It's been announced and confirmed. After all the talks, rumours about different rivals and venues, Argentina will face Algeria next Tuesday, 6 June, at the Camp Nou stadium of Barcelona.
Lionel MESSI will be the crowd favourite and I can imagine a huge support for ex-Barça forward Javier SAVIOLA.
I wonder what will be the reaction towards Fernando GAGO as he will be the only Real Madrid player on the pitch (provided he plays).
My opinion? I think it is one of the best venues in the World and I'm happy that we are going to play there. I'm not sure when was the last time we played there. I'm sure don't have a happy memory as we lost against Belgium in the 1982 Spain World Cup's opening match (0-1).
I'm disappointed with the opponent (with all due respect and affection to Algeria, a place where I'm sure there are plenty of Argentina supporters). I wanted to play a top team. See who Brazil are playing against: England at Wembley.
Instead we get Switzerland (not that bad but not that attractive rival) and then Algeria.
Anyway...I'm really looking forward to watching both games and see what our boys are up to.
I say this with love and respect (to borrow Seba's phrase) for England fans who read this blog but based on their current form I'm not expecting a lot from England. Steve McClaren has done a horrible job coaching so far. Not only that but they are going to be missing Rio Ferdinand which will weaken the defense considerably and most of their strikers are currently reserves for their clubs. Another factor to consider is that England's style is nothing like any of the teams playing in Copa. Also keep in mind that neither Kaka or Ronaldinho are going to Copa America for Brazil and yet are playing in this friendly which one could argue is not the best preparation for the team considering the influence and impact both players have on the team. They might be better served testing out the side they are planning on taking (of course most of them being in the Brazilian league would make it difficult so never mind).
ReplyDeleteBasically, while we aren't exactly being tested against the elite we should focus on the communication and dynamic of the team. Also, any practice before Copa is better than no practice.
-argentinafan
Argentinafan, all I can say is that this Brazil v England friendly is good for them to test the impact of their FA's bank accounts!
ReplyDeleteI read an article by the great Tim Vickery and it says that last time Brazil played a friendly in home soil was back in 2002 (and they did so without their main players as they used only footballers from the local league).
It's 5 years since Brazil A-Team played a friendly IN Brazil.
But in contrast, this will be their 4th friendly in London in the last 9 months. Enough said...
Living in Brazil, I can tell that the common Brazilian does not feel a bond with their National Team. A lot of them don't even care for this friendlies they play in Europe and some will not even watch the Copa America.
It is very sad. It feels for them like they are taking their national team away from them. They don't even feel related with a lot of their players who leave Brazil at a very early age (and without even playing for a Brazilian club) and then all of a sudden are called up to play for the National Team.
I hope we never come to that point, but it is looking like we will have a similar fate (see MESSI never played first division football in Argentina. Same for many young talents out there: INSUA (Liverpool) and a few that I can't think of and I'm sure many of you will know.