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Sorry, I haven't been able to read anything past "Pekerman".
Argentina will be ready for World Cup, says Pekerman
Argentina will be ready for World Cup, says Pekerman
BUENOS AIRES, Dec 13 (Reuters) - Argentina are aware of the strengths of their World Cup Group C rivals but will be ready to have a good tournament, coach Jose Pekerman said.
Pekerman's seeded team were drawn in one of the toughest groups with the Netherlands, Serbia & Montenegro and Ivory Coast for the June 9-July 9 tournament in Germany.
"The team will be in good shape when they get to the World Cup. We have a very good team and I'm sure we'll have a great World Cup," Pekerman told the Argentine news agency Telam in an interview published on Tuesday.
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"You have to go to the World Cup in your best form. We Argentines are affected by our elimination in the first round of Korea-Japan," he said referring to the 2002 tournament.
Pekerman implied that talk about how tough Argentina's group rivals are has been based largely on their poor tournament four years ago in an even tougher group with England, Sweden and Nigeria and their erratic form in the last six months.
"But if the team were okay (now), like for example in the first half at home against Brazil, we wouldn't even worry today about our rivals," he said. Argentina beat Brazil 3-1 in Buenos Aires in June to clinch an early World Cup berth.
"Brazil are the best team at the moment, for the way they play. I like their players, their ideas, their football...and England are getting there with greater aspirations than 2002. Position by position, they are complete and will do very well."
Pekerman is leaving himself with little further preparation, however, saying: "There are six months left for the World Cup but we're only going to play one (warm-up) friendly, maybe against Croatia.
"In other words, the state in which the players get there will depend on what they do with their clubs."
He said he had never called up Juan Sebastian Veron of Inter Milan, Argentina's captain in 2002 when he was a Manchester United player, because "up to now there is a squad that has responded (to my wishes)."
Sorry, I haven't been able to read anything past "Pekerman".
Won't go anywhere forum
I thought this was the Spurs forum, not El Foro del Mundial.
wrong forum
Ginobili and Nalbandian should play in our soccer team. Maybe then....
ducks follows soccer?
Why does the Argentianian national team discriminate against Argentinian players who play in Mexico???
The only one on the squad is el "Chelo" Delgado...
Bruno Marioni is pretty good
So is Walter Gaitan...
Do they only have "eyes" for players that play in Europe????
The better playrs are playing in Europe. That's the only reason.
Marioni is crap, Gaitan is a decent player but he doesn't have enough quality to play in the national team. They never were stars here, and they failed to impress in their short spells in the European leagues. Where would Gaitan fit into a squad with Riquelme, Messi, Aimar, D'Alessandro, Luis Gonzalez, etc? Same could be said for Marioni: Crespo, Saviola, Tevez, Cruz, Diego Milito, Lisandro Lopez, etc., they are all better players.
@ducks: You did notice that this article is about the soccer World Cup, now did you?
Thank you Ducks...In other news...Generalissimo Francisco Franco is still dead ...
I don't follow soccer at all, but I distinctly remember we've already had a Mexico vs. Argentina scrap on this board before . . .
I posted this for the Argentina spur fans ........................
And yet a Marioni led attack sent PUMAS to the Final of the Nissan Cup (over Velez I should add)?
Of the players you mentioned who are better than Gaitan, only one has a better 'touch' with their left foot. They didn't give him the apodo of "El Divino" for nothing.
With regards to smeagol's comment;
I think that is part of the problem, the European leagues are percieved to be immensely superior to the clubs in this hemisphere, and yet teams from this side of the world have gotten the best of european clubs in the few "World Club Championships" that have been held.
Even Necaxa of Mexico which hasn't been very strong since the mid-90's ended up ahead of Real Madrid in one of those tournaments.
Foreign players in Mexico get paid well and get more guaranteed playing time cause Mexican team rosters only have like 22-24 slots. European rosters, on the other hand, sometimes carry as many as 45 players!!!
