I am reading some positive things from Batista, that should have been obvious before the world cup, but we didn't have that with Diego. On Cambiasso: "Es un gran jugador, inteligente, puede ser un técnico dentro de la cancha y además tiene mucha experiencia." On the midfield: "Banega y Gago, por decir dos nombres, son jugadores muy bien dotados y que si se entrenan mucho tiempo como los españoles pueden jugar como ellos." On Burdisso, although it could be applied to Otamendi too: "Respeté a Burdisso por todo lo que hizo, por venirse a jugar ante Irlanda y por eso no lo puse a Zabaleta. Pero yo sé que es central y lo quiero por adentro." On los historicos: "Zanetti, Cambiasso, Riquelme, Verón... Ese tipo de jugadores han estado muchos partidos en la selección y pueden aportar mucho." He was also in Barcelona yesterday watching Perotti, Fazio, and of course Messi. These are all things we needed to hear before the world cup, but Diego had his own illogical way of doing things that included playing with out laterals and midfielders and it got us a 4-0 loss to Germany, but I have faith that Batista will atleast be able to make a list of the best players who are there on merit.
mascherano, banega and gago are all defensive midfielders. I think the team needs another playmaker, like pastore/riquelme. I like these comments from Batista, and after all, he didn´t select the Ireland squad himself, so it's going to be interesting to see who he chooses against Spain.
banega & mascherano are great but I never rate Gago that much, some of the game he played on qualifier, he's average. Pastore has big potential to replace Riquelme's role, it's rare to see someone that could be "next riquelme", Argentina produce too many "new maradona" for many years.
No idea, i don't think it's like it has been suggested that it was as revenge for not joining the U20 in the 2009, though in reality that was Huracán's fault Batista claimed that the players should push to be released too. I wonder if he noticed that Milito was the captain eysterday, even though Barça fielded many youngsters.
Boca Juniors midfielder Juan Roman Riquelme could return to Argentine nat'l team By The Associated Press (CP) – 47 minutes ago BUENOS AIRES, Argentina — Juan Roman Riquelme, who had a falling out with former Argentina coach Diego Maradona, could return to the national team under interim coach Sergio Batista. Batista told Radio La Red that he would like to see the playmaker team up with Barcelona forward Lionel Messi. The two played together to win the gold medal at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. "It would be good to have Riquelme and Messi playing together," Batista said. "We had them together in the Olympics and it went well." Batista also suggested he might recall Inter Milan teammates Javier Zanetti and Esteban Cambiasso, who were left off the World Cup team by Maradona. The 32-year-old Riquelme resigned from the national team 17 months ago in a spat with Maradona, who criticized Riquelme's play at Boca Juniors and said he would be of no use to the national team. Riquelme is still recovering from left knee surgery and has yet to play a match for Boca Juniors, which has only one point in its first two matches. Batista won last week in his debut as national team coach, defeating Ireland 1-0, and will get his second chance in Buenos Aires on Sept. 7 against world champion Spain. Another victory might secure a permanent job, although many candidates seem to be in the running, including Alejandro Sabella, Carlos Bianchi, Diego Simeone and Claudio Borghi. There is even speculation Maradona might return. Copyright © 2010 The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.
On olé it said he would also call up Gabi Milito (90% sure), Fazio and Pareja. Cambiasso and Zanetti are expected to return. And Salvio would be a surprise call-up. I'm anxious to see the list to be fair And calling up Roman again... I dunno, he still has a long way to go before he's fully healed, and we don't know how his level will be when he returns. I doubt we'll see him on the NT soon.
as long as grandpa veron and the other random domestic guys are off the team for the copa america, you guys should be able to compete. starting 11: romero zanetti-milito-samuel-heinze mascherno-cambiasso riquelme messi-higuain-dimaria off the bench: gk - adujar def - di michelis, insua, otamendi, papa mf - banega, datolo, pastore fw - milito, aguero, lavezzi, tevez
I dont agree with this whole list id prefer Insua over Heinze and probably Angeleri or Ansaldi on the right side midfield looks ok depending on JRR's health and plz why is Demichelis, Otamendi, Papa on the list? Fazio, Pareja, Forlin, and even Munoz are better choices not to mention Galeano and Garay is officially injured so he wont make the team otherwise he was in Batista's plans. BTW take out Datolo and add Perotti worst case scenario Seba Leto is there too.
