Thursday, April 08, 2010

Lucas BARRIOS eligible to play for Paraguay

This morning he's got the news. Borussia Dortmund's striker, Lucas BARRIOS, has become a Paraguayan citizen and so he will very likely play for the Albirroja in South Africa 2010 after Gerardo MARTINO publicly said he would love to have him on the squad (especially after Salvador CABAÑAS' unfortunately incident in which he got shot in the head -he will miss out on the World Cup though he is making a wonderful recovery and we are very glad to hear that-).

Lucas BARRIOS is the son of a Paraguayan woman who got married to an Argentine man and therefore he was eligible to obtain his Paraguayan passport and so he did.

Speaking to a journalist from Ole.com.ar, BARRIOS is saying he is very happy to have become a Paraguayan citizen because that's his mother's country.

"I'm happy to have the chance to be called up by MARTINO, but I don't know what is the decision he will make. I only care about what happens here with Borussia Dortmund".

"I don't have much information about the national team of Paraguay. Just what I hear about from my team-mate here in Dortmund, Nelson HAEDO VALDEZ. I know Paraguay have a lot of great forwards and everybody knows that".

I remember when Lucas BARRIOS was still playing for Colo Colo in Chile and Diego MARADONA said he was watching him. Said BARRIOS had chances to be called up in the future.

But to be fair with Diego...just take a look at the number of attacking options he has at his disposal.

It is always going to be the case for countries such as Argentina and Brazil that inevitably some players are going to choose to play for other national teams. The depth and the competition for places at Argentina and Brazil (perhaps the best two examples, though there are many other countries we could mention here) surely prompt players to search elsewhere in order to fulfil their dream of playing in a World Cup. Player that would have never ever been good enough to play for their home countries.

I'm not saying this is BARRIOS' case, because we are talking about a young player with lots of potential and maybe after South Africa with some forwards getting older and more experience in Europe he could have had opportunities with the Albiceleste.

We've seen David TREZEGUET opting to play for France (though he was born in France and people were questioning why he didn't play for the country in which he spent his life between the age of 4 and his late teens). We've seen Mauro CAMORANESI lifting the World Cup trophy for Italy, though he is 100% Argentine. We will probably see Nestor ORTIGOZA (who plays for Argentina) join Lucas BARRIOS in the national team of Paraguay.

Guillermo FRANCO will play in the World Cup for Mexico. And the list goes on and on and I'm sure I'm leaving a lot of names out from this brief look at the subject.

To be honest...I'm not taking a radical stance on this. They are entitled to chase their dreams though it is sometimes gutting to see them opt to play for a different national team.

I guess it would have pissed me off had Gonzalo HIGUAIN choose to play for France, for example. Not to mention if MESSI would have taken a very different path and opted to play for Spain! It hurts just to think about it!

We still need to see whether MARTINO calls BARRIOS up and what would BARRIOS do if MARADONA decides to dial his number.

In the meantime, good luck to BARRIOS and hope he finds a place called Mundo Albirrojo to see his goals and more articles about him.

25 comments:

Vedran said...

there are so many fantastic Argentine forwards that will never make it to the World Cup because between Tevez, Higuain, Milito, Messi etc. there just isnt enough room, its unfortunate but when there is that much talent, someone has to be left off. Good luck to all the other Argentine footballers fighting for playing time.

LM10ARG said...

Someone on the chat saying he wants Barca not to qualify for CL final so Messi can be fresh for canada friendly since the CL final is on 22nd and the friendly is on 24th May. Does it make any sense to any of you to wish such a thing for a friendly game??? He even said all Argentines want Barca not to qualify for CL final. Whats ur thoughts??? I really wanna know.

Anonymous said...

To LM10ARG-

My point(Same person from the chat) is that we need some of our key players to be rested. The CL final is on the 22nd and our friendly is on the 24th. Sure you can view it as a friendly but this is our last game home for the fans. I vividly recall what happened in 2002 when our players were so drained and could not play football at the WC. Diego is even against this friendly and wants our players to be fresh. I'd rather have Inter who just have Samuel that will make the WC side then have our key star like Messi have to play a game on the 22nd, then get on a plane fly 12 hours non-stop then get ready for a friendly a 1 day later. To continue I have to real tie with Barcelona unlike my counterpart, I am not a fan of theirs nor do I have anything against them, I just want our star player to be as fit as possible. Remember country over club, no matter if it is a friendly, a friendly for your national team should mean more then a any club game. Which Messi has stated that he would trade in everything for a world cup title.

Anonymous said...

About Barrios, I do not care very much that he has left. We have more players at our disposal, we can throw Paraguay a bone. There will be plenty of players like him down the road. He will risk never winning anything at the national level if he goes to Paraguay. He will also miss the chance to play along side, Messi,Milito,Higuain,Tevez,Kun and so many other world stars.

LM10ARG said...

OMG what the hell did i just post??? I am extremely sorry that was supposed to be posten on soccernet bbut accidentally I popsted it here. Plz Sebastian delete it soon I am really embarassed.

John said...

It’s always the case here in Asia when many journeymen make their way to play for clubs across this continent could possible end up playing for their adopted country. There are tons of Argentine, Brazilians & African players that elevate the game in the domestic league here in Asia.

To a certain extent I think it can be a good thing.

Not sure if the names Juan Manuel AROSTEGUI and Bruno MARTELOTTO rings a bell here but these guys were an incredible tag team when they played for Selangor MPPJ FC back in 2003. They were almost offered a chance to switch nationality and play for Malaysia but that never materialized for some reason. However along the way, they were influential in spreading the gospel of Albiceleste to many local footie fans.

