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!