Thursday, May 13, 2010

PALERMO in danger? GARCE to go to the WC?

So many things to write on the headline. So little space.

It's been a crazy week. With the list (delays included), the nappy changes and some work I had to do, I couldn't keep you up to date with a lot of things that happened in these last few days. Things that are relevant, things that are not and things that are just making me feel like I will vomit if I keep reading.

A new podcast is coming and we will discuss these things, but here's a little preview.

THE LIST OF 23 WILL BE ANNOUNCED EARLIER

The deadline to submit the World Cup squad is June 1. Apparently, MARADONA and the AFA will avoid the mess, the chaos and the embarrassment they were under when they announced the list of 30.

I can't guarantee there won't be any delays, but at least the intention is to announce the World Cup squad by Wednesday, May 19. It's unclear why the announcement will be made so early, but what MARADONA is saying is that on the next day they will be start training.

Four days later at the Monumental, Argentina will play a friendly match against Canadá as part of the celebrations of the country's first 200 years of history.

HOW AND WHEN WILL ARGENTINA FLY TO SOUTH AFRICA?

Argentina's build up for the World Cup has been nothing but disastrous. Fights. Arguments. Delays. More fights. Less certainties. The cancellation of the only (almost) proper friendly we had scheduled. Some more arguments about it. And now, less than a month to go for our debut against Nigeria, we still don't know how and when will our team fly to South Africa.

At first they said they were going to fly on May 26 from Buenos Aires to Dubai to play a friendly there and then fly with the same plane from the Emirates to Pretoria.

The Dubai friendly was cancelled and Diego argued with GRONDONA and his son (with money surely being one of the main motives) and a week later, they still don't know when will they fly to get to the University of Pretoria and start the final preparation for the World Cup.
The idea is to travel on the 26th and go straight to South Africa, but they are getting problems to get the number of tickets they need and MARADONA (quite rightly) refuses to let the team split in half and travel in different planes, so the team will likely be flying on the 29th.

The AFA is also looking at organizing another friendly, but the proposal of playing South Africa on May 31 has been rejected.

A friendly against Israel (like in the build up for Mexico 86 -even though MARADONA, paid by Nike, said he wants to forget 86 at a press conference in Munich before facing Germany-) is another possibility, but there is no information regarding date and venue.

We don't know what MARADONA's expression will be if things keep getting complicated even with these travel itineraries that should have been solved some time ago. In the meantime, I recommend you to visit this link and watch the video (the text is in Spanish but it's no so relevant). It is about how Diego's face has been changing from the day he took over as manager and these days.

PALERMO COULD MISS THE WORLD CUP?

Not that Diego came to his senses and decided to exclude him from the list, but Martín PALERMO made the headlines for the wrong reasons a couple of days after he was named as one of the 30 Argentine players that are still with chances to go to the World Cup.
Well...those chances have taken a hit when news came to the surface that The Titan's ex-wife, Lorena BARRICHI (on her way to become a beloved figure by many!), is suing him for money laundering.
The model wants Justice to seize PALERMO's possessions and to prevent him from leaving the country. She is accusing PALERMO of committing a fraud to send money to Uruguayan companies to avoid splitting the money in equal parts after the couple's divorce.

According to BARRICHI, PALERMO has not declared a total of 5 million Pesos (1,270,000 USD) to the tax authorities.
My gut-feeling? The woman saw the opportunity to make some noise and she will surely get some money out of this mess without proceeding with her sue and PALERMO will be free to go to South Africa where he wants to ask Didier DROGBA for his shirt.

