Tuesday, May 04, 2010

Albicelestes news around the world

Busy week this one. Here's a selection of news involving Argentina and some of the notable Albiceleste players.

HELPING HAITI TO HELP PALERMO

As you are well-aware, Argentina (the domestic B side) will face Haiti on Wednesday in a friendly match that will be used to raise money for the Caribbean country that was hit by an earthquake in January.

At the same time, you could argue this is a match that will also benefit Martín PALERMO. He will have another chance to score (and most likely he will) against a very weak rival on national TV. That match, together with the constant propaganda made by the mainstream media in every paper, radio show or TV program, plus the advertising campaigns in which we can actually see PALERMO scoring a goal from the roof top of a tall building to another, does nothing to enhance 'El Titán' chances of making it to the World Cup. Not to mention Diego's friendship with him and the sense of eternal gratitude he now has for PALERMO after that goal against Perú in the WCQ.

On the same stage, Ariel ORTEGA, who used to be a great servant for Argentina (the key words being: "used to be") will also get his share of minutes and recently he has said that nobody will prevent him from dreaming of making it to South Africa. My hope is that it remains a dream. Honestly, we are talking about somebody who still has some unique talent, but doesn't have the body he had some 15 years ago and worst of all, he is a confessed alcoholic that can't commit to a training routine for his club, River Plate. How can he be at his best and join our World Cup squad in those circumstances? I beg Diego MARADONA to put his feet on the ground and avoid doing stupid things. I thank ORTEGA for all his service (bar that idiotic reaction heading VAN DER SAR's chin), but I don't want his name anywhere near the list of 30 (let alone the list of 23).

Both ORTEGA and PALERMO have started in MARADONA's first training session ahead of the match and look set to play from kick-off as the two forwards for Argentina.

Of all the other players that were called up to face Haiti, the only other one that appears to have chances to make it to the list of 30 is Juan MERCIER (Argentinos Juniors). The defensive midfielder has seen his chances increase after Rodrigo BRAÑA (Estudiantes de La Plata) has sustained a severe ankle sprain that will keep him out for the rest of May and probably a bit further too. So MERCIER appears as an alternative as a back-up in that key Javier MASCHERANO role.

WILL DI MARIA DRESS ALL WHITE NEXT SEASON?

Rumour has it Benfica has bought young hot-shot Nicolás GAITÁN (8.5 million Euro) from Boca Juniors because they have a deal done with Real Madrid that will bring Angel DI MARIA to the Bernabéu.

The deal is reportedly to be for about 45 million US Dollars and will see DI MARIA playing alongside Cristiano RONALDO, who recently said he would love to play together with Angel.

SERIE A COULD BE THE NEW HOME FOR OTAMENDI

Nicolás OTAMENDI, a player that is not very well-liked by many of our readers, perhaps because he is seen as the one occupying the place that traditionally belonged to Javier ZANETTI and perhaps because he is seen as inexperienced, could ply his trade in Italy next season.

The central defender from Velez Sarsfield, one of the best prospects that surged from the domestic league in recent years had a tough game against Brazil and was really exposed together with his club team-mate Sebastián DOMINGUEZ, but ended up having good games in Uruguay and Germany and is certainly one for the future. We will need to see if he is one for the present.

OTAMENDI is generating interest from Serie A clubs and AC Milan have apparently offered as much as 12 million Euro, though Velez Sarsfield has put a price tag of 20 million on their player.

BARRIOS AND THREE OTHER ARGENTINE PLAYERS ON PARAGUAY LIST

As announced on Mundo Albiceleste a couple of weeks ago, Lucas BARRIOS will be on Paraguay's preliminary list.

Together with the Borussia Dortmund striker will be Néstor ORTIGOZA (Argentinos Juniors), Jonathan SANTANA (Wolfsburg) and Sergio AQUINO (Libertad de Paraguay). All of them were born in Argentina, though their family hails from Paraguay.

I'm not sure about AQUINO, but BARRIOS, ORTIGOZA and SANTANA should all make it to South Africa and what kills me the most is that ORTIGOZA is a penalty-kick maestro. He's got a record of 15 of 15 playing for Argentinos Juniors. And we all know what a precious asset it is at a World Cup to have penalty-kick experts.

That said...I'm not sure whether ORTIGOZA would have made it to Argentina's World Cup Squad anyway.

11 comments:

johnny said...

Thanks for the update Seba. I didn't know about the Di Maria rumors heating up regarding Real Madrid. True enough that Di Maria and Gaitan essentially play the same position.

Anonymous said...

Sebastian, i have to say it off topic: you have a lot of writing talent! you can really tell stories like not many other prople

however i would like to see ortega in south africa. brings back memories about 1998, where i became a fan of Argentina.

Vitalij from germany

johnny said...

I meant to post this the other day but forgot. It seemed Tevez was playing in pain this past weekend. Clearly he appeared to be in pain after drilling a PK. Any news on this ? Might there be a possibility Carlitos is hiding an injury to insure a spot on the roster for the WC ?

Vitalij-Please no to Ortega. Of all the players whose time is past, he is at the top of the list.

GK said...

I've also been meaning to post something the last couple of days but have been pretty busy....

