We've barely got over from the excitement of our Under-23 side in Beijing and now let's start talking about our upcoming World Cup qualifiers. National Team coach Alfio "Coco" BASILE has named an initial squad of 19 players for next months double header. The team will play Paraguay first on the 6th of September at home and then travel to Lima to face Peru four days later.
Goalkeeper
Roberto ABBOBDANZIERI (Getafe)
Juan Pablo CARIZZO (Lazio)
Sergio ROMERO (AZ Aalkmar)
Defender
Javier ZANETTI (Inter Milan)
Pablo ZABALETA (Espanyol)
Nicolás BURDISSO (Inter Milan)
Gonzalo RODRIGUEZ (Villarreal)
Martín DEMICHELIS (Bayern Munich)
Fabricio COLOCCINI (Newcastle)
Gabriel HEINZE (Real Madrid)
Midfielder
Javier MASCHERANO (Liverpool)
Fernando GAGO (Real Madrid)
Esteban CAMBIASSO (Inter Milan)
Angel DI MARIA (Benfica)
Andrés D'ALESSANDRO (Internacional)
Forward
Lionel MESSI (Barcelona)
Carlos TEVEZ (Manchester United)
Sergio Kun AGUERO (Atlético Madrid)
Lisandro LOPEZ (Porto)
Obviously, the most surprise name in that list is D'ALESSANDRO. My assumption was that previously Coco had some problem and just to ignore him. I feel happy about his recall and I hope to see the same El Cabezon that I remember watching in Athens 2004.
It is also interesting to see that Coco is using Sergio BATISTA's gold medal winning team as his platform. A total of seven players (ROMERO, ZABALETA, MASCHERANO, GAGO, DI MARIA, MESSI and KUN) were from our Under-23 squad.
The big question here is where on earth in Juan Roman RIQUELME? Well my guess is that he could be one of the others name that will be included in the next few days.
Another two notable absentee from this list that I hope would also make it into the team is Maxi RODRIGUEZ and Fernando CAVENAGHI though I'm not ruling out the likes of LAVEZZI or HIGUAIN.
What about Gabriel MILITO? Currently Coco already has seven defenders in this list so I'm not sure whether is he going to add another one.
That's said, it is never going to be to select just 23 from a pool of 30-40 players. This is what makes our team such an adorable team to support. Now I leave the floor to you guys to give us your input on this list.
Who should start? What sort of formation should Coco employ? And which players (that was left out) deserve to be in this list?
My heart goes out to Coco
ReplyDeleteI think it’s the hardest job ever to name the squad from the pool mentioned in the article
It is certainly a great team
One important thing which I found about this wonderful team is that EVERYONE can SCORE
This is a good thing and a bad thing in my personal opinion
Cause at a certain point of time you will need that player who is the designed to score goals
Don’t get me WRONG, I just love Messi he is my favorite, I adore Kun he is a piece of art, TEVEZ and all the rest.
BUT when we talk about the scoring machine here is where you miss Batistuta BATIGOAL that is.
Regards
Mohammad Ali
My starting lineup:
ReplyDeleteCARIZZO
ZANETTI
RODRIGUEZ
COLOCCINI
HEINZE
CAMBIASSO
D'ALESSANDRO
MASCHERANO
DI MARIA
MESSI
TEVEZ
I think Riquelme will be called up as a local player.
Luis Gonzales, Maxi Rodriguez, Milito and Higuain should be called up.
I don't really like Heinze, but we do not have a decent left back for now, he is our only choice.
By the way, some of you may be surprised, I don't like Kun too. His performance in the olympic was awful for me. If you have a chance to look at how many chances he has missed, you will know what I mean. The 2 goals that he scored was something that a 80 years old man and a 3 years old boy can do.
If we have a better finisher, we should have won by a bigger margin for each of the matches in the olympic tournament.
I totally agree, that’s what I am talking about, we need a finished, someone who is a scoring machine.
ReplyDeleteBut I guess it what happened to Kun is normal, you cannot judge him only through this tournament, he did great in the youth world cup and he is one of the high scorers in la Liga, on the other hand I see him as the next finished for the team which will build through time
Regards
Mohammad Ali
Hi Mohammad Ali! Welcome back!
ReplyDeleteI do remember reading your comments during the 2006 World Cup.
Same goes to you Sung Kit, welcome!
