I don't know how the schedule for the South American qualifying was made but for Argentina to have a week where they play Brazil at home and Paraguay on the road is as hard as it gets. It's even worse when they lose 3-1 to Brazil.
Maradona's team looks lifeless and I can't see them getting anymore than a draw in Paraguay. If Ecuador beat Bolivia and Columbia beat Uruguay, Argentina could find itself in 6th with only 2 more matches to go. Even in 5th place, they would have to be in a playoff. If Maradona is somehow still at the helm, they'll lose that playoff no matter who their opponent is.
A World Cup without Argentina? The last time they failed to make it to the dance was in 1970 when they were knockout by Cubillas' Peru.
I watched that game with friends on Saturday and none of us could remember seeing Argentina that devoid of creativity and ideas going forward. It seems that Maradonna as adopted the strategy that they used when he was playing: get me the ball and I'll take care of scoring. Only instead of him, he is using Messi who is not quite near the player that Maradonna was.
ReplyDeleteAfter the game, I went and found the video of the 28 pass goal they scored against Serbia in the 2006 World Cup. That team was no where to be found on Saturday night.