Replacing Ayala

While I doubt you could find many people that would contest that Argentina is spoiled for choice in attack, there seems to be plenty of talk about what to do in defense. With the retirement of Roberto Ayala, the No. 2 shirt is up for grabs. The problem is that there isn't much excitement over who might be ready to step up and put that shirt on.

Argentina host Chile on Saturday as both sides kick off their campaigns to qualify for South Africa 2010. There is no consensus among the Argentine press concerning the huge hole (both figuratively and literally) that Ayala leaves in the back line. You just don't replace someone with 105 caps overnight.

Thus, we're stuck with trying to plug players in, players that, in my opinion, leave a lot to be desired. National team boss Alfio Basile has included the following candidates for the games against Chile and Venezuela (on Tuesday):

Gabriel Milito (27 years old, Barcelona), Gabriel Heinze (29, Real Madrid), Martin Demichelis (26, Bayern Munich), Nicolas Burdisso (26, Inter), Fabricio Coloccini (25, Deportivo La Coruna) y Daniel Diaz (28, Getafe)

Surely, Milito reprises his center back role after a competent performance at the Copa America. as for his partner, national team vet Oscar Ruggeri would like to see Demichelis in Ayala's spot: "Of the guys on the list right now, Demichelis has to play because of his experience and because he plays in a top flight league. I like him because he's good with the ball at his feet and he knows how to head the ball. Winning in the air is going to be important in these matches."

One of Ruggeri's old teammates, Fernando Caceres, agrees: Demichelis has good qualities. He's a good header of the ball and is in great shape. He's shown that he can deal with the pressure, every week in Germany he has to face big, strong forwards. Bayern Munich is doing very well right now, he deserves some of the credit for their great start to the season."

While 1986 World Cup-winning boss Carlos Bilardo would go with either Burdisso or Demichelis, he doesn't like the situation that Argentina currently find themselves in: "Burdisso and Demichelis are good, but they're both a little lacking when they play as the last man. Centerbacks have to have experience playing as the last man because of the way that Argentina play, constantly attacking. Thus, the defenders have to constantly be on alert. To play at the international level you need to be in peak physical shape, have a little size to you, and know how to play the ball out of the back."

If we go by the numbers, after Milito(12 matches) and Ayala(10), the player with the most appearances in Burdisso(5). If both he and Demichelis are fit, Burdisso would be my bet to start alongside Milito. And maybe, in the end, Chile in Buenos Aires and Venezuela in Maracaibo is the ideal testing ground for a new centerback. For those of us who love the way Argentina play, let's hope so.

Un problema central (in Spanish) [La Nacion]

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Move Over Soccer

An interesting piece about the U.S. Embassy helping baseball make inroads in soccer-mad Chile. It made me wonder, what if foreign governments did the same here with soccer?

Obviously, private entities in the form of clubs like Arsenal and Real Madrid are creating business partnerships here in the U.S. with MLS teams. But what kind of reactions/results would there be if say, the Italians did the same thing the U.S. is doing?

Baseball Changing Children’s Lives [World Press Review]

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Back To The Drawing Board

Here's the write up on tonight's scoreless draw between Argentina and Chile. What you don't get from the wire reports is the general impression that Argentina stunk it up. Not only did they not play very well, Alfio Basile's home-based side was whistled off the pitch at the end of the game. Not a great start to Argentina's experiment of training with local players to form the base for the Copa America side this summer.

The consensus from Argentina is that the team played poorly because it didn't field an imaginative enough No. 10. Juan Veron was set for the role before getting injured recently, leaving the task to Daniel Montenegro. The Independiente captain just didn't seem up to the task, full of running, but not much else.

According to reports, Montenegro joined teammates Fernando Belluschi, Jose Sosa, Pavone, and Rodrigo Palacio as those described as not being able to raise their game tonight. Cristian Ledesma, a key figure in San Lorenzo's title chase this season, actually took a step backwards. The only players to make any kind of positive impression were River Plate goalie Juan Pablo Carrizo and Boca Juniors defender Hugo Ibarra.

Most of the summaries conclude that while the display was worrying, at least there's time to fix the problems. I imagine that the fixing starts with convincing Juan Roman Riquelme to return to international soccer, as well as the inclusion of some overseas players. I can think of one right off the bat.

