Wednesday, February 03, 2010

MARADONA completely losing the plot!

I know a lot of you still believe we can win the World Cup and I respect that opinion/belief. Even more so, I wish I could share that and feel the same.

With the countdown clock to South Africa 2010 ticking at 126 days, 19 hours and 47 minutes as I write this, MARADONA just reached a milestone and has called-up more than 100 players for the national team.

I wish that was the only bad news I had to share with you, but there's more. Believe me. Keep writing...

For the friendly against Jamaica (10 February in Mar del Plata, Argentina), Diego announced a list today that included four players from Estudiantes de La Plata (Clemente RODRIGUEZ, Enzo PEREZ, José SOSA and Mauro BOSELLI -no VERON who has already been pointed by MARADONA as one of the three players with a spot in the World Cup squad guaranteed (the other two being Lionel MESSI and Javier MASCHERANO)-), but then, AFTER he submitted the list and made it public, he realized Estudiantes have to play for the Copa Libertadores around the same date Argentina will face Jamaica so he had to delete those four names from the list.

A few minutes later, he came up with the replacements and now we know the 18 players that will be available for the friendly against the Reggae Boys.

With players from Newell's (SCHIAVI, for example), Velez (Maxi MORALEZ? OTAMENDI, DOMINGUEZ, CUBERO?), Colón (Diego POZO, Esteban FUERTES), Banfield (ERVITI) and Lanús (Sebastián BLANCO) also in action for their clubs in the Libertadores and not available, MARADONA choose the following footballers from our local league:

Goalkeepers:

Nelson IBAÑEZ (Godoy Cruz)
Cristian CAMPESTRINI (Arsenal)

Defenders:
Matías CARUZZO (Argentinos Juniors)
Mariano ECHEVERRIA (Chacarita Juniors)*
Gabriel MERCADO (Racing Club)*
Ignacio CANUTO (Argentinos Juniors)
Leonel GALEANO (Independiente)*
Lucas LICHT (Racing Club)*


Midfielders:
Juan MERCIER (Argentinos Juniors)
Jesús MÉNDEZ (Boca Juniors)
Walter ACEVEDO (Independiente)*
Patricio TORANZO (Huracán)*
Federico INSUA (Boca Juniors)


Forwards:
Martín PALERMO (Boca Juniors)
Nicolás GAITÁN (Boca Juniors)
Gabriel HAUCHE (Racing Club)
Juan Pablo PEREYRA (Atlético Tucumán)*
Franco JARA (Arsenal)

* = First call up.

With the seven new 'international' players on this list, the tally now goes up to 101 in a little more than one year.

But do you want to hear something even 'funnier' ('pathetic' would be the most appropriate word): Juan Pablo PEREYRA (no disrespect to him but this if the first time I hear his name and I'd like to believe I'm a keen football fan) from Atlético Tucumán IS CURRENTLY INJURED! He's got a broken nose and he is expected to be back in action for his club on 14 February (four days after Argentina v. Jamaica).

Not to mention that one of the players MARADONA used for the friendly against Costa Rica (Carlos MATHEU of Independiente) suffered a serious knee injury after only two minutes into that game and you can imagine Américo GALLEGO, Independiente manager, not being in a very good mood after that. Think about this now: only a week after that episode, Diego strikes back and calls up two (key) Independiente players that, if nothing else, will risk having an injury in another meaningless game, considering that both have very slim chances of making it into the World Cup squad.

This is an absolute nightmare. To know that this man will be in charge of leading a vastly talented generation of Argentine players into a very demanding World Cup just makes me sad and I already feel disappointed.

I do believe luck is important in every big tournament, but every day that goes by it seems we are going to rely on luck more than all the other teams that are going through a proper preparation.

End of rant. Over to you, amigos!

28 comments:

Sebastian said...

In other news, Roberto AYALA has been confirmed as a new Racing Club player. He'll be unveiled on Thursday at the stadium and will probably make his debut the following weekend when Racing visit Gimnasia y Esgrima La Plata.

