Jokes are over, back to the grind
By: Isaiah | April 2nd, 2009So perhaps yesterday’s April Fools joke wasn’t clever or anything other than cruel, but now we’re back to the real deal stuff and I should have a State of the Liga post up later today.
What’s crazier than Google’s gball (hat tip: eklavya) is the 6-1 Bolivia win over Argentina. Nope, that’s not an April Fools joke, unless Maradona put them up to it, which doesn’t sound like the sort of thing he’d do with the Argie NT. As IceMel pointed out, perhaps it’s my fault, the players (including Messi himself?) having read my post and freaked out, then been unable to recover before the game started. Or maybe it was what Hector said. Who knows for sure?
Regardless, expect more here later today. Or don’t cause sometimes I lie.
Category: Nonsense
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First??
ouch.. a mauling in La Paz.. maybe it was because of the height.. or maybe one team was too busy playing pranks..
Posted from
India
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I posted this like one minute before Isiah put this new post so if you want some more La Paz Massacre rambling then read on, if not just feel free to skip my tirade
.Re: Argentina….
Yeah, hands down the whole coaching staff has to shoulder a significant part of the blame for not adequately preparing the team but the players also have their fair share of blame. The tipping point was the di Maria red card. They still had a puncher’s chance before that but being one man down means everybody has to run more and work harder to compensate and at altitude, that’s “game over, man”. They got worn down running around and got put to the sword.
Argentina’s problem is that they are not a very disciplined team at the moment which leads to several things. First, is that there is too much space between lines like Ramzi pointed out, second is that the fullbacks and centerbacks get drawn out of position. There advantage is that they have guys all over the place that play like madmen and are so physically talented that they routinely overpower and outwork people. Mascherano is exhibit 1A of this, others include Tevez, Zanetti, Gago, hell even Heinze for all his suckage plays his heart out. That worked against them at altitude where discipline and conserving energy is the norm of the day. They started out the game running all over the place and working hard and that just played into Bolivia’s hands because in the latter parts of the half the whole team was gasping for air. Mascherano had a horrible game because this went directly against his style. He was so winded he could not have his usualy impact. This is Maradona’s fault for not emphasizing discipline with his players (or maybe the players for not following instructions).
Credit Bolivia though. They played lights out and on that given day probably would have beaten anyone (albeit not necessarily by the same scoreline). Remember that Bolivia left 4 player in La Paz for a week and a half acclimating to the altitude (I believe it was their front line) and you could clearly see the difference as they ran all the Argies including great players like Zanetti and Mascherano ragged because they simply had more energy. Also, what I mentioned about the ball acting VERY differently up there is true. These guys are used to adjusting their passes and shots to take advantage of this. The Argies weren’t. Great game by Bolivia.
With the deep squad Argentina has they should learn from Bolivia and leave 4-5 players acclimating to altitude before they go to Quito in June. Send them to Bariloche or even Quito and have them get acclimated both in the aerobic sense and the technical sense so that they are used to the different behavior of the ball.
Colombia (as much as it pains me to say it) is quite beatable at Buenos Aires so save some horses for the game in Quito. Send (off the top of my head) Battaglia (a defensive mid), Lucho (a creative center mid), Milito (a 9), Cato Diaz (a centerback), di Maria (a winger plus he is suspended for Colombia anyway) and maybe Angelieri (FB) to train at high altitude and lose them for the Colombia game. They have enough depth left to get by: Messi, Tevez, Aguero, Lavezzi up front,
Maxi, Gago, Masch, Veron, Gutierrez, heck call up Cambiasso too, at midfield.
Zanetti, Papa, Heinze, Samuel, Forlin, Demichelis at the back.
I think you can beat Colombia with that line-up and have a crop of acclimated players to give you a boost in Quito. Might as well learn from the Bolivians.
Posted from
United States -
It appears another Kyle has entered the fray. I feel the need to change my name to highlight the fact I bleed blaugrana! Yes, I feel better now, thanks for asking.
Watched the US match, still boring but they’re my national team whether I like it or not. You can’t choose where you were born, no matter what some may say. My second team is Espana so I have someone to root for after the US gets knocked out in the group stages. It’s like college basketball; I graduated from PSU so they’re my number 1. Obviously that gets me nowhere in March (except this year, one win from the NIT champ!), so my number two has been ‘Nova being from Philly and all.
Posted from
United States -
i heard the Argentina NT landed in Bolivia2 hours before the game. Thats not smart at all. Not only are they going to have 0 time to get used to the altitude, they were probably playing with some jetlag.
Still, that shouldnt translate to a 6-1. Credit Bolivia for doing their thing, and taking advantage of Argentina’s short commings.
Mexico got PWND in Honduras last night. 3-1. we only scored on a Penalty. Vela, Guardado, and Salcido look MUCH better when they are playing for Arsenal, Depor, and PSV than when they play for El Tri, so i think the public should try to forgive Rafa a bit.
Looking forward to the state of the liga Isaiah.
Posted from
United States -
Some day, Kyle, I will overtake you in Barça Soci numbers. You’ll have a lapse in judgment and forget to renew and mwahahaha I’ll be ahead. But for now I’m behind. Cause I suck.
Posted from
United States -
ALERT!!!!!:
The Barca-Valladolid game may not be televised according to Sport. WEAK!!!!!
http://www.sport.es/default.asp?idpublicacio_PK=44&idioma=CAS&idnoticia_PK=600612&idseccio_PK=803
Posted from
United States -
Oh god and it’s not even April Fools so I can’t blame it on that!
Posted from
United States -
Also, good review, Hector. Always astute.
Posted from
United States
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