A little over two weeks ago, on the morning of the start of the 2010 World Cup, Diego Maradona faced the world's media and did what he always does: wave his hands like a traffic policeman in the Buenos Aires rush hour, hold forth about every topic imaginable and flit from quiet contemplation to frantic hollering, often within the same answer.
Most regarded him as an eccentric curiosity – a manager who had used 107 players in qualification, didn't have much idea of his best team, and had repeatedly failed to get the best out of the world's best player in a generation.
Things have certainly changed. Three successive victories in Group B – achieved through an unlikely combination of bear-hugs, laughter, cajoling, coarse humour and a tactical sophistication few expected – have, inevitably, led to huge expectation back home. As Lucas Neder from Argentina TV station Tyc/Telefe put it: “No one back home gave this team a chance before this tournament started, now no one believes they can lose.”
Even striker Lionel Messi, who was made Argentina's youngest captain against Greece, finally seems settled in the colours of the Albicelestes. So how has Maradona done it? According to Sergio Goycochea, a teammate at the 1990 World Cup: “It's only now that he has had a chance to be a full month with the entire squad. So this now allows him to connect with the players, understand them and give them his support.”
The difference is striking.
Having given many of his second string a run-out during the victory against Greece last Tuesday, Maradona is planning to return to the players who began Argentina's campaign with that 1-0 victory over Nigeria, with two crucial differences. According to journalists close to the national squad, the rugged Velez Sarsfield centre back Nicolas Otamendi will continue at right back after replacing the suspended Jonas Gutierrez against Greece, while Juan Sebastian Veron, “the little witch” who is closest of anyone to Maradona in the squad, will be dropped to make way for Maxi Rodriguez.
Both decisions smack of common sense. Gutierrez, a converted left-midfielder-cum-right-back was out of his depth against Nigeria and Greece and, while Veron's passes are still as soft and loving as a baby's caress, he lollops around even more slowly than he did in his prime. Rodriguez, while not in the class of Esteban Cambiasso, who was strangely left out of Argentina's squad, is a little quicker and snappier than Veron, and alongside Javier Mascherano will certainly stiffen the midfield.
It was Rodriguez, of course, who scored a brilliant extra-time volley when Argentina faced Mexico four years ago in Germany – a 2-1 loss that condemned the Mexicans to their fourth successive second-round exit. So it is perhaps not surprising the Mexican media fears coach Javier Aguirre's team will tumble out at this stage again. But neither their pessimism, or last Tuesday's defeat against Uruguay, has winded the confidence of Mexico's close-knit squad. They are ready for revenge.
“We are better than that Mexico team, which didn't have so many players in European teams,” captain Rafael Marquez insisted. “Argentina has the best player in the world, Leo Messi, and that makes them more complete. But we will try to change all that. I have a thorn in my side from four years ago and hopefully on Sunday we can take it out.”
He also urged his countrymen to get behind the team: “There is always pessimism in Mexico. But we have to make them believe in us by working hard and fighting to make Mexicans happy. We need to change this mentality not only in football but other aspects of life to ensure we are better in every sense of the word. To be great, we have to set aside this mentality of being pessimistic.”
Much rests on whether the crop of young players that Aguirre has called “the best generation in Mexican history” can live up to his boast. Striker Carlos Vela remains a major doubt for Sunday's game with his twanged hamstring, although he did participate in passing drills in small spaces alongside Giovani Dos Santos and Guillermo Franco on Friday. Franco is expected to start up front, with recent Manchester United signing Javier Hernandez on the bench.
It could end up being a shootout in Soccer City. A repeat of 2006's minor classic would down go nicely.
Source:- www.theglobeandmail.com
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