa America 1993).

That's why I won't bet against Argentina against Spain. There is a key element for me to think it is possible for us to beat GASOL and company. That is the huge heart everyone in our team has. They never give up. They play better when they are against the toughest opposition and this is the perfect time for them to beat their boogie team and face Team USA hoping for our third consecutive win over them in an elite tournament.

I BELIEVE IN PEPE SANCHEZ, MANU GINOBILI, ANDRES NOCIONI, LUIS SCOLA, FABRICIO OBERTO, PABLO PRIGIONI, CARLOS DELFINO, WALTER HERRMANN, RUBEN WOLKOWYSKI, DANIEL FARABELLO, LEONARDO GUTIERREZ and GABRIEL FERNANDEZ!

VAMOS ARGENTINA, VAMOS!

Seba said...

NEWSFLASH: Roberto AYALA has finally got to an agreement with his current club CF VALENCIA and will remain there after talks linking him with Real Madrid and Villarreal.

Anonymous said...

Seba,

Thanks for the response to my message earlier. Well I guess you may have a point or two about the Tevez and Mascherano transfer deal. However I was looking more towards a long term basis. It is no doubt that Tevez and Mascherano are going to be the heartbeat West Ham Utd. I'm pretty sure the club is going to be heavily depending on them. Can these two cope with the demands from the Upton Park faithfuls? Remember when Julio Arca and Carlos Marinelli sign for Sunderland and Middlesboro respectively. The move did not help neither of the players.

However having said all this, I will supporting and looking forward to see these two great players for West Ham games this season on TV.

Another thing I would like to bring to your attention is regarding Saviola's future in Barcelona. From what I've heard on ESPN yesterday, he is linked with Aston Villa. If this is true then its good news for him as he would get to re-unite back with Juan Pablo Angel. The both of them had great times back at River Plate.

Its great to know on how much of coverage you are getting in Argentina on the 2006 FIBA World Championship because here in Malaysia it seems like there is almost no coverage at all. Quite dissapointing knowning that there is large basketball following. Maybe perhaps the people here are more eager in the NBA than anything esle. Nevertheless, I will try to follow the game through other resources such as from the official website.

Common Tall Argies!!! Put a smile on our face.

John
Malaysia

Anonymous said...

I don't understand Saviola's reasons for staying at Barcelona when Rijkaard just simply doesn't want him around... how can you get a chance when you are not even a substitute? How can you get a decent deal next year when nobody has seen you play? It is all a mystery to me. He has to wait until Ronaldinho, Eto'o, Messi, Gudjohnson, Giuly, Ezquerro are all injured. Maxi Lopez, bought by Rijkaard himself, decided to go.

As for Tevez and Mascherano, I still don't think moving to West Ham is good for them. If they just want an easy start to life in Europe they could move to a small Spanish or Italian club also... but West Ham? English football style is very different for South Americans to adapt to, a lot more running and a lot less skill (dribbling in particular) is required. Tevez will be asked to pass the ball all the time which is not his usual style as far as I know.

Strange moves in both the above cases. I just hope things work out for them.

Allan
Hong Kong

Saurabh Bhattacharjee said...

It is great to have you back! Seba. Last week seemed rather incomplete without reading your post.

I must say that I am rather thrilled with Tevez and Mascherano going to West am Utd. While it may be a small club, West Ham has a history behind it. It has been a good stepping stone for young British players for future glory - Frank Lampard, Joe Cole and Rio ferdinand among many others.

As you said, they will have many more opportunities and less pressure.

But cannot help feel bemused by Saviola's decision. As Allan pointed out, even though he may be a free agent next season, he will not have any performance to show to prospective employers.

I thought Rijkaard as a nutcase (preferring Gudjohnsen over Saviola). The Little Rabbit now seems no better. One wonders what sort of advice is he getting from his agent.

Great to hear about success of Argentine basketball team. I hope they go all the way to win the trophy.

Anonymous said...

Oh yes, there is one thing that just came across to my mind. Thought about so much do I guess it nice to share with you all.

While the players from the football team are having misfortune at club level but the same cannot be said on those representing Argentina at club level. We have 5 players already attached with NBA teams. And the rest are playing for top clubs in Spain and Italy.

Anonymous said...