I understand where you guys are coming from but please bare in mind that it's never easy picking on just two/three players from a list of talented forward that we have.
Each of them bring a different kind of vibe to the game.
My preference would be to have one tall hitman and one (or maybe two) of those short and creative players.
Let's see, if I were to pick CAVENAGHI to partner MESSI, then what about TEVEZ?
Or how about KUN & LOPEZ, then what about the rest?
As I said before, it's never easy.
One thing about having such a great talent pool is deciding who should start in conventional formations. But why not rule out conventional wisdom and formations and try something new?
ReplyDeleteWhy not put Tevez and Kun up top with Messi bringing the ball from the mid-field? This is something that Argentina always struggles with, where to put all of its talent. In the 2002 World Cup we took two of the greatest strikers in Argentine history (Crespo and Batistuta) but failed to put them up top together. Imagine the chaos they would've created together. So why not put our great small but fast young players all in together.
Sure you may miss on a big hitman who can head in crosses from the flanks, but haven't we seen the likes of Tevez, Kun, and Messi do this already?
It's just a thought, but imagine how much fun it would be to watch!
I think the formation is the most important thing we need to decide.
ReplyDeleteI think Messi should play just behind two strikers. At this moment I think Di Maria and Tevez should start.
Midfield is easy, Gago and Mascherano are definite starters, along with Riquelme.
The defence should compose of Zanetti, Heinze, Demechelis and Burdisso. Keeper should be Carrizo. Anyway I don't think they will have much work to do.
Batista did very well in the Olympics by making the opponents come to us, I hope Coco will also understand that we need the opponent to attack so we can find a chance to break, like the Olympic final when Di Maria was able to breakthrough. We do not need 80% possession. We need goals.
Well the list is not bad and I really want to take a look at this list. Argentina still lacks that #9, but how can you replace a Crespo? I mean when Argentina had Batistuta it was Crespo who was coming up but now he has gotten a bit too old but hey I am sure he will be able to find the back of the net. I saw Pipita score a goal over the weekend vs Valencia why not give him a call up? Cavegol I think he is somewhat of more of a club player then fit in to this system, did he play vs Belarus? Julio Cruz is CRAP and let me say that again CRAAAAAAAP! I think him and Pato are wayyyy below the standard. I say start using Romero as the GK and who knows the WC is only two years ago. But back to our #9 problem and I think I have a player in mind who can do really well. Hey I was the one pleading for Di Maria to get a call up and he has done very well thus far. But the player in mind is Lucho Figueroa, yes yes he has not been in the squad for sometime, and would of made the 06 squad over Cruz if he never got hurt. In 15 games he has what 9 goals? He is only 27 and he is a player who does not need pace to score a goal, right place right time kind of guy and finding the back of the net is all that matters!
ReplyDeleteNow onto the defenders? Zanetti hey I love this guy and he is no doubt a born leader, he is Argentina's Maldini. He will be 37 for the WC and I do wonder. Coloccini or as I would like to call him sideshow Bob. Not a big fan of his but lets see what he can do. Glad to see Demechlis back since Munich did not let him go. Zabaleta I am not sure he will make the next squad.
The midfield is good, Mascherano and Gago what can you say about these two guys? Mascherano who is a jewel and Gago I am not going to call him the new Redondo just because he was the best #5 I hmmm ever saw but he can be that good. Cambiasso another leader who does the little things. Di Maria, a fan of his since Rosario and made a lasting impression in Canada last year. D'Alessandro what a unique player has bounced around everywhere, sort of like Saviola. Maybe South American football really is his style and can not adapt to Europe.
To our forwards, Messi, Aguero, Tevez and I think those three are a lock for next WC. Lopez I want to see play.
The Senior side needs goal, last 3 games it was 1 goal and that was scored in the dying seconds by Palacio. No goals equals angry supporters equals bye bye Basile.But If if and only if Argentina shows a poor showing in these games, say bye bye to Basile and hello Baptista. Sort of last time around when Beilsa left and Pekerman took over. WC is less then two years so if a change happens it happens before the year is over.
Jack!
BTW who is going to wear #10???
By the way, I think Saviola is our #9. OK he is short and very much need regular games, but when he is playing he really is a killer in front of goal.