Ariel GARCÉ DEFINITELY going to the World Cup

When PALERMO scored his header against Haiti, it was Ariel GARCÉ who had crossed the ball to him.
GARCÉ is one of those players unknown to the majority of Mundo Albiceleste readers. He can play as a central defender or as a right-back and he is currently at Colón de Santa Fé (same club as Diego POZO, the third keeper. So Colón de Santa Fé and Newcastle have 2 players each in the list of 30. Same as the Champions League finalists, Coppa Italian winners and Serie A leaders, Inter Milán. But anyway...). GARCÉ is a good guy. A great guy, I may add. And let's be clear on this...it's not his fault that he has been called up.
Even before knowing which of the 30 players are going to get axed by Diego, I can tell you that

Ariel GARCÉ WILL GO TO SOUTH AFRICA.

Why? Because he said it himself. He had already bought the tickets to travel as a fan! No way he is missing. I've got no clue whether he will go as an Argentina player or just as a fan, but he is going.

Is your heart beating again? hahahaha!

If anything, this speaks volumes of how GARCÉ cares about the Albiceleste. I still don't want him included in the World Cup squad and I still think ZANETTI is a million times better, but I like him more after knowing this fact.

YOU TAKE BARRIOS, WE TAKE ITURBE

It's over. We've lost him. Argentine-born Lucas BARRIOS will very likely be one of Paraguay strikers in South Africa. Paraguay is his mother's country. There was a time when MARADONA hinted he was considering calling BARRIOS up when he was at Colo Colo in Chile only to never call him up.

You have to admit that BARRIOS' competitors for a place as a forward for the Albiceleste were all world class (except for PALERMO, mind you). After waiting for a phone call that never came, the Borussia Dortmund striker has chosen to play for Paraguay instead.

Right. You pretty much knew that. But here's a twist to the story. Sergio BATISTA, who is still our U-20 national team manager despite missing out of the last Youth World Cup after a horrible South American tournament in Venezuela, will also travel to Pretoria to work with 16 youth players that are going to serve as 'sparrings' for MESSI and co.

They will simulate the way Nigeria, South Korea and Greece play so they help our team train and in the meantime, BATISTA will keep a close eye and work with them thinking of the future.

Here's the thing. One of those youngsters is Juan ITURBE, who is in conflict with Paraguayan side, Cerro Porteño, and has travelled to Argentina to join this group of players and probably play for the Youth Albiceleste in the upcoming tournaments.

ITURBE has the double citizenship, but the reason why this news could be important is because he is regarded to be a very special MESSI-like talent (wait...are they already labelling players as 'The New MESSI'? Isn't that too early!).

His parents are Paraguayan but Juan was born in Buenos Aires. This is a very complicated affair that involves agents, former Paraguay goalkeeper José Luis CHILAVERT, Cerro Porteño, Vélez (where ITURBE was supposedly brought by CHILAVERT) and of course, the AFA.

ITURBE already played a friendly for Paraguay under current manager Gerardo MARTINO.

It remains to be seen how this saga will end and whether this new MESSI lives up to his reputation and whether he chooses the Albirroja or the Albiceleste.

I haven't seen him play and I couldn't find any clips from YouTube. If you do...please share the link with us.

DIEGO vs. LITTLE COCO

This was another of the top stories this week. I was hoping to sell the story abroad and that's why I didn't post anything here on Mundo when it happened. Not that I think it was crucial to the fate of our beloved Albicelestes, like the announcement of the list or a player getting injured or something.
Some of you may have read it, some others don't. I won't write about it here because it will be too long and, frankly, it's just a show-biz-like kind of fight. I will talk about it during our next podcast (maybe!), but I'm getting tired of Diego's fights with everybody.

This time Diego was accused of something very nasty by Alfio BASILE's son (Alfio BASILE Jr). So I though I'd use this poster for them to stop getting at it and for our beloved-reader-and-friend-and-occasional-podcast-panellist Johnny's amusement!Yes! It's Big COCO advertising a whiskey brand! The prize? You win a dinner with Coco and a trip to South Africa with a friend! Gotta love it!

22 comments:

Anonymous said...

