So Easter weekend has just started and I was thinking of Argentina's back-line and how I would like to see it. Which brought me to this...
The following is a list of defenders who have more-or-less earned a spot in the squad. I bolded the names of those who I think should not be on the team.
Javier ZANETTI
Marcos ANGELERI
Gabriel HEINZE
Emiliano PAPA
Daniel DÍAZ
Fabricio COLOCCINI
Nicolás BURDISSO
Walter SAMUEL
Martín DEMICHELIS
Juan FORLÍN
Out of those 10 players, I think it's safe to say that 5, maybe even 6 of them should not be on the team. HEINZE, PAPA, DÍAZ, COLOCINNI, BURDISSO and to some extent SAMUEL should not be anywhere near the team. We're now left with 4 defenders but many more who should be added. Fabián MONZÓN, Pablo ZABALETA, Federico FAZIO, Nicolàs PAREJA, Ezequiel GARAY, Emiliano INSÚA and finally GONZALO RODRÍGUEZ. We're back to 10 defenders, 11 if you want to count the injured Gabriel MILITO. With that, we would have something like this. I would throw in Julio ARCA but that would be a bit too much.
Right Backs: ZANETTI, ANGELERI, ZABALETA
Center Backs: DEMICHELIS, FORLÍN, FAZIO, GARAY, PAREJA, GONZALO, MILITO
Left Backs: MONZON, INSÚA
The most obvious case is the lack of left-backs on the team. I know that World Cup Qualifiers is not the time to start experimenting with the backline, but surely the center backs I have mentioned cannot be or do any worse than HEINZE and PAPA. A little side note, can you imagine the likes of PAPA going up against strong players like Michael BALLACK and/or Bastian SCHWEINSTEIGER?! Just the thought of it makes me nervous.
Against Colombia maybe have a back-line consisting of something like this...
ZANETTI---DEMICHELIS---GARAY/GONZALO/MILITO---MONZÓN
Against Ecuador something like this...
ANGELERI---DEMICHELIS---GARAY/GONZALO/MILITO---MONZÓN
ZABALETA---MASCHE---CAMBIASSO/GAGO/JONÁS <-Midfield
Play more conservative against Ecuador. ZABALETA has been playing everywhere for Manchester City. Right Back, Right Midfielder and even Left Back, so he would help out in midfield. Same thing for CAMBIASSO who has played as a Center Back for Inter in a few matches and yes, even MASCHERANO has played as a Right Back for Liverpool. But I think we all agree on keeping him as a defensive mid. CAMBIASSO/GAGO/JONÁS for the defensive help they would bring(and we will probably need) against Ecuador. We cannot forget that the game against Ecuador will be played at altitude.
So there's my ideal back-line, what's yours?
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10 comments:
Roy, we posted almost at the same time. Didn't realise until now.
Anyway...back to your question.
Hmmm...I'm not sure I agree with you in a lot of names.
I do think a guy like SAMUEL can still be very useful for us (if he gets back to his best fitness and form).
BURDISSO? I'm not the biggest fan, but I think he can be very valuable in a tournament like the World Cup, because he can play CB or either at RB or LB. There aren't many players who can adjust to that. And he is really good in the air.
I wouldn't mind to never see PAPA, COLOCCINI and HEINZE again in Albiceleste.
Cata DIAZ? A good defender. I don't think he had many chances to prove his worth with Argentina, but I don't think he'll disappoint if he is given that chance.
I would love to see Gabriel MILITO back to full fitness and I'm curious of seeing how he does next season for Barcelona (if he stays there).
FORLIN looks like a great prospect. Still...I wouldn't trust him to play a big part as early as in our next WCQ matches. Too risky.
Regarding those who went missing in Diego's previous lists...
I like ZABALETA a lot.
Gonzalo RODRIGUEZ has a big question mark on him. How many times has he done his knee? Surely more than 2. Probably 3. Problems in both knees.
INSUA is a great prospect. Still young and with a lot to learn. Don't forget he captained the team that failed soundly in Venezuela in the last South American U20 tournament. He's not the only one to blame for that. Don't know if he is ready to be called upon to cover our left-back position.
MONZON? I like him. I kind of lost track on him when he went to Betis because I don't follow La Liga that much.
PAREJA could be worth a look. On top of his pace and awareness, he takes brilliant free-kicks too and can play in many positions.
GARAY is one that should be in the mix. No doubt. I wonder if he is fit enough. Surely a lot of potential in him. Would like to see him getting some games with us.
FAZIO is a rare bird. He is a very tall Argentine defender. We don't have many of those! Still young, though. He's getting experience at Sevilla, but I doubt he'll be ready for South Africa 2010.
ARCA? Nope. I don't think he is good enough for our national team.
I have to completely disagree with you on BURDISSO. He's versatile, but thats it. He's been a COMPLETE mess with Inter this year. And I mean COMPLETE mess. Worse than HEINZE and that's saying something.
DIAZ I don't think is NT material. He had a decent match against Peru(I think it was Peru) during one of the Qualifiers, but thats been it. He hasn't been too good with Getafe from what I've seen either.
MILITO, I like.
The reason why I have FORLIN is because he's still young and he can learn and get valuable experience by being around some veterans.
RODRIGUEZ is like SAMUEL. Good, but injured too often. IF he can stay healthy, I really think Diego should call him up. SAMUEL maybe deserves another chance, but out with the old. Maybe he can play the Caniggia role in 2010(doesn't play, but there for experience).