You're seriously comparing the Mexican league with the likes of the Spanish, Italian or the English?That's funny
You're seriously comparing the Mexican league with the likes of the Spanish, Italian or the English?
Read between the lines....
You are laughing at your own countrymen... nice sig BTW..
Boca Jrs, Velez Sarsfield, River Plate, Corinthians are all better teams currently than about 15 teams in the Spanish league, about 15 teams in the Premier League, better than most of the teams in the Bundesliga, better than about 3/4 of the teams in the Italian League....
You can't just say that becuase someone plays in Europe they are better. That is the blanket statement I was debating.... Certain teams in Mexico can go 'tu por tu' with teams in Europe as well.
Top to bottom Euroleagues are better yes...
But to say that the better teams from this hemisphere don't belong in the same sentence as the Euro clubs.... now that is laughable. They have proven they belong with the cream of the crop European clubs in FIFA's World Club Championship tournaments...
Last edited by hegamboa; 12-15-2005 at 04:14 PM.
Brazil has soo much talent that their top 5 player in the world talent will be on the bench
Look, it is common knowledge that the "big leagues" are not here in America. Its not always how much you get paid. Face it, playing for say Cruz Azul is not the same as playing for FC Barcelona or Real Madrid, no matter how much you would like that to be the case. The point is in soccer if you are great you go to europe, and anyone who tells you otherwise is copping out.
Besides, no offense but I wouldn't put Mexico's league at the same level as Brasil's or Argentina's, however, that's my opinion.
Historically no... but I never stated that to be a fact.... If you look at the trend of the lastest Libertadores Cups and this latest Nissan Cup... two Mexican squads have crept into the top 8 slots 4 times and at least 1 has reached the semi-finals 3 times. This is the second time a Mexican club has reached the Finals since they started getting invites back in 1999. To suggest that they have no talent is also rather naive.
I already answered to you why. They had their chance when they played in the Argentinian League, and they weren't something spectacular to deserve a call-up to the national team. Gaitán played in Boca and Marioni in Independiente and their performances weren't enough to deserve a spot in the Argentinian team: Gaitán was released by Boca after a while, and Marioni was sold to a relegation battler team in Spain. When they played in Europe (Gaitán in Villareal, Marioni in Tenerife) they didn't exactly set the Spanish League on fire.
Now they are playing in a League that is of lesser quality than Argentina, and can't be even compared to the Spanish, so they won't be called up. The truth is that most Argentinians that move to Mexico aren't stars here, they are just good role players and nothing else, with the only possible exception of Cesar Delgado, but he isn't a fixture in the Argentina National Team either.
Still, the better Argentinian and Brazilian players are scattered in European teams. Both countries are exporters, they constantly sell players to the top European leagues, and always produce new talent to replace those who were sold. If you had to make a list out of Argentinian fowards, Marioni would hardly make it into the Top 20 (only based on current form), and that's for four or five spots for the World Cup squad. Gaitán may have a sweet touch and be called "El Divino" in Mexico, but he is nowhere near Riquelme, Aimar or Messi. He could fight for a spot with D'Alessandro or Veron, but only based on the poor form of those two, if they gain back their form, Gaitan has nothing to do near the National Team.
FIFA World Club Championships you say? Then why the is Costa Rica's Deportivo Saprissa getting their asses beaten by Liverpool if the Mexican teams are better? Brazilian and Argentinian teams have beaten European clubs before, so I credit them.
By the way, the South American Cup stinks, so far it's a tournament made only for money without any prestige (many teams qualify based on how good their TV ratings are, not how good on the pitch they were last season). The only real prestigious compe tion is the Libertadores.
Many South American teams have won the Toyota Cup in Japan, beating their European counterparts. That being said, European teams are better, you cannot argue that. They have the better talent. Its like saying the Euro League B-ball teams are better than the NBA teams.
Exactly, the best South American players play in Europe, with very few exceptions that will move to Europe soon (Tevez, Mascherano, Gago, Palacio, Aguero, Cicinho).
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