ITURBE has already played for Paraguay Youth teams, but still is eligible for Argentina down the road. U-20 or any youth level is not considered that you will play for that national team down the road. Zarate still is eligible for Italia, Higuain could still had played for France even though he had played for Argentina vs Guatemala and Catalonia. As for ITURBE playing style not very familiar with him but a lot of major clubs are after him. There is another youth named Guido Vadala who was dubbed the next MESSI because being from Rosario and FCB connection.The only issue was that his father wanted too much for his son to play for at FCB but Barca said no to the demand. He is with Rosario youth now.I am not going to lose much sleep if these kids do not meet our expectations. I think we have been spoiled with so many great youngsters in the last 5 years. I am not sure what the next big thing is for us, I try to keep track of our youngsters but nothing is blowing me out of the water. As of right now nobody is near MESSI level from 05),AGUERO in 07.

Jack!

salvio supporter said...

So if Palermo's legal issue gets too complicated... Milito would have secured a place in SA... and I see Seba is smiling...

Also: what's all this Children Mafia? first Grondona's son, now Basile's son. An authentic family Maradona has against him.

johnny said...

Coco ! I'm eating sushi at Yuki's with Coco and then we're going to Madaho's!! Heppa !! How much of that whiskey do I have to buy ??!! I still love Coco even though he was responsible for off loading Fabian "The Banshee" Vargas.

Anonymous said...

SOME GOD DARN ARGENTINA BLOG THIS IS YOU SAY YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND WHY THE LIST WILL BE GIVEN EARLY

WELL CONSIDERING EVERY SINGLE ARGENTINA FAN WORTH HIS SALT ALREADY KNOWS THAT SQUAD DAY IS MAY 20TH AND THE CANADA GAMES MAY THE 24TH

I THINK ITS KIND OF FRIGGING OBVIOUS

JESUS H CHRIST WAS THAT SO HARD TO WORK OUT

WHATS THE POINT IN GOING INTO TRAINING CAMP WITH PLAYERS NOT SURE IF THERE IN

I EXPECT SOME WILL GO AS SPARING PARTNERS FOR THE MAIN SQUAD AND SOME YOUTH TALENT ALWAYS THE WAY WITH ARGENTINA

THE CONCENTRATION WHITCH MARADONA SINGS ABOUT SO SWEETLY STARTS ON MY BIRTHDAY 20TH MAY

I WAS GOING TO LINK THE YOUTUBE OF MARADONA SINGING THAT SONG BUT I CANNOT FIND IT

Anonymous said...

if the squad meet up on may 20th wouldn't it be right to let them know or they will miss the bus and Argentina will be short of players in Africa

Anonymous said...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_uMJZ1MYTWE


bring it veron

Anonymous said...

please give it up folks zanetti had over a decade to help Argentina win something its time to put the maul out to pasture his had to long down the mine his blind and old

Sebastian said...

Well, Cappy Cappy, if you think about it, if the list goes out on June 1 and the friendly takes place one week before that, then why the hurry to name the squad one week before that.

I mean...Diego himself said he still needs to decide the last 2 spots.

I'm all for announcing the 23 players (like DUNGA did) and then name an extra 7 as reserves. Everyone will know what their role is and those 23 will grow on confidence, whilst the other 7 know they won't make it unless a team-mate gets seriously injured.

But if you don't announce 23 and you announce 30, then why not taking all the time you need to decide?

Why not see your players at a friendly? Why not try all of them? There are three who are unlikely to play v. Canada (DEMICHELIS, SAMUEL and Diego MILITO play the Champions League final two days before that friendly). You can keep a few or your first team choices out of this meaningless friendly and all of a sudden make it relevant for those fighting for a spot in the squad.

I wouldn't have done 90% of the things Diego did, but facing this kind of situation...I'd take the opportunity to render that friendly a little less irrelevant and see which are the players who deserve to avoid the axe.

But hey...I never make sense and you're OPINIONS are always more important than whatever other people say.

ZiggY said...

