Argentina lost 1-0 to Paraguay yesterday. Argentina is now in 5th place, while Paraguay qualified for the World Cup thanks to the win. If Argentina stays where they are, they'll have to play a play-off game with a country from CONCACAF. Right now Costa Rica is in the position to play Argentina if both teams fail to enter the top spots that automatically qualify them (Argentina will have to breach the top 4 of their group, while Costa Rica has to get into the top 3).
I last reported that Messi was taking the heat for the loss, as well as previous losses. An Argentinian newspaper was quoted as saying, "Messi is a shadow of that which sparkles in Barcelona." Okay, maybe so, but sources at the game also reported that Messi had to endure double coverage during the entire game against Paraguay. This was made easier when Juan Veron, a midfielder for Argentina, was ejected 18 minutes in. So Paraguay could afford to double-cover Messi without leaving anyone else unmarked.
The point I'm getting at is that these losses aren't the fault of Messi. Yes, he's a world-class striker and at some level is expected to score a shit ton of goals, but he does what he can. He needs help from his teammates- he can't take on an entire team by himself (most of the time). I think the real blame should be going to Maradona.
Whenever a club team starts doing poorly, the coach gets sacked. It happened to Rijkaard at the end of Barcelona's '07-08 season, Bernd Schuster was canned after the disastrous first half of Real Madrid's '08-09, and Jurgen Klinsmann lost his job at Bayern Munich when they dropped out of the running for the Bundesliga title. It happens everywhere, and it's nothing new. However in these instances, the work ethic of the players was never called into question. It was assumed that the coach was inadequate and in turn the players were receiving inadequate training and advice.
So why isn't it the same in Argentina? Shouldn't they be more let down by their legend than his successor? It's obvious from his track record that Maradona is not the most qualified for this job, but he got it because he's Diego Maradona, and if he can be one of the best players in the world of his time, then surely he can coach a national team to success. Except, let's look at his coaching track record. He was a manager two times before accepting the national team position, back in 1994 and 1995, and they were obviously unsuccessful if he only lasted that long. Argentina, please get it together and get someone with more managerial experience before you start laying into Messi like this. Keep Maradona on the staff so he gets some experience, I don't care. Just get someone who knows what they're doing, please.
Because putting the hopes of an entire country on the shoulders who doesn't deserve to bear it is cruel and unfair.
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