Is Zanetti still playing well with Inter? He's like 37. And what about Cambiasso. I didn´t really pay attn to last years CL Otherwise, I like where Batista is heading with this. And according to ole, as I understood it, the list will be revealed on the 23rd of august.
i've learned no matter how much we cane him - heinze will always be there. until fazio, pareja, forlin and munoz start getting call-ups; you can't include them. garay was in batista's plans? i think he's gotta play first for his club which will be an impossibility now with carvalho, albiol and pepe ahead of him... personally i like datolo - he's a good winger and he is under the radar unlike di maria who was getting too much hype going into the WC bottom line - the players you named are good and all - but just need call-ups. if they start getting called up now; then we could see them in the copa america.
Wow, short answer? YES! Long answer: you should watch how Zanetti and Cambiasso played against Barça this year. Antifutbol, sure. But damn, did they shut Messi out of the game! Zanetti last season was playing at a higer level then he was in 06 if you could believe it. BUT, he does play as a right winger or DM for Inter.
I won't give Datolo a call to the Women NT of Argentina, He's one of the most stupid players that played in the NT, if you need a replacement for Di Maria you can take Perotti or Mancuello who played very well today.
Well, Zanetti renewed his contract upto 2013, so i guess he'll keep playing for a while longer, at least until the next Copa América, and more likely as he stays there he'll be the captain too.
I don't know. Insua looked like a scared chicken against Ireland. I don't recall him trying to do anything with the ball than immediately passing it back.
I was dissapointed that Insua did not leave Liverpool and join Fiorentina. His confidence was shot to pieces last season as he had a torrid time at left back, he needs to go a club where he will be under less pressure and he'll get more playing time to rebuild his confidence. Sadly he rejected the opportunity because he would prefer to sit in Liverpool reserves picking up his £40k a week.
I dont agree at all.you talk about grandpa Veron and want to include Zanetti and Heintze just because they play in Europe. Cambiasso has been rubbish for the seleccion and Zanetti in 120 caps has done very little.you starting 11 would be overrun like Diegos by a fit physical side. Forget the Euro hype look at Paraguay in the world cup mostly players based in SA.Argentinas league is every bit as strong as Serie A or Ligue 1.Ok we dont have Barca,Madrid,Chelsea or Inter but we also we dont have West Bromich,Hercules,Levante,Blackpool,Cesena,Bari.Remember these leagues are totally lopsided a few superteams and the majority Nacional B level
so what are you suggesting? you disagree but you don't suggest anything instead. zanetti and cambiasso are both very versatile players who can play just about anywhere on defense and midfield. i'll be willing to bet that Zanetti will be the top RB or even LB for the next 4 years out of all the players to choose from. i dont know why you're comparing the argentine league to the european leagues. i'm not going to waste my time arguing which league is better; zanetti and cambiasso have proven hand over fist the past year that they can shut down the best players in the world via Serie A and CL competitions. i personally don't like grandpa veron at this stage of his career b/c he's a liability to the team from a physical perspective - that's a fact that i have proven on here time and time again - ask anyone here and they will say that veron is not physically capable of handling the rigors of international futbol. zanetti is more fit than probably 99.9% of all the players in the world. cambiasso at half form is still a better option than players like bolatti and an out of form maxi rodriguez. like i said - if you're gonna disagree with me that's fine, but at least take a moment to offer a "better" suggestion. one of the other posters made some suggestions of better players that i suggested which is fine by me and i can accept that...
He's half correct cause Zanetti is nowhere as impressive as he is in Inter , the same with Cambiasso. But they're still the best option for now.
the same can be said about messi, tevez and other players whose club form is stronger than NT form. that argument goes for many players worldwide. what matters is finding players who fit into a system well; i.e. Jonas - despite the fact he played for newcastle last year in the 2nd division, he looked very impressive whenever he wore the NT shirt and proved his worth. if players like otamendi and bolatti were able to prove they were better options than cambiasso/zanetti then i wouldn't mind so much with their exclusions from the NT. but the NT struggled without and with zanetti/cambiasso, but they continue to be the best options - which to me indicates the problem lies elsewhere (i.e. a true playmaker) if zanetti and cambiasso are rubbish - i want to know what better options are there? and if there are better options - has argentina been able to win without them? the answer is no... but the fact you recognize they are still the best options is the point i am trying to make.
How about this for a posible back four? Zabaletta, Samuel, Milito and Licht?? I would also like to try Ledesma perhaps, see more of Pastore of course and try Garay like I mentioned before. For me Heinze is more than done and Demichelis proved to not be up to this level for the shirt. Cambiasso Im not opposed to , but it is time to say good bye to Veron and Zanetti as well as Diego Milito and Palermo. L. Lopez and Cavenaghi deserve looks, Piatti does, maybe Conca. I think we should perhaps rotate keepers again and give Romero something to think about. We have options.