Thursday, April 16, 2009

PALERMO to make a comeback with Argentina

It is believed that Diego MARADONA will call up a team of players from the domestic league (giving new life to the plan BASILE had in the past) and there are chances that Argentina will face Paraguay on 20 May in Santa Fé at Colón's stadium.

What Diego wants is to train twice a week with players from the Argentine league and observe them further to eventually call some of them for the World Cup Qualifying matches ahead.

Amongst the names being rumoured, the strongest of them all has to be that of Martin PALERMO.

The record-setting Boca Juniors striker, could be on the verge of a return to the national team.

PALERMO became famous worldwide when he missed three penalty-kicks in one single match against Colombia in a Copa America 1999 match. He played 7 matches for Argentina and scored his only 3 goals with the Albiceleste in that same Copa America in Paraguay. Since then, he never played again for Argentina, despite becoming Boca Juniors' all-time leading scorer.

Apart from the probable inclusion of PALERMO, here are the names that could be working with Diego every week:

Goalkeepers:
Mariano ANDUJAR (Estudiantes de La Plata)
Cristian CAMPESTRINI (Arsenal -Sarandí-)

Defenders:
Emiliano PAPA (Vélez Sarsfield)
Juan FORLIN (Boca Juniors)
Matías CARUZZO (Argentinos Juniors)
Nicolás OTAMENDI (Vélez Sarsfield)

Midfielders:

Hernán BERNARDELLO (Newell´s Old Boys)
Sebastián BATTAGLIA (Boca Juniors)
Juan Sebastián VERÓN (Estudiantes de La Plata)
Juan MERCIER (Argentinos Juniors)
Sebastián BLANCO (Lanús)

Forwards:

Martín PALERMO (Boca Juniors)
Mauro FORMICA (Newell´s Old Boys)

More news will follow when these things are confirmed.

19 comments:

Anonymous said...

It's not Lautaro but Mauro Formica. He's the younger brother of Lautaro.

messidona19 said...

I believe he should have called Zucculini and Savio/Salva(lanus)? i forgot his name but he was our only star in the South American U20 Championship

Sebastian said...

Blogger is not working properly. As soon as I manage to edit it, I'll correct that Lautaro/Mauro mistake.

It was wrong where I took that info from and it is now corrected! ;)

I'll keep trying until I get it fixed.

Thanks for the heads up!

Messidona19, you mean SALVIO. And I have to agree with you on both, him and ZUCULINI.

Anonymous said...

This list isnt definitive anyway?

Anonymous said...

Where did you get the names? (a link)

Anonymous said...

quite frankly, i wouldn't be very happy if that is his list, the idea is good. But, you need young and hungry players who can run and have a lot of energy, not players who r bloody passed it. Some players are ok, but we need players who can fit in, we have a lot of young talent like Salvio and Zucculini and there are some more who deserve a call up. I hope Diego bucks up his ideas.


day1star

Sebastian said...

Normally, I check and I won't publish anything unless I get it from more than one source.

In this case, I heard it on TyC Sports and then I read it on Goal.com.

Goal had it as Lautaro FORMICA instead of Mauro, but then they corrected it.

Sebastian said...

Have in mind this list is not even announced officially. It's all speculation and some inside information some journalist in the loop are giving out.

If Diego works with players from the local league, I would expect the list to increase because 15 is not a big enough number if you are planning on playing a friendly with Paraguay.

You need at least 16 and from past experiences, managers call up to 22. I can see it being a list to 20.

Regarding your point, day1star, I see your point of calling up young players, but sometimes you need experienced guys like VERON or even PALERMO (who I don't like that much but I respect because his goal-scoring record speaks for itself).

It's curious though, because for all his experience, goal-scoring records and thousand battles, he is very inexperienced when it comes to playing for Argentina. A player like MESSI, who is 14 years younger than PALERMO, has more than five times the number of international matches.

I guess the bottomline is that the more players get to work under Diego for a longer period of time, the better it will be for our team. It can't be a bad thing.

johnny said...

No Pepe Sand ?!

Anonymous said...

The list isnt complete nor confirmed btw...

messidona19 said...

Another player who should have been called up was Buonanotte.

Anonymous said...

Buonanotte? No thx... he has been dismal since his return of the Olympic Games.
He's not even starter anymore at River.

Sebastian said...

Agreed on BUONANOTTE, but he is still young and he has time to improve and get back to his previous form.

Now OLE is publishing what we posted earlier here about PALERMO and they are saying this was confirmed by Diego MARADONA himself.

Roy said...

*Homer Simpson NOOOOOO voice*

NO, NO, NO. Palermo should not be anywhere near the team. Diego should be looking at the future and Palermo is NOT part of the future. Want to call a striker from Argentina? Pick Palacio. Atleast he's done something for Argentina before(against Ecuador).

John said...

Surprise that Jose SAND is left out despite scoring 15 goals in this season’s Apertura Championship.

If the whole idea behind this friendly is to find new ideas and a bigger pool of players for future assignment, why not select players from other leagues in South America. There is no harm giving a try on this guy called Lucas BARRIOS of Colo-Colo. Since his move to Chile he has already scored 39 goals in 42 appearances! Is it because the standard of the domestic league in Chile is not so great to speak off?

Then what about those based in Brazil? Maxi LOPEZ and Andres D’ALLESANDRO for instance.

I agree on Martin PALERMO that he hasn’t shine for the NT as much he did for Boca but lets not blame him for that because he has always been in the pecking order throughout his career. He was an upcoming star back in 1999 and if it wasn’t for his injury he suffered back then maybe things would have been better for him. His experience could be valuable for this team. After all his record is not that bad as compare to say someone like Andy COLE.

Anonymous said...

Palermo, hell if thats the case lets get Batistuta out of retirement and get him kicking the ball again. I HIGHLY doubt Palermo would make the squad and if he does, all I have to say is, well I do not what to say. I love Palermo as a Boca player but coming and even trying out for the national team, I dont know. But in some strange way it just may work. I was watching Mexico-Argentina WC 06 game, and I say Crespo's goal, or even Borgetti OG, I say Crespo muscled himself in the box to get where he was. Now can the three midgets do it? I do not think so. But why not lets give these lads a try and maybe Diego will see something we dont.

Jack!

Anonymous said...

And if he is going to call up any CST from Argentina it should Lucho Figueroa. Am I the only one that is a fan of this guy! He is quality for the NT team.

Jack!

John said...

No Jack, you're not alone. I like FIGUEROA too.

johnny said...

I like Figueroa as well, but I don't think he has been in his best form since returning to Argentina, and has had a tough time finding a way to score lately. Great guy and classy but not on the top of his game right now.