Well, Good luck to him. he'll definitely start for Paraguay in the World Cup. At least his mother is Paraguayan..
Great player, it's unfortunate to lose him. It would have been hard for him to pave his way into our NT since he's competing with the likes of Messi, Higuain, Tevez, Aguero, D. Milito, Lisandro Lopez, Zarate, etc., but I'm still disappointed that another nation will be benefiting from his services. Oh well, best of luck to him (except when he faces Argentina, of course ).
Well it is within his rights, and really unless they play us, I actually hope the Paraguayos do well in 2010.
All these borderline players really should be given at least one callup to prevent them from defecting. He could have played Jamaica. Are you sure he'll definitely start over Cardozo?
Wasn't that just locals only? And I am not even sure if that was a FIFA A regulated game. The same thing happened with Pipita played for Argentina vs Guatemala. Went to that game, he scored a couple goals and we were still in danger of losing him because the game was not a FIFA A friendly, or a FIFA date. To be honest the more I think about losing him, the more angry I get. I am not blaming Diego or anybody at AFA but I am blaming Barrios. First he stated, "My heart beats for Argentina" now he is trying to play for them. Don't flip flop. Some players just can not resist the temptations of going to the WC. I am a bit nationalistic that is why I am a bit upset. Well I hope he is studying on his Guarani.
I do blame Diego, with the clowns he has called up this year, he definetely could have called Barrios. He called up Palermo for Christ's sake!!!! PALERMO!!!
Let's be a bit fair towards Diego (Which I will get to later). Barrios did a great job at Colo-Colo when he was the top scorer in the world. I gradually followed him there then when he went to B.Dortmund. He did not grab the world's attention till he started to score goals at will for the German side. By then Diego then had called up everybody that really deserved a shot. It took him awhile but he called the likes of Higuain(Who now is a regular), Licha(Did well vs Russia, and was even called up vs Brasil,Paraguay but fell out of favor because of a rumored incident). It is not like Diego did not call up the right forwards, it took time but he finally did. Should he had called Barrios over Palermo, yes but this is Palermo we are talking about(lol) and it is Diego's club he plays for. Was a bit bias calling the likes of Lavezzi and Palermo, of course he was. Lavezzi shinned for the game vs the Catalan side and Palermo got us a crucial goal vs Peru. If Barrios claimed his heart was for Argentina then just wait it out. But maybe in his heart he knew he was not going to push the likes of Higuain,Milito out of a spot and if he wanted to play international football for every game then that is why he jumped to Paraguay. We could afford giving up players which we are blessed to have such talented footballers, but be honest from the start and have some national pride in you.
Futbol is still a business and it made perfect business sense for Barrios to play for Paraguay. Like you said, he was never going to make Argentina squad, so I am not losing any sleep over it. And I can't really blame him. I am sure he would have prefered to play for Argentina, it makes futbol and personal sense, so he was probably holding out hope and saying all the right things to make the squad, when that didn't happen he went for the best option he had. And I can't say I wouldn't make the same choice. Its still just a game, its not like he revealed government secrets. I say, good for him, hope he does well. Just not against us. My comment about Maradona has more to do with some of the people he's had called up, Bieler??? really?? There's no excuse anyone can say that calling (or trying to) to call Bieler would make sense, not in this planet or any other planet.
don't think he'd be a guaranteed starter as Paraguay have some very good strikers but with the Salvador Cabanas incident he definitely would move up there now. Barrios is real poacher type striker in the box which is something that Paraguay lacks a bit IMO. Cardozo and Barrios up front looks pretty tasty.
Actually, my understanding is that he can STILL play for either, he has not been called up by either country. It is essentially his choice to make, but realistically Paraguay is more likely to call him up rather than Argentina under the current douche in charge. Imagine not calling up this guy or Lisandro and calling up Palermo.
Imagine? It's likely a reality. As for Barrios, he would not be getting his Paraguay citizenship if he wasn't going to play for Paraguay. We will be fine without him .