Oh and *spit* Julio 'Tony SOPRANO is a saint compared to me' GRONDONA *spit* has publicly said he wants Juan Roman RIQUELME back in our national team.

Expect more to come on this farce from this authentic cancer for Argentine football.

Anonymous said...

that would be great if riquelme comes back,he would be the key to most of our problems.


but i belive it when i see it,i dont think that druggy man would take him back.

Anonymous said...

maradona is fucking stupid
if he did not sack immediately argentina will be doom.

he is the stupidest manager i ever seen but he. if anybody other than him is managing argentina, he can go at least semi final world cup and qualify easily to world cup

sir raul

Anonymous said...

Well Seba, I wrote sometime ago Diego had lost his mind and I believe it was due to the damaging thing he has done to himself with drugs. What is the point for these games? I still have faith in our team even if he is our manager. But Diego is a complete loon, and I am numb to it. After a while a beating does not hurt so much, you just become numb. Such a tragic time for our national team.

Jack!

Anonymous said...

diego is going mad ummm to late he is mad.

Anonymous said...

let him do his own job... we are thinking in our own way.. and this sort of thinking never helped argentina after 1986... so let diego do it by his own way... even he choose the player we like and if success doesnt come thn again it is diego would take the blame end of the day... so let maradona do it by his own choice and if he fails thn we would blame him...

Abs said...

Raul, Jack, Pablo, and the other .. One word .. RESPECT !!

ZiggY said...

Ridiculous...

MaxiLopez said...

I realize now that Maradona only cares about the money. He doesn't care about the NT, or doesn't realize how things should be organized.

Maradona has tested so many players because he wants to judge them by himself, with his own eyes, not in front of his TV. A NT coach watches his players at the stadium, and gets indications thanks to video analyzing. 99% of our best players are in Europe and the only thing Diego does is to test boys in Argentina. If Maradona cared about the NT, he would be living in Europe and would be watching Inter & Liverpool games in priority and also Real, Barca, Napoli, Catania, etc.

Maradona is waiting for the month of May. He has other things to do right now.

Unknown said...

I really hope in 6 months we can look back at this blog and laugh about how negative we all used to be ;)

johnny said...

A crying shame to be sure is this ludicrous Maradona/Grondona roadshow. Grondona is the major guilty one for hiring Diego in the first place.

And I want to make this statement: Drugs have NOTHING to do with Maradona's incompetence. He isn't fit to be a coach because he has essentially no coaching experience, has a major personality disorder, and as such is completely and utterly unqualified. To lay the blame on drugs is to miss the point. Maradona would be a disaster as a coach if he had never drank a drop or snorted anything.

johnny said...

You know what would be interesting would be to see a comparison to this point in time in the number of call ups made by Maradona compared to those call ups by Dunga. With total numbers called up and also european versus "local" players.

For all the criticism Dunga has received in Brazil, I think he has done a great job. Organized, with a plan he sticks to, and performance on the field is the key to playing.

GK said...

Everyone needs to take a deep breath and relax. The two games against Costa Rica and Jamaica are completely pointless. Let Diego call up 150 players for all I care. Come March 3 when we face Germany, we will get a real clue of what to expect in South Africa. Anyone who says Maradona doesn't care about out national team should bite their tongue. Sure he can be a complete moron in his coaches abilities but I have no doubt for his passion for the Albiceleste. There are very few of us left but I still believe we can make an impact in the Wolrd Cup, we may not win it but we will show up and go deep. Who wants to go into the World Cup as favouites again anyways? Where does that always get us? An early exit in the group stage or knockout rounds. I think it is going to benefit us going in as the underdogs for a change. I know how hard this can be but I have to say.... BELIEVE! We are the Albiceleste supporters and we are strong!

rey said...

it is time to get worried...

Mike D said...

I have to agree with GK, (and not cause he's my brother, haha). Going in as a favorite never helps us. I think by the time we play Germany we will see a much more European based team. I think he should have finalized his squad by now so the boys are used to one another come June. You can have the greatest starting 11 in the world but if they don't mesh and have time to play together they can never play to thier full potential.