LM10ARG said...

Plz any moderator, DELETE my accidental comment which was supposed to be for soccerent. I am really SORRY once again and PLZ DELETE IT ASAP.

Anonymous said...

LOL I say keep it!

messidona19 said...

LM10ARg: You can delete the comment yourself where you find a trash bin button at the end of your post...

As for Barrios, I think Paraguay suits him much more than Argentina. I would have been hurt more if Higuain chose France instead.

LM10ARG said...

Actually I am not commenting from a google account. So it doesn't let me delete my own comment.

Tim said...

LOL, LM10ARG. I was so confused when I read your post.

LM10ARG said...

Haha, it's gone now. Sigh...But it was supposed to be posted on soccernet, instead it ended up here.

Anonymous said...

Que boludo! ;)

LM10ARG said...

I agree with anonymous, we can afford to throw a bone at paraguay. They won't possess much threat at wc I believe. But I will be really disappointed if barrios costs us points during next wc qualifiers. I used to keep count of his goals to check if he could become bundesliga topscorer. From now on, lucas barrios is nobody to me. I am glad he has only 15 goals while dzeko, kuryani and kiessling got 18 each. Hopefully one of them will become bundesliga topscorer to leave barrios empty-handed.

Anonymous said...

Let's not be so wicked guys. Barrios did what he feel was best for him. It is every player's dream of playing in the World Cup. Then again, he is still not capped yet for Paraguay, so let's keep our fingers cross incase something dramatic might happen.

salvio supporter said...

Maradona can't keep calling up players just to never use them again, wasting their chances when they could play for a different country. And Barrios may be good, but not as good as the others we have. Making noise out of this would be attacking Maradona just for the sake of it; non-sense, whatever. Good for Barrios and Paraguay, I have great expectations for them!

GK said...

There was never any room for Barrios in the Argentine attack, we have too much depth for our own good. I will be happy to see Barrios play at the World Cup and hope he does well. Good luck to him....

Anonymous said...

Barrios was on german tv some weeks and said he never had any contact to Maradona. I don't believe he will be the topscorer in the bundesliga, but is he is pretty good.

He will be caught up for the world cup, he is a much better player than Nelson Valdez, who scores one time in three years.

Vitalij

Sreenivas Raman said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Sreenivas Raman said...

Seba's last line in the post, sounds like a backhanded compliment to me... LOL

Anonymous said...

i aint good enough so ill play for another country

HOW SAD AND DISLOYAL INTERNATIONAL FOOTBALL BECOMING LIKE CLUB LEVEL

SO SAD

Maxi Lopez said...

Nothing surprising regarding Barrios. He’s on his way to be one of the best #9 in the next 5 years. A WC is a dream for every player, and as Barrios sees what the fools in charge of AFA have been doing for decades, he is right to play for Paraguay. I would have done the same. Especially when you see Palermo selected for WC, at 37 (!) and young talents always ignored unless they come from Boca/Napoli. We’ve lost another fantastic talent and we deserve it.

Maxi Lopez said...

Maradona has repeated that all Argentina needs is to prepare WC during the 30 days. This guy makes me sick. Why didn’t he start preparing WC with the friendlies with the same group of players instead of testing thousands of guys? He didn’t even use one of these friendlies to select Barrios, just once, to keep a great option for the future.

Anonymous said...

peak part loan
[url=http://vimeo.com/user4498961]half price hotel
[/url]cheap hotels in glasgow city centre
first kind flurry
five comet hotels
[url=http://www.earthday.org/users/48490]casino hotel prices
[/url]case cash-box
bargain on hotels
renting dwelling
[url=http://www.fairview.org/cty/members/klemot/default.aspx]hot price hotels
[/url]cheese-paring line in canada
hotel diana
egypt lodging booking
[url=http://www.youthcabinet.org/profile/Josh]comparing hotel prices
[/url]build ancestry cheaply
tawdry quarters in usa
scottish hotel deals
[url=http://www.beautyresearch.com/blogs/alexa/archive/2010/08/15/hotels-and-accomodations.aspx]hotel country house
[/url]booking a feather
revenue guidance hotels
hotel london base
[url=http://www.mazdacommunity.com/profiles/blogs/special-hotel-offers-or]hotel reservation cheap
[/url]establish brothel cheaply
reservations hotels
economy lineage v

Anonymous said...

outset sphere hotel booking
[url=http://vimeo.com/user4498961]cheap hotels in pattaya
[/url]cheapest lodging deals
brevity division airfare
online tickets booking
[url=http://www.earthday.org/users/48490]cheap hotel search
[/url]booking flights
5 shooting star financial assistance
business genre seats
[url=http://www.fairview.org/cty/members/klemot/default.aspx]lowest prices on hotels
[/url]develop intensify brothel cheap
bargain-priced ny hotels
from deals
[url=http://www.youthcabinet.org/profile/Josh]sun bright hotel
[/url]in the beginning year flights
unearth tuppence inexpensively hotels
australian enclosure
[url=http://www.beautyresearch.com/blogs/alexa/archive/2010/08/15/hotels-and-accomodations.aspx]near hotel
[/url]lerici
afordable enclosure
cheap hotels in lake part
[url=http://www.mazdacommunity.com/profiles/blogs/special-hotel-offers-or]cheap newcastle hotels
[/url]first-class economy class airline
hud housing pertinence
cheap flights to spain