Chile hold Argentina to goalless draw [Reuters]
Argentina played badly, couldn't get it done against Chile, and was whistled off (in Spanish) [TyC Sports]
Not plugged in (in Spanish) [Ole]
A poor debut (in Spanish) [La Nacion]
Lionel Messi Scores a Maradona Goal [The Offside]

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Coco's Lineup

Argentina lines up against Chile today in just over six hours from now. According to TyC Sports, the following lineup has been confirmed by the players to the local media in Mendoza. Alfio Basile's side will come out as follows:

Juan Pablo Carrizo in goal; Hugo Ibarra (captain), Daniel Diaz, Eduardo Tuzzio, Jonathan Bottinelli across the back; Fernando Belluschi, Cristian Ledesma, Jose Sosa, Daniel Montenegro in midfield; Rodrigo Palacio and Mariano Pavone up front.

In total, there will be 13 newbies in today's Albicelestes squad. You'll notice the absence of Juan Veron, he's out through injury. I'm excited to see how well Montenegro works as an attacking midfielder behind Palacio and Pavone. All three of them are great players and produce the goods week in and week out in Argentina, but as we all know, that doesn't always translate to international soccer.

Argentina tests itself against Chile in Mendoza (in Spanish) [TyC Sports]

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Local Players Finally Get The Chance To Prove Themselves

After Argentina's workout this afternoon, it was revealed that Alfio Basile's home-based squad will lineup against Chile on April 18th. The match will be played in the city of Mendoza, in west-central Argentina, a short hop from Santiago, Chile.

Today's training session consisted of a scrimmage against a local youth side, with Basile's team winning 4-0. Jose Sosa had a hat trick while Mariano Pavone chipped in to complete the scoring. Argentina played with the following lineup:

Oscar Ustari in goal; Carlos Fondacaro, Daniel Diaz, Jonathan Bottinelli, German Re in defense; Juan Sebastian Veron, Agustin Pelletieri, Cristian Ledesma, Neri Cardozo in midfield; Sosa and Pavone up front.

There were no River Plate or Velez Sarsfield players on hand due to their team's Copa Libertadores commitments.

National side to play Chile on April 18th (in Spanish) [Ole]

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The Magical Mystery Tour Rambles On

Brazil is set to play Chile and Ghana in Sweden later this month. Why they've decided to play in one of Europe's colder climates, I don't know. I guess all the stadiums in southern Spain and Portugal are being used on March 24th and 27th.

At least the Ghana match should be fun to watch, and if it isn't, we can all have a good laugh about what Dunga will be wearing. Look for FSC to have both matchups live.

Report: Brazil set to return to Sweden for two friendlies in March [International Herald Tribune]

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Champions League Semis One Year...

...To, well, crap this year. We'll soon find out if Villarreal's Manuel Pelligrini doesn't rate Juan Roman Riquelme anymore. Spanish daily AS is reporting that Bayern Munich is preparing to offer $23.2M for the unsettled Argentine midfielder. A bad summer in Germany has led to a bad couple of weeks at Villarreal for Riquelme. According to this AP article, teammates are starting to take sides at a club that now finds itself 15 points off the pace in La Liga.

After their loss to second-division side Villadolid yesterday, things seem to be going from bad to worse for Pelligrini. The Chilean coach finishes out his contract at Villarreal at the end of the current season, with some rumblings going around about his next move.

However things play out with Riquelme and Pelligrini, it's a shame to see a club, that played so well last season, come apart at the seams.

Bayern Munich keeping a close eye on Roman's situation (in Spanish) [AS]
Villarreal omits Riquelme again [International Herald Tribune]
Pellegrini in demand [Football.co.uk]

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Where Do You Hang Something Like That?

Mexican side Pachuca became the first Mexican team to ever win a South American cup last night when they defeated Chile's Colo Colo in the Copa Sudamericana. Pachuca's Damian Alvares took home the most valuable player honors, which include not only the nice trophy you see above, but also a brand new Nissan. Mexico's oldest club came back from being a goal down at a frenzied estadio Nacional in Santiago to take the second-leg 2-1 and the tie 3-2 on aggregate.

The only blight for Mexican soccer in the last couple of days came in Japan early this morning. Mexico City's Club America got their asses handed to them by European champions Barcelona. The FIFA Club World Cup semifinal was over 11 minutes into the game as the Catalan giants cruised to victory and booked their ticket to the final where they'll face Internacional of Brazil.


Seat-filler Ronaldinho will face off against a team from his home town, Porto Alegre. Though he never played for Internacional, he did suit up 110 times for their Gre-Nal rivals Gremio from 1998 to 2001.

Pachuca stun Colo Colo to win Sudamericana [Yahoo!]
Ronaldinho directs Barca to final [CNN]

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