The rest I completely agree with you.
Seba i have to agree with Roy on Burdisso , inter fans don't want him in their team anymore same with real madrid fans not wanting Heinze in the team!
I have to admitt that i'm not too convinced with Demichelis anymore , he conceded 6 goals against bolivia , 5 against wolfsburg and 4 against barcelona , other than that there was a UEFA cup match last year which bayern lost by a big margin .
my favourate centre backs are Samuel , Milito and Garay. unfortunately none has played for argentina in a really long time.
as for others : Collocini is not good when it comes to pace and one on one situations and often plays dirty.
I have really good hopes for Monzon although i only see him feature as a substitute with betis but he has a fierce left foot shot .
Papa did not convince me in the matches he played , good player but not efficient.
Emiliano Insua is my favourate choice and most hopeful for the left back spot , i just hope he can get his chance in the NT before the world cup.
Gonzalo Rodriguez does seem like a good player and i have good hopes for him too.
Cata Diaz is average and although i prefer him from the trio of disasters : Collocini , Burdisso and Heinze.
i wish Samuel and Milito could be at their absolute best next season and make it to the team again.
as for Garay i really think that he will succeed at Real madrid same way how S.Ramos has succeeded.
As for right backs , i don't see anyone deserving his spot more than Zanetti , he is the most capped player for Argentina and yet he missed the 2006 world cup which was a really big loss having scaloni , cufre and burdisso playing instead of him , Zabaleta can be a suitable substitute for Zanetti.
The fact is we don’t have that may option in left back, I say why don’t we try MONZON in that position? He did performed well for us in that position in Beijing though we all know the level of football in the Olympics is not something of high standard to speak of.
In central defense, I feel DEMICHELIS is a must even though he had seen his goal being conceded a total of 10 times in just a week (six against Bolivia and four against Barca). However on his best he is immense but the real question here, who he should be partnered with.
Well there is a list of names as mentioned by Roy, Seba and Messidona19 and my preferred choice will be Walter SAMUEL provided he is fit. I don’t think SAMUEL has been getting himself injured more often as Gonzalo RODRIGUEZ.
Personally maybe its time to turn our young guns. The likes of FAZIO, GARAY and maybe even FORLIN have great potential to key members of our national team. I wish I could the say the same of INSUA but he needs to play more regular football for Liverpool (or find a new club) if we wish to see him as a regular for our NT.
I used championed Nicolas BURDISSO but that was only because of his performance for the last two seasons. He was scoring regularly for Inter and he proved my point in the match against Mexico last year. But this season, he has been erratic for Inter but as mentioned by Seba, he is versatile and could be great back up player.
In right back, there is no way we will ever going to see Javier ZANETTI ever going to be replaced come 2010 so he will start in that position. Pablo ZABALETA can play as back up for him and I do see him in the long run replacing ZANETTI in that position. He is City’s best signing this season for consistency as compared ROBINHO.
My back 4 would be
Zanetti/Zabaleta demichelis/Gonzalo Samuel/Milito
Monzon/Insua
Micho and samuel should never play 2gether coz both are very slow.Our Ideal Back line should be Micho and milito/Garay or garay/Gonzalo and Samuel with Monzon as Lb.
Best defender in ARG is Micho and Samuel by far.
Garay was grt last year.This season has been a disaster for him so far.I believe Forlin and Cahais have grt Potential along with Fazio
If we can develop Fazio he can turn into a very good player for us.Also Burdisso should be on the team though never as a starter.He can be a backup for all the positions across the backline.
Welcome to Mundo Albiceleste Soutam! Tell us more about yourself.
Thanks for your comment. And thanks for reminding me about CAHAIS.
For me, Gonzalo Rodriguez is Argentinas best defender. When fit, he is immense. It's a shame that he has such injury problems.
Zanetti should be right back, and I would like to see Insua being tested on the left side.
As central defenders: Gonzalo if fit, and then Milito, Demichelis or Pareja, who I think is an impressive player.
Heinze, Coloccini and Burdisso should be nowhere near the national squad. And I am not convinced by Papa either.
/El Burrito
Some assorted thoughts:
Cata F*****G Diaz. My all time favorite player. Obviously, I would like to see him get more time. I still have faith in Demichelis. Alot of the players mentioned I don't see play enough to have an opinion. If Burdisso can't start for Inter then he ain't good enough (same goes for Carrizo at Lazio in my humble opinion). Collocini gets bad marks from everybody. I don't think Papa, the little spud, is as bad as some people think, but I don't like players who roll over about 32 times when they receive a mild foul. Have some friggin' pride already ! I see Forlin every week at Boca, a very good young talent at center back. But, with the emphasis on young. I have seen him play at fullback some and also in Masche's position. Not very impressive at those positions. I haven't seen Monzon play in a long time. He was impressive at Boca, but also very young. I like Zabaleta to be part of the team. Smart and plays within himself. Like Jonas. And bring back Angeleri for more evaluation. As for Gaby Milito, I hope upon his return to football he is still the same player. He has been out a long time with a very nasty knee injury and complicated rehab. And, oh yeah, I suppose no more Heinze. It seems fullback is the trickiest position for Maradona to dope out, just as it was for Coco. We have older players with a good track record there, but as they get older their performances are more uneven, and then we have a bunch of younger guys with talent, but largely unproven.
Great performance today from Cata Diaz in Getafe's win at Sevilla !
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