No matter how I much love my national football team, when I look at them it seems that something is just missing from the team. Don’t get me wrong here, we have brilliant individuals and gifted players, but when it comes to Argentina those two elements are common things.
So I’ve decided to take a look at our previous World Cup wining teams, and that’s when I figured out that in 1978 we had Daniel PASARELLA who was hard and tough and in 1986 we have Diego MARADONA, an undisputed and inspiring genius.
The key word that we’re looking here is leadership and this is something I dare to say that none of our current batch of players has. That is why whenever I see this guy leading his team into the field; his expression, words and that look on his face says it all. I start to get very excited, goose bump and I dare to admit even at some point, tears roll down from my eyes.
Ficha, our hero, muchos gracias for the 12 glorious years that you have given for both rugby and Argentina. Though your time to leave the Pumas has come, the name and the legend of Agustin PICHOT will always remain. From Buenos Aires to London to Bristol to Paris, your legacy will live on in Argentina folklore forever.
Throughout the recent Rugby World Cup, I always look forward to your post match interviews. But the one that caught my attention the most was after our victory over France in the 3rd/4th match placing. You said “thank you to everyone in the WORLD for supporting Argentina”. Something tells me you’ve been reading plenty of Mundo Albiceleste lately.
Vamos Ficha!!! Larga Vida Gus Pichot!!!
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
A Tribute To Ficha
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14 comments:
Hey!
Thanks for visiting Rugby:Rewind. You too have a great site. Argentina now ranked Number 3 in the world! Fantastic...look forward to hearing from you again.
Thanks,
Ryan
www.rugbyrewind.squarespace.com
Good blog this.
Totally agree that it is past time Argentina got regular, meaningful test rugby.
Out of interest; as a Puma fan, would you rather the Pumas joined the 6 Nations or Tri-Nations?
www.sportsfreak.co.nz
Thanks Ryah for your commnet.
As for sportsfreak, I would love to see the Pumas being involved in the Tri-Nations rather than the 6 nations.
I'm not too sure what are the differences but I can tell you that Southern Hemisphere teams are more interesting to watch.
Why not expand the competition to include teams like Fiji, Samoa & Tonga? That will be great, don't you think.....
John,
It would be good to expand it like that, but the sad reality is that Tri-Nations is run by SANZAAR who in turn is funded by Rupert Murdoch Pay TV interests.
So the market in the Pacific Islands is not there. In Argentina, especially with the likely boom in rugby interest, is a different story.
Sportsfreak,
I wasn't aware of this Rupert MURDOCH guy involvement in the Tri-Nations. This is the same guy who tried to buy Manchester United FC a few years back.
It is a sad state that money becomes the real deal here, not high level competition.
Now there are talks about IRB reducing the number of teams for 2011 RWC. I totally disagree on this.
"Now there are talks about IRB reducing the number of teams for 2011 RWC. I totally disagree on this."
The sad thing is that the push for this is from the organising committee who feel (after winning the bid for a 20 team event) that 20 is too much like hard work.
As a NZer, I cringe at this.
As for Murdoch, not sure if he tried to but Man U, but he owns the Sun, Times, Sky sports and 10000 other media interests.
How could they say that 20 is too much like hard work? That's insane.
If they reduce the number, then there is a high possibility that teams like Portugal, Canada or USA might not qualify for future World Cups.
I know that teams like these are not going to make any difference but playing in the WC has given them a huge platform to work on.
Good to know that you're NZer, I still feel that the All Blacks are the best in the World. Good luck in 2011. I hope the pressure won't be too much playing in front of your own crowd.
Excellent article John - personally I thought Pichot was the standout player at RWC 07 and Argentina will miss him (unless he ends up as coah perhaps?)
Thanks for visiting my log btw...
cheers
TF
PICHOT as coach? Now that would be something.
rumor
The basic theory about reducing the WC is that we’re going to struggle to fill the stadiums if there are so many matches. Such a reduction cuts it from 48 to 32 games, and shortens it by a week
It’s the latter argument that really confuses me. Are we supposed to have a really short attention span?
Another argument floating around a month ago is that NZ fans would not tolerate rugby of such poor quality, as they are used to being spoilt with their diet of S14 etc. For some reason that one seems to have gone away….
John,
The other reason some want to reduce the tournament to 16 teams was voiced by John O'Neill of the Australian Rugby Union (the bloke who said everyone hates England). He said that it was ridiculous that New Zealand and Australia could win their groups so easily but be knocked out in the quarters. He suggested that the rugby in the pool stages was not of a high enough standard to prepare the top teams for the knockouts. There should therefore be fewer teams.
What he is basically saying is that smaller rugby nations should miss out on the tournament to give Australia and New Zealand a better chance of winning it. Sadly that is the kind of guy making decisions regarding the Tri-Nations so I wouldn't hold your breath on being invited to join.
What do you think of the idea of Argentina being in the 6 Nations and playing in Spain? It does not really give them a chance to build a decent Argentinian support base but at least it gets them into a major tournament.
Thanks for your comment Stuart,
About your question, I don't think it is bad idea for the Pumas to play in the 6-Nations. But then again, it is not fair to our supporters back home in Argentina.
Again about the reduction of teams in the World Cup. I always believe that bigger nations should play some responsibility in helping smaller nations improve their rugby standards.
For Australia and New Zealand to complain like that, it is just plain excuse, that's all.
Don't get me wrong here as I'm not trying to disrespect you guys. For example in the Pumas case, the World Cup was important to them to prove something in the international stage.
The way they played was obvious as there were plenty of passion and determination from them to do something special.
Perhaps the 6-Nations can also be expanded to include other improving European nations such as Georgia and Romania.
To summarize this, smaller nations needs a bigger platform to improve their game.
Would be great to see Argentina in the tri-nations comp, 6 nations is pretty weak. Much better for Argentina to face the best teams in the world. Would be great to see them get a rare win over the All Blacks.
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