A little over two weeks ago, on the morning of the World Cup finals, Diego Maradona faced the world's media and did what he always does: wave his hands like a traffic policeman in the Buenos Aires rush hour, hold forth about every topic imaginable and flit from quiet contemplation to frantic hollering, often within the same answer. Most regarded him as an eccentric curiosity — a manager who had used 107 players in qualification, didn't have much idea of his best team, and had repeatedly failed to get the best out of the world's best player in a generation.
Things have certainly changed. Three successive victories in Group B — achieved through an unlikely combination of bear-hugs, laughter, cajoling, coarse humour and a tactical sophistication few expected —have, inevitably, led to huge expectation back home. As Lucas Neder from Argentina TV station Tyc/Telefe put it: “No one back home gave this team a chance before this tournament started, now no one believes they can lose.”
Even Lionel Messi, who was made Argentina's youngest-ever captain against Greece, finally seems settled in the colours of the Albicelestes . So how has Maradona done it? According to Sergio Goycochea, a team-mate at the 1990 World Cup: “It's only now that he has had a chance to be a full month with the entire squad. So this now allows him to connect with the players, understand them and give them his support.” The difference is striking.
Having given many of his second string a run-out during the victory against Greece on Tuesday night, Maradona is planning to return to the players who began Argentina's campaign with that 1-0 victory over Nigeria, with two crucial differences. According to journalists close to the national squad, the rugged Vélez Sársfield centre-back Nicolás Otamendi will continue at right-back after replacing the suspended Jonás Gutiérrez against Greece, while Juan Sebastián Verón, “the little witch”, who is closest of anyone to Maradona in the squad, will be dropped to make way for Maxi Rodríguez.
Both decisions smack of common sense. Gutiérrez, a converted left-midfielder-cum-right-back was shambolically out of his depth against Nigeria and Greece and, while Verón's passes are still as soft and loving as a baby’s caress, he lollops around even more slowly than he did in his prime. Rodríguez, while not in the class of Esteban Cambiasso, who was strangely left out of Argentina's squad, is a little quicker and snappier than Verón, and alongside Javier Mascherano will certainly stiffen the midfield.
It was Rodríguez, of course, who scored a brilliant extra-time volley when Argentina faced Mexico four years ago in Germany — a 2-1 loss that condemned the Mexicans to their fourth successive second-round exit. So it is perhaps not surprising that the Mexican media fears Javier Aguirre's team will tumble out at this stage again. But neither their pessimism, or Tuesday's defeat against Uruguay, has winded the confidence of Mexico's close-knit squad. They are ready for revenge.
“We are better than that Mexico team, which didn't have so many players in European teams,” insisted their captain, Rafael Márquez. “Argentina has the best player in the world, Leo Messi, and that makes them more complete. But we will try to change all that. I have a thorn in my side from four years ago and hopefully on Sunday we can take it out.”
He also urged his countrymen to get behind the team, saying: “There is always pessimism in Mexico. But we have to make them believe in us by working hard and fighting to make Mexicans happy. We need to change this mentality not only in football but other aspects of life to ensure we are better in every sense of the word. To be great, we have to set aside this mentality of being pessimistic.”
Much rests on whether the crop of young players that Aguirre has called “the best generation in Mexican history” can live up to his boast. Striker Carlos Vela remains a major doubt for Sunday's game with his twanged hamstring, although he did participate in passing drills in small spaces alongside Giovani Dos Santos and Guillermo Franco yesterday. Franco is expected to start up front, with recent Manchester United signing Javier Hernández on the bench.
Aguirre has had a strained relationship with the Mexican media at this World Cup. Access to training sessions has been so limited that Fifa had to intervene, and he has been accused of being too nervy ahead of Sunday's match. But Mexico goalkeeper Oscar Pérez, a veteran of two World Cup campaigns, reckons the team can use this whirlpool of negative energy to their advantage. “Hopefully we'll have enough confidence to use this pessimism to give us a good feeling. It can help,” he said. “We have to change this pessimism, it's not healthy.”
Mexico's record against Argentina — four wins in 25 internationals — hardly provides reason for optimism. And nor does the fact that they have only reached the quarter-finals in 1970 and 1986, when the World Cup was held on home soil. But Aguirre's team is blessed with the impetuousness of youth and built to attack. Argentina have the bigger guns, but perhaps the weaker defence too. It could end up being a shoot-out in Soccer City. A repeat of 2006's minor classic would down go nicely.
© Guardian News and Media 2010