The list of 30 was very disappointing and nowhere near what anyone was expecting, predicting or even hearing from the media or rumors. Maradona is just simply unpredictable, illogical and stubborn. His self-centered attitude is letting him think that this whole campaign is about him and his coaching leadership. He wants to do it HIS way and dreams of lifting the cup and telling everyone "told you so". Fingers crossed for the last 23... im seriously expecting the worst and still more disappointment.

Anyway, just for fun.. check out this lineup of players excluded so far from the list of 30. It would surely even improve when the next 7 are excluded. But as they are so far, i dont think any other country can boast an excluded lineup like this. Hell i'd even field this team in the WC and feel safe.

-------------Carizzo--------------

Zabaleta--G.Milito--Garay--Zanetti

------------Cambiasso-------------

---Banega-------------L.Gonzalez--

----------Riquelme/Aimar----------

------Lisandro------Saviola-------

Unknown said...

That's more like it!! Nike want to take their winner to SA 2010 with Anton bloody Ferdinand FFS......

Give me dinner with Mr Coco any day........

Anonymous said...

It is about how Diego's face has been changing from the day he took over as manager and these days.....


YEAH ITS CALLED A BEARD

Anonymous said...

Sebastian,

I got a little confius somehow. First, I read your tounge-in-cheek comments about Palermo going to South Africa with his sub-plot intentions. In contrast, you wrote about Garce's innocence that he has been called up.

I mean, looking from a non-prejudice point of view, it is also NOT PALERMO'S FAULT THAT HE HAS BEEN SELECTED. Straight forward isn't it?

I know it has something to do with your Milito frustrations. I understand, but you know the world is not fair. Talent is one thing, opportunity is another.

I am one of million witnesses who saw Palermo missed 3 penalties in a game, live on tv. Guilty as charged, he was. 10 years later, he scored the "goal in the rain", and complete his redemption. I agree he is not the best striker, but he stood at the right place, at the right time. And the ball came to him.

There is no guarantee that Milito would score should he play. There are only ifs, maybes, perhaps.

-Aziz-

Fadi Dagher said...

Ziggi, i believe the formation you put is much stronger than the team going to the WC.

Sebastian said...

Point taken, Aziz.

I said it a few times, I've got nothing personal against PALERMO. In fact (and I said it before too), I like the guy. He is an example of perseverance, professionalism, working hard to achieve your goals, be the first to arrive to the training ground and the last to leave, etc.

What I'm against of is that he will take a spot that other players deserve more (in my opinion). I'm against him being taken to a world cup in which MARADONA, who has already revealed it, is planning to play counter-attacking football, a system that doesn't fit PALERMO's game. I don't know if you've seen much of PALERMO's playing lately, but he is just VERY slow. Even for the domestic league. Never been the quickest, but now it's just very difficult for me to think that he can cope in a World Cup with that lack of speed and those very slow movements.

Yes. It's not PALERMO's fault that he was called up. It's shared between MARADONA (99%) and the media, who kept on drilling his name into the collective brains in Argentina.

And now the majority of people (MARADONA included, which is really worrying), think PALERMO is magical and that he is a miracle worker touched by the magic wand and all those superstitious B.S.!

Sebastian said...

I agree with Fadi. Ziggy's lineup is more balanced and ready to play some passing game.

Add MESSI to that lineup and you've got yourself a contender this summer.

Anonymous said...

Romero
Clemente-Samuel-Demichelis-Heinze

Mascherano

Pastore Veron
Messi Di Maria

Higuain

Anonymous said...

Andujar
Jonas-Burdisso-Otamendi-Clemente

Rodriguez-Sosa-Di Maria

Messi Tevez
Milito

Rune said...

Really looking forward to the next podcast, guys.

Anonymous said...

Romero
Jonas-Samuel-Demichelis-Heinze

Patore-Mascherano-Di maria

Messi Tevez
Higuain

Anonymous said...

Maradona has already come out and said his team will not like Inter vs Barca, so this anit-football theory is rubbish!

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