The General and his soldiers
As was pointed out in an earlier WFC column, Brazil and Argentina have plenty of differences, but both have somehow managed to keep one thing in common: the know-how to use their strengths.
Maradona and Dunga are not exactly coaches. One of them worked towards restructuring the Brazilian national squad’s core throughout his three and a half years on the bench, whereas the other one took over the Argentine job almost two years ago and has since spent his time testing far too many players. Some experts, here in South America, seem to consider that they have just continued their previous roles, Dunga as a captain, now off the field, almost like a general, Maradona as the “good friend” of the guys, and the one who still can make the nice moves (at least in practice ).
In the end, both left home some big names.
Dunga realised that, while he has some of the best central defenders and right backs in the world, in order to mantain this fortress he would have to give up on some of the “fantasy” players that were regularly seen in yellow. His main problem always seemed to be the left back, maybe Daniel Alves (who would be a first team regular virtually anywhere) can solve that issue, because Gilberto and Michel Bastos are not playing in the left, at least not for their clubs. Another problem for Brazil is the bench. It’s not exactly Dunga’s fault but the reserve players are not of the same quality as the first team. It may seem as a natural thing, but the downfall is immense from Kaká to Julio Baptista and from Gilberto Silva to Josué, for example.
How does the beard story go?
Calling Maradona a head coach is merely a figure of speech. I firmly believe that his only function as a coach is to sign the sheet, Veron seems to be the leader on the pitch. With a pack of good forwards, most of them on the top scoring tables in the main European leagues, and a lack of trustworthy defenders and goalies, the Argentines seem only to have a mind for attacking their opponents. Messi, Tevez and Higuain (with Aguero, Milito and Palermo in the bench) comprise one of the most talented groups of attacking midfielders/forwards in the world; how to best use them is the key to Argentina’s sucess.
There is a famous saying in the game of American Football: “Offense wins games, defense wins championships.” Which will prevail in true football, we will find out during the World Cup.
Fab – Nice to hear Veron mentioned for once – it's all been Messi, Messi, Messi – but if Veron doesn't pull the strings then Messi's chances are going to be limited!
Bastos, for me, has turned into a top player but you're right defensively he's not the option – isn't there not anyone at all who can do a job defensively?
I like your view of the managers though – they are just an extension of themselves as players – the question is how long does it take to lose those characteristics and replace them with true management ones?
Posted by Steven Jones | 11 June, 2010, 09:08Interesting article. Some off Maradona's decisions have totally bewildered me at times and I can't help thinking that Argentina will take to the field, as you say, as an extension of himself; highly talented but, essentially, a disorganised mess.
I believe Argentina are one of the teams most likely to flop this time around. As fr Brazil, I think that they will get to the final where they will be beaten by Spain, even if they are not playing the football we have all come to expect.
Posted by Matt Dalton | 11 June, 2010, 11:14