One month ago, Juan Roman Riquelme, retired from international football. Argentina were left searching for a new 'enganche', the player to pull the strings, to dictate the flow of the team and the game as a whole. The "10".Following a pitiful display against Brasil at The Emirates Stadium, Roman, decided enough was enough. The Riquelme question has long divided the Argentinian public, for some he was the embodiment of the true classical Argentinian style. The player able to put their foot on the ball and dominate the match with short, clever passes that would open holes in teams through patience, quick thought and intelligence. For others, Riquelme slowed the game down too much. The team was considered too reliant on him, it has long been thought of Riquelme that given his style of play if you can shut him down you invariably are able to shut down the team he is trying to lead.
Riquelme took away the speculation about his future and standing in the national team, by cutting the ties himself despite being publicly backed by coach 'Coco' Basile. Argentina must now embark upon the search for the next playmaker of the side, and the first installment of that adventure took place this past week against Spain in Murcia.
It was an experiment that requires no more testing. Federico Insua was given the duties of the playmaker role and as many might have predicted, he was not up to the job. In fairness to 'Pocho', he can justifiably say he deserved a shot having had some great success recently at Boca under Basile (Insua was recently transferred to Borussia Mönchengladbach). It was not surprising that he would be given a chance to prove himself. It was also not surprising to see that his quality is not that of a world class playmaker, which is what an Argentina team should be presenting.
Aside from the all around dreadful display by an Argentina side that deserved to lose by far more than the eventual 2-1 scoreline, the toothlessness going forward was arguably the most worrying aspect of the encounter.
Insua was certainly not solely to blame, his performance was no worse than that of any other player bar Daniel Bilos who was the only player able to come off the pitch with his head held high. However, it did emphasise the need for Argentina to solve this equation quickly for the team to develop in preparation for the Copa America in 2007.
Basile is insistent that 4-3-1-2 is the way to go, I agree with him. However, it's the personnel that will be the main issue. From what was seen in the World Cup v Holland, the Brasil match in London and the recent encounter with Spain, a front two of Tevez and Messi is not the right combination. Argentina ended these three games with a goal tally of zero. More significantly, few chances of any worth were created in these games.
Argentina must play with a reference, a no9. Hernan Crespo. A proven goalscorer at international level, unfortunately injury meant he had to pull out of the game with Spain where he most likely would have started, but with whom?
Carlos Tevez, would benefit greatly from playing with Crespo. In the same way that he will eventually benefit at West Ham once he gets to play alongside the currently injured, Dean Ashton. And if Tevez is not chosen to play alongside Crespo, Sergio Aguero the likely next in line would flourish under the same conditions.
What of Lionel Messi you may wonder?
The other current options at no10 are the already mentioned Insua, Pablo Aimar and Andres D'Alessandro. Aimar had his chance to make the no10 position his own following the 2002 World Cup when then coach, Marcelo Bielsa, played him in a two playmaker system with D'Alessandro. Loss of form and injury came and all of a sudden Aimar's time had seemingly come and gone without him realising. 'Pablito' moved to Real Zaragoza in the Summer from Valencia and has a new lease of life, unfortunately his chance to shine for Argentina may well have gone and he looks destined to be best suited for a squad role. D'Alessandro was the beneficiary of Aimar's problems with injury, for the Copa America in 2004, he was the player entrusted with the playmaker responsibilities. Argentina shone at the Copa that year, losing undeservedly on penalties in the final to Brasil after an injury time equaliser from Adriano saved the Brasilians from defeat. Argentina were impressive inspite of D'Alessandro's poor performances.
Soon after, D'Alessandro had the chance to redeem himself that same summer in the Olympics. Yet again Argentina were outstanding, going through the tournament without conceading a goal with Carlos Tevez simply untouchable by opposition defences. D'Alessandro's level improved from the Copa, but still not sufficiently to suggest that he could be relied upon to do so at the highest level on the international stage. Once Jose Pekerman took over from Bielsa following the Olympics success, D'Alessandro was out of the picture completely. He is now also playing his club football at Real Zaragoza alongside Aimar and has started the season very well, still young enough to force his way back into the national team at some point between now and the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.
These options are not the answer for Argentina. The answer is Lionel Messi. 'Pulga' must be given the keys to the side and he will surely unlock any defence in the world. He brings to Argentina a completely different style to that of Riquelme. Where Roman was quick in the mind but at times not quick enough with his actions, Messi, has both the speed of thought and action. He may not be as good a passer as Riquelme, but certainly good enough with the added bonus of being able to kill teams with the dribble and his pace.
A forward combination of Messi-Tevez (or Aguero)-Crespo will surely bring goals. It is vital that Basile gets this right. Time is not of the essence with the ultimate goal being the World Cup and that still 4 painful years away, but there is no sense in wasting time.
This may be the first time you have read a piece concerning Argentina and the no10 shirt since the late 70's without the name of Diego Maradona being mentioned. There, I mentioned him. So you still haven't.
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