And a little rant of my own. Stop blamming everything Diego does wrong on "the drugs". When he makes a stupid decision or makes a bad call up, it's because Diego is full of himself, and refuses to take advice from others. So if it's right in his eyes, then it's right for the country, the players, and the fans. He was a great player not a coach. I guess I'm just sick of hearing about Diego and his past with drugs.... ALOT of professional athletes do drugs, I'm not saying it's right but, the only difference is that Diego got caught.

Mike D (Canada)

Dave P said...

Agree with GK...We can only wait and see what happens, although he may not be making calls and moves the way we want him too, no judgement can be made until the World Cup.

Dave P said...

Oh is this true?
Grondona talked to Roman
http://momento24.com/en/2010/02/03/riquelme-to-return-for-argentina-national-team/

johnny said...

I don't think Roman would come back to the NT unless Maradona was replaced, and I doubt that will happen. In addition, the NT has had more than it's share of personality conflicts recently, and at least some of those centering on Roman before he quit. IF the NT had a disciplined coach who would put up with zero personality crap from Roman, or any other player, then it would be nice to see Roman on the squad. That ain't gonna happen.

By the way, Roman drilled a gorgeous goal from outside the area this past weekend, and at least for the moment looks to be healthy. His free kicks have improved recently as well. A healthy, in form Riquelme is a beautiful thing to see.

GK said...

Dave P, I'm just as hopeful as any other Mundo reader to see Roman return and the article even got me a bit excited until I read the last line....

"Based on some reports, Riquelme would accept only if Maradona himself calls him back."

....no chance of that happening.

Roy said...

Maybe Diego has 3-4 players in his mind from the domestic league so he keeps having these useless matches to see how they do? I don't know, this is just getting extremely frustrating. Diego should have a good 15 names already on his list for the World Cup.

Agree with Mike that the Germany list will give us a clear indication as to who will make the World Cup squad. If we don't see Zanetti for the Germany match, then forget it, he won't be on the World Cup squad. If we don't see Cambiasso, Banega, Samuel and/or Lopez, then forget about them.

As for the Riquelme rumor... I hope it's true. Riquelme on the team can provide stability in midfield.

Anonymous said...

for seba Juan Pablo
PEREYRA has pulled out and diego
replaces him with Claudio Bieler
(Racing Club) its on afa's website

Anonymous said...

Latest list:

Matias Caruzzo (Argentinos Juniors)
Juan Mercier (Argentinos Juniors)
Ignacio Canuto (Argentinos Juniors)
Nelson Ibáñez (Godoy Cruz)
Cristian Campestrini (Arsenal)
Franco Jara (Arsenal)
Mariano Echeverria (Chacarita Juniors)
Federico Insua (Boca Juniors)
Martin Palermo (Boca Juniors)
Nicolás Gaitán (Boca Juniors)
Jesus Mendez (Boca Juniors)
Patricio Toranzo (Huracán)
Walter Acevedo (Independent)
Leonel Galeano (Independent)
Lucas Licht (Racing Club)
Gabriel Hauche (Racing Club)
Gabriel Mercado (Racing Club)
Claudio Bieler (Racing Club)

Anonymous said...

i got a call from Maradona yesterday that i have to fly over to Argentina and play against Jamaica!!!

but i said that i have to write my diploma in mathematics and have to stay in Germany.

so pity, i really had the chance to become call nr. 103.

Vitalij from Germany

pisingh said...

haha- hilarious

BrokenFace said...

Gentlemen,

The worst is that Vitalij from Germany might be perfectly right...

Sadly and shamefully, I can perfectly picture el Diego making random calls to perfect stranger all around the world: "Che, you like foo(t)ball? You like to come to play for Argentina for me? I'm D.A.M. and I am serious, don't hung up, please; come on, che".

(On the other hand, *I* would love to play for Argentina, even if I'm 39 and a miserable football player. Oh, Diego, please call me!);

Good night, and good luck.

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