Climb Back to Top Took a Long Time
The most mystifying disappearing act in soccer ended Tuesday night in Peru, just before 10 p.m., Lima time.
Argentina is back in the final of a major international tournament.
Incredible as it sounds, Argentina -- home to Maradona, Batistuta and the 1978 and 1986 World Cup trophies -- had gone 11 years without playing for either the World Cup or Copa America title, a drought that ended with Tuesday’s 3-0 trouncing of Colombia in a Copa America 2004 semifinal.
You could look it up. Argentina last appeared in the Copa America final, in 1993, back when Argentina, and the world, used to take these things for granted. Some turn-of-the-1990s results to jog the memory:
1990: Argentina lost to West Germany, 1-0, in the World Cup final.
1991: Argentina defeated Brazil in the Copa America final.
1993: Argentina defeated Mexico to repeat as Copa America champion.
Eleven years ago, Argentina had the talent to justify the trophies, and vice versa. Over the next decade, the talent never went away, but the silverware did. For Argentines, it was a slow and bitter burn -- especially when having to watch rival Brazil walk away with the 1994 and 2002 World Cups and the 1997 and 1999 Copa America titles.
Especially the 2002 World Cup. Argentina entered that tournament as the consensus favorite, and probably had the deepest roster in the competition. Which, for Argentina, was precisely the problem. Coach Marcelo Bielsa couldn’t settle on a lineup, wouldn’t play his two best goal-scorers at the same time and refused to adapt as the rest of the Cup reached up and bit him. Argentina lost to England and tied Sweden and failed to make it out of the first round.
Clearly, something had to change for Argentina for it to reach the Copa America final. Remarkably, this is what did:
1. Bielsa was allowed to continue coaching the national team, not a popular decision, nor a common one. Normally, the coaching orders in Argentina are simple and succinct: Win the World Cup or find new employment.
2. Bielsa lost three regulars on the way to the semifinal, including captain Roberto Ayala, serving a one-match suspension for picking up two yellow cards, and striker Javier Saviola, hobbled by a hamstring injury.
3. Bielsa listened to the will of people, another radical departure, and started the precocious, popular 20-year-old Boca Juniors star, Carlos Tevez, against Colombia. This was due in part to Bielsa’s losing three regulars, of course. But Tevez’s coming off the bench in the quarterfinal against Peru and scoring the game-winner on a sensational free kick also was tough to ignore, even by Bielsa.
Tevez needed three minutes to score that one against Peru.
Bielsa might have been right, however, in his original assessment of Tevez. As a starter, Tevez took 33 minutes to score against Colombia -- another game-winner, another unstoppable free kick.
Clearly, the rigors of opening the match on the field were too tough for the kid.
Two goals in two games by Tevez would be enough for a return to the final. But Argentina had to make sure, and poor Colombia, which entered the match as merely the defending champion, had to bear the brunt of 11 years of frustration.
Coach Reinaldo Rueda’s team, undefeated through four tournament games, played the first half in the shadow of its own goal, on its heels, all but tossing down sandbags to buffet the relentless Argentina offense.
Colombia did not have a shot on goal in the first 45 minutes -- its best scoring chance coming when Argentina’s Javier Zanetti, perhaps bored at the time, inexplicably rifled a 20-yard aerial back pass to his goalkeeper, Roberto Abbondanzieri. Impressively, Abbondanzieri responded by coolly heading the ball out of danger’s way.
England could have used something such as that against France last month at Euro 2004, but then, that’s a difference between English and Argentine soccer.
Argentina kept pressing for more goals. In the first half, Colombia defender Andres Gonzalez saved one by scrambling back to head Cristian Gonzalez net-bound blast off the line. Nothing, however, could save Colombia in the 50th minute, when Luciano Figueroa broke down the left side and freed himself to drive in a pass that Luis Gonzalez slotted for 2-0.
By the 80th minute, even defenders were scoring for Argentina. A perfectly lofted free kick by Mauro Rosales and a diving header by fullback Juan Pablo Sorin made it 3-0 and clinched Argentina’s berth in the Copa final, to be held Sunday.
After 11 years of watching Brazil take bows and bathe in confetti, Argentina is back in the big game, awaiting the winner of tonight’s other semifinal. The contestants?
Uruguay.
And Brazil.
*
(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)
Fail Colombia
Colombia’s 3-0 loss to Argentina in the semifinals Tuesday marked the end of the nation’s 10-game unbeaten streak in Copa America, covering two tournaments and including nine shutouts. The streak:
*--* 2001 Group Venezuela 2-0 Group Ecuador 1-0 Group Chile 2-0 Quarterfinal Peru 3-0 Semifinal Honduras 2-0 Final Mexico 1-0 2004 Group Venezuela 1-0 Group Bolivia 1-0 Group Peru 2-2 Quarterfinal Costa Rica 2-0
*--*
Today’s semifinal
Brazil vs. Uruguay at Lima, Peru
5:30 p.m. Channel 46 (KFTR)
