Sneak Preview Time for 2002 World Cup
Which nation will win soccer’s World Cup in 2002?
It may seem too early to ask that question, but for the fact that one of the few countries with a realistic chance will play at the Coliseum on Wednesday night.
Argentina, whose domestic league is increasingly beset by fan violence, nevertheless has managed to piece together a national team that shows every sign of being a serious contender in the Japan-South Korea World Cup.
Coach Marcelo Bielsa’s squad is practically assured of qualifying for the quadrennial world championship tournament and what Bielsa essentially is doing now, even at this early date, is fine-tuning his roster.
He has 17 months to find the right spare parts.
Most of Argentina’s top players--and certainly the entire starting lineup for 2002--play for leading clubs in Europe, primarily in Italy and Spain, and those clubs were not about to release the players this week for what in soccer circles is known as a “friendly.”
Then too, the three teams in the running for the Argentine league title were involved in crucial season-ending games over the weekend, so Bielsa elected not to ask players from Boca Juniors, River Plate and Talleres to travel to Los Angeles.
As a result, the Argentine team that takes the field against Mexico on Wednesday at 8 p.m. before an anticipated near-sellout crowd, will consist primarily of domestic players hoping to catch Bielsa’s attention.
There are 10 players on the coach’s 21-man roster who could make their national-team debuts against a near full-strength Mexican team.
That Bielsa feels comfortable fielding what is essentially a third-string lineup against a team as powerful as Mexico is not a show of disrespect, but rather testimony to the extraordinary talent at the coach’s disposal.
“He’s got depth all over the place,” said Andres Cantor, the Argentine-born broadcaster who follows Bielsa’s team as closely as anyone in the U.S. “He could probably put two teams on the field that would be [made up] of players playing overseas. He’s got enough talent over there.”
A few of those players have been called in to face Mexico, among them midfielder Diego Simeone, who was on the losing end of the Rome derby Sunday when his team, defending champion Lazio, was beaten, 1-0, by Italian league leader AS Roma, which features Argentina’s all-time leading goal scorer, Gabriel Batistuta.
Also strengthening the squad will be forward Marcelo Delgado, who was unavailable to help Boca Juniors win the Argentine league championship for the 19th time Sunday because he was serving a suspension. Delgado was especially impressive in Boca’s 2-1 victory over European champion Real Madrid in the Toyota/Intercontinental Cup in Tokyo last month.
Meanwhile, the 10 uncapped players on Wednesday’s roster are hardly weak links. Most have been drawn from the Jose Peckerman-coached Argentine youth national team.
“[Argentine clubs] keep producing players,” Cantor said. “They produce them and they sell them right away. I guess they develop in Europe much quicker than they would in Argentina.”
Standing out among the 10 is diminutive midfielder Damian Manso, a player, Cantor joked, who “might be scouted by Hollywood Park [because] he is shorter than [Diego] Maradona.”
Bielsa said in Buenos Aires last week that he would assess the younger players’ performance against Mexico to determine whether they could help the national team when it resumes qualifying play in March.
By doing that, he is anticipating a problem that might arise once Argentina has clinched its berth in Japan-South Korea. Once countries have secured their World Cup place, European club teams are likely to protest against releasing players for what would be meaningless qualifying games.
“All the South American coaches who have players overseas have been having a nightmare getting their players [released by the clubs],” Cantor said.
“This is where the next fight will begin. Lazio, Roma, all the clubs, will say ‘No, no, forget it. Why should we send the players now, even though we are obliged by FIFA rules, when you have already qualified?’
“That’s the biggest fight any coach who qualifies for the World Cup [with games still in hand] will have--the battle with the big European clubs.”
So far, Argentina’s World Cup qualifying campaign in South America has proceeded fairly smoothly, with a loss on the road to Brazil being its only setback. Halfway through the two-year process, Bielsa’s side has an 8-1-1 record, has outscored its opponents, 22-8, and leads the 10-nation qualifying group.
The starting lineup is seldom changed for meaningful matches, except when injury or suspension intervene, and players such as Batistuta, Simeone, midfielder Juan Veron and strikers Ariel Ortega and Claudio Lopez are considered virtually untouchable.
The most serious problem Bielsa might face in May 2002 will be how to trim his roster to the permitted size.
When Argentina first won the World Cup, at home in 1978, it had such standouts as creator Osvaldo Ardiles and finisher Mario Kempes. Eight years later, Maradona stole the headlines in Mexico by taking on both roles as Argentina again became world champion.
Now, Cantor said, the onus is on Batistuta to score the goals, certainly, but even more so on Veron, the playmaker, to create them.
“Veron gives them balance,” he said. “He’s a very smart player. He has great stamina. He moves on both the left and the right flanks. He has great vision. I think Argentina creatively depends on what he does.”
If Argentina keeps progressing, it will be a difficult team to beat in Japan and South Korea, but Cantor, who will be broadcasting Wednesday’s game on tape delay for Telemundo, urges caution.
“It’s so hard to predict how the players are going to be in 2002,” he said. “Because most of them play overseas, I think it’s going to be a question of how fit they are, how healthy they are, and if they can maintain their midseason form.
“Historically, Argentina has been among the top four to six teams [in the world]. I think they can be there again. If the World Cup were today and all the players were healthy, I would say Argentina would be right there, playing to get into the final.”