Seba, of all the people here at Mundo you are probably the one who watches the Argentine league the most, so you would be the person to tell us about Otamendi.

Like I have said in a previous post, I have only seen the kid play for Argentina in those few friendlies and qualifiers. But every article that I read about him online the journalist/reporter praise him, saying he is fantastic for his age and has a very bright future. This is always great to hear about a young Argentine but I am still skeptical about him playing out of position at such a young age at a WORLD CUP! Especially since we have the great Zanetti at our disposal.

Please enlighten us?

Anonymous said...

are you implying ortaga has a world cup chance and maradona is some kind of loony loco


its clear and its commonsense that ortaga has trubbles and he made them public it is clear the new maradona tag hurt him and didnt help his carree

can we please stop trying to out jurno a argentine tabloud jurnalist

ortaga is not going to any world cup can this bizzzzare fatuation with trying to prove maradona clinically insane PLEASE STOP it is not diegos sanity thats in qestion its clearly the blog/forum/jurno's writewrs who have the issue

maradona is not insane far from it


insanity is implying such down right lies about diego and argentina and im sadened this blog has stooped so FUCKING LOW

the caps guy

Anonymous said...

DID I NOT MENTION A FEW ARTICLES BACK THAT DIEGO WAS SIMPLY DOING ORTAGA A GOOD DEED A THANK U

AND THE FIRST PERSON WHO SAYS SOMETHING SDTUPID (UTTERLY STUPID) LIKE MARADONA PICKS ORTAGA HE IS MAD OR ORTAGA CONSIDERED FOR THE WORLD CUP SHOULD BE PUNCHED IN THE FACE


ARTICLE WRITER PLEASE PRESENT FACE AT A PUBLIC LOCATION HOLD IT TOO ONE SIDE TO ALLOW SANE PEOPLE LIKE MY SELF TO REPEATEDLY FUCKING PUNCH IT


WHY SAY SUCH OUT RAGUS THINGS I9TS TOTALLY INSULTING TO IDVERVIDUALS WHO CAN THINK FOR THEM SELFS AND NOT THINK WHAT A IDIOT JURNALIST WRITES



THERE IS NO ORTAGA AT WC ITS MEARLY A THANK U AND A SUPORT BECAUSE HE CAME CLEAN ON THE DRINKING ISSUE

ITS A MATTER OF RESPECT NOT WC PLAYER CHOICES PLEASE FOR GODS SAKE STOP THIS SHIT

ITS BAD KARMA ON ARE TEAM TO CONSTANTLY ATTACK IT WITH OUT EVIVENCE AND GOOD REASON



GROW UP IN OTHER WORDS

ARGENTINA2010 said...

great article, keep writim them like this.....

but anyway ortega has no chance of getting called up ok so get over that idea like the caps guy said, on the other hand sebastian i would like to hear more about otamendi too i have only seen few of him games...

messi- 31 goals and 10 asssts in la liga

Sebastian said...

Hey CAPS GUY: Since you came to Mundo Albiceleste you have been using foul language and you've been aggressive towards me and the people who don't seem to think things the way you do.

I'm asking you to stop doing both things. There is a nice community of Argentina fans here on Mundo Albiceleste and we take great pride in that. Therefore, we would like it to stay that way.

As far as I'm concerned, any player considered by MARADONA (at any stage) will still have chances to make it to the World Cup. Therefore, it'd be wrong if I assume such or such players are in or out. Like you are assuming that ORTEGA won't be going to the World Cup.

I'd like to think he won't be going and I hope he doesn't, but I'd be failing to a lot of people because over the years I've built a credibility with a lot of readers from all over the world.

We all know MARADONA has a tendency to say 'Yes' today and says 'No' tomorrow when asked the same question.

How could I write ORTEGA off when the final word is not pronounced?

What if I say: "ORTEGA won't go to the World Cup" and then Diego names him?

I'd rather have you punching my face in a public location than the entire Mundo Albiceleste community!

Sebastian said...

OTAMENDI?

First of all: a great talent.

It needs to be seen whether he is ready for the biggest stage of all.

He came through the youth set up at Velez Sarsfield and impressed everyone right from the day he made his debut.

Very confident and with perfect timing to close behind the full-back. That's where my problem is. He is supposed to close behind the FB, not BEING the FB.

Can play with the ball at his feet, which gives the team a clean, tidy start of the play from the back when he recovers the ball. He is also a quick player (at least for the domestic league).

Any player will suffer playing out of position or in a disorganised team. I think that was what happened when we faced Brazil in Rosario.

He was burned by that KAKA pass to Luis FABIANO and it was a very tough place for OTAMENDI to be. He was really exposed playing in such a game.

I think he's got a great future and he reminds me of a young Roberto AYALA because he is pretty good in the air too (not as good as AYALA but who is!?!?!?!)

He will shine in Europe given time and a good-enough structure in any league he is transferred too and I'm still confident he can even do a good enough job for Argentina this term.

He and the rest of the back four need to develop a good chemistry together and they could work well enough (like they did at Uruguay and Germany).

GK said...

Great scouting report Seba, thank you. I read that he is 5'10, which is a good height to see in our back line. Hopefully he can win balls in the air as easily as he can on the ground.

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