Argentina thrashed South Korea 4-1 on Thursday afternoon in a win that effectively guaranteed the albiceleste top spot in Group B. Greece's succeeding 2-1 win over Nigeria worked in Diego Maradona's side's favour and, barring a miracle, they will now be looking forward to a second round match against either Uruguay or Mexico.
Puppet master Lionel Messi pulled the strings once again but it was Gonzalo Higuain who starred as the marionette, notching a second half hat-trick to confirm Argentina's place in the knockout stages. Higuain's goal touch more than made up for his carelessness in last weekend's win over Nigeria and propelled the Real Madrid striker to the top of the World Cup scoring charts.
Argentina's World Cup campaign has been an unmitigated success until now, but there are still serious defensive concerns to be addressed. With the team playing so well, it is easy to forget that Diego Maradona came under significant pressure during a qualifying campaign in which his team struggled to secure a place among the top four in South America. Despite the positive signs so far, most of the frailties of the last two years are still waiting to be exposed by any team with realistic designs on winning the World Cup.
Twice Argentina have blown their opponents out of the water with devastating attacking displays, but on both occasions they offered their rivals more than a tentative invitation to score themselves. Officially, Maradona's side have set up in a 4-3-3 formation so far, but Jonas Gutierrez's tendency to drift forward on the right means that it more closely resembles a 3-4-3 a lot of the time. From an attacking perspective this is highly effective, as the Newcastle man stretches the play creates space by drawing attention away from the middle of the pitch. Defensively it is very risky.
Puppet master Lionel Messi pulled the strings once again but it was Gonzalo Higuain who starred as the marionette, notching a second half hat-trick to confirm Argentina's place in the knockout stages. Higuain's goal touch more than made up for his carelessness in last weekend's win over Nigeria and propelled the Real Madrid striker to the top of the World Cup scoring charts.
Argentina's World Cup campaign has been an unmitigated success until now, but there are still serious defensive concerns to be addressed. With the team playing so well, it is easy to forget that Diego Maradona came under significant pressure during a qualifying campaign in which his team struggled to secure a place among the top four in South America. Despite the positive signs so far, most of the frailties of the last two years are still waiting to be exposed by any team with realistic designs on winning the World Cup.
Twice Argentina have blown their opponents out of the water with devastating attacking displays, but on both occasions they offered their rivals more than a tentative invitation to score themselves. Officially, Maradona's side have set up in a 4-3-3 formation so far, but Jonas Gutierrez's tendency to drift forward on the right means that it more closely resembles a 3-4-3 a lot of the time. From an attacking perspective this is highly effective, as the Newcastle man stretches the play creates space by drawing attention away from the middle of the pitch. Defensively it is very risky.
Another under-performing player managed to drift under the radar on Thursday thanks to the general delight at Argentina's propitious scoreline. Maxi Rodriguez is not worthy of a starting place in this eleven and, even though he was only playing against South Korea because of a minor injury to Juan Sebastian Veron, he shouldn't be in South Africa at all.
There is a reason Atletico Madrid allowed the former midfield dynamo to join Liverpool for free in January. He is simply not the player he was two or three seasons ago.
Controversial as it may sound, especially for followers of the Argentine Primera Division, I don't even think two-time South American Footballer of the Year (2008, 2009) Veron should be starting for this Argentina side. There is no doubt that the Estudiantes veteran has great vision, but he does not occupy the same position for Argentina that he does for his club and there are better players who could play in the withdrawn central midfield role. Esteban Cambiasso, another key figure in Inter Milan's historic treble winning season, is one. The formidable young Ever Banega of Valencia is another.
Cambiasso is essentially a defensive midfield man who will offer far more in terms of protecting the defence than Veron and, with as many as four out and out attackers on the pitch, that is crucial. Cambiasso also has a tendency to pop up with important goals and it makes little sense to me that someone with such experience was overlooked when players as limited as Maxi were included, as well as names like Martin Palermo and Javier Pastore who are unlikely to get a look in.
Ever Banega was, however, the one man I was most disappointed to see neglected. The former Boca Juniors midfielder has long been touted as the eventual replacement for Juan Roman Riquelme in the national set-up, but this season he finally justified all the hype by cementing a starring role in the Valencia midfield with some cultured performances. He is technically more proficient than Cambiasso or Veron, has an incredible range of passing, scores wonder goals and is very energetic in winning the ball back in the middle of the park. He, before all others, would be my first choice to partner Javier Mascherano in the heart of the team.
It is hard to criticise Diego Maradona at the moment given the refreshing approach of his team in a tournament that is yet to dazzle us. From a team selection standpoint he has one of the hardest (albeit enviable) tasks of any manager at this World Cup; where else would Diego Milito and Sergio Aguero sit warming the bench but Argentina? El Kun is still very young and you feel that his day will come. For Milito it is more unfortunate as this will be his last major tournament. He could still play a key role for the Albiceleste but, after Gonzalo Higuain's hat-trick against the Koreans, it is hard to see him breaking into the starting eleven.
"Pipita" Higuain deserves his moment of glory. This is a player who has had to force his way to the front of the queue at Real Madrid no less than four times. The rapid managerial turnover at Real means Higuain has already served under Fabio Capello, Bernd Schuster, Juande Ramos and Manuel Pellegrini in his four seasons with Los Merengues and under each coach he has started as third or fourth choice striker and worked his way up to become one of the first names on the team sheet.
We can assume that under Jose Mourinho this will not be the case. Moreover, if Argentina are going to fulfil their potential and go all the way in this World Cup, it is likely to be "Pipita" who scores the goals that fire them to glory.
What about leaving Tevez out for Milito? Wholly agree with Cambiasso, Zanetti and Banega. Does Maradonna want to emulate Kevin Keegan in his mentality of 'if you score four, we'll score five'. We all know what happened to Keegan. Burdisso over Demichelis as well for me.
ReplyDeletecouldn't agree more with you Simon. You are an exquisite writer and an exquisite bloke.
ReplyDeleteCan I just highlight how slow Demichelis is - he's slower than a docking boat that guy. He's an absolute liability and I would be shocked if he didn't make another error that proved costlier than his one against South Korea.
The problem with playing Milito and Higuain together in a formation with three attackers (Messi completing the foward line) is that they both like to occupy the central position highest up the pitch and they would be making similar runs and getting in each other's way. It is not an impossible combination but you do lose some attacking width that Tevez or Aguero provide. I hope El Kun gets a start against Greece. He will score more often than Tevez even if he doesn't cover as much ground. With Argentina already through, I think we can expect to see Milito and Aguero, if not from the start then certainly at some stage during the game.
ReplyDelete