ReplyDeleteHe is rumoured to be on a loan move to Newcastle, I hope it comes off because he should not be sitting on the bench at Real.
http://www.newsoftheworld.co.uk/sport/football/article14705.ece
Why not give Aguero more time with the senior squad and nurture him to be the next Crespo for Argentina ! Tevez and Messi can certainly give hime the final ball to tap in !
ReplyDeleteAsianFan
I thought ,this squad is good .It "ll be better if no Pato ,and Coco .Why don"t give the chance to Batista or call back Pekerman .It"s real that the WC 10 is closer and we need some change .
ReplyDeleteTonymed
Hello John
ReplyDeleteThanks and sorry for the late reply, although I haven’t been placing comments, but I have always been visiting the website and following up on what going on here, thanks for the efforts of course also to seba, that’s besides the Tshirts I got for Messi and the flags I have in my car although I live in Bahrain now
:)
I totally agree that this would be hard to pick the right choice
I just keep praying that the next world cup will be for Argentina cause they are seriously the most talented players ever.
Regards Mohammad Ali
What a irony right guys? Here in England, they don't have good players and always trying to increasing the hype around a ordinary player to make him look really good and then when they go to games, their quality shows. And with us, we have too many good players and our coaches think,Ahh! this lad is doing good, so lets put him in the team but we still lose with the best team. Why? Simple reason as i see it is to make a team that functions as a team to perfection. And we have always missed that. Partly because of so many good players makes it hard to make a perfect combo, partly because our coaches just cant figure our how to use the good players to make a great team.
ReplyDeleteSo we can just hope that in the world cup, it will be as perfect or ever better as this Olympics.
About the team, if they plan to play Roman in the WC, he must play as much games as he can to make other player used to his game. Like it or hate it guys, he will be the matchmaker with Messi. So I think he will be in the team. Yes we miss Batigol. Sometimes I wonder if we had Roman, Messi and Batistuta. That would be cool. But we have to move on. We have to find some way to accommodate our players according to their speciality and we sure can decimate any teams like we did Brazil. Saviola is a sad example the demands of Albiceleste. If he were to be in any european nation, I can tell you, he would have been playing all the games, but here, there is basically no second chance. So as I see it, although he performed bad in olympics, Kun should have plenty more games. We still have our Apache, so its all about if our coaches can use them in the right way.
And finally, NO FREAKING WAY TO LET PATO as our first choice keeper. Carizzo or Romero is better. Romero has got the confidence.
And this time, I will make sure I wont miss the game.
Vamos Albiceleste
Let's not forget Lisandro Lopez ! He was very impressive for Porto, has some height and is very mobile. I like him over the "second batch" of front line players after Messi, Aguero, Tevez and Di Maria.
ReplyDeleteHiguain scored two more goals for Madrid today. He finally maybe finding his stride.The first goal was quality. I'd like to see Di Santo given a try or even one the hottest prospect in South America Ricardo Noir.
ReplyDeleteJack!
Ricardo Noir ! Jack doing his research ! Well, I watched Noir come on late for Rodrigo Palacio last night in Boca's Recopa win over Arsenal. He is likely to get more time on the pitch now, what with Palermo out of action for up to eight months. But, he is still very inexperienced, though with alot of talent.
ReplyDeleteBoca management had indicated they would try to replace Palermo with junior players, but Viatri was not so impressive last night, and this morning I read that they are beating the bushes for a replacement. I think they would rather bring Noir off the bench as a speedy, dangerous substitute than start him from the beginning of the match. Of course that might change !
Today Coco dropped BURDISSO due to an injury and added CATA DIAZ, GERMAN DENIS and JONAS GUTIERREZ. I believe he still has to announce the local players to be chosen for the two upcoming WC Qualifiers.
ReplyDeleteAnother surprise from Coco. No place for Gabriel MILITO or even Gonzalo HIGUAIN. Jonas GUTIRREZ is a must need on the left.
ReplyDeleteI hope Coco will utilize German DENIS at some of the game.
Among the local players, I believe both RIQUELME and MONZON will be called up.
Hi John-the latest from Buenos Aires is that Coco will name three Boca Juniors players to complete the team. JUAN ROMAN RIQUELME, RODRIGO PALACIO and SEBASTIAN BATTAGLIA. I don't guess that is in stone, but the news at the moment.
ReplyDeleteI think that it's time to call luciano monzon .
ReplyDelete