Seba,
Though you may have some point about Tevez and Mascherano I will disagree.
1stly frankly i dont beleive that either Tevez or mascherano has the enormous talent to carry the entire team on his own shoulders as the famous Maradona did for napoli and even then he did it afater maturing in World football..
his intial days were in Barcelona.
Tevez wud need some feeding balls to show his class which I doubt he will get in West Ham, Mascherano may actually get some opportunity to show his class as he will reqd to run hard and tackle and defend for west ham, but then at the end of the day if the team doesnt get results his efforts will most likely to go unnoticed and a mistake by a fellow footballer may not also allow him to stamp his class...
well i havent seen tevez play much apart from the WC but based on the reviews and etc what i have read and heard I wud believe that Tevez is better than Van Persie, and I guess had he been Arsenal, Weneger wud have given him aple scope to prove his credibilities, wenger is known for his faith on youngsters and also walcott doesnt stand in his way asa walcott's role is more of a winger.
Besides Arsenal plays a smoorth fluid style of passing football unlike the physical long ball kind football of most of teh EPL clubs and which shud suit any skillful player like Tevez. This is why I feel strongly that Tevez wud have been much more wiser to land in Arsenal and also got the experience of competing the top european championships like champions league. anyways I doubt there is any point discussing this as this is over, I am though happy that I will be able to watch Tevez play in EPL. Saviola surprises me a lot, if he doesnt get to play how can he prove his class and also how can he expect to get good deals from other clubs next year when he will be free. he is in his prime and it doesnt make sense to waste a full year sitting on the bench.

Anonymous said...

To Seba and Everyone,

Breaking News!!!

European Champion Greece has upset the "Dream Team" USA with a spectaculat 101-95 win

Next is our Tall Heroes going into action against Spain. Best of luck to them

VAMOS ARGENTINA!!!

John
Malaysia

Seba said...

Great start for Argentina with solid play and amazing defense.

We're ahead 18-12 in the score with 1 minute to go in the first quarter.

Seba said...

21-15 for us at the end of the first quarter.

Anonymous said...

But the Spanish have manage to catch up. One moment we're losing 36-31 and now its 36-36. Can our boys handle the pressure?

C'mon Boys

John
Malaysia

Seba said...

40-38 Spain ahead after the first half of the game.

Incredibly fought basketball game. Argentina is another team when GINOBILI is playing.

We suffered when he was resting and we couldn't find our way near the basket.

It's anybody's game so far and I'm going to have to search the house looking for all sorts of pills to help me get through the whole next two quarters!

Anonymous said...

I don't have live telecast here.

Keep on refreshing the screen for new scoreline ...

Common boys !

Anonymous said...

Yes Seba I agree with you its anybody's game. However mentally and emotionaly our players neeed to be stronger in the next 2 quarter as Spain may have a physichological advantage based on recent results

John
Malaysia

Seba said...

Sorry I took a while to update you.

It's Spain 60 - Argentina 56.

Start of the fourth quarter.

Now they've just sinked a three-pointer. 63-56. Maximum difference for Spain in the game.

Seba said...

For updates try www.ole.com.ar

It's in Spanish but you'll see the scoreline.

www.marca.es is from Spain and is good also.

Seba said...

2 minutes to go.

We're down by 4.

Seba said...

Spain 74
Argentina 72

We've got the ball.

Time out. 10 seconds to take a shot.

Can't breathe!

GASOL is out injured.

Seba said...

SCOLA taking two free throws.

Seba said...

74-74

22 seconds to go.

Spain has the ball

DEFENSSSSSSSSSSE

Seba said...

We've lost it...

FUCK!

Anonymous said...

Everyone,

It happen once again. Just as we thought we were on the verge for something incredible, things starts to crumble.

Still remember when Ayala headed the ball in and we were 1-0 and then came the equaliser from Klose. After some mysterious decision making comes the penalty shoot-out and they we were shooting ourself in the foot.

And today once again as we started off sooo well, the dream has finally come to an end. So whats next? When is going to be the time that we true hardcore Argentinian supporter will get to say that we are World Champion? For now all those are seem to be a distant reality.

So now the its all to the likes of Marcos Milenkovic & Co. (Volleyball) or perhaps Jorge Lombi & Co. (Hockey) to carry the torch. Till then

VAMOS ARGENTINA!!!

John
Malaysia

Seba said...

I understand how frustrated you can be, but I must say that there are no chances we'll become World Champions in hockey or volleyball. None! I'm sorry, but it's just the way it is.

Maybe the Davis Cup? But we're not looking so bright at the moment.

In 3 weeks there is Australia coming to Buenos Aires to play in clay and we should beat them. But I'm not sure we can beat Russia in Moscow in a probable final match.

That said, I think our basketball team leaves this tournament with a positive feeling about themselves and there is no doubt we have lost to a better team.

Fair play on them. I won't be so hard on our boys as I felt I should have been with our football team. In that case we've lost to a far inferior team (Germany) and that was something you could be ashamed of. Not this defeat against Spain.

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